a poem from Composition class...

The Elephantous.

I labor over Document6.
The blackness of my keys,
Matches the blackness of the night.
There is not much ivory amidst

An ivory tower.
Where the only ivory
taunts from the virgin
realm of paper.

Everyone conquers mine
Yet I am better
than each and all.
None stand surely.

Yet last of all
stands I,
the stander.

Tied to all the rest.

Well it's been a month, so I guess I've gotta please the fans with somethin'.

Time here is flying. flying. I am already getting jumpy about having to leave so soon. The expereince out here is so precious and so privledged, and it's something that definately expires. I suppose it's a macrocosm of life. In the words of Camus: "In order to exist just once in the world, it is necessary never again to exist".

I've been sick the last few days--geographic isolation has the bittersweet condition of keeping illness out, except for when somebody brings something back. 17/25 members of the Student Body have it/ have had it. I ended up reading Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, and I'm halfway through What do you care what other people think?, the sequel. Both excellent reads.

I've been making mozzarella and yogurt and buttermilk and sour cream and butter left and right, and it's a lot of fun.

Two weeks ago it was time for us to take care of our responsibilities as Adopters of the 10 mile stretch of highway that goes through the valley. So 10 of us were given 1 mile stretch to walk up and down. It was a beautiful day. CalTrans gave us hard hats and orange reflector-wear to sport, with tons of safety reminders. I wore a pair of boxer briefs, shoes and a hard-hat. Sho'nuf.

So there I was, walking the desert highway with my trashbag. There were maybe 10 people who drove by during the hour or so it took me to do it, and when I would wave (friendlyness is a much bigger thing in the rural west), 75% of the time the cars would accelerate. haha. All in good fun.

Classes have been going great. I'm in the middle of leading the class discussions in Epic Literature, where we're reading Njal's Saga, an awesome Tolkien-meets-Hemingway 12th century Icelandic saga. Soo good.

I watched Say Anything the other night, and got down on the lack of affection out here. Brotherly love is great, but no substitute for the heart-wrenching deep emotions of love. Sometimes I play with Rasco, one of the more affectionate cats out here, just holding him in my arms. Most of all, I miss being held. hmm.

Breaking out of that spell of depression, I don't think I wrote about the pregnancy testing from the end of last term. Oh man. Pregnancy testing cows. Oh man. Sticking your hand up a cows bung while wearing a glove that goes up to your shoulder. Oh man. Quite the experience.

Break was spent on the East Coast, at Columbia, Boston College, Tufts, MIT, Boston U, Northeastern, and Yale. I had a lot of fun, but got back here feeling I hadn't been on break one bit. It was great seeing people, and for the most part it was just a question of picking up mid-sentance. And most conversations were left like that, too. I like that.

I'm starting to think about 'summer' break, which is going to be april 19th - july 4th. No offense to all my peeps in the states, but I'd like to be in Sweden for Valborg (Apr 31st) and Midsummer (June 20th), and hopefully get a job in Sweden for the month of May, and spend July maxin' around there.

I love you us kids, but I feel a need to get home to Sweden. So tell me your plans around the end of april and around june and such, so we can try and work some stuff out. How abouts a road trip to drop me off at the end of June? You know you wanna.

Oh, and I haven't cut my hair since I got here, and haven't shaved since break (as usual). We'll see what happens with that.