I had an amazing Thanksgiving break. Finally being home, with family and friends, was something that I had been looking forward to. Sleeping in and doing fun stuff made break a good one, too.
I drove back with my roommate James Wednesday afternoon right after my last discussion at 5 PM. We had a full car, since Kent, Sarah, and Mayant came along for the ride (we all live in a ten-mile radius back home in SoCal).
I arrived home after midnight, exhausted but extremely happy to see my family. We also had a family friend, George, stay over for Thanksgiving break (he’s an international student from UCLA). I crashed right away and woke up the next day at 12 PM. Never felt better.
My family went over to my dad’s business partner’s home for Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, the usual – delicious. Since my dad had talked about my intended Haas major at Berkeley, a lot of the conversation revolved around business and my future interests. Definitely thought-provoking to hear about past experiences and a broader view of business.
That night, I spent some time scoping out some Black Friday deals online. Bought a year’s subscription of WIRED for $3.25. I also spotted a nice netbook at $100 off at Radio Shack, and since it was a store-only deal, I decided to go the next morning when the store opened at 5:30 AM. I was excited because this was my first Black Friday shopping experience where I actually went to the store.
I was disappointed.
The next morning, I went to Radio Shack with George…only to find that each store had one netbook at that price, and it was long gone. Discouraged, I drove to the next-closest location at the Westfield mall. Still no netbook.
At this point, since I was at the mall already, I decided to check out the other stores. We dropped by Macy’s, JC Penny, and Best Buy. All the stores were packed beyond belief, and I didn’t really find anything to my liking, so we left.
I ended up buying a pair of hiking boots (for the Berkeley rain) at Big 5 on the way back, and I had a big breakfast, complete with soft-serve ice cream, at McDonalds before heading home and falling asleep.
I woke up that afternoon and watched the new Harry Potter movie with some of my high school friends. The movie was so-so, mainly because the middle part was really slow and drawn out. The movie did end on a good note and was a good build-up to the final movie. I’m excited for that one.
That evening, I went to my church for another Thanksgiving potluck dinner. It was great seeing some old friends again, and after the meeting, my friends and I decided to stop by the Tea Station for some late night boba/shaved ice.
Saturday morning, I had Chick-fil-A for breakfast with some high school friends. I had been craving the Chicken Sandwich, and I left feeling full and satisfied (the coupons for free chicken nuggets helped, too).
I spent the afternoon shopping with my family. We had a late lunch at Boston Cafe and stopped by the Costco to stock up on food to bring back to Berkeley. I am happy to say that my stockpile of fruit snacks has been replenished.
Saturday night, I worked on my Haas application. Sunday morning, I went to church. Sunday afternoon, I picked up a netbook (my parents agreed to get me one as an early Christmas present). This one had much better specs, so I guess not getting one on Black Friday worked out.
Sunday afternoon, the start of a hellish journey back home. The drive back started fine. We were making pretty good progress until we hit the 5. All of a sudden, traffic just came to a standstill, only to pick up to a crawl before completely stopping again. There had been a big accident ahead, and the traffic went on for several hours. It was really annoying and tiring.
We reached the halfway mark at In N Out after six hours, scarfed down some good food, and made it back to Berkeley after 12 AM. The entire trip took over nine hours, but we were just glad to have made it home okay.
So that was my Thanksgiving break. Even though it ended with traffic, I had a wonderful time overall. Definitely good to be home again, and to spend time with family and friends. Looking forward to the end of finals and winter break.
Turkey adventures at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.
we also stopped at that in&out!