traveling

So, here I am in Atlanta. My family is being themselves, which is to say that they are alternating spasms of clingy and solicitous affection with bursts of temper fits and shouting. Or they were. Now they're all asleep. I would be asleep myself but it's only 9 PM Central time, and I have stuff to do. Besides, I'm relegated to the couch. I find myself missing Chicago already, but a lot of that is just missing the easiness of certain parts of life there- I've fallen into a pattern there that makes it easy to relax when there's nothing that needs doing. This house isn't really mine- I've only ever spent two nights in it, and there's no space of my own. But none of that's really any fault of Atlanta, and I'm still happy to be here. Spending time with neechan and Mel-chan and my other friends is worth a couple of uncomfortable nights. Tomorrow my family kidnaps me for a trip to Savannah, lasting until Sunday. It will be nice to see the ocean again, and be away from computers for a while... spend lots of quality time with a book or two- random brain-candy fantasy novel for when I'm really flaking out, and Shibatani for the rest of the time. Shibatani is turning out to be quite fun, giving a well-written look at all sorts of interesting features of Japanese, plus a good introduction to learning about Ainu. I'm having lots of fun reading about the various theories of scholars who want to link Japanese with a variety of other languages. I may also pull out my sletchbook and see if I can regain the will to draw, which died a few weeks back. And lots and lots of walks. And my Akino Arai CD, which always makes me think of the ocean anyay. Well, it makes me think of lots of water. A nice rainy day also comes to mind. It's a good CD. And now I shall return to work.