Away, Now Home, Soon To Be Away

First, my apologies for not leaving a "Merry Holidays and Happy Celebratory Day of Your Choosing" sort of post before I cut out, but things were wicked busy up until my time of departure on the afternoon of the 21st (which also would have been my dad's birthday, and I didn't know how to write a breezy post when that was on my mind). A bunch of you had left comments that fell into moderation and I only just now got to posting them. For those of you doing the MLA meet-up, I'll send an email out tonight.

I spent the holidays in my hometown, having quality time with my parents, having fun nights out with my hometown friends, seeing my dad's side of the family (for though it sucks that he's dead and all, the unanticipated positive side effect is that I'm no longer exiled from that side of my family - not that they'd exiled me, but circumstances made me feel uncomfortable seeing them, because it was just too hard to deal with questions about my father, blah, etc., so now I can happily bring myself back into the fold without any angst, which is awfully cool). It was a brief visit, but a good one.

This morning I drove back to my current hometown (because, dude, this place feels like home now - whereas that place feels like a place where I grew up), and the kittens were very meowy and indignant about the fact that they'd eaten all of their food (not because they didn't have somebody coming in to feed them, but because apparently they gobble up whatever is given as if they'll never be fed again when I'm not home), and now I need to pack for MLA to ready myself for tomorrow morning's flight to Philly. For those of you who are perplexed at the fact that a discipline has a major conference between Christmas and New Year's, this has been the way of things for generations, but this is the last year of that. Starting next year, MLA will happen at the same time as AHA - the weekend after New Year's. There are positives and negatives to both sets of dates, though I've got to say, I'm really looking forward to the change.

So now. I need to pack clothes and interviewing odds and ends, I need to charge my phone and my iPod, and I need to attempt to make my cats love me again before I abandon them in like 17 hours. Is it wrong that I'm both looking forward to MLA AND looking forward to it being over?

Perhaps more later this evening, but I feel like I should pack while the impulse strikes me. Have got lots to say about the coming of the new year and about my reflections on this crappy one. So belated Merry Christmas and early Happy New Year! More anon...