We spent the early evening today the same way we usually do: at a west side mexican restaurant celebrating my dad's birthday.

Only there were a few things that were different this year.

For one, it's been 50 degrees or more for the last four or five days and there is no snow on the ground. I'm certainly not complaining however, especially since it's far better to work outside when it's 41 degrees rather than 17.

The others are a bit more trivial. My dad, mom and myself drove to the restaurant in my sister's Jeep, which seems all wrong. In the twenty months or so since she got her Jeep, I'm unsure if I've ever been in the vehicle when anyone but her has driven it.

Why were we driving it? And where was she? That brings me to my next comment that gave the evening a bit of an odd feeling.

My sister got a new car today. The three of them headed out at around noon, and by three or so, I received a call from my sister that she had just turned onto the street (in her new car) and wondered if I wanted to go with her as she bought gas. I did, she pulled up in a dark blue 2000 Dodge Neon, and I stopped my Dresden Dolls disc from playing and took it to the car.

She called again as I was nearly out the door: "J, bring a CD with you. I want to test out my CD player."

Am I on top of things or what?

So we drive around, and yada yada yada we end up pulling into the parking lot for dinner three hours later. Or rather, she pulled up with her new boyfriend, which I expected, as she had called and told me that she was driving through his city (a city she has no other reason to go to) toward the restaurant and would be arriving soon.

Now, I'm her older brother. And while I'm not one of those psycho over-protective types, I do realize I come off extremely cold for a great deal of time toward the guys she dates. When she dated her first major boyfriend, I didn't talk to him until they invited me to play basketball with them, which was quite possibly a year after they started dating and happened at the time I started journaling here. Later, we became friends, played basketball once a week and began talking car audio with one another.

I didn't speak to her second and most most recent boyfriend until they had been together for many months. Our first conversation? Well, he had slept over and I had locked my keys in my car within weeks of buying it. Very kindly and without me asking, he came out with a wire coat hanger in regular clothing that looked more like pajamas than pajamas do. "We had to do this with Amelia's car once" he told me. Before long, we were joking, talking about music, and he was teaching me how to play songs like "Seven Nation Army", "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" on his bass guitar.

I found a common thread with each of her boyfriends, which is good. And I think they were both good guys and complete opposites of one another. But I'm betting it'll be months before I have my first conversation with her new guy, who surprised my mom and I by sitting in the dark living room with my sister as we walked past them to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.

Boy, do I get sidetracked.

It was a bit odd to be at family dinner, something we do at most thrice a year, with my sister's new boyfriend. It just didn't feel right. Due to there being five of us and all of the booths and tables only seating four, my mom, dad and I sat at the booth while they sat across from each other at a table on the other side of the aisle.

Having them sit separate from us did help, but he was clearly in my view the whole time.

We probably won't do the family dinner thing for quite some time, as I'm not big into going out for dinner on my birthday in February, and neither is my sister. My parents will likely go for their anniversary later next summer, and then it'll be time for my parent's birthdays again, and possibly a Thanksgiving or gathering with an aunt.

I've just realized I've probably made no sense whatsoever, but in conclusion:

** My sister got a new car. It's blue despite her dislike of the color, and has 76,000 or so miles, despite my dislike for the mileage. She really should consider a lower mileage and cheap car like a Kia or Hyundai. I mean really, there isn't much difference between a Kia and a Dodge Neon. She put over 52,000 miles on her car in the twenty months she had it. That's more than 2,500 miles a month, or an oil change every five weeks or so.

And...

** My sister brought her boyfriend to "Friday night dinner." Hmmm.

Still unsure if I want to head downtown to the big New Year celebration. On the plus side, it's 40 degrees warm (but raining and very windy) and a lot of people on the otherwise deserted streets of downtown looks very cool. The minus? Do I even need to mention how horrible it is to be alone and surrounded by 30,000 people all kissing at the same time?

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