duck-shaped pain

1. My office Christmas party was actually really fun: quite a change from the office parties I've been subjected to during my working life. The reasons why it was actually fun were many, but the most important two were a) plentiful quantities of free liquor and b) setting off many loud, highly illegal fireworks in my boss's backyard at about 10:30 p.m. Prime rib was served, along with fancy potatoes and many little desserts. Many of the attendees were already lit by the time I arrived, which was nice. I always hate to have to be the first to start drinking: it makes me very self-conscious, and I always wonder if people are keeping track of how much I have imbibed during the evening. But since most of the people there drank much more than I did, I didn't have to worry.

Sure, there were the obligatory nervous spouses just standing around with nothing to do, and plenty of shop talk, but the explosions made up for that. The fact that my boss's backyard borders on the edge of a national monument made setting them off all the more exciting, with everyone hoping that the sparks and/or debris would please please pretty please not fall on the national monument side of the fence and start some sort of blaze and/or trouble on federal land. Luckily, it was wet and snowy, damping the chances of inadvertent fire.

2. Grades came out today, earlier than expected. I got all As, which I am very happy to report. If you had told me like a month ago that I would indeed pull off a 4.0 this semester, I would have worn brown shoes before I would have believed you. This week, I was pretty confident that I would, after last week, but it's good to have the official confirmation.

3. My favorite Google hit of the entire year to date came today: "new shoes for gerhard richter". I crack up every time I think about this, but it's hard to explain exactly why.

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