A Winter Prophecy

Sitting on the sofa. Minding my own business. Researching. Silent clickety-click of computer keys.

Matt's voice.

"It's coming you know. The hour of apocalypse."

Glance over at him with awkward skepticism.

"The snow parking disaster. The snow parking apocalypse.

I don't know what we're going to do.

In those bleak days young men will see visions. Old men will dream dreams. Many of those old men will not survive the journey back to their apartments from their parking spots.

Look out there. It's bleak."

I look. We look.

"Look out there. Way out there is probably where we might be able to find parking."

Silence.

Matt's voice.

"Do you have a window scraper?"
"yeah."
"Do you have two?"
Exchange of a glance.
A sigh.
Silence conquers.

Griping

I feel so beaten-down and dejected this evening. In about 20 minutes I have to leave for work... and won't get home until after classes tomorrow afternoon. That is so wrong. What's worse is I don't know what else I'd want to do if I didn't have to work tonight. Sleep? Not really. I'm too restless.

I feel like I spend a couple months trying to get a routine down pat. And then once I've established that routine my skin starts crawling with dissatisfaction and the desire for change. There is nothing worse than getting too comfortable with your situation. Than always knowing what to expect. Except for when you don't have any clue what to expect- then that's worse. And we're always constantly bobbling between the two extremes.

If only I could take a roadtrip and just drive from all this cold, barren land and emptiness...

Winter needs to end.

SNOW DAY!!!

Having slept a paltry 2 hours since Monday afternoon, my enthusiasm levels about this snow day are THROUGH THE ROOF. I'm more excited than a little kid on Christmas! I have spent all yesterday afternoon/evening studying for two Tests I was supposed to have back to back at school this morning- one in Chemistry, one in Anatomy & Physiology. And they're the first for each class, so I really don't know what level of difficulty to expect. I was supposed to go straight from work to school to take them. In fact, I spent a good 3 more hours at work (inbetween rounds and on my breaks) studying, I was so nervous about it.

But not anymore. Milwaukee's getting a good 12-16 inches of snow today. And the roads are crap. We're being blanketed in violent ThunderSnow (yeah, they actually call it that). I'm not too excited about the snow itself, but my gosh is it great to have more time for studying. And now those test won't be on the same day, and I'll be well rested for them. PLUS, I'm already prepared for them and can focus on long term memory as opposed to cramming. This is excellent. Simply outstanding.

And with that, I'm off to bed...

Shoveling Bites.

I really miss this guy.

Yeah, he might look like a lazy SOB, but in reality he's a way better investment than a snowblower- he even scrapes off your car, no extra charge.

Sigh. Please come back from Texas soon, Dan'l!!!

I Procrastinate because I hate disappointment

So I finally picked up my winter coat that I dropped off at the dry-cleaners back in March. Yeah... I know... that's a pretty darn long time to leave something at the dry cleaners, but all summer it just seemed like an unnecessary expense, y'know? Who thinks about spending money on a winter coat in the stifling heat of the summer? But now the weather's shifted, and the slightest chill in the breeze seems to have me shivering for hours. I am not looking forward to another winter with no heat in my car. So right... I figure I should at least have a coat, because I can't do laundry fast enough for the long sleeve shirt and two sweaters I'm wearing a day. I rotate the sweaters so the clean inner one goes to the outside and the dirty to the middle... then switch for laundry....I worked out a system last winter... but yeah, it still kinda sucks. A coat would be really nice.

So I decided it was time for a splurge and went to the dry cleaners to get/pay for it: $15 later I realized to my dismay they hadn't gotten the stain out. They had 8 months and they couldn't even get the damn stain out. Sigh. At least I'll be warm, I guess. But that really stinks.

Disfunctional Day

I think I'm getting sick.

First of all, I have this nasty thing on the corner of my mouth that won't heal... partly because it cracks open and can't heal because I open my mouth at least once a day. I think it's infected.

Second, I have a really vivid dream last night where I cut off a shock of my hair in anger. And then I woke up... and... there was a shock of hair next to me that apparently I had cut off IN MY SLEEP with a steak knife. Riiiiight.

Third, I slept 12 hours and am still TOTALLY exhausted and COLD in the middle of the summer. It feels like my body's trying to shut down. Makes no sense.

Fourth, so I made myself go to the gym anyways, hoping I was tired because I slept too much... just to FAINT in the freaking shower when I got home and NAIL my head on the side of the tub.

Which, Fifth, didn't really help my headache. In fact, it morphed it into a splitting headache, accompanied by mild nausea and dizziness. I'm glad I keep lots of painkillers on hand. I'm pissed off that that happened.

So yeah. I'm crabby. And I think fighting some sort of messed up sickness.

Homeless in Wisconsin

So here I am, the day Phil's coming out to visit, realizing I still haven't gotten around to cleaning my room. Right. So I got up this morning and I was cleaning up, trying not to get too distracted, but getting distracted anyways. So I decide to go do some laundry. That's concrete, definite progress having laundry out of the room because the room instantly looks less cluttered, right?

Anyways. So I get my laundry basket and go out into the back hallway to go down the basement to wash my clothes- and the door locks behind me. I'm locked out of my apartment. The landlord and his wife won't be home from work 'till 5ish. Matt won't be home 'till 4ish. It's 11:10am. My cellphone is locked inside. I'm wearing my PJ's. My "not meant for 10 degree weather in a snowstorm PJs." It's winter. Life sucks.

So I go outside to try and go around to the front to try and break in. It's damn cold. It's snowing and windy. I'm painfully obviously locked out of my house and not dressed for the challenge and sleezy people are honking at me and laughing as I fumble around on my porch and try to break in. At first I smile and shrug like "what's a girl to do?" but I quickly deteriorate into tossing them dirty looks and flipping them off. The one window that's storm is loose enough to break in through is locked on the inside. I set about trying to get another storm window open for an unlocked window. It's not happening. I need some sort of tool to pry it with. So right, I fumble around searching for something to use, basically I'm out there in the freezing cold totally exposed for an hour determined to get in- I had way too much stuff to get done to sit around waiting for them to come home for 5 or 6 hours! I did seriously consider making an igloo, though. That would kinda be like saying "Fuck you, apartment. I don't need to live in you." Or a snowman friend to keep me company and comfort me in my sorrow. Or an icicle key.

So anyways, an hour later as I'm finally caving (yes, I'm that stubborn.) and going next door to try and see if the nosy neighbor guy it's taken me so long to get to stop bugging me all the time will help me (*cursing under breath*), guess who's car randomly pulls into MY drive?! Matt's! It was so fortuitous. Apparently the tool he needed for work he had left in the basement! So I come trudging back around the house to his car and tell him my sob story amidst his laughter, and he let me in the house.

So I learned two things today. One, the reason why Milwaukee has so few homeless people is because there's no way you could survive in these conditions long term. And two, we've gotta get a damn spare key.

3 ways to make a fool of yourself in front of your landlord

1) Come skipping into the house singing "It's a Beautiful Day in the NeeiiIiighborhood..!!" at the top of your lungs and run smack into him.

2) Get caught in a pink frilly shirt in 10 degree weather using a hammer to bang on a screwdriver that's applying pressure on the the radiator cap you're too weaksauce to unscrew which you immediately follow with a victory dance and peals of childish laughter just to turn around and see him standing their scratching his head looking at you in utter confoundment. Drop the hammer in embarrassment and spill the anti-freeze on the driveway.

3) Forget you're wearing a green mask (Yes. I'm 24 years old and I still haven't outgrown acne.) all over your face and neck and go traipsing down the basement to the shared laundry-facility in your duplex and not register the source of the shock and embarrassment on his face until after he's walked quickly away.

Or if you're really ambitious, you can do all three in one day like me!

Sigh.

It's... so...... coooooold.

I am so excited. A friend of Matt's gave us her heated mattress pad today. I will never wake up shivering again!!

Seriously, it's been in the negatives this week, with wind chill so insanely cold that you find your body involuntarily spasming just from being out in it a minute or so. At least mine does. I mean seriously. We couldn't even wash the rental cars at work in the heated car wash because all the same they turn to iceballs and by the time we drive them up to the airport all the doors are iced shut and the windows glazed over. And then there's poor old me. It really doesn't help my intense aversion to the cold that my car's heater core is broken, either. This means that as I'm shuddering and spasming with cold I have to turn the freaking air (yes, -5 degree air and colder) on intermittently to counter-act the fogging effect of my breath before it freezes to the windshield making it impossible to see. Every day. For at least a 25 minute drive. Several times. It's ridiculous. I have to use the windshield scraper on the windows on the INSIDE of the car, too. Sigh. Time's like these I pretend I'm Orphan Annie and sing "It's a Hard-Knock Life" to keep my spirits up.

But least now I can sleep warm. Sleep is the greatest.

I'm gonna go pre-heat my bed now...

I really love...

Having the day off work on a cold, dreary day. It's so perfect for lying in bed reading books when you first wake up, and bubblebaths, and finally doing the laundry, and doing a little baking, and going to the library, and exchanging videos, and all those little things that you otherwise wouldn't want to do if it was a really nice day outside.