Maybe Next Christmas

Maybe Next Christmas by Matthew Mayfield... a little dark but appropriate considering recent breakup events...



‘Maybe next Christmas’ she used to say
‘We’ll find a new life and we’ll both run away
Maybe next Christmas I won’t be with him
Maybe next Christmas we can start fresh again'

Maybe next Christmas we’ll have reaped what we’ve sown
Maybe next Christmas we’ll have paid what we owe
Maybe next Christmas we won’t be afraid
Maybe next Christmas we’ll both be ok

But you can’t pull the truth out of thin air
And you can’t manufacture what ain’t there
And maybe next Christmas we’ll sit by a fire
Maybe next Christmas you won’t be a liar

Maybe next Christmas I’ll be in your arms
With the scent of the evergreen keeping us strong
Maybe next Christmas I’ll finally get to see
You wearing that dress that you bought just for me

Maybe next Christmas you’ll be by my side
And relentlessly prove to me that I’m worth the fight
Maybe next Christmas I’ll have more to say
Than ‘I gave you everything and you gave me away’

But you can’t pull the truth out of thin air
And you can’t manufacture what ain’t there
And maybe next Christmas you won’t be thinking
That I’m just a criminal and you’re still the queen

Maybe next Christmas I’ll have more to say
Than I gave you everything and you gave me away
I gave you everything and you gave me away
I gave you everything and you gave me awa

Touring Upper New England

I've visited Cape Cod a few times through work for my South Harwich based company, but I always find the most ill-timed weekends to go.  The first two trips were in January, and this time I was going up to attend our Christmas party in December.  I made a weekend out of it, planning one night on the Cape, one night in Boston and then driving back to Connecticut for the next work week.

I've been to most states in the US, but upper New England has eluded me up to this point.  My parents made the trip after I was in college, so I didn't get a chance to see it with them.  I left Connecticut on Friday morning, driving up I-95.  I planned to have lunch somewhere in Rhode Island.  I actually had to turn around because I got through the state so quickly that I wouldn't have actually touched the ground in the state (and made a credit card transaction at Subway for proof).

A few hours later I checked into the Chatham Bars Inn, which was also where our Christmas party was being held.  It was a really nice, old, established hotel.  The rooms were a bit small, but modern and cozy.  The lobby has great views of the water and the service was very good.  And being in the middle of winter, it wasn't very crowded.

Not many consultants make it up to the Christmas party because we are spread out all over the country.  I got a chance to see a lot of people from our home office that I usually only know through email.  They work in billing, deployment, travel, payroll - all of the people that make my job easier.  There was dinner and drinks and a few speeches about the year, then we headed to a local bar to continue after the hotel party shut down.

On Saturday I planned to meet up with friends in Boston, although I wasn't planning to go all out like I did last time.  Until then, I had a whole day to waste.  I had a conversation the night before about a coworker's trip up the Cape to Provincetown at the very tip.  So that's what I decided to do.

Cape Cod Bay with Provincetown in the distance

The town is known for its gay friendly population, stores, bars and vacationers.  Why, I haven't quite figured it out.  It takes sooooo long to drive up the Cape.  I can only imagine the traffic nightmares in the summer.  When I got there, it was cold and windy on the water and there were very few people out.  Not to mention, most of the stores were closed with 'See you next summer' signs on the door.  I found a restaurant that was open and got a hot drink and a lobster roll - crucial for a trip here.

Lobster cage Christmas tree

I browsed around the shops that were open to look for Christmas presents, but only succeeded in finding a surf shop with a sale going on (score!).  I got a few shirts and called it a day.  There were a few monuments to the pilgrims and founders of Massachusetts, so I snapped a few pictures as I tried to stay warm.

After seeing all I could see, I wove my way back down the skinny arm of the Cape and tried to find all of the lighthouses.  I think I missed one or two but here's what I have:

I stopped in a parking lot to see a surfer getting out of the water - it looked frigid, and I've been surfing in water in the mid-50s lately.  The waves were obviously bad from the onshore wind, but he told me that there were good spots if you knew when to come out.  I probably won't get that lucky, or have the thick wetsuit needed to brave the waters.

After that I headed to Boston for dinner and a decently late night on the town.  I knew I had to get up for the long trip back in the morning, and I had this idea forming in my head.  Since New Hampshire was only about 45 minutes from Boston, and Maine was only another hour, why not just make a mad dash to go there?  Then I could cut back across New Hampshire to Vermont and head south back to Connecticut.

I mapped it out on Google and it looked like a 6 hour trip.  Not bad, and I didn't have anything to get back to in Connecticut anyway.  I left Boston at noon just for flurries to start to appear.  I stopped in upper New Hampshire for lunch and snow was sticking to the ground.  Not too long after that, I pulled off the first exit in Maine to buy a candy bar (transaction complete!) and the snow was a good inch or two thick.  This should make the ride back entertaining!

I started to creep as I got stuck behind slow moving trucks on two-lane roads.  You'll notice there are no pictures in this section - I was 100% concentrating on the road.  By the time I got to Vermont I wondered if I was going to make it back.  Traffic was inching along and the snow was really coming down.  I stopped for gas in Brattleboro, a town in the corner of the state, and then got back in the car for the last 1.5 hours (hopefully).

Massachusetts still sat between me and my destination, but luckily the further I moved south, the less it snowed.  Then it turned to mush and finally rain.  By the time I got back to my hotel in Stamford it was clear.  I finished the trip in 7 hours and made it back unscathed.  I Xed off all of my remaining states in New England, bringing my US total to 40/50.  I know it's kind of cheating to make a run like this to cross them off the list.  I'd love to ski Vermont and drive up there to see the leaves change in the fall, and I haven't ruled that out.  But for now, I've been there done that and it's off to the next place!

Christmas Week

As mentioned in a previous post when I almost got deported, my parents and brother came to Sydney this week for Christmas. My friends Daya and Sarah tag teamed to take care of Zabba. I got a few weeks off of work because the project was shut down for the holidays, so I could take them anywhere they wanted to go. I met everyone at the Marriott in Circular Quay and we proceeded to hit all of the highlights… ferry ride to Manly, coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee, Harbour Bridge pylon climb (see the video below for the view), Featherdale Wildlife Park, plus dinners at Din Tai Fung, Madang Korean Barbecue, Chili Box, and I’m Angus.

 A traditional Christmas in Australia is spent on the beach eating seafood. I bought fish, scallops and shrimp at A Fish Called Coogee. We cooked everything up at my flat and went down to the beach for a picnic wearing Santa hats. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect – it was about 85 degrees and sunny the entire day. We threw some Frisbee and spent the afternoon jumping in the water.

After a whirlwind 6 days my parents headed back to the US while my brother stayed for NYE and our planned trip to the Whitsundays.

Happy Ending to the Deportation Saga

As soon as I got home from my near deportation, I emailed my company (a bit ticked off) about the incident.  I was sure someone had screwed up my visa but it turns out they have sent plenty of consultants to Australia on the 977 visa with no problems.  No one knows why I was singled out this time.  We scheduled a conference call for the next day to discuss my options.  It basically came down to this:

1. Work remotely from the US - possible, but not ideal.  The whole reason I was in Sydney was because they wanted someone on site to run the project.  That would also prevent me from my NYE and beach vacation plans right after New Years (more on that in a future post).
2. Train a replacement over the next few weeks - also possible, but probably wouldn't happen.  There wasn't anyone available locally and it would take too long to get someone up to speed.  We are at a critical point in the project and it would put the project at risk.  I also would like to see the project through, so I didn't want to do this.
3. Get a different visa - this was my favorite option because it would allow me to keep my travel plans back home as well as coming back into the country.  However, after a lot of online research on Australia's immigration website and a few conversations with people on long term visas, it would take too long, cost too much and be more hassle than it was worth since I am leaving relatively soon.
4. Stay in Australia through Christmas and stay until the end of the project - not desirable, but the easiest way to go.  I didn't want to stay through Christmas for obvious reasons, but we were all drawing to this conclusion.

I finally accepted this fact and said, "Now I'm just going to have to tell my mom that I can't come home for Christmas."

Ok, so I played it up a little.  There was a collective "Awwwwwwwwwwww" on the other end of the phone as our deployment, travel and legal representatives (all female, all mothers) showed their sympathy.  They told me they would get back to me with I was expecting some kind of compen$ation.  I was pretty down because I had been looking forward to some time at home as well as my family's traditional trip to Kentucky to visit family and friends.  And let's not forget about my puppy love.  About a half hour later, I got a phone call from our deployment manager that went something like this:

"So, Jay, we talked to Tom and Trish (*husband and wife team that own/run my company*).  They would like to fly your parents to Sydney for Christmas."
"Uh...... WHAT?"
"Since your brother is coming out for New Years, maybe you can move his flight up and you can all be there together.  Do you think your family would go for that?"
"Let me think.  YES.  I don't know what to say... thank you!"

I need to find a Santa hat ASAP...

How cool is that?  Did I mention that I love working for BackOffice Associates?  Even before this saga, I have been lucky to have the opportunity to travel and grow professionally among such a great group of people.  I've learned a lot in the past few years and owe them a lot already.  I'm really glad I went with a small company out of grad school instead of one of the big consulting firms, because something like this never would've happened at Accenture or Deloitte.

We worked out most of the details and my parents will be here from December 21st-27th.  My brother is going to fly in with them and leave, as originally planned, on January 12th.  I depleted all of my Marriott points to put my parents up in the Circular Quay Marriott overlooking the opera house which is where I stayed during my first two weeks in the city.  It's not that close to my apartment, but I figured it was the best spot for such a short time.  Now I'm figuring out all of the places I want to show them.  I've already played tour guide a few times, so I think we will have enough to do.  And of course, we'll spend Christmas Day on the beach.  This will probably be the most memorable (and unexpected) Christmas of my life.  I can't wait!

Merry Christmas

Every Christmas I leave Atlanta and travel up I-75 with my family to visit my old Kentucky home. We stay with my grandparents in Richmond in the house they've lived in since the 1940s. My mom grew up in this house that has 2 bedrooms downstairs, a den with a foldout couch-bed (where I sleep with Zabba) and a loft upstairs that has 4 single beds. Oh yeah, and the house has a bathroom. Yes, one bathroom. My mom has 6 brothers and sisters... I can't imagine the chaos.

The house is small and familiar, but as the years have gone on my grandparents have accumulated more stuff. Aunts and uncles give them books and knick-knacks as gifts every year, and they could fill a library. Instead, they're filling every open space in the house. The den, where I'm staying, is a room that is about 10x25, but with the bed rolled out and all of the toys, magazines, books and other random items, there is only about 10-15 square feet of walking space out of the 250 square feet in the room.

Most holidays I spend here, I escape off to Lexington to spend a night or two with my friend Matt, whom I've known since 3rd grade. Yesterday he volunteered to pick my brother and I up, so we spent most of the afternoon catching up and relaxing in a house that didn't feel like the walls were closing in. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time at my grandparents house. Some of my earliest memories are of this place. I just want to do some kind of home makeover to give us all more room while we are here.

The first day we spent in Kentucky was a noteworthy one because I went to my first UK home basketball game since I graduated in 2004. We played Long Beach State, which should have been a pushover. After a bit of sweating, we pulled it out in the end. It'll probably be another long period before I'm able to see another game at home, so I'm glad I could go.

Christmas day was fairly typical. We got together at my aunt's house here in Richmond with most of the cousins, aunts and uncles. We're even to the point where some of my cousins are marriend and have kids. They're all younger than me. Scary. I did get to model a leopard print Snuggie, which was fun. My 12 year old cousin (the Snuggie owner) wasn't too happy of the mockery, though.

Tomorrow we're going to Elizabethtown to spend some time with my dad's brother, my cousin and her daughter. I haven't seen them all in a while so I'm looking forward to it. They came down for Thanksgiving in Atlanta this year, but I was out of the country (see my Thanksgiving post).

Merry Christmas to all!

Worst Christmas Song... EVAR!

If you've never heard Last Christmas by Wham, you've been lucky enough never to hear the worst Christmas song ever created. It's cheesy, bitter, and overall just a horrible song. I remember in 8th grade we were allowed to bring a CD to share with everyone in French class. I remember nothing from French class, except for this memory and the song Alouette.

Here is a literal translation of Wham's video for Last Christmas, which I love since I hate the song so much.