I hope all is well, my dearest readers, and that we are collectively pulling through the sludge of post-holiday January unscathed. What a dreadful time of year this always is; money is tight, everywhere, and the few people dining out let their pending Macy's bill prevent them from tipping decently. Winter is snuggling into the landscape, settling down for a long, lingering nap, and we poor inhabitants simply don't have Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza to distract us from the inclement weather. Speaking of, however, who in the US actually celebrates Kwanza? Is its inclusion yet another half-assed attempt to recognize the mistreated African Americans of this country, the majority of which have never been to Africa and couldn't care less about Kwanza? Honestly. That's neither here nor there, I suppose, but is a rant of the season regardless.

Things are well here in Cincinnati. I am back in school, however, and have decided to be honest and realistic about my abilities: I won't write when I'm in school. Though the therapeutic benefits of the activity are direly needed when I'm in the middle of a quarter, there's simply no time. Luckily enough for me, I've decided to make time, in a way; I now have a weekly opinion column for the University of Cincinnati's News Record. As silly as it sounds, I'm quite proud of it and roughly 50% of the stuff I write (sometimes time runs out and one must publish rubbish. I am not excusing this, but it happens nonetheless). Its basically similar to the things I whine about here, but published consistently. If you are interested, go to newsrecord.org and click on opinion. On the opinion page you will find the brilliantly titled column "sensible skeptical", and, quite luckily, no picture (the one they took for the hard copies is horrid). I would post a direct link, but I am tired and cold and ready for bed. It's late and I must get up early to complete studio work. Also, I think I am catching Bry Bry's cold. That is all.