Thanksgiving break is over. I am returned.

Wednesday night, I had dinner with Paul, Heather, and Sarah. Sarah was sleep-deprived and doped up on pain killers (she broke a rib), so the conversation was fairly light and silly. Overall, though, it was a pleasant meal at a cozy Ethiopian place. I like the Ethiopian method of having bread to grab food with. It's so much easier than actually eating with my hands. Or, at least, it's easier to figure out how to do it neatly.

Sarah toddled on home after dinner, but Paul, Heather, and I wandered around downtown Fredrick for a while. What a neat town! I'd never been there before. I want to go back sometime to browse the thrift stores. Anyway. It was cold outside, so we popped into a cafe to grab some tea, which we sipped and cradled lovingly in our chilly hands. When it came time to bed down, I deeply regretted my journey into the land of the caffeinated. I have no idea when I went to sleep, but I finished reading 'Girl Interrupted.' I'd started it on the Metro earlier that day.

Thanksgiving day was... well. It was. I felt sort of weird and distant, partly because of the sleep deprivation and partly because I always feel weird on Thanksgiving. Mom set the table beautifully (as always), Dad smoked a turkey out back, and we all dressed up. I was having a lot of trouble coming up with an answer to "so what are you thankful for?" Mostly, I was reflecting on white privilege while the rest of my family talked about their successful lives. I left the festivities as early as was polite.

Friday was Leftovers Thanksgiving, which was significantly better than Thanksgiving proper. The crowd was smaller than last year, but the food was good and the company was wonderful. We played a silly game, drew on Heather, went through Ariel's left-behind clothes, and hung out until pretty late. It was, altogether, a very pleasant evening.

Saturday was a mess. I felt pretty awful for most of the day. My parents' house depresses me, so I spent most of my time wishing I was somewhere else. I worked out. I took a long bath. I started crying a bit and desperately needed to escape, so I went on a long walk. My parents had some folks over for dinner, and I escaped to the basement like the rude little child I am. Eventually, Matt called me to pick him up from the Metro.

My relationship with my parents' house is weird. I hate being there when it's just me and my family, but I love having friends over and showing them around. Weird. Anyway, I gave Matt the tour, and then we dressed up and headed to Rocky Horror. Unfortunately, the crowd was a bit... well, to be honest, it had a few rowdy bros in it. Some unsavory comments were made. Matt and I got uncomfortable and we left before the movie started. We did a get a refund though, which was nice. We returned to my parents' house and had a silly sleepover. (Originally, there were supposed to be more people than just the two of us, and I'd been promising a sleepover. It seemed silly to change the arrangement, but it was also silly to stick to it. Silliness all around.)

And then came Sunday, and with it a rainy drive back to school. And here I am.

Today, I went to class. I hung out with Justine, who is here visiting. I went grocery shopping and bought a box of hair dye. We are going to dye my hair tonight, mostly as a joke. If it ends up looking terrible, I'll buzz it off later. I'm not particularly worried. I talked with Paul on the phone. The conversation ended with me displeased and him... in much the same place that he was before we talked.

Tomorrow will be just another Tuesday. (Well, and my hair will be a different color.) Basically, I'm getting back into the swing of things, but somewhat hesitantly so. Why bother getting into it when it's just going to end in a couple weeks anyway?