Did you eat your turkey in a big, brown shoe?

I don't think my body's quite adjusted back to a regular sleep schedule. After several days of going to bed late and waking up late, my body doesn't want to go to bed at 10:30 or 11...and it certainly doesn't want to get up at 6 AM. But it must. Yesterday began the 2-week mad dash toward the end of the semester, and then after that, a short respite between semesters in which we'll see the arrival of a new roommate, and many friends are due to visit for our 5 Decemberween parties. Some of you have yet to tell me whether you'll come or not--you know who you are. (glares)

Thanksgiving was lovely, having spent it this year with my family on Cape Cod. It was a decent gathering, and while I enjoyed my time there (and helped myself to a few rounds of Thanksgiving feast), there were moments where I found myself reminded of the reasons why I moved out. While I love my family, especially my stepfather, there are times where talking to him is like talking to Marvin the Paranoid Android. He's a master at finding the negativity and pessimism in everything he does. While he has some good reasons to be depressed, I take resentment in the fact that he feels that he's so alone, despite friends and family offering him a hand. He feels that he has no one to talk to, and when I offered him an ear, asked him to call, email, or visit--all he said was that he won't visit my apartment and that I can relax at his not coming. He's growing old and miserable, and I don't like it one bit. I don't like that the person I look up to the most is becoming this way, and I'm afraid that his constant state of misery will drive people away. But what can I do?

Fate can be quite cruel, so it seems. All those years I was living at home and in high school, I resented and hated that my stepdad asked for my piddling McWages--often times he asked for a chunk of my small paychecks, sometimes he asked for the whole thing. At 16 years old, I hated the fact that I had to help pay for bills--I didn't get a job simply to be a cash cow for my family. Now, at 24, I want nothing more than to be able to solve my family's financial troubles--except I now have no money to give (well, not enough), as my income goes to the care and upkeep of my household, as well as my schooling. Such is life.

But enough of this soapbox-talk.

Regardless, the break was mostly nice. Got some holiday shopping out of the way, and hesitantly went out in the middle of the day on Black Friday, after the stampede had died down. April and I had gone down to Blast From the Past, a store on Main Street in Falmouth, a place we've made a custom of visiting every time we're on the Cape. Unfortunately, it might not be there for much longer--the owners told us that the landlord (or whoever owns the building they're in) wants to raise the store's rent by $800 a month, and in doing so, making it unaffordable. We were told that they were going to try to move into a cheaper building nearby. I wish them luck.

Also nice was the seeing of my stepsister's sons, as well as my stepbrother, Rob. Rob, I'm happy to say, is now sober. He finally took it upon himself to go to Alcoholics Anonymous and stop drinking, and stop smoking pot. Many of you remember how much I worried for Rob when I lived on Cape Cod, and how I constantly found him quite drunk, stoned, and often times, both. It was going to ruin him, but he's been sober now for 6 months, and continues to attend meetings. I couldn't feel happier for him.

Played copious amounts of video games with my sis and her boyfriend, and the two board games I played with them and Mom--Monopoly and Scrabble--ended in wins for me, although Scrabble was close.

Came home Saturday so that we could have a day to recover, and for me, a day to finish homework. And that's really that. Holiday shopping, as I mentioned, has begun, which means places like Amazon, eBay, and ThinkGeek are going to be seeing much of my holiday shopping money. The only problem I forsee? Telling myself when to stop buying gifts for April. Everyone needs to get one before I start giving people multiples. Speaking of, everyone coming to our Decemberween parties will be getting a present, so to everyone coming, send us ideas!

Finally, I'm going to be making the contest bracket for Character Battle 11: Kingdom Hearts next week, and I haven't received many in the way of character suggestions. As I said before, the 32 most requested characters will make it into the bracket. So far, the top characters have received 4 suggestions each, so....more would be great.

But now, it's back to reality. Blarrrrgh. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!