Basket.

The last week of the year is always an ideal time for gatherings and old faces. A new year means new responsibilities, new frustrations and new head-breaking problems, so it is wise to enjoy the peaceable interlude before it comes on in full force.

For the past week, then, that is exactly what I have been doing, beginning with a fmilay dinner last Saturday. Jason then asked for, and got, a Christmas Eve dinner of fried chicken followed by the current blood-soaked epic of the moment, the fairly awkwardly named Curse of the Golden Flower. Monday saw Christmas dinner with the Catholic half of the family, and Tuesday brought 4E back together again for dinner and DOTA. Wednesday was A01C's traditional Christmas potluck, now into its fourth year, and a whole lot of unnecessary fun making eventually largely uneaten (but astonishingly, actually edible) jelly for it. The day that just passed constituted lunch with Gwen, a whole lot of bumming around town alone, then the long-planned Death Note 2 excursion with my Khatib gang.

It's always good to see old familiar faces, and even better to see old familiar faces that can't be around all the time. Yuan Xiang, back from Cornell, looks not a day older than he was in 2001, and 4E remains ever-so-dependable for off-the-cuff witticisms and venerable inside jokes. A01C is equally good entertainment, with everyone their old TS selves and just as off-beat with the humour. It is so rare to be able to just sit around and swap stories, crass humour and cluelessness these days, and I'll never find better people to do that with.

In addition, I have found employment, so all in all it's been a good week. All I now need is a better year to follow it.