It's 20 degrees right now, and I have the heat on but I'm still freezing because the top of the window in my bedroom is open about an inch. I close it, it slides right back down. And it was extremely windy last night, so thanks to the open window my door was slamming in its frame all night long. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in days. I haven't been able to fall asleep at night, and then there's this building being constructed practically right outside my window, and they start with the sawing and hammering at 7 am every day.

I actually wish this weekend would hurry up and be over. I just want to get my finals done and get out of here. I'm flying home on the 19th, and then I have a take-home final due on the 22nd that I can email in. For this coming Monday's exam, we're allowed to take in one sheet of paper, written on one side, and that's it. The *insert long string of expletives* people in my classes actually voted for this, rather than being allowed our books and all our notes. This sounded okay at first, until I went though my notes to try to get them down to something manageable and they're still a quarter inch thick. I think having this whole week to study did me no good at all, because I actually work better under time pressure.

There's been a lot of "why'd that person leave" and "I haven't seen this person in forever" going on around here lately. I've actually thought about just staying away from the internet several times. It's nothing to do with GA in particular, really, it's just...people. There's been more than one person who I'd known for years who just stopped talking to me and disappeared suddenly. Somehow disagreements never get talked out, one person just blocks the other or always pretends to be away or whatever, and that's that. I probably get way more offended than I should when stuff like that happens, but there are people here on GA who I feel know me a lot better than anyone in "real life," and it always hurts to be dismissed.

OK, if anyone's still with me, I do have less bitchy stuff to talk about. I got this insane package from my aunt the other day. There was 1) all this homemade yummy fattening stuff, chocolate chip walnut cookies, molasses cookies, some kind of potato, pecan, and white chocolate candy that sounds weird but is really good, and these cherry chocolate bars, 2) a can of hot chocolate mix, a box of dry milk, and a bag of marshmallows, 3) a packet of this cherry cocoa in a christmas mug and a ceramic spoon with a snowman head, 4) two boxes of tea and a bottle of honey, 5) a sweatshirt and pants, 6) a singing card with $25 inside, and 7) a calendar that i'll never use because it's ugly and has angels on it. So I was altogether quite pleased. Also, I ordered the complete Buffy on DVD. I found it for $93 and just couldn't resist.