home, sweet home.

i guess it's nice to take a break away from the college world, but everytime i go home, suburbia effects me either harder. here are things i do everytime i go back home.

1) watch tv.

i never ever watch tv at school. i refuse to. in fact, all we have at my house is basic cable and i like it that way. but then there's home. we have like 3 enormous TVs. complete with surround sound, TiVo, HD and all the sports channels known to man. well at least one of televisions has all those components. and the TV is always on. i got yelled at for turning the stereo to the TV off earlier. apparently, it hurts the system. so when the tv goes off, it actually isn't off, the screen is off, and the stereo is turned down lower. what a waste of energy is what i think to myself. but i always have to respect that these things are not mine so I do not have control over them. anyhoo. i watch a heck of a lot of TV when I am home. and it's mostly out of consent to things I hate, just to be with my family. Like today, I watched the Bachelor in Rome on Tivo with my mom. That show represents why I hate tv. Also, my mom likes to watch shows about houses. Whether it's decorating a house, or just looking at houses. usually, the bigger, the better. i don't have anything against house dwelling, i just think it shows how sadly devoted our culture is to the American Dream to have shows about people house hunting in suburbia.

what i do like on TV, when I watch it, are things that entertain or inform. If they do both, that's even better. When I'm home, I like to watch Degrassi. The show is terribly melodramatic, shows kids in unrealistic situations, but I like it cause I can laugh at its ridiculousness. It's so bad, it's good. I just watched a whole episode of the Office today. I didn't get any plot out of it, but I loved it! It just satires office life so well!! Finally something that is humorous makes its way back on the tube. I have not gotten into Lost or Grey's Anatomy, and I don't think I ever will, honestly, although I am glad that scripted drama that is not the OC has made its way back on TV. And I like to watch the History channel. It contains a wealth of obscure information. Amazing. I check channels like Comedy Central, TBS, Fox Family, for any silly movies to watch. If I wanna watch anything good, I check AMC, Bravo, or any of the classic movie channels.

ok, number 1 was much longer than i anticipated.

2) eat a lot of food.

I wasn't expecting this, this time cause I just went vegetarian this summer. However, yesterday, my parents concocted a vegetarian feast in honor of my homecoming. Eggplant parmesan, veggie pizza, rotini, salad. OMG, so good. Also, if I happen to see friends, I can guaratee you it'll over food. Northern Virginians sure do eat out a lot. Whenever we get together, we get together to consume. I don't know if I'll be doing much of this, this weekend, but I did go to an Indian buffet today with Adam, Scott, and their friend Jessica. Typically the places to go are IHOP, Tony's or some other place with greasy food. There is always a visit to Coldstone with one of my old female comrades.

3) smoke at starbucks.

i haven't done it yet this weekend, and i don't know if i will, but i end up doing this at least once, each time I'm in nova. Starbucks is literally the only place in town aside from greasy restaurants youngsters will hang out at. many people don't just drink coffee there. They sit until past close, chain smoking and talking about mainly pretty dumb stuff. A couple of my friends partake in this culture, so when I wanna hang out with them, I do it too. However, everytime I go, I run into asses who I butt heads with. I think a lot of the youngsters there are just extremely bitter cause they haven't gotten out of Manahole yet.

4) get into friendly arguments with my dad about politics. these can be triggered by just about any topic.

5) drink wine and smoke a cigar with my dad on the porch

6) fight for the TV to be turned off so I can read

7) go to churches I really don't like just so I can see old friends

8) drive a car, though not for very long.

i used to drive around much more in my NOVA visits, but when my brother Mark moved out, he took the car I would drive. My parents get pretty anal when it comes to me driving their cars, and since last summer, my driving has been reduced to non.

9) get asked about my weight

EVERYTIME I come home. it's either, "oh, you lost weight". or, "oh do you think you gained or lost weight?"(which means I gained)
this comes from everyone in my family, especially my mom.

10) sleep with my dog
this is one of the better things about my stays at home

11) take random pictures of myself for facebook or myspace

i tend to do this only when I'm home. sometimes i even get made up to do it.

12) see at least one old friend I get in an awkward conversation with

13) stay at home, mainly being anti-social

14) watch a lot of movies

15) complain about Manassas