The big news I alluded to earlier is this:

1. I'm taking a year off of school to establish Iowa residency and save myself thousands of dollars on college tuition. In return, I lose my health insurance and a bit of my scholarship package. Somehow I must work in Ames for a year, keeping my health and recovering my sanity in the process. Which leads me to...
2. ...the months of December, April and May: they were a bit rough. Tonight I broke out my old social psychology textbook to find some answers, and it suggested that if someone had locked me in a room with six nice young women for a couple of hours, everything would be fine now (Myers 583) I'm not sure I buy it, but it's probably better than my solution at the time, which was the fetal position. Playing dead, while a useful course of action in case of bear attack, is not a skill that carries over well into daily life.
   I think that's all I should say about that in public.
3. I'll be back in Rapid City this afternoon through Sunday to do laundry, deal with the family crisis (which I suppose is mine) and gawk at bikers in sweaters. Supposedly, this year's Rally is the coldest in history; I expect to validate this claim for myself soon.

Sorry for the drama and for not calling, even if I have never met you and don't know your phone number. Through the vast power of the Internet, I should be able to legally "steal" your "identity" and "stalk you" just based on the information your computer just gave me, just now, without you even knowing... but that's a lot of work, and I'm lazy. Oops, I mean depressed. MANAGED HEALTH CARE thank you for clarifying this! Where were you eight months ago when all I needed was a concerned phone call?

LINK OF THE NOW
The Bali Satay House, the local Indonesian-restaurant-cum-night-club, finally got themselves a website. Unfortunately, last week's Arecee show was probably their last good show this month. Still, this advance is a great victory for Ames music fans tired of picking through the sea of weight-loss flyers on "the pole" in Campustown.

Referenced: Myers, David G. Social Psychology. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002.