Having spent my birthday in clinic all day, I postponed my celebration to enjoy wagyu shabu shabu with family the next evening. We feasted again the following week for a belated Chinese New Year celebration and to welcome my parents back to town. With childcare covered, I was off to Vail Vitrectomy next morning, where I carpooled from Denver again with my friend Eric before settling into the same overpriced hotel. I somehow managed to miss the fact that my talk conflicted with Westley’s 9th birthday, but I at least dropped in to record our birthday song despite a slight lag. Otherwise, my inability to ski left me plenty of time to review NIH grants, even as our new administration left me wondering if study section was even going to happen. For food, I visited Sweet Basil twice for their truffled French onion lasagna and porchetta panino for lunch, and caviar and lump crab taglioloni for dinner. I tried dining solo at Alpenrose, but ran into company including the ophthalmic surgeon to Pope Francis, which made for interesting conversation given his recent health concerns. I returned home to embark on Black Myth Wukong, where the boss fights, skill trees, and epic cinematography reminded us of Elden Ring, Assassin’s Creed, and Ghost of Tsushima, all at the same time. Even Westley joined in the fun and defeated one of the bosses. At home, we finally got all the components to successfully reframe our abalone shell art, and hired an electrician to add a garage outlet. I caught up on second seasons of Pachinko and Squid Games, as well as the final season of Umbrella Academy. I also finally finished applying water decals to my MG gundam, and got some matte top coat to seal them in. For Valentine’s Day, we checked out Frog & Slim’s overpriced prix fixe menu before enjoying the world premier of Young Soon Hue’s Romeo & Juliet with Melody at the Sacramento Ballet. Having missed taking advantage of my parents’ last visit, we were glad to take some time for ourselves.