Home... home again...

Such is the situation at my house when I arrive. It's Tuesday. The hot water is out. My car battery is dead. It's nipple-hardening cold. Getting up at 6:45 on the first day of my break to bring my sister to school so I can use her car was an unwelcome throwback to my high school days. After that, to the doctorb's and then to Pep Boys on the Berlin Turnpike to get a new car battery. Only I was supposed to meet my friend Joe to replace my car battery at 11. I'm leaving Pep Boys, and my sister's car clock says... 10:49...

They say no one has ever beaten the Berlin Turnpike. But with some well-placed blocks by a blue Nissan Murano, and a little luck (yeah, maybe that shit will start trickling down after the shittiest two months ever), I wove deftly between the bluest of blue-hairs and the dumbest of the blond. Mapquest says it takes 37 minutes to get from Pep Boys to my house. Time of arrival? 11:11. I made it from Pep Boys on the Berlin Turnpike to my house in 20 minutes. You may commence in doing my laundry.

Before that though, I got a new cast. It is stylish, though stinky. I was considering purple or red, but if I wore anything green, I would look quite the fool. And recently I've started liking green quite a bit. So in the end, I had to stick with black -- it looks like chainmail, and you can't go wrong with chainmail. It's short, up to mid-forearm, but my thumb is still spiked. Aaaand it's on until the end of January. Balls!

I went to Bertuccis with Pat, and upon arriving, I ran into Tim, a former teammate of mine on the football team. First thing he said to me, after I awkwardly shook hands with him using my left, was "Again?!" Ha. Yeah... for those who don't know I had quite the miserable luck during my football career. Long story short... bruised liver, broken finger = 1 1/2 seasons on the bench. I guess I'm known for being injured, at least to people on the football team. It's funny, I was never hurt for track, aside from pussy injuries like pulled hamstrings and such.

Quote of the week so far goes to my sister Kate:
-Mom: Okay, see you later, drive safely.
-Kate: No, you're going to be late! Drive fast!
I guess you had to be there.

Something else. My mom is talking with me about something or other, and reminds me "Oh Dave, just make sure you don't drive with him if he's been drinking." What the fucking hell? I mean, I know it's just her inner mother or whatever, but this has been going on for a while now. And it's really starting to irk me on a personal level. I know she's concerned, but does she really see it to be a plausible possibility that I would ever drive with anyone who has been drinking? I've been driving for four years, and I've been living more or less on my own at college for two-and-a-half. If she seriously thinks that I would ever do anything that retarded, then I am truly and deeply insulted.

Now for the less sombre of the things that have happened here at home. The following is a list of things that Kate, Dad, and I used in connecting our new computer to the internet.
-A metal bar with a fish hook duct taped to it
-Drill
-3" jackknife
-Metal kebab skewer
-Duct tape
-Mag-lite
-25-foot CAT-6 cable
Not to mention that, but we had to cut away 8 square inches of sheetrock and remove a buttload of fiberglass insulation. Also drill through a hardwood floor. And it took two hours. Such is life in the Stira household.

Anywayyyy, the rest of my break has been eventful. Still getting fatter despite the fact that my metabolism is basically zero right now. A significant portion of my dietary needs have been met by irregular off-season chocolates bought from a chocolate factory a few towns over. Example: chocolates wrapped in foil printed to have a picture of an ear of corn on it. Those were for Thanksgiving, but since Thanksgiving has come and gone, they're good enough for me and my family.

I'm going to Lithuania this Thursday through next Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, one of my best friends from high school and his twin sister, who is also a good friend of mine, are studying abroad there. They know the language, and have an apartment, so I figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Thus, I will be out of contact, but if you're reading this, I probably want to see you before I leave! So give me a call after next Wednesday. Happy New Year to all, sorry I won't be in the country to celebrate with you, but I'll bring you back something nice.

Well, it's been a really good past two days in terms of dreams, so let's see if I can rattle off a couple more good ones. No more cameo appearances by random people who live in the dorm where I work though, that's just fucking strange...!