My computer is still very much toast (I hope I'll have the CD to resurrect it in the mail tomorrow!), but at least I can go online again.

I spent the last two days in K. because our mother house had 'required our presence', so to speak, for a combination of office outing/Christmas celebration/meeting. If the first part of said combination had happened in a restaurant with a less tacky design and designation (I hate breweries! They so are the epitome of anti-culture!) and, most especially, an air less full of smoke, I'd surely have stayed longer. Even if only to witness my colleagues getting drunk. About 15 to 20 Kölsch per person were a tad... excessive. *smirk*

I stuck to apple juice mixed with water. And watched everyone's eyes turn redder by the minute.

Unfortunately mine did, too, since the air was unmoving and getting smokier by the second. Urgh. My throat's still scratchy.

Today's meeting was anti-climatic (and I have to admire the recovery abilities of my colleagues -- they all looked almost normal in the morning) and over quickly, so we got back home at a normal time.

Now the rest of the year's all mine! Woooh! I'm on leave now and will drive to my parents' home either tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. A full week of peace is just looming at the horizon. God, I need that.