A group of Console folk, myself included, went out for lunch to a local Japanese eatery [there are so MANY]. We were commemorating fellow co-op Truc's last day at the company - she's headed back to school.

When we got there, we saw a *large* group of SimSequel artists already seated. 5 minutes after we sat down, a small group of Console leads as well as a group of SimSequel engineers arrived in separate groups. A total of about 40 people.

Talk about a group mind.

Truc proved to be quite a lush, doling out warm sake like nobody's business and socking quite a bit away on her own. Truc is a small 100-pound Vietnamese girl, and let's just say her face wasn't hiding anything about her drunken demeanor. Bright red, she was.

We had an enjoyable lunch - I think 2 or 3 small cups of sake were forced upon me ;) - and at the end, the staff brought out pineapples in plum wine as a free dessert. Mmmm.

As if that wasn't enough, then the owner of the store came out and handed out 180-ml bottles of Ozeki Sake to *every SimCompany employee* there.

So it was a good time. Although I have a little headache now.

When I got back, Hunter's Christmas present had finally arrived [thank God] and my boss had left a game boy game for me on my desk. (Harvest Moon). I am SO not helping my RSI by playing Game Boy games late into the night.

And just now, Ira walked into my office and gave me [and Hunter] a copy of Puerto Rico, an excellent, excellent board game that we've played with him quite often, [But I haven't had time to go shopping so of course we don't have a present for him, and he's leaving the state tomorrow :( ]

And my free copy of the third game I worked on is arriving today.

It's like Christmas! But...in mid-December! Or something!

Meanwhile, a war rages in my hair.

The other night, I took a break from the Warcraft board game to use the restroom. (Don't worry, that's not the story.)

Upon looking in the mirror, I noticed a peculiar hair dangling from my forehead.

It was a long, thick, dark brown, CURLY piece of hair. Firmly attached to my scalp.

Let me explain. I am a blonde. Always have been. Don't dye my hair or anything either. Admittedly, during the winter it fades a little due to lack of sunlight (since it is actually Color Change Barbie hair) but it is very much natural blonde hair. Very thin, baby-fine, straight-as-a-stick blonde hair.

But it appears that behind my back (or above my head, as it were) some of my hair has been getting other ideas. The new hair is the polar opposite of my current hair - very thick, very dark, and CURLY.

What the hell?

My mother has had a similar problem as of late - her gray hairs are coming in curly. But that's her grey hairs. Not only has my hair changed texture but pigment as well, so that it has MORE pigment. This is not how aging works.

Anyway, I will be watching my head with rapt interest in the next few weeks so that I can see how things turn out.

"The War Of The Follicles: Blonde vs. Brunette. Who will win??

Any bets?