I have never danced with the devil in the light of the moon.

I have never seen caves filled with dazzling jewels that disappear at midnight.

I have never heard the song of the elusive silver loon, said to drive men and dogs wild.

I have never tasted dark chocolate made from the secret pastry recipes of the Templars.

I have never scented the dangerous fragrance of the Chaos Lily, the sole remaining plant of which is now under the care of the highest order of Kohens.

But I have played tackle football with a volleyball in 3-foot high drifts in a grove in front of the largest law library in the world, with male and female youths far younger than I, and under a waning moon. The second night of the 5th biggest blizzard in the Northeast, before a snow day on the first day of the second semester of law school, I have made pity touchdowns when one youth tackled me into a lamp post. And I have been content.

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So the break was good, even though I was kind of down for a while about my last exam. I went to New York and had a great time seeing friends, even though it was freakin' FREEZING the entire time I was down there. I must confess to drinking a very strong martini and half a bottle of wine the night I got to BC's apartment, being really, really happy and making what I thought was scintillating conversation for a couple hours, and then -- yes, you guessed it -- throwing it all up. I don't recall the last time I hurled from drinking, but it's been a really long time, and I'm not very proud about breaking that run.

But the rest of the trip was great: soaking up the rest of the alcohol in my system the next day with five or six pieces of bacon at Def and Stave's apartment, going to the new MOMA courtesy of Miss D's corporate membership, eating the fantastic split pea soup and herb bread that Fearless T made, getting major attitude from a waitress while drinking with Steve-o, getting to see BC in action in the freshman English class she's teaching. I took a day trip up to New Haven, and managed to see all the people I still know at my alma mater, even though it was terribly inconvenient for them. I even saw the little senior I met in Korea in my language school -- on the street, randomly! All in all, a full and pleasant trip.

I was sort of glad, even, to come back here. It was nice to come back to friends in the hall, and even do the work I've been avoiding, like sending out resumes and the like. I was very pleased to get a summer job offer just half an hour after I got back to my prison-like dorm room -- an alternative dispute resolution place in -- ta da! -- Honolulu. Trouble is, there are several other places I'd like to hear from before deciding. But gosh -- Hawaii. Hm. Yeah.

I did fall into a funk yesterday, for some inexplicable reason -- everything and everyone was annoying me, and I went to bed disgruntled and blue. The start of the new semester is certainly a worthy suspect. Being in California and then in New York over the past month reminded me that hey! I used to be a happy person before this ridiculously boring and difficult ride began. Ugh.

But this morning, I woke up to a world gone white. The blizzard has shut down classes for us tomorrow, and provided 3-foot high drifts to play in, and a beautiful sense of stillness the city over. I am sorry for those 4000 people without electricity. But gosh, there's something profound about the times when nature takes over. In a slightly serious but non-life-threatening way, anyway.

There are sacred moments, for lack of better wording, that pop up from time to time. You know, the kind that remind you that most of the time, we live superficially, skimming the surface of life. We have to, in order to get things done. But it's good to let yourself sink in sometimes, and feel how sublime life is, how enormous the wonder, how extraordinary the world can be. The best single moment I can remember of last semester was listening to my hallmate play Chopin on a grand piano in a tiny, dingy practice room underground, with me sitting two feet away. Tonight, playing in the snow under a moon just short of full, might be one of those moments.

Or not. But in any case, it was darntootin' fun.