It has been a long time since I wrote an entry for my diary and for the life of me I can’t explain why. I haven’t been very busy these last two and a half weeks in Tallahassee. I guess there just hasn’t been much to say! The break from school has been a blessing, but it is getting to the point where I want to be back in my usual surroundings. Those surroundings include my one hundred active sorority sisters and my wonderful boyfriend Stuart. They have all been missed - especially the latter.

In order not to drown you in writing here I will shortly be posting backdated entries about the more interesting events I have been a part of over the winter break. Please make sure to read them!

Today may have been one of the more interesting days of my winter break and that’s not saying much. I went to the mall to try and pick up the necklace we bought for my mom for Christmas, but it STILL isn’t ready. After that my dad and I went to Best Buy to get a new radio/CD player for my car. Anyone who has known me throughout the life of my 1995 Plymouth Neon knows that this is the fourth radio that I have had for this car. Isn’t that ridiculous? There must be some sort of overall electrical problem to cause the demise of three radios in four years. The salesman at Best Buy thought he was ripping off my dad when he sold him a $45, four-year policy that allows us to have any problems fixed for free. My dad and I almost laughed as he was describing it to us. I can almost guarantee that they will be seeing my car again within the next two years with a radio problem and that policy will be worth every penny. I have to go get the new radio/CD player installed tomorrow morning so I guess I won’t be sleeping in. I also went to my mom’s school this afternoon to see if I could be helpful. Perhaps I was more of a distraction than a help because it was a novelty to the students to see a new face. More than half of the class booed when they heard I am a UF student, but I was happy to find that a few of the kids cheered also. Now I am at home awaiting an incoming call from Stuart and wondering why I didn’t update my page weeks ago.

Christmas came very fast after I got home. My shopping took almost the whole first week I was here, but I got it all done. I was pleased to rip the wrapping paper off a brand new scanner on Christmas morning. Too bad I can’t make use of it until I get back to Gainesville, but expect to see some great stuff on my webpage as soon as that happens. I also have (perhaps “had” is the more appropriate word there) my eye on a webcam, but the prices are high enough for me to think twice and my dad already spent $150 on a new radio for my car. My twenty-first birthday is only five days away and I am very excited. I haven’t gotten any presents yet (except for that purchase today) and my mom is worried about that. There are a few things I would love to have, but nothing I can’t live without. Mostly my computer would benefit from the gifts I would like!

Speaking of my birthday, I have made no plans as to how I will spend it expect for the obligatory stuff. That means that since my sorority house is opening then (my birthday is Sunday, January 9) I have to drive back to Gainesville pretty early in the morning and move back into my room (and get that scanner fired up). Also the necessary textbooks must be bought with money I have yet to get my hands on. The State of Florida will give me $300 after the first week of classes, but that won’t be too helpful since I have to have the books before then. Thank goodness for credit cards! Now that I have one of my own I can get the books without having to pay for them immediately, but signing a receipt for between $200 and $300 is going to be hard to swallow anyhow. Who knows how the rest of my birthday will be spent. The general ritual for a person’s twenty-first birthday involves alcohol and only a vague memory of the events the next day. Sadly (but not too sadly) I will not be spending my birthday in that fashion. First of all it will be a Sunday night and I have four hours of classes on Monday morning, but no one will be around to take me anywhere. As far as I know Stuart is going to be at Disney World watching Robyn, his sister, run a marathon that day before he travels back to Gainesville for the semester. Maybe someone will want to do something with me - anyway, more news about that as the blessed day approaches.

The day after Christmas my family drove down to Sun City Center to visit my grandparents. My grandfather had heart surgery earlier in the semester so we weren’t planning to spend too much time at their house because we didn’t want to be a bother, but I haven’t seen them since last Christmas. I also got a chance to see Stuart since we were so close to Tampa. I went out to dinner with his friends (Stu, correct me if these names are wrong) Andy, Emily, Tim, and Angie. I have met Emily several times before at UF and her boyfriend, Andy, is an Air Force Academy Cadet (c/o 2002 as far as I know). All of these people went to Hillsborough High School with Stu and they are old friends. I enjoyed meeting my boyfriend’s best friends and they are all wonderfully sweet. I hadn’t known them but for a few hours and they all hugged me when I left - that’s something I didn’t expect. Angie gave Stu, Andy, Emily, and Tim toy lightsabers which prompted an inevitable battle between the four. Of course three of those weapons were broken by night’s end, but most of the problems were ultimately fixed with Stu’s pocket knife and a little engineering ingenuity. Also while my family was in Tampa we got the opportunity to go to dinner with the Hoelle family except Robyn and Danny were absent that night). We went to Shell’s seafood restaurant and everything turned out well. I was very glad to see Stuart again considering I wouldn’t see him after that until the beginning of spring semester classes. Now I am awaiting that day with as much patience as I can muster (not much).

Since we got back from Tampa everything has been quiet. Soon I will have to pack up my few meager belongings and head back to school. I am looking forward to getting back to my usual routine, but I know the homework is going to kill me. Even so I will be back with my beloved boyfriend and my beloved computer in order to further chronicle my existence on this webpage. If you have made it this far through the entry I applaud you! Thanks a lot for caring enough to read everything I have to say. Maybe in a week or so I will have more interesting things to say. Only time will tell and that is what we never have enough of.