thank-u for all the tof-u

OK--so it's actually the 23rd; 12:25AM on the 23rd, to be specific. But I'm still up, so I count today as yesterday. Which means I'm still writing every day. Which pleases me.

I'm in Michigan, of course. I enjoyed a wonderfully birdless Thanksgiving, which amounted to two kinds of potatoes and green bean casserole. Not exactly a feast, but I was just thankful (you have to do that, right?) to be fed by someone other than myself. Still, I count watching my dad carve the golden, steaming turkey as the low point of vegetarianism. (More on vegetarianism later.)

My mom took me to see her new apartment which was empty and really sort of depressing. She acts excited about it, but I simply can't imagine living in such a large space, in such an empty region, alone. Especially in my mid-fifties. I can tell it scares her, too. I guess the fact that she's only living here another year and a half is enough for her--she has books enough to fill a library and that'll keep her occupied. As well as the apparent retail therapy she's been undergoing.

Mom: "All I bought was that chair. And an upright Swedish clock. For five hundred dollars."
Me: "A. A clock. For. Five hundred? Dollars?!"
Mom: "Well I don't have to pay it all back until next June..."

My dad also gave me the shock of the century when I asked him, amidst a pleasant conversation on the relative merits and demerits of Ron Paul, who he planned on voting for. Not Guiliani. Not McCain. Not Romney. Not even can-do-no-wrong, Gift-to-the-Populous Ron Paul. No. No.

Hillary.

Dad?! A DEMOCRAT?!!

Politics and clocks aside... however strange and fragmented my family is right now, it's still nice to come back to a place where everybody is excited to see me. I took advantage of the situation and unleashed the wittier, attention-seeking aspect of my personality, which has been paralyzed in hiding for a while now. I don't care that it's just my parents--at least I'm making somebody laugh.

Re: Mexico/Florida--my mother has something up her sleeve. I don't want to divulge until I know for sure, as she has some pretty deep sleeves and is known to lose things up there, but her current plan is even more lovely. I take it with a grain of salt.