Back in Ames

I'm back in Ames finally, and I'm not really happy or sad about that given that I was here but a month ago. Nothing has changed since then. Still, it's a very nice place to be, my room is as cozy and hot as ever, and I get lambchops for dinner. My parents always give me a good dinner on the first day back home. I didn't go back home yesterday because I decided to hang out with remaining friends instead, and I ended up having some really intense conversations about Russia/Stalinism/Leninism/Marxism/Christianity/American voter efficacy/secularism/North Korea. It was interesting, especially given that I was having these arguments with Duncan, Vitaly, and Hainstock, all of whom have different areas of expertise. That's always good when that happens. As the English major, I was basically pulling for Trotsky, obviously.

My plan for this break is to read, obviously first of all. I have The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan and some short stories from John Updike, as well as Alan Moore's new comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, which I've noticed has been getting middling to downright poor reviews.

Also on my agenda is to continue writing down everything I do everyday for the entirety of winter break. This is a tradition I started back in freshman year, mainly because I felt that my adult self (except I am an adult--adulter self?) would be interested to know about my musings, philosophies, and lifestyle habits as a college student, especially during that two weeks of debauchery known as winter break. Looking back at what I had written, there was definitely some interesting things going on. I don't want to get too specific, it is my own damn business, but I would say freshman year was all about a lot of self-loathing and pity, while sophomore year was about boredom. What will this break be about? Hopefully something preferable to either of those.

Aaron just gave me his Chanukah present, the newest issue of the British mag Mojo. I think he chose it because it has the reunited Led Zeppelin on the cover. It occurs to me that I haven't commented on this Led Zeppelin reunion, partially because I'm not a millionaire and couldn't get tickets but also because reunion shows tend to be suspicious stuff. I have looked at some grainy cell phone video clips of the show on Youtube, and from what I can tell, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page play as good as they ever did, Plant sings probably better than he did before, and Jason Bonham does not even come fucking close. You can definitely tell the difference. It's a shame on the one hand, but that's what he deserves for making a career out of flogging his dad's corpse.