Sam's Blog

Link: http://www.jeffhanson.net/

I am saddened to hear the news about the great Jerry Orbach. I grew up watching him and admired him so much. I sat next to him and Sam Waterson at the Emmy awards a few years ago and he was such a nice man. I guess it caught me off guard because he was just recently diagnosed. I suppose it was more advanced than I thought. Well, R.I.P. Mr. Orbach. I am going to miss you and Law & Order will not be the same without you.

On a lighter note, I have been feeling much better lately. No dizziness anymore, but my stomach hurts every so often, no matter what I eat. I have no appetite, but force myself to eat something. We (Josh and the vegans) all went out for Ethiopian food last night. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fabulous either. I think it’s because I don’t like the bread, it’s a bit too sour for me. I love naan at Indian restaurants and I was expecting it to taste similar, but it didn’t. The chicken was great though. After dinner, we played Scrabble and Shahab joined us later. I love Scrabble, but I hadn’t played in years, so I was a bit rusty. We were all distracted because we were watching old episodes of Sealab 2021 and In Living Color so the game was slow going. I had fun though. I need to brush up on “Q” words that do not require “U” because the 10 points you get for the “Q” is no good if you don’t have a “U.” And apparently “ta” is a word, as in, ta tas. I thought that was funny. I had to go to sleep relatively early last night because I am working today. It sucks that everyone else is closed on campus today, except for my department, what luck. But it’s only for emergent issues, so it hasn’t been that bad thus far.

I realized that I really like the sun and I’ve missed it these past few days. I know that I cannot survive in Seattle for sure. I am glad that it is back out and shining on us. I hear that it will rain more, but I just hope it doesn’t tomorrow night. I think I slept funny last night because my upper back hurts. I just took 2 hospital-strength Tylenols, so I hope that it works fast. I am also hoping to be able to get off early today to prepare for the party tomorrow night. I am actually getting really excited about it. I think that a majority of my friends are coming, which makes me so very jovial. I do miss those that are on the east coast and cannot come. So sad, but I hope they have fun doing their own thing as well. I really wanted to hear Tripp spin, but unfortunately, he is still in Virginia. That would’ve been so awesome. But seriously though, everyone under one roof…I wonder what craziness will ensue.

As another year approaches, it’s hard for me to not be reflective or nostalgic about the past. I look back and see how things have changed in just one year and I really don’t know how I feel about it yet. I’m not saying that things have changed drastically or anything like that, but there are little changes here and there that have been both positive and negative in my life, so it’s hard for me to have a definite answer at this time. I must not let these thoughts consume me too much, but I know that I have to tie a few loose ends eventually and I don’t know if I will be able to do that for a while. But I am in no rush and I do hope that tomorrow night will be a success.

Happy New Year everyone!!

[As I type this, I see that the death toll in Asia has gone up to 116,000. I am so devastated about the whole situation. I am scared because I know that Monica is in India right now, but I don’t know what city she is in. I hope she emails me back soon and that lack of Internet is the only problem she has right now. I am glad to hear that Shahab’s brother, Haady is safe in Thailand. But I am hoping for the best for Monica. Hopefully she’s shopping in a bazaar right now and having fun. I feel so bad for the Indonesian people. I studied their history and culture quite closely in college and they’ve been through so much these past few decades alone and they don’t deserve any of this devastation. No country does. I feel bad celebrating a new year knowing that so many people are suffering and I cannot do much to help them. Sigh.]