Winter and Germs and Collard Greens? Oh my, oh my.

Snow has fallen
and stayed fallen
blanketing the mud and green
covering up the cracks
and filling in the potholes
of the roads we crack and curve

Dear winter,
you're here
and so am I.





Thanksgiving break brought snowfall almost everyday. It's not quite enough to make legitimate snowbanks, but it's just a slight blanket over everything. It puts me in a good Christmas mood, which is nice, because there are plenty of seasonal things to do. Friday night will be our annual Classy Christmas Shopping, where we all head downtown to buy presents for each other locally (sneakily, because we all go together...to buy gifts for each other). This year we're making it a ladies night, because we decided not only that it would work better logistically (as in, we can get our gifts for the boys without them being around), but that boys are impatient shoppers. Downtown is not only a great place to shop for Christmas because it tends to be cheaper and much much more unique, as well as local, but because our downtown is so beautiful in the snow. The sun sets super early, so even when we go right after school, the streetlights come up to deter the falling dark and cast everything into a golden orange glow, the snow glistening nearby. Shopowners put up little lights in their windows and wreaths on their doors. The bagel shop puts out a menorah, and there's eggnog and cider enough to make everyone glad.

My beautiful city in the snow

We still haven't picked our collard greens, and I suppose now it's too late. They're a really hardy vegetable, okay to eat after the first frost. But after the first three snows, I'm not so sure.
With winter (which, by the way, is defined by the temperature and snowfall in Maine, not the date) comes a whole 'nother season, one much less pleasant. The season of SICK. Everyone around me has a cold or a flu, so I know that this tickle in the back of my throat has got to be something. Hellooo throatcoat.
I'm of the conviction that all of that crap about using Germ-x or whatever to clear away germs is a load of bullshit. You need germs to live long, and Germ-x doesn't actually kill anything unless you wash your hands right before. There are little hand sanitizer dispensers at places all around my school, and I just want to knock them down with a baseball bat. I mean, some of them make sense, like in the bathroom next to the paper towels. Although, the thought that a lot of girls then bypass actual handwashing for a squirt of alcohol on the palms of their hands is a little nasty. But sometimes, the dispensers are just holstered up in the middle of a hallway. What? Hold up guys, I've just gotta smear a glob of chemicals onto my hands before I walk into Spanish class.

It is time to bid adieu to my lovely bicycle, at least until next spring. Goodbye, dear. It's been a wonderful season.

Thoughts on the Beginning of Winter, as Snow Drifts Lazily By

I'm in the library, where I am dreading even this two-day week.
Soft, speckly snowflakes are traipsing by the large windows, and I am ready for christmas music.
I like Christmas music, at least in the beginning. It's all so hopeful and charming, and it's all about the times that I love. But, I refuse to start listening to it until after Thanksgiving. Some radio stations begin playing it even before Black Friday, but I won't, won't, won't turn them on. It's got to be properly cold, properly initiated, properly begun.

The world is so beautiful in snow, and I'm wondering if that's because the ugliness of the ground is covered up, and beautified in the glistening, blinding white, or if it's because the cold, hostile winter brings hope of an even more beautiful spring.
I love winter, not just for the snow and the chaos of the season, but also because it means needing to snuggle up inside, and drinking hot cocoa, and it means that we have to find adventure for ourselves and hibernate in each other's company. Maybe that's why it's beautiful.

Halloween! BOO!

I thought I'd be waiting a lot longer to say this. Hoooboy, here it goes...

It snowed yesterday. That's right, a snowy halloween! I woke up, and looking out my window, the first thingI saw was slanted white flakes drilling by. I was so confused that I had to open up the window and stick my head out to make myself believe and understand it.
I was expecting it to continue snowing for about a half an hour, but it just snowed..and snowed and snowed and snowed.
Not much of it stuck, and it stopped snowing around twelve thirty. The aftermath was a wet, muddy ground and a chill in the air.
But did that stop us? Of course not!

Halloween was met with a day full of costume disc (frisbee, but in ridiculous costumes. Most of us opted to keep our shoes on today, considering the risks of hypothermia) and (sort of) scary movies.
When I was growing up, I had a friend whose family didn't celebrate halloween. I think we all know a family like this, someone who's religious and believes that participating in the traditions of such a pagan holiday would be sacreligious. I always felt sort of bad for her, because while we were out getting candy, they were out at the bowling alley, in normal clothes instead of costumes. And the costumes are the best part. Sometimes, I wish I could just dress in weird clothes whenever I feel like it. I should.
I'm pretty sure I'd just look like a freak every day.

On a completely separate note: Nanowrimo has begun. No more blogging, no more fun.
I'll probably be gone for awhile, because I'll be using this study hall for my nanowrimo project, which will hopefully go over better than last year.

On another completely different note, today is my dad's birthday! Happy...47th? Dad!