Happy Holidays

If this blog isn't updated for a little bit, it's not because I've mothballed the blog, but because I am going far, far away for the holidays and will have sporadic internet access at best. Perhaps it's my aversion to change, but I'm enjoying my quiet time alone where I can slack off work with minimal guilt (given that it's the holidays). I suppose it'll be nice to see family, but I'm not looking forward to all of the inevitable cheek-pinching and talking about myself I'll have to endure with relatives. Family can be paradoxical that way. You're willing to travel long distances to congregate with them briefly, but they can drive you nuts in a relatively short amount of time. Further, the holidays can be weird for me, given that I don't get to interact with anybody within fifteen years of my age (plus or minus), which in past years, has made me miss school and delve deeply into my work over the holidays. It's also weird because I have relatives taking me out for dinner and such, which would be nice, except it's kind of an affront to my pride as a 20-something. I realize that I'm a student and don't have a ton of money, yet my university treats graduate students as well as any. I mean, I usually buy a nice salad at school for lunch everyday (it's the only way I'll ever eat vegetables) and have internet access, cable TV and Netflix in an apartment I have all to myself. While I am a graduate student, I don't think I'm exactly poor (although, many graduate students are, unfortunately). If I didn't want to have a family some day, a grad school income is more than sufficient to fulfill my meager needs and desires for life (although I would like a quieter apartment that isn't next to a major streetlight, and maybe a new computer with a big monitor). On the other hand, I wouldn't be going to the Outback Steakhouse unless prompted to. Unlike my immediate family, they're relatively well-off, but they still have bills to pay and want to retire someday themselves. It's as if I'm in financial purgatory where I sort-of have a career, but am not seen as a legitimate income earner (which may be true, but unfortunately the taxman views my modest income otherwise).

Anyhow, I apologize for all of the rambling (and parenthetical remarks rambling on top of the initial rambling). Regardless, I look forward to having a small glass of eggnog (I realize it's kind of disgusting, but thanks to the classical conditioning I have hardwired into my brain associating it with Christmas, it could taste like motor oil and I'd still like it), and spending the afternoon of the 25th assembling children's toys that you need a civil engineering degree to understand.