We had a lovely trip to Mississippi to visit Clarabella and family, which included a stop along the way to watch some of the Division 2 College Wrestling Champsionships. CW has a college friend who was coaching there and a family friend competing, so it was perfect that the tournament happened to be taking place halfway to our destination, on the night before we wanted to go. Good timing!

So we spent one night there and then went on to Mississippi the next day. It was lovely. We entertained ourselves with great conversation and tons of laughs, as usual. We ate fantastic food (which I did not photograph), and drank well, too. They have this very cool whiskey decanter, which was one of the only things I bothered to photograph the entire time:

I suppose I was too busy having fun to whip out the big camera.

I borrowed a couple of books from Clarabella, one of which was Gone Girl. If you plan to read that book and don’t want any SPOILERS, maybe SKIP THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH (AND MAYBE THE COMMENTS, TOO):

So, I finished Gone Girl in less than 24 hours. Quite the page turner! I was utterly engrossed by the plot and characters, both in spite of and because of their terrible, sociopathic nature. I’m pretty sure I’ve known at least one Actual Sociopath in my life (though it’s hard to tell, sometimes, isn’t it?), and I admit to finding that type of mind and that type of behavior just as fascinating as I do appalling and frightening. I think it’s fascinating because it’s so awful, you know? Who do you have to be to sail through life with no conscience, no guilt, no sense of responsibility to any moral or ethical code? I think you just have to be someone missing some important component of what it is to be a human living in a society. And do you think all that applies to just Amy in the book, or to Nick, too? Did you read the book? Want to discuss in the comments?

OKAY, YOU CAN COME BACK NOW.

Since we’ve been back in town, I’ve been reading, catching up on TV, and generally relaxing. I’ll have to get a little work done this weekend to prepare for the return to school, but for now I’m ignoring that. The only ingredient missing from my spring break so far is a little warmer weather. I’m quite tired of running directly into an icy wind every time I step outside. My weather app tells me that we’ll be seeing the 70s again starting tomorrow, and for once, I’m finally looking forward to it. Spring, I am ready for you.