It was well passed 2:00 AM. I sat on an ugly green chair watching a purple lava lamp do its magic through very sleepy eyes. I felt good, better than I've felt all month. All my worries that this month managed to produce faded away for one evening. How I would feel the next day wouldn't really matter. In the midst of all this sorrow, hearthache, and stress, my wonderful friends pulled through for me. Last night of course was the scheduled gift giving frenzy for all my friends. We were all crammed in JOEY'S apartment ready to hand each other gifts.

Gift giving amongst my friends is interesting. It truly is a situation where it's not the money spent but the thought that went into the gift that mattered. The right gift is one that shows you really know the person you're giving it to. The gift could be anything and it could be incredibly cheap, home-made, or something that doesn't cost a single penny. Hell if someone baked me a plate of cookies for christmas it would be a better gift than an expensive game system or television. Well you get the point. Luckily everyone received wonderful, amazing, and thoughtful gifts.

I however got the best gift of all. It would seem that my friends, Brian, Brandon, and Nick all pitched in to give me the mother of all gifts. I had let loose a comment about a particular item that is shall we say the holy grail for true children of the 1980's. Very rare, and obscure to many, but no less the ultimate thing from the past to own. No, this wasn't Masters of the Universe's "Stinkor" still in his blister pack. This gift was far greater than that. For they pooled together their money and fought on ebay to get me... the one... the only...

The Pac Man telephone is beyond awesome. It is a sleek one unit design that makes one kick ass phone. You open the mouth in typical pac man fashion to access the receiver and keypad. Hell, it makes an awesome telephone just for today, let alone 20 years ago. As you can see in these two pictures here, it's quite the thing to own.

But that's not why I love it so much. What I love is the fact that my friends heard me talk about it over half a year ago at the Comic Con and remembered it. I seriously thought the biggest gift I'd get would be a case of Black Lemonade (a future post shall be made about this glorious soda). The Pac Man phone is just a piece of plastic to be honest, but it means something to me because I know my friends went to great trouble to get it. That's why I was so happy. They went well beyond expectations just for me. On top of that, I still got outstanding gifts from everyone else. This was easily one of the best Christmas experiences I can remember having in a long time.

I'm happy because despite all that's happened, I still have great friends who really care about me. That's what the phone will remind me of. So this goes out to everyone. Not just the 3 awesome friends who got me the phone, but to everyone who made this Christmas outstanding. Thank you.

Oh... and thank you too, Pac Man.