Where was I again?

The last two weeks were not fun ones. Midterm week, it was chock full of papers and assignments and banging out an issue of the newspaper, all with little to no sleep. I'm not a very stressed-out person. To most things my response is "So what?" But college can get pretty stressful some times - admittedly the majority of the problem is my own procrastination - and it's definitely nice to get away. Luckily last weekend was there to give a brief respite.

For a few hours Saturday, on a stage in Pearlstone Atrium, under cover of darkness and intermittent strobe lights, I and a few others engaged in a night of debauchery and glamor. The Gaming House held a Battle of the Bands Rock Band tournament and Jon, Lewis, Deb and I, under the guise of Galileo's Guns (our impromptu band name), rocked the motherflippin' house. Well, when it came to actual score at least. We found out once we got there that costume and performance would also be reviewed, to our immense and immediate chagrin. You see, we're not the most extroverted people, least of all on a stage in front of a small crowd. Our quickly improvised costumes amounted to my rolled up pants leg, Deb's borrowed NY Knicks jersey and Jon wearing Deb's sweater. Even so, after the first round of playing (out of three), the judges informed us that our score was triple that of the second-place band. Pure technique FTW. Our award at the end of the night was a gift card to Chipotle, a mexican establishment I hear is a fine purveyor of cheap burritos.

And then another week of stuff, and now back at home for Spring Break. I never really thought much of spring break, always just assumed I'd go home for the duration, but a lot of people seem to go on trips all over the place. I'm not talking about Mexico or Florida or somewhere stupid and cliche like that, but next break I hope to plan ahead and not get stuck at home for a week. Anybody else on break right now and want to drive out somewhere for a bit?

This weekend was kind of crazy, as it usually is when a large family convenes on its base of familial operations. In town for the rare visit of my Israeli grandmother were my oldest brother and his family (wife and two foster kids, hopefully adopted kids in a few months), my next older brother, my American grandmother, my Mom's younger sister and her husband, and her older sister and her husband with their two dogs. The dogs are getting late in their years - one is mostly deaf and with only one eye, while the other is completely blind. One was walking into the other for lack of sight while the other stood and let it happen because he couldn't hear him coming. It made for a few good laughs, except when the blind dog would walk into a room and stand perfectly still in the middle of it, scared to move and possibly walk into something. Funny, but sad. And then again, what's the point of humor if not to alleviate the somber?

But now my brother's family has left, as have the uncles and aunts and the one grandmother, and the mid-semester weeks of devilry are over as well, and so I am sitting down to write this post. Sorry for the wait. Not much, I know - it won't satisfy your interminable thirst for bloggery - but hopefully it will more smoothly pass a few minutes of your wait for the next masterpiece post.

Breakfast: two toddlers jumping on my pre-10 'oclock bed, shoving their foots in my face, apparently in an effort to wake me. Tasted like chicken.

Lunch: Everyone sat down to lunch together so it was a big production. I had one half of a bagel with cream cheese and lox, one half with cream cheese and chives, and a third with spinach and artichoke cream cheese spread. Also on my plate was a serving of eggplant parmesian, some pesto pasta, and some more stuff I can't remember.

The best part was dessert: a homemade/sistermade strawberry shortcake that came out much better than the cake she made a while back in which she tried to substitute salt for sugar. She currently wants to go to cullinary school after Neshaminy. Of course, at one point she also wanted to grow up to be a cash register and a taxi cab. (She wouldn't leave me to write this post unless I mentioned her.)

Dinner: I'm starting to get hungry after writing about lunch. Maybe I'll have leftovers or maybe I'll meet some Onions at the diner. We'll see.