I'm incredibly happy. And at the moment, I'm also incredibly restless. All I want to do is cuddle under a blanket and eat good food. Thinking about it is keeping me from sleep.

Every winter break, I find myself completely bored out of my mind. Don't get me wrong though! Being ridiculously bored is highly preferable to being insanely busy with school work. But I've been so bored that I cleaned. That's when you know I've hit rock bottom. I shouted at my sister and she finally cleaned up the worst of her mess she left in the bathroom while I was at college. Since Thanksgiving, there have been two spots of blood on the bathroom floor, no doubt left over from her periods. Yes, my little sister is absolutely disgusting. But props to her for actually listening to me. I was very surprised when she agreed to clean without kicking and screaming along the way.

At this point (without the blood), I could finally muster the strength to enter the bathroom and stepped in to do the rest of the cleaning. Armed with rubber gloves, paper towels and bleach, I went to town.

The toilet bowl is white, so is the sink counter. The mirror is spotless and most of the hair on the floor is gone. I soaked the bathtub for a night in water with enough detergent that you'd likely earn 3rd degree burns if you stuck your hand in it. I also completely replaced the shower head because my mother swears up and down that she can't do "handy" things--if a chore requires a wrench, she can't do it. Good news: the new shower head is shiatsu which means it's a massaging shower head. Lol, I'm one of those now, a female with a messaging shower head. Not that I need it though. I've got something better and it has temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Right now, I'm anxious to use the newly cleaned bathroom but I'm still waiting for the shower drain to de-clog. Once again, thanks to the disgusting habits of my sister, the bathtub floor was absolutely revolting. Not in the traditional sense of course. I believe there was wet toilet paper and pieces of melted soap bars covering the surface. I would've preferred if it was just bacteria and mold which happens to wash right off with a little bleach. Melted soap, on the other hand, requires soaking and vigorous scrubbing. And apparently unbeknown to my sister, paper clogs drains. Lovely. But at least I can use the sink now.

In better, more hygienic news, I manage to literally roll my 42" HDTV up the stairs and into my room. I hooked up my PS3 and I'm in love. I've already watching two blu-ray movies and played a couple of video games. I also connected my laptop and let me tell you, it is an entirely different experience to read manga on a 42" HD screen. Unfortunately, this hasn't been enough to keep me occupied. Weird female urges to go shopping keep overcoming me but we're snowed in. I have no idea when the snowplows will be by. Although part of my would like to see the glorious snow to continue as untouched, I want to drive. In the mean time, I will resist the other urge to buy movies through the PS3 online store...

I remember back at Blair, when everyone was panicking and trying to decide which college to go to, quite a few people adamantly refused to consider staying in Maryland. I don't remember the exact figure, but some ridiculous fraction of the magnet ends up attending Maryland, and with such a large portion of the magnet collectively migrating to College Park, I guess it was a very real fear for people tired sick of the magnet that it would become Return of the Magnet: Part 2. But in the middle of sophomore year, I keep in touch with friends at out-of-state colleges more often than most of the thirty- or forty-some magnet kids (just on my graduating year) on this campus with me. To put it plainly: this campus is freaking massive, and you would have to really try in order to stay in the "magnet bubble."

I haven't regretted my decision to come to College Park. Though I suppose I wasn't one of the people especially concerned with escaping the magnet "rut." Quite the opposite, probably. But I've still moved forward. I've kept the friends that mean something to me and made new ones. Sure, I haven't strayed too far in terms of preferring a good chunk of nerdy in my friends and being in classes where the male-to-female ratio is along the lines of 5:1... But my life happily trucks along and hasn't come to that stand still people were afraid of.

This past year has been absolutely crazy and amazing. I've moved past a few leftover burdens and feel the healthiest I've ever been emotionally. So many good things came this year--of which, one is particularly good at making happy.