And so forth. Yesterday I went to my old house and hung out for about eight hours, eating curried squash soup (so delicious I could barely taste the squash) and these things Rachel fried up that were essentially falafel, but made with yellow lentil flour instead of chickpea flour. Mmm, fried.

The traditional Christmas dinner (at least for American Jews) seems to be Chinese food; lucky for me, the local Indian restaurant was open too. So I had a calm and pleasant holiday, partly with friends, partly by myself; filled with chicken masala, and reading A Deepness In the Sky (which was quite good). For now, that works well enough for me.

As a word of advice, FedEx's "Second Day Delivery" actually means second business day. My long-suffering mother was kind enough not to tell me what an idiot I was when I let on that her presents would be arriving on Tuesday. At my brother's house. Three hours away from her house. That was nice of her, but still stupid of me. Even so, I hope she likes the chinchilla I got her, since I know she likes fur. It might be a little hungry by the time she gets it, though.