Cleveland: A week and 3 days

So I've started to settle in to Cleveland a little and I'm enjoying myself. As I said in my first couple posts, my aunt and uncle arrived here a couple days after I did and I'm really glad they're here. I enjoy spending time with them and my family. It gives me a chance to just sit down and relax for a while unlike my last winter break.

I'll put that little bit in perspective. I'm staying here in Cleveland for 16 days of my winter break, then I head back to Fairbanks for a few days before I start Spring Training for my RA job. While in Cleveland, I'm relaxing, spending time with family, reading, and getting the chance to explore a new area. I'm DOING things with my time or intentionally not doing things.

Last year I was in Valdez for 28 days before coming back to Fairbanks for the opening of the dorms for students. Starting the day after I got back I worked 40 hour weeks at the schools in Valdez doing IT work for the entire break. My average day consisted of: wake up, go to work, come home, nap, eat, play video games, sleep. It was hellish, but I made some good money and had been used to waking up at 7am.

And I like it.

Christmas was a fun time too here. Everyone was super excited to open presents and I have to admit, I really like the stuff that I got from my family. Sport socks, a 15-plug surge protector, brain teasers, and a Nook Tablet. I. Love. New technology. This handheld device does a million things that I love. I can use it to remote-desktop to my computer, listen to music, browse the web, play games, and read. Its been so long since I've had the time to just sit and read and now I realize that I missed it. I missed it so much that in the 5 days since Christmas, I've read 5 books: 2 books from different Halo series and the entire Hunger Games Trilogy. That series is really good and I can't wait to see the movie now that I know what the books are about.

As for Cleveland, I've seen a little of it. My favorite trip I've taken so far has been to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens because they were amazing. Something like a living museum. I promise to have pictures up eventually, but at the moment I'm too lazy to get them off of my phone... One of the drawbacks to consistently doing nothing I suppose. I also haven't spent much time on the computer (hence the super late blog update) which I suppose is a good thing considering my conditions here. It's better to spend what time I have not being on my computer.

I head back to Fairbanks in 6 days though and I'll be glad to be there. I miss the cold, the people, the dorm, the classes, and my job. As of late I've also missed the time zone... Q has been keeping me up playing Scrabble until the wee hours of the morning. I'm the competitive sort of fellow who won't just stop and forfeit a game. In our Scrabble series (with the rate that our current game is going at...) The score will sit at 3-2 with me in the lead. I'm losing this game.... BUT I will win the whole thing using that obviously rational 3am brain I have... (Elika and Denali: you can't judge that :P)

So that's my life in a nutshell for now.