A summary of my vacation
Because it's probably about time for an update.
Over Christmas my whole extended family (on my dad's side) got together in St. Joseph, Michigan. It's a tiny town on Lake Michigan, about big enough for four blocks of downtown and a bunch of pretty Victorian houses. Not much to do there, but I enjoyed walking on the frozen beach. (Seriously, the sand was frozen solid in places. It crunched. Very weird.) And of course it was good to see the family again. There were thirteen of us plus a dog staying in one large house, which was quite something. The house was built in 1855 by a ship captain, who subsequently died in a shipwreck with his three children. His wife survived and remarried. So we figure the house must be haunted, especially since it came complete with creepy basement.
Some highlights of the trip:
-I had a great time cooking elaborate holiday meals with various members of my family. I'd missed cooking with other people, for other people. And it was a bit of an adventure as well, because the supposedly "well-stocked" kitchen was nothing of the sort. There was a lot of "You have to finish making the cookies now, because I need the bowl for salad."
-It snowed a couple times, and that still gets me excited.
-My year-and-a-half-old cousin learned how to say my name. He really liked playing with me, too.
-We drove to Chicago one day, and went to the Field Museum of natural history. I highly recommend it if you're ever in Chicago. You're never too old to squeal over dinosaur bones.
-We played a large family game of Apples to Apples, during which we pretty much proved that making puns is (a)genetic, and (b)contagious.
I've done just about nothing since I got home, for which I should feel guilty but don't. I read a few books (though not as many as I'd hoped), I watched a few movies, and in general I've been deliberately lazy. And I've enjoyed it very much, thank you. If you want achievements, I turned twenty-two. And my brother turned eighteen, which is all kinds of scary, but I suppose I'll get used to it.
I've hardly seen my Albany friends at all, which is disappointing. I know part of it's my fault, because I could have made more of an effort to see the people who are here, but I feel weird when I'm always the one pushing to do things. Especially since everyone else seems fairly busy, and also I never really have anything specific in mind to do. I just want to hang out with people and have tea. Also, for whatever reason none of our schedules seemed to match at all this year.
I'm not particularly happy about going back to LC. It's not the classes--those I'm looking forward to. It's all sorts of things that just make me really reluctant to go back there, not least of which is the looming necessity of looking for a job and figuring out what on earth I want to do for the next few years. I really want to enjoy my last semester, though. At least my classes should be interesting.
Anyway, I'll be back in Portland this Sunday. My flight gets in at 1:20, for those of you who are curious. Despite what I said about going back, I really am looking forward to seeing you Portland people again.
As a final note: Lizzie, you left your soy milk at my house. You're welcome to come and get it.
Over Christmas my whole extended family (on my dad's side) got together in St. Joseph, Michigan. It's a tiny town on Lake Michigan, about big enough for four blocks of downtown and a bunch of pretty Victorian houses. Not much to do there, but I enjoyed walking on the frozen beach. (Seriously, the sand was frozen solid in places. It crunched. Very weird.) And of course it was good to see the family again. There were thirteen of us plus a dog staying in one large house, which was quite something. The house was built in 1855 by a ship captain, who subsequently died in a shipwreck with his three children. His wife survived and remarried. So we figure the house must be haunted, especially since it came complete with creepy basement.
Some highlights of the trip:
-I had a great time cooking elaborate holiday meals with various members of my family. I'd missed cooking with other people, for other people. And it was a bit of an adventure as well, because the supposedly "well-stocked" kitchen was nothing of the sort. There was a lot of "You have to finish making the cookies now, because I need the bowl for salad."
-It snowed a couple times, and that still gets me excited.
-My year-and-a-half-old cousin learned how to say my name. He really liked playing with me, too.
-We drove to Chicago one day, and went to the Field Museum of natural history. I highly recommend it if you're ever in Chicago. You're never too old to squeal over dinosaur bones.
-We played a large family game of Apples to Apples, during which we pretty much proved that making puns is (a)genetic, and (b)contagious.
I've done just about nothing since I got home, for which I should feel guilty but don't. I read a few books (though not as many as I'd hoped), I watched a few movies, and in general I've been deliberately lazy. And I've enjoyed it very much, thank you. If you want achievements, I turned twenty-two. And my brother turned eighteen, which is all kinds of scary, but I suppose I'll get used to it.
I've hardly seen my Albany friends at all, which is disappointing. I know part of it's my fault, because I could have made more of an effort to see the people who are here, but I feel weird when I'm always the one pushing to do things. Especially since everyone else seems fairly busy, and also I never really have anything specific in mind to do. I just want to hang out with people and have tea. Also, for whatever reason none of our schedules seemed to match at all this year.
I'm not particularly happy about going back to LC. It's not the classes--those I'm looking forward to. It's all sorts of things that just make me really reluctant to go back there, not least of which is the looming necessity of looking for a job and figuring out what on earth I want to do for the next few years. I really want to enjoy my last semester, though. At least my classes should be interesting.
Anyway, I'll be back in Portland this Sunday. My flight gets in at 1:20, for those of you who are curious. Despite what I said about going back, I really am looking forward to seeing you Portland people again.
As a final note: Lizzie, you left your soy milk at my house. You're welcome to come and get it.