the music of the night

I got into Des Moines this morning at around eight a.m.; the temperature was a balmy -4 degrees. That was cold enough to freeze the mucus in my nose, which is strangely a feeling that I kind of enjoy. My brother picked me up and took me back to Ames with him, since he had a meeting on campus that he had to attend. We had breakfast, and I had the first country-fried steak that I've had in several years. There's nothing like a battered, fried steak covered in gravy to remind you that you're back in the Midwest. When we got to his apartment, I slept for a few hours, which was v. necessary. Then, we met our family in Des Moines for an early dinner at our favorite restaurant (no, not Long John Silvers--it's a steakhouse on the south side of Des Moines, conveniently located next to an adult sex store). Uncle Mark was there with his wife and kid (who was v. untalkative, since he's now thirteen and so too cool for the rest of us), as was Aunt Becky and her oh-so-scandalous boyfriend (whom I've come to realize is not so scandalous in the morality sense of the word, but is scandalous for the terrible jokes that he makes, and for his obnoxiously-superior attitude toward Southern Iowa, since he hails from the northern/snobbish part of the state). I'm going to go ahead and claim that a good time was had by all; I certainly had a good time, since I enjoyed the conversation and got to have prime rib on top of it. Yum! Also, I thought it was funny that my aunt baked cookies for my brother for valentine's day, but gave me a personal-sized bottle of wine labeled 'relax'. Ha!

After dinner, my parents, brother and I went to the Des Moines Civic Center to see 'Phantom of the Opera'. I haven't done much at the Civic Center before; I think the last time I was there was for the presentation of the 1997 World Food Prize. The Civic Center is connected to Des Moines' amazing system of skywalks (according to wikipedia, there are over 3.5 miles of skywalks connecting the buildings in downtown Des Moines, allowing people to access everything without having to trudge through the snow or the blistering heat). So, we were able to take the skywalk from the parking garage, which was key since my California-procured boots were not made for walking in the snow.

'The Phantom of the Opera' was really good, and the lead singers were excellent. I remembered many of the songs from a medley that my high school choir sang so many moons ago, and so it was great to hear them sung by professionals rather than by slacker teenagers trying to get out of taking a real class. Now, I'm back in my ancestral home, which is freezing; it's ironic that the new house is warmer than the old house (due to radiant heat and better insulation), but it's not done yet and so I can't sleep there. Sigh. I suppose it's time to gird my loins (however you do that) and go to bed. It's one thing to have your mucus freeze in your nose outside, but it's quite another to wake up with a cold nose because your bedroom is cold. Oh, well, c'est la vie. Goodnight!