"yo diciembre!"

the past 48 hours have been sashimi status. originally...i was supposed to go to madrigal feaste on friday night with pat but that didn't end up working out. then, i was planning to have shabu-shabu at my house with dennis and some other people but that ended up falling apart. instead, by some sort of divine working, i randomly called clarissa while i was at the gym to say hi...and that hello turned into dinner at gyu-kaku in victoria gardens with her and dennis. she hasn't been feeling well as of late so it was a pleasure for dennis and me to take her out to help her feel better. good dinner as always with a good conversation to match. it's been months since i've eaten there (granted that we have all been busy and it's not exactly the cheapest meal) so i was glad to eat there at least one more time before the end of the year. pinkberry afterwards and the night was complete.

yesterday, i went with genevee, fred, nick, jen, senpai, pare, marc, charlene, chris ha, sylvie, chris lee, austin, pat, arthur, jeanette, ana, tracy, and rachel to the ponte winery in temecula for katrina and dennis' birthdays. i've never really been to temecula so i was surprised to discover how much parts of it look like chino hills. i was also surprised to see how vast and beautiful their wine country was. all in all...a very pleasant, peaceful, and relaxing time with good company. eating at alberto's afterwards was a bad choice, but getting pizookies at bj's with fred and genevee was a good one for sure.

later on that night...dennis, stephen, jen, mike b, arthur, pat, and i went over to kimi's house for her birthday party. a definite highlight of 2008 for damn sure. it was great to chill with troy/st. joe people, ucla people, old friends i haven't seen in awhile, and newfound friends. it's always good to have great people come together to make cinematic moments happen.



i'm the happiest i've been since probably around july. it really does feel great to be back in school, to have my appetite for some structured, professional learning satisfied. i'm more confident about things and i'm excited for what's to come.

it may not feel like Christmas right now, even with it being less than two weeks away, but it does feel like the most wonderful time of the year.