Thanks

I didn't post all weekend because it was Thanksgiving here. I had a four-day weekend from school but I had to spend it up north with Jessa's dad's family. That meant no computer and hence no blogging.

It was.......... dull. The kind of dullness I almost forgot existed in the future because of what I've told you about technology there. Staying at grandparents house with no internet for three whole days is a challenge even for a 15-year-old girl in 2002, especially when she's grown really accustomed to spending time on her blog every night.

It gave me time to read ahead for my English assignment. We're covering Romeo and Juliet. I have to admit, it's nice to have something to do that I can sink my teeth into. And that keeps me at a distance from the fam.

On the way up, it was just me and "Dad." Jessa's mom had to take little sis Meghan to a dance practice on Saturday morning. Russ decided to hang back too. I decided "what the hell" - out of all of them, "Dad" (Marc) is the one I seem to get along with best, so if I have to spend a five-hour car ride with anyone it might as well be him.

It was a pretty enjoyable ride. Marc was pleasantly surprised when I switched the radio station to Classic Rock on the way up and sang along to Led Zeppelin (my falsetto on "Black Dog" is shockingly good in this voice although when I tried to sing along to Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" I felt very strange and stopped halfway through.)

"I never knew you liked this kind of music," he said fondly.

"It's a recent phase," I shrugged. "It's growing on me."

We stopped for lunch at McDonalds, something "Mom" would not likely allow, preferring to pack white bread sandwiches they they could eat at a rest stop. We bonded a little and when he asked me questions about school I gave more honest answers than I was expecting... as honest as I could be considering my position as his fake-daughter. I didn't want to say I was "struggling" with math -- so I'm a little out of practice, I don't think it's cause for alarm.

"What about boys?" he asked.

"Ew, no," I said in a very 'teenage girl' but very direct way. "All the guys at school are... just, no."

Now, to avoid any unnecessary questioning, I had to limited my dismissal of boys to the ones "at school," but if I'm being honest, that whole question for me is off limits. No guys. Not even any girls, if such an opportunity arose. It's just too weird. But I can't explain it in such detail and I definitely can't broach that latter topic.

Dad seemed glad that his little girl wasn't dating anytime soon, but maybe not satisfied that I was being straightforward, which... fair enough.

The parts of the visit that weren't dull were even more frustrating than usual. I had to keep my shield of "teen angst" up, which usually signifies to adults that I don't want to talk to them, but that doesn't always stop them from prying. In particular, Jessa's got a "fun uncle" with no kids of his own who really seems to dote on Jessa. It seemed like he really wanted my attention and was sad that he didn't get a lot of it. I just didn't know how to act, or what to say to him.

Jessa has another aunt with kids. There's two older guys - one back from university for the weekend and one who is Russell's age, and a 12-year-old daughter Leeann, which puts her awkwardly between Jessa and Meghan in ages. She and I could hardly be less alike, and I don't just mean because I'm a 30-year-old man inside. She's very upbeat and energetic and wants to know all about what high school is like, and what it's like to kiss a boy and all this other stuff that I'm not even sure Jessa would want to talk to her about if she were her own self. She glommed onto me and I felt bad brushing her off, so I told her, high school is hard and boys are stupid, stay away from them.

That wasn't what she wanted to hear. She instead showed me her ranked list of 10 boys in her class based on how much she would marry them. Yeesh, get a hobby kid.

Between family activities, we went to the video store (yay!) Leeann chose Moulin Rouge, Russ and the guys picked The Fast & the Furious (I had to fight the urge to say "Man, it's been forever since I saw the first one.") I chose Memento, which, the few members of the family who did watch it with me found very confusing.

Beyond that... it was a family weekend. What can I say? The food was good, and plentiful (and nobody shamed me for how much I wanted to eat) and I was surrounded by well-meaning people I didn't really relate to.

So, you know... family.