A Strange Weekend

This has been a very strange weekend for me. Not strange in the fact that I got very little done, I mean who really wants to be doing anything on the weekends?!? No, it is strange in the fact that coming into this weekend I had absolutely every intention of getting work done. I know, I say that all the time and most of the time I don't really mean it but for the majority of the past week I really felt good about getting a lot done before coming back for the holiday. As I have stated in previous postings, I feel really good about everything going on down here especially as far as my thesis is concerned.

Actually, I really do still feel really good about things and I can visualize myself finishing on time and getting everything done on time so that I can come home this summer. I think I'll just have to chalk this weekend up to a much needed time for rest and relaxation. Hell, I even got to do karaoke on Saturday night when my friends and I all went out for Tobe's birthday (a physical anthropologist friend of mine). Hopefully, I've imprinted into your minds images of me karaoking (?) up there on stage and maybe it even reminds you a little of a famous celebrity. I'll leave who up to you!!

Anyway, the point is that I had a lot of fun with my friends down here. There was one person who I seriously missed however, and I think that person's absence is the main reason behind the strangeness of this weekend overall. There were more than a few moments this past weekend, not to mention throughout the entirety of my stay down here, where it almost physically hurt that Jess wasn't there for me when I needed comfort after a particularly stressful day. On the flipside, when we are talking on the phone, it is extremely difficult for me not to be able to put my arm around her when she has bad days as well.

Though this homesickness is nowhere near as bad as it was after the first couple of weeks last year (and thank you once again to all of my friends and family who helped me get through that awful period), it is still singularly painful in its effect on me at times. I know this is something that will never go away anytime I am forced to be away from my loved ones. I have accepted this, but unfortunately it doesn't in any way lessen the impact.

The thing that really helps me to get through these periods and resurface from the temporary shallow depression that I find myself in at times is the love and support from my ever-increasing circle of close friends and family. If there is a point to any of this rambling, it is that I am so happy that you are all there for me when I need a boost. I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people in this world, and can only hope that in some small way I have a similarly profound impact on others as I travel through this treacherous highway called life.

In case anybody is getting the wrong impression from this post, I am trying to put forth the idea that I am extremely happy with my lot in life at the moment. Though there are, obviously, parts of my life that could go better from time to time the overall picture is beautiful and a work of art. I am but one person in a sea of stories, each one with its ups and downs, its beautiful moments and its ugly moments. I fervently hope that my role in other's stories can be to increase the ups and decrease the downs.

Thank you all for believing in me. It has meant a great deal to me, and I am made all the better for your love and kindness. I know this is all kinda heavy, but anyone who knows my writing style knows that I write what I am thinking when I am thinking it. I feel it makes for a much better indication of the truth in life.