It's Good to be Home

The title is from the end of a commercial I just heard. Can't remember what it was for. Bad marketing.

Having been home for Thanksgiving not too long ago at all, this break doesn't have the same hurried must-hang-out-with-everyone-a-lot feel of the previous one, which is quite nice. A lot more relaxation mixed into the often fun.

Some things haven't changed since Thanksgiving. The group of friends I spend the most time with continues to evolve, and there are nice new connections being formed within that group. Always good to find new gems in the (not so) rough. I continue to be amazed at the depth of some people and how easy it is to completely overlook entire parts of personalities until they hit you in the face. Honesty is nice too. [:

I'm happy I have been getting to cook more stuff lately. It's always fun to do when in the mood, and it's very therapeutic, especially when a good cooking partner is around to lend a hand. Plus it's a good life skill. Pros all around! Feel free to provide suggestions for me to cook next time I am around you. And be reasonably critical so it can improve. Honesty.

Christmas was good. We kept it to practical gifts within the family this year, which makes it a little boring on Christmas morning when opening up presents, but it definitely the way to go. Low key family time for a couple days is good as well. It was a very nice break to get to reunion with tut krew ® on Christmas night and have some good times. You guys are great and I'm glad we've kept in touch pretty well so far.

Unfortunately I am pretty sure someone (NATALIE!) got me sick and am not feeling amazing. I've been upping my regimen of remedies to combat it so it isn't too bad yet, but it puts a little bit of a damper on the Christmas spirit (and the amazing tastes of the season). Hopefully I don't pass it along to anyone else, that would be annoying, right?

I really need to get on a more normal sleep schedule. My sleep times have ranged within 12:30-6:30 am to 9 am-2 pm. I think it's wreaking some havoc on my body, but I don't really want to modify anything enough to fix it. At least I get to set a new earliest wake up time tomorrow morning to go shopping for my final Christmas presents all the way in Gilroy... YAY...

To-Do List:

• Make more delectable dishes
• Figure out New Years plans
• Get unsick
• Get out of the bad mood I was in all day today
  

Transitioning

I'm glad to be going home tomorrow afternoon. Not exactly loving it here right now and truthfully a little woeful. It will be nice to have the firm demarcation of travel to get me back into good spirits.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and hanging out with everybody (including the east-coasters who weren't home for Thanksgiving)!

And then of course, 3 weeks before I transition back. Ready to tackle more work than I am probably ready for. Cheered again. Hopefully.

Work Work Bork

I think that for the first time in my life I may be at a point where I want to do work.

Next semester is going to be a bitch. A major bitch. I have an internship on the hill that I will be working full days at on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of classes, lasting a little bit longer than a work day. Plus a after-dinner lab on Wednesdays.

Luckily most of my classes next semester are pretty easy, with a lot of introductory courses that I skipped this semester to jump into higher-level work to see how I liked it. Even with that help, it's not going to be a breeze. Should be interesting to see how it works out though.

Even with how much of a bitch it's going to be, I am pretty excited for it. I feel like I got pretty lucky with my internship, and that it will be pretty rewarding. Plus when I go crazy and want to give up there are people to support me a little bit until I man up and take it. (M, this would be a good time to jump in with your favorite joke, connecting it to my 'taking it'.)

Might be some foreshadowing too. When I was interviewing, the SA asked what my dream job was. When I told him, he laughed a bit. I was a little surprised and expressed that to him. He explained that he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to kill themselves like that for so long. I smiled.

I also can't decide whether I am better in group-of-friends situation or one-on-one. Opinions would be great.

Mental (read: don't buy me this crap, or anything else. because then when I don't get you anything I feel bad. for a minute or two at least.) Christmas List:

-A louder alarm clock.
-Some awesome yet reserved ties to SUIT UP (ht: Chery) with

Yeah, that's the one.

I love it when websites cover the intersection of a bunch of my interests. Read this.

Almost as cool as the logo that was hidden behind the majority of their webpages but never really utilized visibly:

The Precipice

Things are going too well currently, something must be going to fail soon. Which do I want it to be?

I have nothing on my schedule for over a week. Must self motivate.

The little things

It's always been amusing to me how very small things can determine entire relationships. From first impressions that decide who gets talked to and how, to subconscious perceptions of people that change the way others act toward them. To random coincidence and luck.

But isn't it nice to know that there are tons of other people out there who you just simply haven't become friends with yet?

Even just looking at the MV '08 population, a pretty small sample size, but nowhere near depleted.

Nostalgia Study Break

Crystal wrote:
"post a memory of me as a comment for this entry.
it can be anything you want.
maybe your first, maybe your favorite.
& post this to your journal and see what people remember of you."

Do it. It will be a nice occasional distraction to read what pops up.

Thanks Given

Was fun.

I thought about ending it there but figured I would put in a little bit more at least. Or maybe even a lot. We'll see, won't we.

It was very nice to get home on Saturday and have a couple off days with the family before everyone else got home. My parents probably would have killed me if I didn't spend those days with them before hanging out with people semi-continuously for the next 5 days.

Black Friday early morning shopping with Meher, Crystal, Chery, and Andy was some fun. Not sure how great an idea it was to stay up until 6:30 after Thanksgiving dinner and all, but it worked out. Even if we only got to watch half of Sex and the City before sleepiness pervaded.

Paulina, thankee much for your assistance Friday night. Life saver!

Crystal, it was nice driving all over the Cupertino hills with you trying to find people and chatting. I'm glad I made you ride with me.

Ryan, you are more of a man than I will ever be. No joke.

Enough with specific rememories (hate). Especially because Meher was around for every one of them. Stalker.

It was amazing to see everyone, and to see how some people have changed. I'm impressed with how much of a difference no one (sorry ChinChin) having curfews makes on the flow of the night. Or maybe just trying to pack everything into a short time. Either way, late night fun is the way to go.

I'm back in chilled DC, and happy to be here in truth, since it really does feel like home. Can you all move your asses out here. Mmkay, thanks. Before Thanksgiving I was definitely missing some people more than others (obviously) with some people falling into categories I didn't completely understand myself. I think this break helped me digest that all a bit and understand a little more.
Christmas and the rest of the east coasters coming home is going to be mmm mmm good.