oh weekend, weekend, weekend at home.

high school football game Friday night, uncomfortable somewhat, thanked the Graces I'm not 16 anymore. drunk drunk drunk afterwards with Stacey and James P, danced my ass off with JP, scandalous photos are the proof. spent all day with my family on Saturday, went in hot tub, looked at stars again. Sunday slept a lot, went to church, played the "local girl moves away, makes good, comes home to visit" conversation game with people there I've known since I was 3 years old, went out with Tim and Stacey that night, bewildered at the cheapness of alcohol here once again. today went shopping with my dad and youngest sister, bought nothing, went to Stacey's house alone for a cook-out with her family and Tim, came home and made my family dinner, talked to April on the phone, talked to Grandma on the phone for the first time in months: she seems worn out but has on a brave face and is not afraid to talk about Grandpa's declining state of health. tomorrow lunch with old museum people, stock up at cheapy-cheap Wal-Mart (the big size of my deodorant costs 50 cents less than the small size at Walgreens in Chicago!), hang around the house a little longer, and then fly off back to Chicago. I'm starting to miss everyone and everything already.

I really love my hometown when I don't have to live here or make a living here. it's so nice and compact, there are no taxes on clothes, I know where to buy all the cool shoes, and it's getting better and bigger conveniences and spaces every day. driving to Stacey's house today, I fell in love with the rolling cornfields, spacious green spreads, tree-covered hilltops and expanses of skies all over again. something so simple as the skeleton of a dead tree against the grey sky and dark blue hill in the distance strikes me as sublime now. I forget how much I love a natural scenery after living in a concrete city for so long. also wondrous were open, one-lane roads with not a car on them besides my own. and really hard curves in the road with tree branch canopies filtering out the sunlight. so pretty. I want to stay longer.

p.s. it's September, and this is my 200th entry.