I leave on Wednesday for South Carolina. Christmas in the Dirty South with the parents and sisters. Though it seems like half the days that I'll be gone with be traveling, I'm looking forward to my trip. Wanna know why? That was a rhetorical question, of course you do!

This cold is pissing me off. I know that it's going to get colder, but, shit, I'm just not used to it yet. And my apartment was cold yesterday. Sooooo cold. I was actually looking forward to going to work because the cab is oh-so-warm. As warm as I want in fact. Any circumstance when I want go to work is a circumstance I can do without. But then again, it was only thirty-seven degrees at 1 pm yesterday in Florence where my parents live, so it might end up just being a slight improvement.

Work is driving me crazy. It's been painfully slow ever since Columbus Day, but December, Jesus Christ!, has been been absolutely dead.  Unbelievably so. Even Fridays have sucked shit. And that two hour snow storm yesterday was ridiculous. A seventeen-car pile-up here, a ten-car pile-up there. I got stuck on State Street and didn't move until two guys were nice enough to to push me up a hill for five minutes until I got to safety.  Driving five miles/hour on 295. A trip that should have taken less than half an hour took me over an hour and a half! Later I drove a flight crew from the airport to their hotel.  One of the pilots spoke about just spending some time in West Palm Beach, and when he was there he saw an amazing Stevie Ray Vaughn cover band perform. Him and the other pilot went on and on and on for over five minutes about how fucking great Stevie Ray Vaughn was and which shitty watered-down white boy blues number of his is the best. For those readers who have read the first installment of "GuakTalk"/GuakTalk ("The Onset.") you know I detest that particular Texan with a passion. Earlier, two hipsters wouldn't let me change the station when Bob Seger's version of "Little Drummer Boy" came on the radio. Fuckers. I don't want to drive again until New Year's Eve.

It took me until my parents moved away a few years ago for me to realize that I like being around them, which sucks because now they're hundreds of miles away. Same with my sisters (although as residents of Queens they are not nearly as far away, but I see them just as rarely). Sure, after a few days I've had my fill of 'em, but still...

I need a bit of a break from Portland. She's wearing on me some. A few days away from the ol' girl, from the shit that keeps me from sleeping, may be just what this guy needs.

I don't want to be here right now. I just hope eight days is enough.