Shannanigan's Search for More...

Well, I am in California!

So far, so good. My boyfriend and I are starying with my dad and we got to see my stepmother, stepsister, and half brother before they left last night for Peru. I think my dad will be very much less stressed and a little more relaxed and laid back without so many people in his house. I bought him one of those shiatsu massager things that you put on a chair to help with that .

We've gotten a lot done. A lot of Christmas shopping is over, thank God, but I'm still worried about a few things. I got my boyfriend's mother a couple of small things, but she really deserves a large gift...and I also need a gift for his father and stepmother, another for one of his cousins, and I think I'm forgetting a couple, but I'll figure it out...

we really need to take some nice pictures so that we can just send cards to everyone with our pictures on them :P

I'm definitely happy...and I think the visit has been a real reality check for me. All this time I've really been holding LA up on a pedestal like some otherworldly place of wonder, but really...a lot of my old friends have changed, and not for the better, and many of the people I meet are superficial and more concerned with appearance than anything else. Was that always there, and I just didn't notice? Still, it is nice to see all my old hangouts...this place has changed a bit, but little enough remains the same...

I think I may have solved my craving to move back, at least for a little while...