Timeline: December 24th

2:30 am: Wake up call from Javier, who asks if I want to meet up with the guys for some drinks. It turns out he doesn't have work in the morning. I do.

4:30 am: Wake up with no feeling in my right arm. It hangs limply and looks like the bones have disappeared. For a moment I consider that I've dislocated my shoulder in my sleep, until the pins and needles, along with the pain come back. Continue sweating in the heat, fall back asleep.

5-7:30 am: Come in and out of consciousness as the heat makes it hard to sleep. Heavy rains start to fall.

8:30 am: Head to work in the dark morning, with heavy thunderstorms. The streets are empty, as most people appear to have the day off. I can actually see down past Avenida 9 de Julio but don't recognize it without all of the traffic going by. Pant bottoms get wet.

9:30 am: Receive gift of T-shirt from the office. Continue working while simultaneously finding out that plans I thought I had for a dinner with friends were actually for tomorrow. No plans for holiday (Christmas) dinner. Bummer kicks in.

2:30 pm: Wish co-workers a Merry Christmas and head home. On the way pick up a bootleg copy of "Extract" with Jason Bateman in the street for $10 pesos. Night activity is set. Streets are buzzing a bit more than the morning, but comparatively, the Microcentro is a ghost town.

3:30 pm: Decide to take a nap, wake up an hour or so(?) later, have Skype conversation with Ricardo Hernandez back in Chicago. Ricardo tells me it's cold in Chicago. It's hot and sticky in Buenos Aires.

4:30 pm: Finally agree to take advantage of the free afternoon and the emptiness of the streets. Go for a run down to Puerto Madero and back home. The streets are nearly empty, and it's creepy. The Microcentro has that feel to it like a town from some post-apocalyptic movie from the 80s with Mel Gibson. I half expect to see people huddled around a fire in an oil drum and some kid trying to sell me a fresh human liver. This is no place for a kid. Run was good, but I must have overheated, as sweat drips down like rain and my face is beet red.

6:50-8 pm: Talk to friends on Skype and on Gchat. Everyone seems to be home for the holidays.

8:15 pm: Begin preparing and cooking chicken Parmesan with spaghetti. Not a very difficult, but consuming process that requires delicate attention for the best results. Only the second time cooking this. Again, I have no one to share this with, or prove that I was able to cook something so good. Still, more food for me.

9:30 pm: Finish cooking, sit down to meal. It's incredible. Be jealous.

10 pm: Spend almost as much time cleaning up the kitchen as was spent preparing the food. Retire to my upstairs bedroom to watch "Extract" while hearing fireworks (or gun shots, or garbage trucks, or car accidents) outside in the streets. Distracted with this blog.


10:52 pm: Finishing this blog. Now. At the end of this period. Period.