What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This?

For me today that place was work. On my day off.

For reasons of illness and vacations, I was needed at work on what should have been the first day of my "weekend." Actually, I didn't mind at all. I got to do my absolute favorite part of my job, and I could use the extra cash. I'm salaried at work, but I make more money for certain tasks, and I was called in to perform one of the more lucrative tasks today. Given my spending this month, I very much welcomed the opportunity to pull in a few more bucks. It will make the heart attack that is my December credit card bill a little less painful when it arrives next week.

And I managed to go running, do laundry and give myself a face mask before joining my employer this afternoon. So it was kind of like a weekend day for me.

You may have heard that Christmas is now over. That always makes me a little sad. I hope you had a cool Yule. Even though I worked through most of the holiday, I did manage to have a delicious Christmas dinner with Jack and Fabulous Patti. And that was in addition to having dinner at work. Combine two dinners with all the other eating and drinking I've been doing this season, and I think I got about seven extra pounds for Christmas this year.

The good thing about virtually missing a holiday, though, is you get to have another one. At least I do. Tomorrow I'm going to visit my aunt, uncle, grandmother and various cousins for Christmas, 2006, Part Two. I can't wait to see my little cousin Anna. Whenever she and I get together, we play and color and do all the fun things that boring grown-ups forget to do. Besides, Santa accidentally dropped off a gift for her at my house, so I must deliver it.

After Christmas, the Sequel, comes New Year's Eve this weekend. New Year's Eve is always both amateur night and a let down, but I think I have a good plan to welcome 2007. I'm going to take Jack and his brother Jason to my friend Beth's party in Berkeley. Beth is a super talented writer and spoken-word artist, and she is married to a musician. The event is billed as a "party/talent show," so I think Jack, Jason and I are in for a treat. And we'll be inside Beth and Eli's home and away from all the drunk idiots in the bars and out on the streets.

And finally... It's official, the fake band is playing another gig with Wonderbread 5 in February. January and February are the most depressing months of the year for me, so I'm happy to have a project to focus on. We'll have fake band rehearsals throughout the next eight weeks, and I'm going to resume my singing lessons from Best Friend (a.k.a. Stephanie). I took a few before our Ashkenaz show, but I need more help. Best Friend has been teaching singing for years and has an amazing voice, herself, so I know I'm in good hands.

If you haven't yet, you might want to try to see us perform. Any day now we could realize that we're not a real band.