I just arrived back in West Lafayette, after a brief break home. My pies were a big hit, but I wish I could have found Jonathon apples to use. The Granny Smith apples were too tart. There was a helluva lot of food, and I seriously filled half my plate with mashed potatoes. Ask anyone there, because they were all giving me crap about it. I ate every damn bite.

It was a pretty nice holiday this year. Sad as it is, I think my grandma’s absence helped my dad’s mood significantly. Everyone was in good spirits this year. Holidays with my family are always fun for the most part and full of friendly sarcasm and bashing, but in past years, someone always managed to end up pissed off. It’s nice to see that trend dying down.

My little brother’s g/f came, and she actually seemed nice. I was surprised. My brother is the “hot” boy in his class, and it seems he’s always bringing home bitches. We took her home in my old ghetto cruiser, which my brother has pretty much taken over. He had 2-12’s in the trunk in a really nice enclosure. Some 6x9’s for the back are coming for Xmas. What he really needs are some tweeters. The boy (that’s what we call him) is pimpin’ the car just like I always wanted to. The system has made good progress and he might be adding neons and maybe a new paint job. He was so excited to have Jenna & I test out all his work.

This morning I had a freelance meeting. I was up late packing stuff—all my childhood stuff, knick-knacks and random shit. My mom & sister left at 5 am today to shop. Idiots. Jenna couldn’t fall asleep early, of course, so she came in to reminisce with me. People, you don’t understand, I’m a horrible packrat. Thank goodness she was in there to force me to trash some stuff. I had pads of paper with notes written on it that I could date back to ‘96, ticket stubs from the most mundane events, pieces from toys that we no longer have—just a lot of STUFF. I found some stuff from my ex, which I had no problems trashing. I still had the roses from 2 years ago that I was sent after I found out he did something very bad. I did keep the vase. I just can’t throw away something useful like that. ha, only flowers I’ll probably ever get from a guy. But yeah, guys, roses are a total waste of money. I think it’s retarded to spend money on them. Seriously, be more creative and save yourselves some funds along the way.

I packed all my crap and had to carry it all to my car, only to unload it all an hour later when I arrived back here. I think the last box about killed my back. It had to be 80-90 lbs. My brother carried it to the car for me, but seriously, I felt something go in my back when I hoisted it out of the trunk. It only took 15 min to get everything carried in, and I was thinking, I’ve barely eaten since yesterday and after all this damn exercise today, I probably actually converted all my food to muscle *grr* I like productive exercise like this. It makes me feel good. I just can’t exercise to exercise. I figure the 20 flights of stairs involved in going to work will keep me from dying, though, so I don’t worry too much.

Well, I should unpack all these boxes, though I’m lacking shelves for most the stuff. ooh and I have my favorite stuffed animal from when I was really little. Apparently that dog never left my side, and I’d make it dance on the back of pews during church. hehe there was never hope for me in regards to religion. The whole time I was packing, I was listening to my new My Morning Jacket album (so thankful I remembered my player), and I ended up listening to it while I slept. It’s practically my new OK computer…really, really love it.

Well, I hope everyone else had a pleasant break.