2012: Year of the Parvin

Happy New Year! It definitely doesn't feel like a new year, but everything has had a muted feeling for me this holiday season. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I need to do something to adapt to the nine to five type of life. We'll see if I adjust before I do something completely different after June.

Before I left for Atlanta, there was a multi-year IB reunion for all Hoover High School graduates. While we were shoved in a tiny room at Beef O'Brady's, it was still a good time. There were only six people from my year out of the twenty-two that were in the program my senior year. It was really fun to catch up with them and our old teachers. Everybody is being all adult now, so it's weird to hear about their next steps in life. I don't know how long it will be until we see each other again, and for some of us it could be never. Thus making this a special occasion. I just wish it happened somewhere not named "Beef O'Brady's."

Afterward, Kevin, Sarah, Danny, and I were able to drag our former math teacher Mr. Kustos a.k.a. Paul to the Waffle House on Morgan Road, which was one of our many high school haunts. We shared food and stories of the ridiculous things we did. This included my math teacher pretending to fall out a window to freak out the chemistry teacher that we all had ten years later.

The next day my supervisor took me on a wild goose chase to find a meat and three to eat at for lunch. It turns out that they were all closed, so we just ent to Roly Poly. After we got back, I had a fire case during which Holli ate my wrap. It was a blessing in disguise because her Buffalo Chicken one was even better than the Santa Fe Chicken I had ordered.

After a long night of Lego Harry Potter with Will, Jenae and Ben picked me up in Hoover to being a trek to Justin and Karissa's in Atlanta. Before we left, Jenae had made her status 2012: Year of the ______. People had a lot of funny answers, and it became a running joke of the weekend to fill in the blank.

While in Atlanta, the five of us went to an excellent dinner at Raging Burrito. It was very much like a sit down Moe's restaurant with some slightly more exotic choices, but I went with the very safe chicken tacos. I had to eat well considering my resolution to become more physically active.

After dinner we got prepped to go out on the town. We stayed in the Dectur area and hit up a couple of cool bars that catered to the young professional crowd with us being on the very young end of that. We had to really cool cab drivers one seventy year old, who tried to convince us he was over 100, and an Ethiopian playing the best music ever.

It was an amazing way to bring in the new year with some great people. I can't tell what 2012 holds yet. I hope a few less pounds, and excellent second half of my job at the Red Cross, and a new career as a tour director in a new city are included. So Happy New Year! I hope that 2012 will be your year of the _______.