I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART
I've spent almost all of today cooking with my mom and Aunt Barb, listening to Wilco and Elliott Smith. Ah, home. I made some excellent cranberry sauce with pine nuts, and some vegetarian stuffing which of which I am very proud. My parents finally have enough meat-eaters in the house to cook a turkey, and I know they're really happy about that. In general, I think I'm doing a great job of being an attentive, polite daughter, and I'm having a good time even though Uncle Bob says some amazingly racist and sexist things. Like, all the time. But that's to be expected being with family.

Aside from that, I'm coughing so much that my ribs hurt, but the pinkeye has cleared up pretty well. This evening we're going to see the new Harry Potter movie together and smuggle homemade popcorn into the theater. Yesterday I hardly got out of bed, just read and read and read all day, parts of The Sound and the Fury, Wonder Boys, The Bean Trees, Jimmy Corrigan, and some Mary Ruefle and Marvin Bell. It's really cold in my room but I have three huge blankets thrown on. I hope all of you are having days as nice as mine, and I hope you can recognize everything you are grateful for.

WE CAN'T LIVE IN THIS ROOM ANYMORE
So I saw Frank Black + the Catholics. Actually, I met Frank Black. I made friends with Jeremy, the singer in Frank Black's opening band the Bennies, and due to unfortunate circumstances (not one but two guitars with broken strings), Greg loaned him his guitar to finish the set. As thanks they got us backstage where we hung out with Dave Lovering (DAVE LOVERING!) and all kinds of people. Aside from the rampant amounts of rockstar fantasy, the show itself was great. The Bennies started out with interesting 70s/80s influenced glam/something or other songs, kind of Trompe Le Monde-ish. Second, DAVE LOVERING PERFORMED A MAGIC ACT. He set things on fire and made pot jokes. And he was wearing a lab coat. Oh man, it was great. After that, the Reid Paley trio ground through a set of Tom Waits-ish cabaret and early rock, and then Frank Black and the Catholics played a huge set of great songs. The band was so tight and so energetic throughout. Ah. Ahhhh.

Anyway, after that, we wended our way home (from Ram's house in Bethesda, where his parents fed us ridiculous amounts of candy and delicious home-cooked food) and I started in earnest on my paper for Interpretive Practices. The intervening hours don't really matter because the paper is done now, but at the time I had a cold and conjunctivitis and was not a very happy girl. Well, I still have a cold and conjunctivitis, but now I'm at home in my jammies and much happier.

Yesterday was busy in that classic "saying goodbye to college friends" kind of way. It started snowing around four, and I had just enough time for a goodbye with Adam and Megan, my inner circle. (Heh.) Adam got the job as HOC (which I totally knew he would), so now his summer situation is all set. Seriously, they would be fools to not hire him; I can't think of anybody more honest and creative and outgoing. And cute. But I'll save that for later. Megan has found the nicest boy ever, and he cooks for her and their discussions seem amazing; Adam and I looked on as she escorted him to the bus and said goodbye. While I may have the history and bile to be a little cynical about love, seeing them so happy snaps me out of it, totally.

So yes, it was nice. I'm glad to be home, but I'll be happier when I'm back at school without the pressure of some of the assignments I've finished and I have time to hang back and relax with my friends. We're going to start a bridge club. Aren't you jealous?