"65 years...don't they go by in a blink?" - Meet Joe Black

Ok, so this Thanksgiving break was no 65 years, but nonetheless, it's Sunday and I don't know where the time went.

It's funny how I always talk about going to PA in terms of consistency. Everything's always the same as the last year, change is minimal, parts of it are comforting, other parts are tedious. For some reason, I thought this year would be different with us living in Baltimore. However, despite me forgetting my backpack in my room, catching a noon MARC train and spending a Friends filled night at mom's, once we actually got to PA, it was more of the same. There were subtle differences. It was the first Thanksgiving since Mom-mom died, but since she'd been sick so long, it was probably the 5th Thanksgiving we spent without her at the table. It was also the first Thanksgiving in a long time that the family didn't eat all together, mom and her four brothers. Instead, everyone had dinner with the other side of their respective families, except for Uncle Don and Aunt Kim, who generously had us for dinner. It was a quieter meal than I was used to, but it was nice, and it seems that my cousin Rachael might not hate me that much anymore. Sure, we were ganging up on my uncle, but it's still a nice change.

The rest of the trip was spent at Uncle Kevin's. We went to a big public market Friday and I picked up Heat and a new Identity since I doubt my friend's RA will ever get it back to me. Then we went to Best Buy, which had a 5 DVDs for $25 bin! So I picked up Grumpy Old Men, Absolute Power, Blade Runner, The Client, and Training Day. That's 7 movies in one day for about 6 bucks a pop. Not too shabby.

Then again, I always tell Mom that not spending money is cheaper than a deal. Whatever.

Then last night, we had the big family dinner that usually happens on Thursday. All the brothers came and we also had Rachael's poor boyfriend who was thrust into the craziness that is my family. Glad I was more merciful than that. We played the family football game and Brian and I won, despite the fact that I was smoked several times by a 6th grader.

And oh yeah, who made a big catch in the UGA-GT game? Sean Bailey, that's who! That kid's so freaking fast.

But yeah, it was a pretty laid back weekend. So laid back, in fact, that here I am musing about how it was over so quickly. I don't know what I feel about that. Maybe I want more of a break, but I know a part of me wants to get back. Maybe I'm freaked out about the work ahead of me, but maybe I'm happy to get back to it. Jeebus, I don't know. Too much to think about. I'm just gonna go do my math homework about different sized infinities. Who wants to join me? No one...yeah, sounds about right.

Well, hope no one's expecting a nice manifesto like the last one, although I still mean every word.

Things are ok here on Ian ranch. I feel the lack of theater but at the same time, I NEED to get back into the swing of my studies. I can always fudge my way through math and stay on track, but English is slipping through my fingers. We're supposed to have 2 outside sources a week roughly. So you figure we've been in school how long now? 9 weeks? So I should have 18+ sources right? I have 11, and one I haven't actually analyzed. So yeah, kinda behind.

I'm just having my usual motivation problems. Time seems to slip away and I'm suddenly one more day in the hole with nothing to show for it. I suppose blogging's not the best answer, but then again, what are we supposed to be doing? Should we embrace required classes that are meant to round us out as students? Or do we just get by in them? Do we always do what we should, or should we do what we want? Yeah, they're fun questions and I could sit down and muse all day, but I neither should nor want to. I should go to the library, read The Jew of Malta, pick up some sources and otherwise prepare for tomorrow. I want to take a nap.

Let's see what happens...