Well, it’s taken me long enough to get around to this post, but hey, it’s been busy. Spring Break was a wonderful chance to sleep and recuperate. It certainly took some adjusting as far as sleep is concerned – I think it was only when I was about to leave that it was leveling off.

I had a bunch of lazy days spending time with Anastasia, I had a day with Jen, a day with Jess and generally ignored the world for a week. It was something that I needed to do and I believe I’m a lot better off for it.

The day after I arrived I had a dinner out with Anastasia, Jen, Jess and Josh. I’m not sure why Josh was there exactly (from the look on his face for most of the night, neither did he), but it was a nice dinner and good to see everyone and get some hugs again. I also saw Elicia (Anastasia’s mom, for those of you that don’t recall) that day as well, it was good to see her as well.

While I was holidaying, I think I must’ve watched Dune a couple of times over, both the theatrical and the extended. I wasn’t really paying attention for all of it, but it was kinda cool to see it again. I also watched War of the Worlds, which I hadn’t got around to seeing when it was out in theatres. Wasn’t bad, I thought. Then again, I rather like Tom Cruise as an actor and am not at all influenced by whatever idiocies people seem to find so objectionable about him. I don’t understand that… I mean, even if the actor is a total psychopathic axe-murderer or something, their life is left at the edge of the stage, so to speak. The actor is the character in the movie, or play, or whatever and the character is not the actor in real life. Anyway.

I also picked up a book that I had been wanting to get in hardback, since I couldn’t find it in hardback in New Zealand. I talked to my Mum on Skype at various points, which was good as well. Anastasia also got me a LEGO set! I felt like I was 10 years old again as we sat down together and put everything together. It’s oddly relaxing, actually and certainly something that makes me feel very silly and very happy.

On my day with Jen there were a few things worth noting. We had lunch at Sonic, which I hadn’t done before. Truly a surreal kind of experience. The guy came out on roller skates with the food and everything. The whole place felt like I’d walked into a 1950s American television show or something. The food wasn’t bad actually and certainly not as greasy as a lot of the fast food here. Jen and I also spent some time together just doodling and drawing stuff on paper with some of her pencils and pastels, which was fun, although all I did was draw a bunch of complete crap. ^^;; The other thing was something that (finally) hit me about Jen. Jen is quiet most of the time, a lot like me (when you don’t get me started on something terribly geeky, that is). This means there’s a lot of ‘quiet time’ with us, which every now and again would strike me as odd. I mean, I have quiet friends, but they’re usually guys – most of the girls I know are the talkative type. Don’t get me wrong, I like listening to girls talk. My point is that I’m just accustomed to that being around when I’m with girls, but Jen is quieter, which makes it a little surreal sometimes. Our country hopping certainly doesn’t help, but I do feel kind of idiotic for not having that particular insight sooner. I mean, I’ve known her for like, six years or something now.

Anyway, the last thing of note for that day was that I managed to get myself lost on the way home. I’d taken the Miata out to USF to see Jen with directions from Anastasia, then on the way back (in the dark) I managed to make as many wrong turns as possible, I think. I was driving all over the place along the motorway. I ended up way the heck out in Brandon somehow. I had left the motorway at a sign that said HCC (which is Anastasia’s college) and I figured no problem, I knew the way from there. Wrong. It was the Brandon campus! I rang home for directions (once I’d realized I was at the wrong campus) and then proceeded to get petrol and directions from Anastasia and eventually make my way home. Frustrating experience and I must say I felt like more than a bit of an idiot.

That said, driving all over the place in a convertible with the top down and the stereo up is pretty damn cool.

On my day with Jess, we had lunch with Olivia (Tsumi) and Summer (Sora) at Tijuana Flats and had a brief visit to Borders before we all went out to Olivia’s house. We were off to see this sleep-out that the three of them regularly terrorized and it was all kinda funny for me because Olivia is not supposed to have boys over (I gather her parents are pretty strict) and yet there I was… there was much sneaking involved and I was required to have my hair down so if someone saw me at a distance they’d mistake me for a girl. Hilarious. Jess and I also went and saw V for Vendetta and the movie theatre she works at – brilliant movie, star studded cast and it bugged me throughout the whole film that I couldn’t place Hugo Weaving as the voice of V. After that we went out and played a bit of pool, I showed Jess how I think about pool and the shots that I take, a little Pool 101 if you will.

When I had to leave on the Saturday, my flight wasn’t until the afternoon and that is so much better. Leaving (or being left) in the morning just makes everything worse, I think. Because I’m already groggy and not-quite awake in the mornings, I just feel extra-shit. So, having time to hold on and start the day fully and properly together was great and made it slightly easier to get on board the plane. The flights back weren’t too bad, I pretty much just read my book the whole way (which was about eight hours). Back in Seattle and then it was catching buses in the cold, bounce through downtown and back to the campus. I got back around midnight.