WELCOME TO THE YEAR TWOOOOOO THOOOOUUUUUSAAAAAND…AND NINE New Year’s Eve went as expected, which is not to say that it was not fun.

The Usual Crew met up at Jessica and Charles’s place, still feeling new since the purchase of their Modular Couch 3000 and living room reorganization. Also, the canvas Jessleford painted was hanging up and we all were required to begin the final hours of 2008 having our picture taken in front of it.

Old-school hip hop and rap on the stereo gave way to Rock Band once Time’s Up began in the dining room. As we screamed to our partners, hoping to get them to guess a recent person, place, or concept cooked up by the hosts, Boston and No Doubt got cranked in the living room. I ate and drank too much, something I’ve been doing a lot of lately, but I don’t plan to worry about it much since the amount of eating I’m about to start doing will likely rival and surpass anything that’s occurred from the months of November or December. Why? I’m glad you asked.

MIDDLE EARTHEN BODY OF WATER, RIDDEN BY THE AWESOMENESS OF THE SEAS Robyn’s parents, in their infinite amazingness, have decided to take a Royal Caribbean cruise around the Mediterranean Sea. And they’ve invited me along with their kids and Robyn’s grandmother. FUCK YES.

In short, I am agog. I may not show this in person, but deep down, in the place of my subconsciousness where words that describe the honor I feel and the ability to accept a gift like this without a crushing amount of guilt lies, I am on cloud nine.

The USA (and Tijuana) has always defined my geographical boundaries. I almost went to New Zealand, and kind of regret not going. I could have saved my money and took that adult-defining trip that is the “Backpacking Across Europe” excursion, but I didn’t. Years pass, money is spent elsewhere, and still I haven’t crossed an ocean. All that changes next week.

I won’t have consistent Internet access, so this is the last major online communication I’ll be making besides a few Tweets this weekend, most likely. Paper journal is being broken out for the first time in years to transcribe anything worth transcribing over the next two weeks, as well as copious amounts of digital photography. Let’s hope I don’t come back 15 lbs heavier.

This is the way to begin a new year.

FOR THE ROAD We leave for OC on a train at 10am tomorrow morning. We leave for SF->DC on a plane at 6:45am Saturday morning. We leave for Amsterdam, Holland on a plane at 4:05pm Sunday evening. We leave for Barcelona, Spain on a plane at 6:00am Monday morning. We disembark from Barcelona, Spain on a massive cruise ship at 6:00pm Monday evening.

Whoa.