So close and yet so far

The semester is winding down, I'm whiling away the 46 minutes until class starts - I'm giving a presentation tonight (gulp) really hate those but I'm going in not really worried about it. I've done my research, I have an outline. It's going to be fine.

I am, however, wanting so badly to go away somewhere. We have a trip planned in February for a family vacation - but I do so want to head out on the road somewhere sooner than that. It's not like I haven't done my fair share of traveling this year - we did go to Vegas in August and I've made several trips up north as well as Chicago a time or two. But - I want to do Seattle again. I want very much to go to Europe...Paris, London, anywhere there really. It's just so hard sometimes to justify the money, the time away, and figuring out what I would do if I went? It's hard for me to think like a tourist now - I just want to have the time to be somewhere like Seattle or Paris and not feel like every day needs to be PACKED with activities and sight-seeing. If I were to LIVE somewhere like that or even spend more than a week at one of those places I feel like I could get to know the neighborhoods, enjoy sleeping in one day, or doing nothing but stay in the same cafe all day and write or surf the web. But, all of those options require a great deal of money and an even bigger absence of responsibilities - such as school, work, family, boyfriend, etc.

Oh well. I suppose I should do what I really should do - hole up at home, save, write, and hope for the day when I don't lock myself into a semester of studying and jobs that require me to be paid only when I am physically there. Come on best-selling novel...show yourself!