Fall Term: A Reflection

Holy shit, I haven't posted in forever. I've sat down to start to write several times, but most of those times I was a little closer to Pluto than I should have been and ended up just listening to music and playing Mario Kart.
This is the laziest term I've ever had, and quite frankly I can't repeat it. I've set a new standard of laziness for myself, but at the same time I very much enjoyed Fall 2009. The defining factor of this term was Hill House. Although my Hill House triple cannot compare to the size and epicness of Stadium 110, Hill House as a whole has proven to be as historical and adventure-worthy as Stadium. Filled with winding staircases, hidden closets, ping pong tables, abandoned drum sets, and the ghetto Cave of Wonders (the room that controls who gets cable tv and internet), we took full advantage of every aspect of Hill House. Beer pong in the basement is perhaps my fondest memory, even though one night we were shut down at 11 and I cussed out the RA (oops). However, said RA was not the Hill House RA, who is by far the coolest RA I have ever had ("You guys shouldn't smoke on the porch. But if you do smoke on the porch, smoke on the right side"). The 3rd floor fire escape was also an oft-visited location, typically by Granger and I. Hill House has one of the best groups of people anywhere at Carleton. While Andrew, Ken, and I are the people you probably know, the presence of Granger, Aaron, Darian, and Sam made "quiet" nights in Hill House fairly raucous.
In Stadium, much of our time was dominated by COD4, Little Big Planet, and TA. This year, our room has a Wii, and we play Mario Kart nearly constantly (I'm the best). We also play lots of Laser Hockey (which some of you experienced during Alumni Weekend). I beat Metroid Prime 3 in the first 2 weeks, and I've been working on beating Resident Evil 4 for the last few weeks.
In terms of music, I've been listening to a lot of new stuff that I'm pretty confident you guys will enjoy. On the electronic scene, I've been listening to Crystal Castles, The Knife, Digitalism, Nosaj Thing, and of course, lots of Aphex Twin. I've found a lot of good hip hop in the past months, and would suggest that you all check out Buck 65, a Canadian artist who has been called the Tom Waits of hip hop (intrigued yet?). Get his album, "This Right Here is Buck 65" first because it's a good intro, mostly because his early albums sound like they were recorded in a basement... which they were. Also, check out the new Tech N9ne album, K.O.D., because it's awesome (Tech featuring Three 6 Mafia and rapping backwards=awesome). I've really gotten into Brother Ali recently as well, plus Cunninlynguists and Sage Francis. I saw Atmosphere live in Wichita over the summer, which was disappointingly uncrowded but one of the best shows I've ever been to. Minneapolis has the best hip hop scene of any city in the US. Period.
The main sad news from this term is the passing of Beelzebub, aka Mephistopheles. He was an excellent companion, be it morning, afternoon, or night, Monday or Sunday, and it didn't matter if it was just him and me or if there was a big group of people. Beelzebub was loved by all who knew him, and will be sorely missed. One day a new companion will be found, and it is my hope that you will all meet him someday.
So now I'm living in Davis 104 with Mering, KEG, and 2 international students over break. We dragged the TV and Wii with us, so Andrew is playing Mario Kart while I'm writing. We cooked brats outside and had some brews, so all in all this "Thanksgiving at Carleton" thing is going pretty well.
Nonberg, Elliot, Ted, Tim, and Toto: I miss you guys a lot. This place just isn't the same without you, and I've enjoyed reading your post-grad posts. I haven't been doing my job to keep the blog alive, but I'm going to try harder.