I'm not complaining, but... (a commentary on MN weather)

Today it was 63 degrees out.  Balmy.  I walked out of work without a jacket, without shivering, and without, as is more typical in March, needing to watch my footing like a mountaineer as I get to my car.

It was brilliant.

But, I don't really feel like I have the right to complain about "how cold its been."  It hasn't been cold.  We've had no snow.  It's been a winter's worth of October out there, and no amount of Minnesota-style complaining will change that.  People can say all they want that it's been "so freezing" and winter is "so long," but the truth is, we've been ridiculously lucky this year.

Of course, I would be lying if I said that today was typical.  Or unwelcome.  Or not the greatest day in ages.  I should have gone out for a run or grilled something.  But, frankly, it was enough to just let my skin be exposed to the fresh air.  Except....I've been able to do that all winter.

This Minnesotan is just plumb confused about what to say about the weather.  And if a Minnesotan can't talk about the weather, well, that right there will silence quite a few of us.

Okay, enough with the rain.

It's like Seattle around here, without the cute guys and mountains. I'm trying to not be annoyed, but I am. I'm sure that my hypersensitivity (or maybe should say hyper-hypersensitivity) is due in large part to the rain. And other people are crabby too, which make the whole place just kind of icky.

I had a friend, his name was Joe. With Joe life was fun, awesome, never slow. Someone raised a fuss, dramatic temper flare. Now there is no more fun with Joe, no more awesome, always slow.

Thunderstorm!!!!!

Okay, I just saw lightning and heard thunder for the first time this year. It eclipsed whatever I was going to write about. I am so, so excited for spring, for spring storms, for hide-in-your-basement weather...it's bliss. Almost better than a snow day...almost.

Okay, enough with the Saturday Snowstorms already!

Not going to yoga today, my standing date with myself, because Mother Nature decided to dump an entire winter's worth of snow on us today. I'm feeling a little trapped, but I need to just deal with it . It's an hour, I can do the yoga at home, and, really, I have quite enough to do without taking 3 hours out of my day to drive to Minneapolis for (what would undoubtedly be a fabulous) yoga class.

So, Gatsby and I are hanging out playing on Facebook and looking at our list of things to do. Mine includes cleaning the house, grading, working on my lit review, and possibly 50%ing my books. Gatsby's includes sleeping, laying around, barking at snow, sleeping, eating, guarding his bone, and sleeping. As you can see, we will both be very busy!

Rainy day yoga

I subbed out my early class this morning--just couldn't do it. Slept late in the rain, now I'm heading to yoga in Minneapolis. I love rainy days...I love yoga. Today should be a good day. Plus, Gatsby, the furriest dog EVER, is finally getting his trip to the beautician today, the lucky boy.

Uhh...HI!

Apparently the results of last week's election so moved me that I became mute for a whole week. It's okay...not too much happened anyway.

EXCEPT

--> A fabulous performance by my former theater sunshines in the fall play

--> A kick ass party at Molly's estate

--> The Packers-Vikings game which was the second best football game I've ever been to (second only to sitting at Lambeau)

--> Getting back into something of a writing schedule for the first time in almost a year

--> A few yoga classes

--> SNOW!


And some other stuff too, but that's private ;-)

Mother Nature is a craaaaazy lady

I awoke this morning at 7am (I KNOW) to a white blanket of downy snow. And the wind, friends, is a force to be reckoned with. But, it's okay. I really don't mind. Frankly, I'm pretty happy it's crappy out because I'm heading into finals and if I had to balance Dexter (the rat formally known as Buddy George Van Gogh), finals, teaching, breathing, etc. with 80 degree weather and sunshine, I don't quite know what I would do. So, sorry people--the crappy weather is my fault.

In other news, Dexter and I have spent about 12 quality hours together this week, and I'll be showing his goods to my professor on Monday night in the form of my dissection card quiz. Thirty points, so I'll need to know 15 of Dexter's parts. Dexter has about a hundred parts, and I know them all like the back of my own hand. I also had to get to know Diane's rat's lady parts, because we're responsible for knowing both genders. I am still not eating meat, except for the pepperoni pizza I ate last night. Nothing in Dexter looks like pepperoni, so it's okay.

I'm sorry, Mr. Green Van Man

Dear Mr. Green Van Man,

I saw you today on the 169 bridge, pulled over, getting your gas can out of the back. I noticed that the hat and jacket you wore, while certainly adequate for spring weather, was going to be little protection against the harsh elements of the blowing wet snow and icy winds. I saw you walking down the hill (very smart--I wouldn't have thought of that) and hoped that your footing stayed sure and that you didn't slip. I tried not to think about the long walk ahead of you.

I'm sorry I did not stop to give you a ride. Please know that I wanted to, and if it weren't for women I hear about on the news--women who stop to help someone out and end up as Jane Does in ditches or with their faces on the evening news as the most recent murder in the metro area--I would have. I would have given you a ride to the gas station, then driven you back to your van. Because that's the kind of person I am; I like to help out when I can, and when I can't it drives me crazy.

I'm sorry that people in our society have ruined "neighborly help." That there have been enough cases where bad has happened to eclipse the ability of good people like me and like many others who drove by you today not because they were rude, but out of a sense of self-preservation and fear. I feel very, very badly about this.

I hope that someone stopped and picked you up. I hope that you didn't fall on the hill. I hope that you don't get sick from being in the icky weather. And I hope that at some point people will stop taking good people and doing bad things to them. That last one won't happen, but I thought I'd throw it in there anyway.

Frozen solid

Is anyone else unbelievably cold?? Seriously. Is it worse this year or do I just forget? Or maybe my bones are getting older and things like temperature are affecting me differently. Either way, it seems like I've been unable to get warm for the last two weeks. When Molly did my massage on Sunday, my hands and feet were like solid blocks of ice. I joked that my veins and arteries actually stop at my wrists and ankles and no blood flows to my fingers and toes. She said "Nah, you're just a girl." So perhaps my femininity keeps my core warm but lets my "lesser" elements go?

The other part of my chill is my total anti-social behavior. I feel like I haven't talked to anyone in months. I am studying, literally, any time I'm not in class or at yoga. My friends are being really respectful of my new schedule and aren't calling/emailing like they normally would. This is kind, but of course I miss them. There's a certain warmth that comes from knowing that you're being thought of and reminded of that through communication. I hope to soon have the time to reach back out to all of them; I have some friends I haven't talked to in months. But, the only thing I'd be able to say when I call would be "hey, I can't talk now but I wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about you." I can't go out and do anything, certainly. The last time I went "out" was to Sweeney Todd on New Year's Day. And I went alone. Other than that, I have a vague recollection of a trip to Chipotle and Barnes and Noble with Erica sometime a few weeks ago, but that's it.

I know that I'll find a balance between classes, work and a life, but right now it's easier to be extreme. I have a test tonight on parts of the human body I had never heard of prior to two weeks ago. I'll get an A, I've studied my ass off, but it has come at a cost. Worth it? Most definitely...but it sure wasn't free.

Since I'm not in the path of the storm...

The Twin Cities is getting pelted by storms right now and Ian Leonard of KMSP is jumping around like it's his first day of school talking about the weather. There is a man who loves his job. I think that meterologists must just totally get off on these huge storms---they turn from the "guys who are always wrong" to the people that have all the info. They jump into the spotlight and they'll go all night.

That being said, one of two things is happening on KMSP. Either Ian Leonard gets a salary bonus every time he references Titan 3D Radar by name, or KMSP hasn't totally paid for Titan 3D Radar yet, and the meterologists/newscasters have to say Titan 3D Radar a certian number of times per use. Whichever it is, if I was a drinkin' gal I'd be playing a drinking game with myself: A shot whenever Ian says Titan 3D Radar. Kind of glad I'm not, because I'd have alcohol poisoning by now.

Don't get me wrong--I'm so not mocking Ian Leonard or, God forbid, Titan 3D Radar. Ian has stayed up nights with me a number of times and convinced me it was okay to go back to sleep and put the chinchillas back into their cage. AND, even though he disagreed, he bowed out for both the results of So You Think You Can Dance and Hell's Kitchen. Thank you, Ian.

Uh oh....Christine Clayburg just said "the radar" rather than Titan 3D Radar. She may not have a job tomorrow.

Hey April! Yeah, I'm talking to you!

So I woke up this morning, shivering and blue. I had planned to go for a run this afternoon, but still decided that hypothermia was a very real threat. Why? Because it's 6 degrees. April 6th, and it's 6 degrees. It was 22-ish for most of the day. This is just appalling.

Storms

There have been so many lately, it seems, literal and figurative. Tonight it stormed early, about 12 hours ago, but there's been steady lightning ever since. We went to the drive in and watched a triple feature as well as the lightning storm. I love watching the sky light up, cracks across the clouds. Nature is so amazing. This beauty in contrast, of course, to New Orleans and Biloxi.

A friend of mine is in a bad spot now, and it's been on my mind a lot for the last few days. So much, in fact, that it's causing my silence here. My friend's situation is all I seem to be able to think about, and it's not anything that can be posted here. I think about writing about my day, or about random thoughts, but my friend is the center of my day and the subject of most of my thoughts, random or otherwise. The fact that we're unable to communicate right now as well is tearing at my heart.

The rain has started again, pounding hard against my windows and I should go to sleep but I'm not tired. I think I'll curl up with Stephanie Plum for the evening. She's my speed.

Oh, by the way, this is the saddest article I've read in a long time. New Orleans Left to the Dead and Dying.

A beautiful night

I'm sitting on my patio enjoying a corona and typing by the light of my citronella candle. There's a magnificant breeze and, in spite of thunderstorm warnings in my area until 11pm, not a cloud in the sky.
I've been working on a story about a boy who I think is about 11 years old. It's difficult getting into his head but I know there's a lot going on in there. I'm trying to remember what it's like to be 11. Ain't pretty, that much I know!

I've been reading George Saunders as well. Pastoralia. It's bizarre. I'm getting really excited to work with him, though, in Belize. He's got this way of making serious things humorous but keeping them serious at the same time, so at first you're not sure you should be laughing, but then he makes it so obvious that you know it's okay, then he brings it back around and basically says "hey, what are you laughing at, this is serious."

A small note....in spite of my not wanting to hear anything to do with the mentor series until the winners are posted on Aug. 15th, I've found out that phone calls have been made to winners. I, naturally, have not gotten a call. I'm still holding to my early philosophy, that if I didn't get it there's a reason for it and it's okay, but it's going to be hard to explain to everyone. Unlike a lot of other writers, I have an incredible support system of family and friends. They expect me to get in, and will be genuinely concerned that I didn't. I don't want to talk about it, and I don't want to keep explaining over and over again because then I will start to feel bad about it and that's just no good. Oh well. It's the price you pay for being cared about, I guess.