In the depths of winter, other students really like hanging out in the Terraridorm. Almost too much! Ha ha jk, but maybe a little. The plants don't mind all the extra CO2, but we do make them take off their shoes.

A nice girl named Leslie wanted to have a "Moss Festival" in the Terraridorm, which sounded ok, except for when she went on about how they'd have a "moss petting zoo" and make ME the "Moss Queen" and I really didn't like where that was going. But I offered for her to come and spend the night - just her - and we could have a sleepover party with Hank and the gang. Maybe next weekend.

Meanwhile, still no sign of @Jo Conde. Really not sure what's up with that boy.

Life in the Terraridorm tends to get a bit fetid in winter. It's too cold outside to let much fresh air in directly. But some people--including my besties Hank Okomodo, Dragon Boy, and Anomora the Crab Girl--prefer it.

"It makes me feel more alive," Anomora says. "There's aspects of our olfactory systems that don't get utilized otherwise."

Not sure how well that's going to go over with @Jo Conde, if I'm ever able to set up the "casual meeting" with him and Anomora that I just know will lead to FIREWORKS. But Jo's been real standoffish lately when I see him in class. I'm pretty sure it's not me. I feel like something else is up.

Hank and I haven't seen much of @Jo Conde after saving us on our road trip. We let him know he's welcome any time in the Terraridorm, and now that it's getting chilly out that's where we'll be spending most of our time. But Jo's been keeping a low profile and neither of us have any classes with him this term.

Hank thinks we should hook him up with Anomora the Crab Girl. She molted over the summer and is more full of herself than ever. No, but seriously, we love her, and I think they'd make a great couple. And I wouldn't try to hook her up with anybody I didn't trust.

There's no doubt we were very lucky to get picked up by that boy from school in his flying bubble car. Imagine the chances of that! Hank's parents are going to be real mad about the van though.

We made it as far as Barrett when the bubble car ran out of juice. Bubbleboy says there aren't many charging stations out this way, and he had to use up extra fetching us. Fair enough.

We put together enough between us to get a motel room at the Fancy 8. Trust me, it's not that fancy. But Hank put some towels in the tub and ran the water a bit so I'm comfortable enough in there.

There's apparently some kind of moonshiner network out here you can buy blackmarket bubblejuice from, so that's @Jo Conde's plan.

Hank Okomodo, Dragon Boy, borrowed his parent's van and filled the back up with sponges and a hydration system and we were off on our road trip!

Then we got to the desert. Which is Hank's homeland. But the cops there have it out for Dragon Boys and they pulled us over for some cocked up reason. Then they gave him a ticket for an unlicensed mobile hydration system. They wouldn't even recognize me as a life form.

We're laying low, camping out, but Hank's sure they'll pull us over again next chance they get. And there's no telling what they'll do.

Hank says maybe we can take back roads.

I can't say I'm sorry that @January February was kicked out of the Terraridorm. Sure, accidents happen, but there just didn't seem to be any remorse. I feel safer now, but that's because I'm inside the Terraridorm. Can't say the same for the rest of Summer Session.

Anomora the Crab Girl is on vacation with her family in Malta. I'd like to take a road trip, but that means keeping a traveling habitat that's moist and temperature controlled. Hank Okomodo, Dragon Boy, says he could maybe borrow his parent's van.

Anomora the Crab Girl wants a new shell. She's had dozens of the finest shells shipped in to the terraridorm so she can try them all on.

"Free return shipping!" she says.

Still, it's a kind of behavior that belies her upbringing. Her mom is some high level member of the Crab King Court.

It is true that as the outside warms up, the terraridorm can get a little rank.

Dragon boys like Hank prefer their food raw, but not every dragon boy is as neat as Hank, and squirrel their scraps away under rocks and peat thinking they're "saving a snack for later" but never return.

As soon as the temperature in the terraridorm raises just one degree due to ambient outside weather conditions, Amora the Crab Girl is discovering these "gems" left and right and disposing of them in appropriate compost bins.

When you live in a terrarium, it's important to keep your environment up to certain standards. If you don't want it to smell like rotting garbage.

Lounging inside the terraridorm on a snowy day is like a snow globe inside out.

Outside the dome you can see the snow blowing, but inside it's a tropical paradise.

Anomora the Crab Girl went for a walk to the Spoonbender but it was too cold out. We warned her! But she just had to have a matcha latte.

When she didn't return, Hank Okomodo, Dragon Boy, went out looking for her and found that she had half buried herself in the landscaping by the library, trying to hibernate. He dug her out and brought her home to the terraridorm and she thawed right out.

So I had a pair of matcha lattes delivered for the two of us, and a hot chocolate for Hank.