My Winter Vacation

This is what I plan to do with my winter vacation:

1) Read.  But for fun.  Yes, I am a dork.

a) I'll be re-reading "The Alchemist", as I tend to do once or twice a year to remind myself of my personal legend and that I'm on the right track.

b) I'm going to try and read "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan, a definitive and expansive examination of the universe.  Like I said, dork.

c) I will NOT be re-reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" until after I've seen the second half of the movie.  The movies never live up to my imagination.

d) Kurt Vonnegut.  "Slaughterhouse Five" is next on my list.  For a good short, short story of his to ease you into the world of Vonnegut, try "Harrison Bergeron," set in 2081 where 212th, 213th, and 214th Constitutional Amendments guarantee equality in the most extreme of ways.  Click the title for the full text.

2) Travel.  Hopefully for an internship interview (hint hint, internship deities.  I humble myself before thee), but mostly for friends and family.

a) Going to spend as much time with my long-distance boyfriend as possible.

b) We're going home together to DC for our first Christmas together with my fam.

c) Then back to his place the week after for our first Christmas together with his fam.  Yes, I'm nervous.

3) Play video games.

a) Snake is on Facebook.  I'm trying to forget this until finals are done.

b) Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale.  If you're an RPG fan, you'll love this.  It's about running one of those leet or fail item shops in the games that have those elusive items that you need to grind for hours and hours to afford but it's totally worth it.  Did I mention I'm a dork?

c) Install Wine.  Wine is a program that you can install on your Mac or Linux machine that allows you to play certain Windows games without having to partition your drive and install Windows.  FTW.  I'm also a nerd.

4) Eat and Cook.

a) I'm going to make a stuffed, savory pumpkin.  Click on the dish for the recipes.

b) I hate Rachel Ray, but doesn't a triple chocolate-coconut refrigerator cake sound good?

c) And one of my all-time favorite soups, minus the apricots, is a curried sweet potato soup.  Super easy, super warm and hearty.  I recommend it thick so it's a bisque-like consistency.  Just stir less of the broth back into the puree and serve with some crusty, buttered bread.

5) Finally, work out.  You didn't think I was gonna spend a whole month just cooking, eating, and sitting on my ever-expanding rear end reading and playing video games all winter did you?

a) Hip-hop abs.  This guy rivals Tony Horton (P90X guy) in the annoying realm, but the work out looks fun and it's a nice switch.

b) Insanity.  As in, if I am struck with insanity, I may try this vomit-inducing work out.

And that's it!  Hopefully I will return to OSU with a fresh, clear mind and lots of fond memories to sustain me through the grueling winter quarter.

Happy Holidays everyone, good luck with finals, and see you next year!