midpoint

we had our midterm presentations last week. basically, everyone talked about their finished and unfinished work up to this point for 10 minutes using powerpoint. pretty standard, good practice, and everyone did a fairly good job. no complete disasters occurred.

my dad and his girlfriend kristina (yes, as awkward as it is we have the same name) came and visited me this weekend. a 24 hour roundtrip drive for 48 hours of being here seems a bit crazy, but my dad really wanted to do it! i'm extremely glad he came, too. i love my dad, he's awesome and we get along really well, and kristina makes things even better.

we went out to eat at hong kong house on friday night. and talked about the future. and beer. saturday we hiked chimney tops trail in the smokies, which was a fabulously awesome time. in order to reach the end of a trail, we had to scramble up a rock face. then on sunday we visited museum of appalachia, a living history sort of museum. i now am the proud owner of a picture of a banjo made out of a bedpan, a jew's harp (which i still don't know how to play) and a book about raising sheep. the moment my dad drove away from the parking at the museum, i burst into tears.

i don't think this is an appropriate place to discuss this, but being here is the single most frustrating social experience of my life. that's it.