I had been back last December, but this time around felt a lot different. I felt like I was still in Austin and had just sent a serviceable hologram of myself on the plane. It took a few days to shake the dissonance, but I never stopped feeling like a stranger. Ghosts haunted every street corner and layers of emotional data augmented every interaction.

This has nothing to do with my friends or Albuquerque, but I just didn’t want to be there for very long. I felt like in order to fit into that realm and feel at ease I would need to morph into some old version of myself, a proposition I found horrific. Although there were major changes in the worlds of all of my friends, my version of Albuquerque remained the same.

It really is true: You can’t go home again.

On Thursday Mandy picked me up at the airport. Mandy and Colin were kind enough to let me stay with them at their swanky new loft. I got to meet Hank, their adorable little dog. We got along splendidly and there was much fetching and petting. I went into work and met some of the new people I had only interacted with virtually. I got caught up with my attorneys and hung out with everyone at a lunch party they held for all the December birthdays. After a meeting, I headed out.

I stopped in at Addicted to Comics and dropped off a few copies of House of Whack. Kevin was very encouraging while I was working on the game and I thought it would be great if his store carried the game.

Later on, I had a fantastic dinner with Deborah. She introduced me to High Noon, an excellent steak restaurant in Old Town. They had an upside-down Christmas tree on the ceiling! I got her all caught up with what had been going on in my life since I started participating with Landmark Education.

On Friday I went into work for a bit and then met my friend Halli for lunch at Yasmine’s. We ended up going over to Vivace for some wine and lamenting about love and life. Then Mandy and I went to the ABQ Uptown shopping center so I could get a gift for the gift exchange game at the Christmas party.

The party was at the Hyatt Tamaya resort. I’d been there a couple times before. It is pretty swank. There was an open bar and I indulged in a Grand Marnier and taught the bartender how to make a Dirty Girl Scout. There were Dirty Girl Scouts all around! After a ridiculously good meal, we played the gift exchange game. My contribution, the Transformers DVD, was fought over with great ferocity. I ended up with the movie Smoking Aces, but I didin’t realize it was the full screen version until it was too late! Then we played House of Whack! It was interesting to see how non-gamers responded to the game. They came up with some pretty amusing rules. Then I went to bed in a big clean bed with lots of pillows.

I woke up Saturday morning to discover that I was in a strange hotel bed! I grabbed breakfast at IHOP and then headed over to Tall Tales Comics. This was the other store in town that helped me out with HoW. Jeff was enthusiastic about carrying the game, but he feared they were going to discontinue board games in January. So all you ABQ peeps go buy the game soon!

I hung out at Mandy and Colin’s pad for a while before going to meet Jaimi at Copper Lounge. Jaimi is someone I met through random circumstances. I actually first met her when she was visiting Austin and I invited her and her friends over for drinks with my friends (after several hours of Rock Band!). Jaimi is gorgeous and fantastic, but is currently going through a difficult time. Not the best time for some strange guy to be making eyes at you! We had some drinks and a great conversation about hope and Joan Jett.

Saturday night was my birthday party at Terran and Susan’s. A bunch of people showed up and we had great food and wine. There was also cake and the cake was not a lie! I loved seeing everyone again and getting caught up with people’s lives. We also played House of Whack later. Beware Terran’s might Dragon Spear! Fortunately, he did not unleash Ape Sex on any of the players.

Sunday afternoon found me back at Terran and Susan’s where I reprised my role as Titus Pinkerton in Terran’s Victorian Horror game. It seems that since I last played, Titus had joined forces with the evil Baroness who was bent on summoning tentacled evil from beyond space and time. He even got to have a mad scientist lab in the basement of her manor! I had conspired with Terran a few weeks before my arrival, coming up with clever traps for the players. During the final conflict, Titus burst onto the scene with a steampunk tank!

I then caught a late dinner with my friends Bob and Sari. We went to Taj Mahal! Yum! We discussed the writer’s strike and the impact on our favorite shows.

Monday was my birthday! Dave called me up in the morning so he could be the first person to sing happy birthday to me. I had a birthday breakfast at Flying Star with Mandy and then went into work. Mandy picked me up again for lunch and, after realizing some ancient Japanese tradition mandates that all sushi restaurants must close for two hours in the middle of the day, went home instead. We had a victorious sushi dinner though! Then I went over to Lesley’s and introduced her and John to the wonderfully bizarre film The American Astronaut. I also helped Lesley get her XBox 360 online and loaded with Carcassonne!

I worked some more on Tuesday and did some more House of Whack deliveries. That afternoon Lesley and I went to see I Am Legend, which was a really great movie. I hadn’t read the book or the graphic novel, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to. But I found it well put together and thoughtful. Then we played more Carcassonne!

And on Wednesday, I came back to Austin. Overall, I enjoyed being in Albuquerque again. I didn’t really miss it and it reaffirmed my decision to move to Austin. There is a quiet earthiness to Albuquerque that I miss, though. It isn’t as busy there.

So I started working full time. I am now the Creative Director at AllLaw.com, which is just a title I proposed because it sounded more professional than Intergalactic Special Agent. It also is a better description of what I do there.

I am in the process of bringing closure to various freelancing jobs. I want to devote all of my free time and energy to non-work related activities. This decision is a huge stress relief and it will make a lot of problems go away.