Long Weekend

I'm home again this weekend. Mostly because several families of cousins are over at Grandma's apartment this weekend. I think I've got pretty much all of my stuff put away so it's not too bad.
Working in New York makes me really really wish that I'd end up going to school there. So darn close, darn it. But then, I really like certain parts of CMU. I really like how we don't have some sort of scary feral competition going on between the archies like I hear they do up in Cornell. I like the way the teachers are teaching things. I like how Pittsburgh's a city, and yet not really, so I can still get around and still have relative quiet when I want to sleep - that is, of course, if I ever manage to drown out all those noisy neighbors. Pittsburgh also has actual houses, unlike most of New York. I think that "when I grow up," I really want a house. One that I design. An apartment is great, sure, but you're still designing in a box. I think I'd like to go somewhere, find a disgusting little raised ranch, knock it down until no one can recognize it and resurrect it as something just as efficient and much more original in every which way.
Speaking of architecture, mommy dearest found the most interesting little architectural magazine called Dwell Magazine, which features modernist architecture and design. I quite like it. If it's still around "when I grow up" then I think I'll subscribe to it. As it is, I was looking at magazine subscriptions online, and they really aren't so expensive. Maybe when I have a stable year round address, I'll subscribe to a few.
Top picks for design related magazines include in no particular order:
1) Dwell magazine ($2.50 a copy w/ subscription)
2) Metropolis magazine ($2.50 a copy w/ subscription)
3) W magazine ($1.40 a copy w/ subscription)
4) Architectural Record ($4+ a copy w/ subscription)
5) Interior Design ($4+ a copy w/ subscription)
Those last two are pretty expensive - I think I'd have to wait till I was really, really "grown up" to get them.
O yes, and as you can tell, I've been thinking lots about adulthood. As an adult who makes her own money, shouldn't I technically be allowed to go where I want so long as I use my own money? My parents seem to feel that as "an adult," I still have no say in how I can run my own life and that I'm still too young and naive to know what I'm doing. Financially, I completely agree - boy have I botched a few things up, and I don't even know where to begin when it comes to taxes. But the whole thing about where I am and what I'm doing, who I go out with, who my friends are, shouldn't that be my choice? It's not like I've blown off school to go smoke and drink with the worst of them...