sorry to hear the new years was less than awesomeness for you. I must suggest you go to PAX; me and 3 of my friends went down and it was really, really awesome. Also, it always makes me happy when I run into people I know down there.
<<moment of jealousness since you've been to Japan>>
PAX is supposedly quite a blast. I hope you enjoy yourself whereever you end up. Good luck on the job hunt. Let us know about the BioWare game. I so need to force myself to pick up Japanese...