Christmas Party

I woke up hearing Chris talking online during the 6am conference call. He came back afteward... then took a shower and went to work. I got up, drank a quart of water, listened to some cancer summit audios while swishing and exercising. I prepared part of breakfast. I called Myra and found out she was sick. She attributed it to the paint and carpet fumes of the duplex that she prepared yesterday for the family that moved in last night. She was worried about their little baby breathing the fumes. Then I called Chris and he said he would check to see if the father signed in this morning. I called Nela and she agreed to go walking. I did some tapping for Myra as I waited. Nela came over and then went next door to drop off some items for teacher gifts. I put on my shoes and went over there. Not many parents had donated items. Then we went walking up the mountain and around. Then we parted and I came back here. I finished making breakfast and ate it. Chris came by for lunch but did not stay long. I listened to another audio. Then I bundled up again. I walked out to the CU store to put money on my bus card. I looked for pocket packs of tissues but did not see anything obvious. Some packages might have been tissues or might have been feminine products. I stopped at the World Store, but had the same problem. So I went to the Px. I found some Christmas cards but they were American ones. No tissues or pocket-sized hand sanitizer. As I was walking up the steps to the commissary, I met the chief medical officer of the Farragut (?). He seemed surprised to see me since he had just seen me come through the front gate. Then I went to the commissary but still did not find the pocket-sized items. The clerk suggested Office Depot, but I did not feel like walking that far on a cold rainy afternoon. I stopped by Housing. There is a list for apartments for rent, but they the name, number and address. I made a mental note to get that info from So Yong on Sunday. When I got home, I jotted notes for my blog. I took a shower, then sprayed myself with the probiotic body spray. I made and ate a large salad. I read e-mail. Nela called to offer us a ride. Chris came home and changed his clothes, I got dressed, several ways, deciding what to wear. I called Nela to tell her we accepted her offer. When they pulled up, we threw on our coats and went out to meet them. We went to Turtle Cove. We were shown our table. Then I followed Chris into the bar area. He introduced me to two young men. Then he went to get a beer while I tried to make conversation. Then Chris handed me his beer and left to get
hors d'oeuvres. I could not think of anything else to say, so I excused myself and followed Chris. We met the couple who were to be seated at our table, and had a nice conversation. Then Chris said we should go sit. So we went into the dining room. But we just sat. Nothing happened. Eventually our seatmates came. They were from Busan and we had a good time talking to them. Dinner was announced. We chatted until it was our table's turn to enter the buffet line. I skipped the pasta, but had the salmon, the chicken, the beef and the peppers. It used to be peppers and broccoli, but the broccoli was gone. And a salad that was 90% lettuce. As we ate, Chris regaled them with stories. I even heard a few new ones. (After 25 years of marriage, that is unusual.) I watched the room empty and the staff pack up the chairs. Finally our tablemates left. Then Chris went over to the Chaplain's table. Three couples sat there. We joined them. I saw the Christmas tree get dragged away. But the group did not break up until the staff turned off the heat and the ladies got cold. I went to the bathroom while Chris went to pay his tab. When I came back, he had joined another table in the bar. He introduced me and the stories started all over. One of the ladies was the director of CYP, the place that was babysitting all the kids. It closed at 10:30, so we walked out. Chris grabbed a green cupcake on the way out, getting green all over his lips, teeth and tongue. I told him I hoped he did not run into anyone important looking like that. He said he was the senior person so it didn't matter. I said if you're so important, how about getting us a ride back? We walked all the way back to our quarters. Then we checked e-mail. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* The fallen leaves outside our quarters are so pretty *