We returned to the Bay area this past Sunday for a night out – at the circus! Neither Melody nor I have been to the circus since we were little kids. For me, it was the Ringling Bros then, complete with acrobats, clowns, and elephants across three rings in an enormous stadium. In contrast, Cirque du Soleil’s new show, Kurios, was a fantastic production of sights and sounds with steampunk elements and a cool electro-swing soundtack. The memorable acts included a Japanese yo-yo champion, a rolla bolla genius, and a miniature woman who is one meter tall. We had secured a ghetto parking spot for the show through ParkWhiz, but ended the evening with a festive holiday dinner at the Michelin-starred Boulevard, which featured a delectable white truffle polenta and lobster bisque among the highlights. The meal stood out among my other holiday dining experiences this week, including Paesanos for our lab lunch, Shoki Ramen for a VA candidate luncheon, and Mexican take-out at my wife’s division holiday party at her boss’ house. Back home, we interviewed several interior designers including Misha Lindsey and Kerrie Kelly (her minion at least), with the hope of putting our home improvement projects back on track.

The holiday season has barely arrived, but I decided to treat myself to a few new gadgets to replace my aging hardware and gear. Our adventures in Orlais & Ferelden became much smoother with a new Sapphire Radeon R9 280x graphics card, which features three tandem 12mm fans that barely fit into my tower. Taking advantage of Black Friday specials, I also replaced my 4-year-old not-so-smart phone with a new Samsung Galaxy S5. The new phone is not much of a looker, but certainly has the specs to keep my mobile experience lag-free at least for the near future. Meanwhile, we’re also joining in the holiday spirit with some Christmas decorations and a new tree from Emigh’s. Last week, the ALTA holiday dinner at Asian Pearl featured a talk from a Buddhist monk which fortunately did not interfere with the full-on HK banquet-style meal. The food at my department holiday party was less interesting in comparison, but at least featured a DJ and raffle.

Our productivity took a nosedive when Dragon Age: Inquisition was released. We picked up zero-day copy at Walmart and proceeded to become sleep deprived and dehydrated as we explored Haven, the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast. Although not nearly as funny or sarcastic as our hero in Dragon Age 2, our new hero has nearly endless possibilities to explore and collect in the new open world gameplay. We took a break for Melody to prepare the Thanksgiving hybrid dinner for her side of the family, which we transported to her sister’s house since we lacked a dining table. On Saturday, we drove to the Bay area for brunch with a few friends, then stocked up at Container Store and Crate & Barrel. We discovered Pacific East Mall in Richmond on the way back, and got our Asian grocery and Canto seafood fix before coming home. The rest of the weekend was spent closing Fade Rifts and seeking out a new artificial Christmas tree at various Home Depots, Walmart, and Michael’s, but ended up with a lot of decorations instead. Hopefully we’ll have a tree before the actual holiday arrives.