But then again, nothing really has changed since college...

DJ Pica Pull: I'm polishing off my 12th beer
DJ Pica Pull: 'bout ready to head to the frat house to see what hijinks I
can get into
DJ Pica Pull: how about you
Pat: ahhhh
Pat: I just got home from work
Pat: very much not a frat house
Pat: more like a service sorority

I come back to the place you aren't

ST. LOUIS -- Been back in the Show-Me State for almost a week. Did a truncated visit with the fam on Thursday night and then left for Columbia the next morning.

I had been warned, prepped and advised: Columbia won't be the same. What made Columbia so special to me, in large part, were the people who affected, and only half of them are still there. And after this upcoming May, that list of people left in Columbia can fit on one hand.

My missing of Columbia has mainly been a missing in that "I-will-always-remember-it" way and not in that "I-wish-I-were-there-and-not-here" way. I say "mainly," though, because on days when I feel like I have done nothing but go to work, and I feel kinda sluggish, it's easy to think, "Well! Columbia wasn't like this!"

Which is bullshit, of course, because there were tons of days where I'd look back on the day and could think of nothing but having worked at Lee Hills.

So, with that in mind, I was able to have a good time in Columbia. Got to see the people still there: Hilary, David, D, Becca L., Jake, Gillian, Josh, KT, Lurch, Reu, and Luke. Granted, some of these visits were shorter than others, but that is how things worked out.

As for the town itself? Others have said it, and I'll say it: The new Berg is clean. The Artisan is still the Artisan, featuring the back-up choir from "Saved!" Shattered is still Shattered. All in all, Columbia was still Columbia. Which is a good feeling. Even if you don't recognize most of the people there, seeing the same establishments is refreshing.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

My sister and her husband used to have neighbors who had more Christmas lights on their lawn than a whole neighborhood need have in its subdivision. Kerry called these people "The Griswalds."

I hadn't thought of this for years, and then Scott and I put up his Christmas lights. I had no clue, but he's got the same amount of lights, ornaments and knick-knacks that a family would have. He keeps them all in boxes, carefully protected in his closet, and he takes them out right after Thanksgiving. This was semi-new to me, as my past roommates were of the mentality that any month was a good month for Christmas lights. I actually learned to appreciate that, and it didn't occur to me until just now that I had been living a year and a half in places where there were no Christmas lights.

"I think Type O Negative should do a Christmas song"

Of course, as with anything Scott and I do, we had to get a playlist going. I got on my computer and found my Christmas playlist from a few years ago. It has some holes in it, as I deleted some of the songs, but the mainstays are all there, including Weird Al's "Christmas at Ground Zero." I'll point out that he recorded that song way before 9/11. He might be weird, but he's not heartless.

Anywho, there's a hip-hop Christmas song I had downloaded, and it's labeled as being by The 69 Boyz and The Quad City DJs. That might not be who actually recorded it, but that label is appropriate in indicating what the track sounds like.

The main chorus is "What you gonna get/Fo' Christmas/What you gonna get, playa/What you get?" Well, there's a rendition of the twelve days of Christmas wrapped in there, with one of the wishes being "11 billion blunts." That's funny in and of itself, but what's funnier is that a few lines, you hear, "Christmas day/The birth of Christ/No doubt/That's what it's all about."

It struck us that there are a lot of Christmas songs by people whom you wouldn't think should have Christmas songs: Korn, The Ramones, No Doubt, Eazy-E, Run D.M.C., Kurtis Blow, Ben Folds, etc. But there were some people we thought should have songs, if for no other reason than because you wouldn't expect that artist to have a Christmas song.

For such a list, we nominated:
*Metallica
*Lil Jon
*Type O Negative
*Ice Cube/Dr. Dre

On my own, I add:
*Ludacris

Artists I think should never try to have a Christmas song:
*Ani

Feel free to add or quibble as you will. One thing that Scott and I didn't mention was Mariah Carey. She has tons of Christmas songs. This might be the one time of the year I still hear her on the radio. Not too bad for someone who went all Margot Kidder a few years back.

No, no, no, not STAR Jones... DOW Jones

Congrats to David for scoring a sweet DJNF internship this summer in Nash Vegas. Didja what? Didja Neff. And he'll be doing Boot Camp in Orlando. For those of you who know him... I need not explain why Nashville and Orlando are good fits for him. At all. :)

Which reminds me...

Congrats to Blythe, fellow Didja-Neffer, who will be interning this summer in Orlando.

All you little suckers...

I'll be in CoMo a week from today. Get ready. I have fun things planned, specifically for graduation.

My first plan is to pretend that Hilary's dad (Ed) is actually Ed Lover, one half of the hip-hop radio duo that is Ed Lover and Dr. Dre. Jake can be my back-up boom box, and I will sing, "When I wake up in the morning/I drink my coffee/I like butter rolls, buttered softly/I like my apartment/It's nice and lofty." If he truly is Ed Lover, he will know this song and laughingly sign an autograph.

That probably won't work, but it will make Jake laugh. And it allowed me to put "make" next to "Jake," and those words, you know, rhyme.

I could just pretend to be mute. That also will make people laugh, because I'm about as mute as, well, Ed Lover. Hooooo!

KT: you went into sugar shock in elementary school
KT: due to me, k*lly m*rphy, @ndr*w d00r, and p@tr*ck h*ck*r
KT: all having the same b-day
Pat: HAHAHAHA
Pat: That would put me in sugar shock
KT: hey u enjoyed it

I have known KT since I was six. We had kindergarten together and then had every class together until sixth grade. I think she might be the first person (not related to me) who ever wanted to kill me.

None of this really merited a post, per se, but it's a cheap way to say Happy Birthday to her and to Courtney and to Ochie. And, I would have been in error to not post that IM conversation about me having sugar shock. I don't remember said event, but I don't deny it.

"Home... hard to know what one is..."

I fly home Dec. 16, and fly back on Dec. 26. Three of those days will be spent in CoMo, but the rest of that time will be in the St. Louis/St. Charles/Belleville area.

It will be the first time home since July, which is momentous enough, but it will be momentous also in that I'll be meeting some of my friends boyfriends and girlfriends. Both Lurch and Rachel fit into this category. I can't think of anyone else with someone for me to meet. Just as well. I can't give the third degree more than twice in a 10-day span. My back will ache.

Wait, actually, that's not true. There's one more person to meet. I'll have to meet my friend Beth's husband. And I'll cry like a baby, because I remember wanting to marry her in kindergarten. KT has already braced me for the fact that this guy could kick my ass. Funny thing is, his cousin had gym class with me and used to hang out with the kids who told me I had a "rat-face." However, as this guy is a holy man (Jewish), I don't think he'll act on that impulse to kick my ass. So I hope.

Otherwise, I might be in a sling.