Back Already?

I can't believe that I'm back in Aberdeen already! I know I only left for 10 days for a reason, but at the same time...I can't believe I'm home. I've been sitting in my living room watching TV, eating some food, and just relaxing after my flight.

It feels nice to be home, but at the same time...I miss my many feet warmers.

Well, it's a busy day for me tomorrow. I have to put money on my phone so I can call people and get food so I can eat. And probably give away some Christmas gifts. Now all I need are little baggies for some of the treats I brought back.

Anyway...sleep now I think.

Sunday Subjest #2: Happy Holidays

Oh gosh! Has it really been two weeks since I last posted!? Don't worry, I didn't die on the plane ride from Aberdeen to California.

Anyway, it's Christmas here in the household. We opened presents this morning, visited family this afternoon, and we're starting on the Christmas dinner now. Hopefully we'll be eating by seven or eight...haha! Yeah, I guess we got a late start.

Anyway, I've realised that I'm very happy that I came home for the holidays. I love seeing my dogs and my cat (Sweet Sylvester left his earth life a few weeks ago so now it's just cat instead of cats). I knew I missed them, but I didn't think that I would feel so much better. I think I need animals in my life. I've never not had an animal in my life. Hehe!

My cat Mia sitting in front of our very small Christmas tree on presents.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say about Christmas now. Had a good time opening gifts and seeing people and cooking. It's definitely hard to believe that I'm leaving soon.
Well, happy holidays!

Sunday's Subject #1: Cold and Grumpy

Right, this is a new thing that I'm going to try in order to be a better blogger for this blog. It's called, as the title would imply, "Sunday's Subject". What my plan is for this is to come up with a subject for every Sunday and make it almost like a conversation. This means that all of you are encouraged to disagree, debate, and comment (you don't always have to disagree, but you're welcome to post your thoughts). Today's subject is "cold and grumpy". Basically, it's cold here and I'm perpetually grumpy. Here's the story;

So, I'm leaving home in a week right? Right! So, I should be happy about this. I'll get to cuddle my little lab Hilly, get cuddled by my giant golden retriever Arwen, and patronize the labradoodle Rosie. Not to mention I'll get to see my cats again and my cats always make my day. I also can't forget the friends I'll see and make merry with over the holiday season. I should be happy about all of this right? I'm not. Not really.

Alright, I am excited to see my animals, friends, and family again. I can't deny it because it would be lying, children, and lying in wrong. So, yes excited. But no, not happy.

You see, I'm a desert child. I grew up in the hot and dry where you had to drink your body weight in water every day and couldn't go outside if the weather man said not to for risk of asthma attacks and heat strokes (not that we always listened to these warnings as children...which, come to think of it, is probably why I developed asthma). I do well in heat...not so much the cold. I know how to deal with the cold (sometimes I think better than some of the teenage girls who have lived here all their lives. You should see some of the things they wear in the winter) and I can keep relatively warm with three layers on my legs and 4 layers on the hips up. As a desert child I think I was taught what to do in the cold just in case I ever happened into a snow storm in my shorts and t-shirt.

Why is all of this important to my bad mood? Because, I like snow even if it means the cold has to come with it. Have we gotten any snow? Nope! It's just been cold and wet. There's a great picture that my friend Sandy drew and I don't think he'll mind that I'm sharing it with you.

A picture my friend Sandy drew. On the right there is a small picture labelled "Winter Wonderland" with a happy, smiling guy. On the left is a picture labelled "Aberdeen" with a sad, downtrodden guy walking through the rain. In between the pictures is the "does not equal" sign.

Pretty much sums up what Aberdeen is like in the winter without snow. He drew this the day we had snow for 5 minutes and everyone got excited and posted their excitement on facebook. He was rather disappointed to wake up to find that there was, in fact, no snow to be found.

Unfortunately, it's not the fact that Aberdeen is cold but isn't snowing that is putting me in a perpetual state of grumpiness. If it were it would be an easy fix of hot chocolate, a blanket, and a good book/movie. The cold is just heightening all the things that are agitating me right now. I don't want to go into too much detail about my private life over the Internet, but how about we just say that it hasn't been the smoothest of months for Miss Erin. And I'm fairly certain that if it weren't freezing and I could sit down with a delicious hot drink and think about the events of the past month that have led up to the "blues" without having to worry about my fingers falling off then I might actually be able to get past them. It is not be. 

I also don't think it helps that someone had the bright idea to have an essay due the last day of term! I mean really? Who thought that would produce well thought out and coherent essays? Especially when they decided to give us crap questions. It baffles me. Truly. 

Anyway, I know this probably just sounded like a rant about how horrible my life is and how hard I have it, but I promise, it wasn't. I do have a small point to go with all of this woe. And that is that frustration and stress and...just plain sadness are, I think, a big part of being a University student. This is a time when everyone is truly discovering who they are and where they eventually want to be. There's gotta be some emotional trauma that goes with soul searching.

Anyway, I have to get ready for the committee meeting that I really don't want to go to because I got all of 2 hours of sleep last night (oh yeah, insomnia is also a symptoms of my "blues" because my mind never ever stops). But I made a commitment to the society so I'll go. I might even stay in the library to get some work done.

The Stress of Travelling

Not only is sitting in a little seat for hours on end a little stressful but planning the trip can be just as emotionally draining and exhausting.

For the past couple of weeks (since I left home in September really) I've been trying to make the decision about whether or not I should go home for Christmas. I've been considering the cost of a round trip ticket which is ridiculous and how much I would miss being home over the holidays. I was talking with my dad about the cost of the ticket and he said that he would pay for our (my brother's and my) tickets home this one time. So, that issue was quickly put into the "pros" column.

I don't think I would really mind staying here in Scotland for Christmas especially since Greg (that's my brother) would be coming over from Sweden for a few days. I could handle it.

But then, I think about Hilly. For those of you who don't know who Hilly is...well, she's my dog. Not the family dog or my parents' dog, but MY dog. Over the summer I finished raising Hilly for Guide Dogs for the Blind before it was decided that she hadn't made enough progress to continue on to be a Guide. When she was Career Changed (our fancy way of saying she failed Guide Dog Puppy Training) I jumped at the opportunity to make her a permanent part of my family. In short, she's my forever dog; my heart puppy. Unfortunately, bringing a dog with you to University is hard enough when you're just on the other side of the country let alone half way across the world. So, because I know that it was better for her, I left her with my dad and step-mom. I'll be honest, every time I think about not seeing her over this Christmas...I get sad enough to cry.

Now, I've been talking with my brother about what he wants to do and I made the decision that I would stay if he decided to stay so that he would have family. I was talking with him today and he said that he had decided to stay. He doesn't like flying and flying over for only 10 days and then turning around and flying back is stressful. So, I too decided that I would stay and we would spend Christmas together.

Then I found out that my father was getting excited about seeing both of us this Christmas. Way back in September I said that I wouldn't be able to come back for both Christmas and summer break because of the cost of the ticket...but my dad is now offering to pay for the ticket. And I would get to see Hilly and spend some time with some more puppies.

I really want to see Hilly again and if I wait until summer it will have gone almost a year without seeing her. This is getting so stressful! Shouldn't it just be as easy as saying "yes" or "no" and be done with it?