Ho Hum

So I'm going home (Canton) for 9 days starting next week. I'm excited because I love being home and eating good food and just hanging out with my parents. And of course I love seeing old friends too. Whenever I go home, the time always FLIES. super fast. I never get to see everyone I want or do everything I planned. Which really just means I was busy the whole time doing fun things which is great. But this leads me to my one gripe:
//begin rant// I live 5 hours away. I imagine that it's understandable that I'd like to spend a significant amount of time with my family when I do get the chance to see them. However, some of my friends think it is my responsibility to make sure that I travel to see them when I am in the area. Now, I am not a hot commodity when I go home. I really don't have that many friends. But I always find myself frustrated that I am the one that is supposed to travel to see friends when I'm home. I just drove 5 hours!!! How about YOU drive a little to visit? Friendships are 50/50 and it's not their problem that I moved far away- I get that. But don't be surprised if I don't work around your schedule to drive and see you during the couple hours you might be free.. because I'm probably sick of driving :-)  //end rant//

In other news, I ate myself to death yesterday and am now 5 hours in on the "no carbs for erica for 5 days" plan. It's not as serious as it sounds. I don't care about carbs in fruit and whatnot. I'm just  not eating bread, potatoes, rice, etc.

I was leaving the grocery store this morning and there was entire grocery cart of Kroger brand vitamin water with a big "FREE" sign on it?!?!! I just stared at it for awhile. I've never seen such a thing. I took some and was waiting to be approached by a camera crew and a police officer as I walked out but nothing happened. I realized later that the "best by:" date was today... but I mean it's 0 calorie, 0 sugar vitamin water... how bad could it possibly be after today? Answer: not bad at all. *score*

The only other things going on in my world are researching and coding. I abhor coding. I'd rather do just about anything. I'm sure it's mostly mental. But I really can't seem to get over it.
I also read a lot. The Happiness Project and Fifty Shades of Grey are the books of choice right now. But I can never really enjoy doing anything fun because I know I should be coding/researching/studying. That feeling never, ever goes away. Thank you, grad school.

That's all for now- I'll try to be in a better mood next time :-)