The past week has been insanely busy. Over the course of the past 9 days, I have driven over 1,500 miles. That's half an oil change right there, and god knows how much gas. But, I have to say it was worth it. I had a ton of fun at Mary Jo and Lance's wedding. It was just great to see so many of the old gang again at the wedding (plus, later in the week I got to see Simone over at Matt's place), though it was a shame that Lexa couldn't make it. The food was really good, especially the wedding cake. And the music, with a Beatles cover band, was just awesome. And just sitting out on the beach at night, listening to the crashing of the waves, well, that was just spiffy.

The rest of the break went well enough. I dropped Maria off at her parent's house and got to meet her family. They are interesting people, and quite fun. Crazily enough, they are really fond of Settlers of Catan, having been introduced to it via Maria, who learned about it from me (and I learned about it from my friend Sam). Hopefully I will get a chance to play a game with them in the future and show off my crazy-man Catan Skillz, or something like that.

But, things at home were a little crazy. It seems that Mark has continued his downward slide into hermitude. My mom and I spent the whole day cooking for thanksgiving dinner, and he didn't even sit down at the table for it. He just got some food on his plate and went into his room to play more WoW. *sigh* It just makes me angry how much he disrespects her, but I don't really know what to do about it. Oh well.

It was nice to spend some time with Travis and Nick and that crowd. Though we didn't get to see Beowulf, due to the theater being flooded (and by that I don't mean metaphorically flooded with people, but literally flooded with water), instead we played Rockband, which is really fun (as long as you don't have me on karaoke).

But, each time I go home, everything is tinged with sadness. My mom is lonely, my brother is a shell of a human being, and now the friends I have in the area may finally be scattering to the winds. Everyone use to hang out at Brain's house, but after a serious accident, Brian and Rebbecca are leaving the state, and that may lead to the collapse of the circle. There's less and less for me in south Florida, and with each visit I feel the home that I once had is slowly fading away. Each time I visit the echoes become more distant. Travis is planning to leave the area, and once he does, well that's going to be a heavy blow.

Looking back on the past year, I realize that I'm doing a lot better than a few months ago. Last year was pretty bad for me. The year started out so well, but by the end I was really depressed and when Story dumped me it just pushed me over the edge. The summer was rough for me as well, what with the car accident and other things. So far things are going a lot better. I know more people, I'm getting out more, I'm simply doing more stuff with my life. A bit part of all that right now is Maria, and I'm really very glad that she and I have decided to try and pursue a relationship. I really like her. But even with this, I still feel things are lacking; I feel happy often, but when I'm alone I get depressed. It's odd, even with people around me, even after seeing lots of my friends this week, I still feel alone lots of the time. But, I'm feeling better than before. I just need to figure out what to do after FSU is over with.