A Fourth of the Way to Dead

I'm 19 now! Yay! My birthday was January 3rd, in case you're a jerk and you missed it. Turning 19 is so anti-climactic. Nothing happens. In fact, it's slightly depresssing, being my last year as a teenager. In a year, I will be expected to act with reverance toward society, listen to sophisticated music, go to swanky parties, and stop watching MTV and switch completely to VH1 (I like VH1 a lot but I can't live without Date My Mom). The way I see it is 19 is one year away from 20, which is half way to 40, which is half way to dead. Crap! I'm almost a fourth of the way to dead! I better start accomplishing all those life goals, but how am I ever going to train a manatee/sea cow to do the macarena?
My birthday festivities were not too exciting. They were nice and laid back, which is exactly what I wanted, so it was good for me, just very boring for you to read, so I won't write it out here. I got a very lovely charm bracelet from my parents. I've been collecting charms since 5th grade and had them on a very dainty charm bracelet, but the bracelet I just got is bigger and sturdier and shinier. Shininess is key. My mom said that this is my adult charm bracelet, so apparently it is only suitable for mature audiences. Now I can get those genitalia charms I've always wanted... (note: I'm kidding about the genitalia charms. That would be gross)
On my birthday, a strange van pulled into my driveway and a man came to my door delivering flowers. He politely said, "I've got some flowers here for, umm, Elsie." Ugh, if I had a dime for evertime someone called me Elsie... I responded "It's Elise." He said, "Alice?" I said, "Close enough." and took the flowers while my mom signed for them. I was very perplexed about who the flowers could be from. Nana? Oma? My mom? Sylvester Stalone? I looked at the card to find they were from Dan Canders! (formerly known as Stan Flanders) I was floored! So shocked! Never have I been so surprised! It was the nicest, sweetest, coolest, most surprising thing ever! Oy, please excuse the gushing of gratitude. After I called Dan to thank him, I called Caitlin. She already knew. Angela already knew. And most surprising, Dana already knew. I guess for me, part of this huge floral surprise is that Dana knew a secret and didn't tell me. That's a pretty big deal.

There are only a few more days until I return to ND, and I must admit, I'm getting a little antsy. I have thouroughly enjoyed my time at home with my family, but I miss my friends at school. It's strange starting a new life somewhere else and then returning to the old one. Not that I want to ditch the "old life" completely, but its just strange. Here is a list of the best parts about being home in Ohio:
-Seeing family
-Swensons (best burgers ever)
-the holidays
-sleep
-private work out room
-hot tub
-my own bedroom
-food at any time
-home cooking
-seeing Metzger, Colleen, Heather, and others
-big screen tv with cable
-my crazy family (I know I mentioned this above, but their craziness gets its own bullet point)
-my pets
-no homework
-shopping with my mom
-annoying my brother
-laughing at/with my dad
-seeing movies
-Selma, my car
-Shower without sandals

Here are the things that are not so good about being home
-I miss my 6A girls!
-I miss all my other friends, too!
-I don't do anything on the weekends here
-I have to clean the bathroom
-The 24/7 party that is Pasquerilla East
-My good friends have already gone back to school (METZGER!)

Ok so the good things about home outweigh the bad things, because home is really great and I love spending time with my family. But I will be ready to go back to ND, maybe not for the school work, but definitely for the friends.