Post holiday blahs in a dreary Michigan January

Every time the Christmas/New Years holidays come to an end, I inevitably say to myelf, "So that was it?...Now what?"

I enjoy the buildup to Christmas (especially now that I no longer work in retail), and generally enjoy Christmas Day. The week between Christmas and New Year's Day could be one long party if not for having to go to work--but January 2 has to be about the most depressing day of the year. The rest of the month isn't much better, due in large part to the grey, cold, dark, snowy weather in Michigan.

For some reason, this month seams particularly bleak. The sun made an appearance this morning and I swear it felt like at least a month since I'd last seen it. We've been lucky in that the sun has been out all day today, unfortunately this has been canceled out by the fact that the temperature outside is hovering at about 7 degrees Fahrenheit. So, though the sun is shining gloriously, it's too unGodly cold to do anything outside.

Now that college football season is over, I am back to join the rest of the human race. I can now indulge in other hobbies and interests that take a backseat from September through early January. Those interests are primarily music and books.

I perused the Book Burrow of the downtown Lansing library last week and someone had left a motherlode of '70s/'80s vinyl, and most of it was actually in decent shape. I picked up an original 1973 pressing of Led Zep's Houses of the Holy for a buck, then went back for Get the Knack (dust jacket a little dinged up, but record in decent shape and worth the dollar), Fine Young Cannibal's The Raw and the Cooked (still in the cellophane). There were a few other decent LPs that I've considered snagging, but I don't want to go overboard. (I've really been debating whether to spring a bill for a nice-looking copy of the first ELP album. I don't even really like ELP).

Today, I swung by the only remaining used record store in East Lansing, Flat Black & Circular,

with the intention of quickly picking up some plastic protective LP sleeves (really indulging in my music collector "geekitude"--but I have several LPs I'd like to protect) but knew I couldn't go in and out of there without quickly looking through the racks. I found a copy of the Bob Seger System's Mongrel (marked "$6.50 as is") in the vinyl racks and bought it without hesitating. FBC also had Seger's Back in '72 (a little too pricy for me at $20) and Seven. I didn't feel like blowing too much money at once, so I may have to go back later to see if Seven is still there, but I have a feeling that by the time I get a chance to return, it'll be gone. The old, out-of-print Seger albums do not stick around for long.

More music posts to come, I promise!

(Update: Ever the obsessive music nerd, I did return to FBC and DID obtain a vinyl copy of Seven, though I passed on Back in '72).