Thanksgiving (A story about my thanksgiving day this year)

As we were in the middle of four lanes of traffic, my parents were conversing about what lane was best to go in, my mom said to my dad that he needed to get "gutsy", as she put it, when driving. Although this same word to my dad means "smashed", as he said. As usual I assumed we would be late to my aunt's house because at that point in the trip we had about another hour to drive, and the holiday traffic was horrendous. Knowing I had all this extra time, my shoes came off and my feet were in the comfort of my fuzzy socks. Oh, those fuzzy socks, you know the ones; the ones you never for the life of you want to take off, because they are so warm you think the moment you take your feet out of them you're bound to get frost bitten feet, yeah those ones. As I was enjoying the warmth and comfort of these socks, we pulled into a rest stop. And can I tell you how much I hate rest stops, unless completely necessary. They are almost always busy and it takes forever to leave because of the traffic. My dad wanted to get more coffee, even though we had already stopped before we actually "hit the road", he felt like he needed more. Finally dad comes out of the convienience store, and we are on the road again!

Whoever invented fuzzy socks is a genius. And it was very strange that I wasn't wearing shoes in the car. When I was little and my family would travel long distances in the car I always asked my dad if I could take my shoes off. I thought that was cool of course, having no shoes on in the car. But being the over protective parent type, my dad would always reply with something along the lines of "If we ever get in a car accident, I want you to have shoes on in case we have to walk any where and there is broken glass on the road." yes, that's exactly what he would say. So now having no shoes on actually did make me feel cool.

We were almost there, so my mom decided to call her sister and tell her where we were. When my mom talks to her sisters, it's almost like they were kids again. They talk for hours on end and they laugh really really hard, harder than you have ever heard them laugh normally. So my mom called and instead of the usual hello, or hey, she always says "Hey Lo!", my aunts name being Lorraine. At this point, when I heard "Hey Lo!", I couldn't wait until we got there. And the surprising news from Aunt Lorraine was that we were actually ahead of my other aunt and uncle on their way! Early for once! Well beside the fact that we were actually suposed to be there a half an hour ago.

We finally arrived at my aunt's house and could smell the feast waiting for us as we walked up the stairs to the dining room. The room was filled with bone-crushing hugs and chatter, don't forget the chatter! Then all of a sudden I heard someone whispering. I thought I was going mad until I saw a man struggling to make conversation to my cousin in the kitchen. This man was my aunt's friend who has had laryngitis for three weeks. This poor man; besides having laryngitis for three weeks, he also had a Boston accent, which made it doubly hard to understand him. The whole time he was there it felt like he was whispering to us, but the fact of his accent made it hard not to laugh. The rest of my family had never met him, and it was completely awkward, one because of his voice imparment, but two because we had no idea who this guy was. He even made stuffed mushrooms, which I kindly refused, well because the man had laryngitis for three weeks, and I had no plan in catching it. Overall I felt bad for him, until he went outside for a cigarette, and then I didn't feel so sorry.

Thanksgiving this year was great. I was surrounded by my family and that is all that matters in the end. Good food, family, a warm house, it doesn't really get any better than that.

That is all

-"M"

What Time Is It?

Time is always a good thing to be aware of. But when you're at my school, there is no way of knowing what time it actually is, unless you have a cell phone. Because almost all of the clocks in the school are either too old to function or just don't work, most likely you won't be able to tell what time it is at any point during the day. Except for homeroom, first period, and the last period - seventh, those are easy because you either just got to school or are just leaving. And it is very hard to keep track of the time while your in class actually trying to learn something.

In the beginning of the school year everything is new again and you probably don't remember what you had for breakfast that morning let alone the bell schedule. So what ends up happening is you begin looking for signs. For example I know when to get ready to pack up for Chemistry class because another teacher walks down the hall at the same time everyday to go to a class, I'm assuming, and then I know that there is at least five minutes left of class. Five minutes = enough time to get my enormous Chemistry binder into my even larger school bag. The classic time marker though, is this; when you hear metal chairs squeaking across the floor, and they sound restless, then you know class must be over soon, because the people in the History class above you just woke up. I am so used to school without real time in every classroom, that I can't imagine school with working clocks. Unless I need to know the exact time it currently is, I am all set. In that case I either have to ask my friend what time it is on their phone, or check the time on mine, which I don't like doing all too often. Other people might think it's easier to just look at their phones, not me, I kind of like judging time by different things. If anything every happens to the clocks we have in the school now, like we actually get new ones, I would be a wreck, and probably late to class everyday, or too early. Well, let's just hope the school stays the way it is until I graduate, which is a safe bet.

That is all

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!

-"M"

From the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown to The Grinch In a Matter of Three Weeks? The Holidays Must Be Approaching

Holy cow it's November! I actually had to put on a winter jacket today and a scarf. It is that time of year again, a time of year that everyone looks forward to, well at least I do. Halloween is over and the annual "watching of The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" has already happened in my family. It's hard to believe that in less than a month the stores will be filled to the brim with people, rushing in to receive early holiday savings. Speaking of early, the other day while in Chemistry class I had an urge to watch The Grinch when I returned home from school. Unfortunately I had too much homework, so I will have to save the classic for another night, perhaps a little closer to December twenty fifth.

Holiday shopping is always fun, but getting it out of the way this early might be being a little too eager. But who can help it if stores advertise this early right? Stores must take down Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations and trinkets one day and then put up Christmas things the next, or that is just how it seems. Just today I was talking with one of my friends and we both agreed that Christmas is too commercialized these days. When people think of Christmas most just think of presents, which is a large part of the season, but what we should be thinking about is the people that mean a lot to us, not the things they purchase for us.

Every time I turn the television on now, there is a new advertisement for a new product or holidays sales, that "won't last for long". Even walking into a pharmacy lately one is bound to run into a plastic candy cane filled with some sort of tooth decaying candy. And it's too early! Don't get me wrong I love Christmas, and all of the festivities that come along with it, just not the stores pushing consumers to buy, buy, buy.

People on a mission to get the Christmas shopping done, can sometimes be humorous, so let me share with you an experience I had today at Walmart. I had just picked up a book by David Sedaris called holidays on ice, hoping to hear some of the things he encountered around the holidays. My parents had to go to Walmart to pick up a few things needed around the house, so I stayed in the car to dig into my new book. While in the car, I was semi-people watching, but just incase they had any idea that I was watching them, I would quickly look down into my book as if nothing ever occurred to me. What I learned is that people in big and small cars often get rowdy when it comes to their holiday shopping. It's funny how you can determine what kind of a person is behind the wheel, by the vehicle they are driving most of the time. They race to get a decent parking spot, and then what ends up happening is someone else will get there a little earlier, and the person hoping to get that spot will be steamed and then take their anger out on the car. Either by laying on the horn or racing somewhere else to get another spot and yelling, at some poor helpless old person that is trying ever so hard to back out of a parking spot. Their language is foul, temper's are fair, and all this for what? The latest toy truck or the last box of stuffing? Obviously this isn't all people; this was just the majority of people at Walmart on a Saturday afternoon. While I was sitting in the car, trying to be discreet a car horn went off at least twice every few minutes, and there was never a shortage of loud booming voices. I didn't go in the store and I couldn't have imagined what went on in there that I didn't see.

Any way the book is very good, as always, David Sedaris never ceases to please me for a good read. I will try to update this blog as much as I can, things have been busy and hectic lately, but science fair is coming up, and exciting things might come out of that. So stay tuned!

That is all

P.S Happy almost Thanksgiving!

-"M"