December 27th through 31st: Finishing up the last year....
Alright, one last entry to finish up the past year and then I'm good to go!
So, Sunday the 27th was the last day with the folks and well, my mom and I agree, but her sister and brother we're acting kinda odd that night. Like, we were watching the Redskins game (ack, we lost again) and somehow one of my second cousins came up in the conversation and I asked where she was at. They said some University in Virginia and I asked if they knew which one exactly and they said either the University in Richmond or Virginia Tech. I said those were both good school and my aunt, uncle, and all the cousins currently in the room (well, maybe David didn't, can't remember if he was in the room or not) immediately swears they would never go to V.T. And the only reason they gave was that there was a shooting once there. Now, my mom and I had been talking lately about how some stuff was just coming out now about the incident and it wasn't handled horribly well then, but none of them were giving any indication of knowing that. It was simply because there was a shooting once it was never going to be safe again. And all of them (which includes my sophomore cousin and my aunt and uncle who are teachers, although elementary and middle school) were scandalized when I started listing off the students who had died at my school this year. Although having two or three students already die this is year is really unusal, but my mom pointed out that there were a few deaths (I think she even said murders) covered up when they all went to college (same one, Catholic University), and my high school cousin said someone died at her school last year, they were all still very adamant. Really guys? It's like not going to one hospital since some people have died there but being totally fine at another hospital which has also had people die. Can't say I'm thrilled about it but people dying in college (or even high school) is just a part of American life.
So, a bit less depressing, but even though I was leaving the next day I just couldn't seem to connect with my cousins. They were just too inclusive really, I don't think they even noticed how many inside jokes and weird late night bad cartoon comedy references they were making. I really had nothing to say (seriously) so I kinda holed up with Sherlock Holmes and tried to at least be around everyone else. It was sad too, these three girls and then the guy cousins are probably my closest cousins, so to see them texting fairly often and not trying to start many conversations sucked. Well, maybe they did try to start some and I just couldn't contribute, I can't remember but it was depressing either way.
We headed back Monday and had a fairly smooth trip. Nothing weird springs to mind right now, except that my uncle seemed to think this was a long drive to make. I fail to understand how someone who lives in Vegas and travels to MD thinks that the six hour drive back to NC is long.... The kitty was happy to see us, I started knitting my first hat (It's probably going to be a bit too big but I can just take it in with some sewing), and the traffic was fine for the whole trip. The only thing that slowed us down was that my grandparents wanted to hear Sam play his keyboard but he had lost the plug for it the other day (for Christ's sakes boy, it was in you pocket!) but other than that it was smooth sailing.
Tuesday was recovery from the drive day and try to get things back to normal so not much happened. On Wendesday my dad took Sam and I for a walk around one of the nearby parks and that was nice. There are trails near my dorm, a rather nice network actually, but I'm too worried to walk them by myself at this point. I dunno, it's just different than walking in neighborhoods or around other people, my paranoia just ramps itself up and I'm jumping at every sound. Then again, those are some pretty dark and slightly creepy trails behind my dorm.... And it sounds like there was a bald eagle flying around while we were walking but we didn't see it at all which was a shame.
Thursday was New Year's Eve and that was tame for us too, we don't make much of a fuss over the new year. My dad DID give Sam and I three bottle rockets and a fountain (and everyone was laughing at how happy I looked over them, how was I supposed to act??! Calm, cool and collected? Like I didn't care? Only mildly interested? I'm so confused...) so we lit those off a little bit after midnight. Hoo boy, bottle rockets can FLY, we hit TWO different neighbor's houses (one sailed near them and the other hit another square on the roof, sorry about that), and I had to check to make sure the last one didn't set our side yard (or another neighbor's) on fire. So all was well and happy 2010 to everyone! Signing off.