1.17.2005

Wonderland

Snow!
The second real snow of the season. The last two winters in New York, it only snowed a few times but it seems like we had a lot more snow those years. They say 1-3 inches by the morning. I don't think I'll ever tire of the snow. (But that's because I don't live in snow drifts 8 months of the year.) It's magic. I love watching the swirls of flakes floating under the street lights. Tonight the swirls remind me of gnat swarms we used to get in the summer evenings in Florida, the snow moves the same way in this storm. But the flakes aren't black and nasty and won't stick in your teeth and get caught in your throat. They glitter under the orange bulb outside my window, magic that makes everything clean and sparkly.

I love this city after it snows. The snow covers the grimy yuck on the ground turning trash heaps into jeweled blankets. When all the lights turn on and shine it looks like the city sank a few feet under water turning streets into reflecting pools. This of course is why I fly away tomorrow. I eagerly waited for the snow to fall all year, knowing then my crap street will look nice, only to whisk away to the tropics when it finally does. At least I get to see it before I go.

I don't want to go to sleep tonight, I'd rather sit here and watch the snow fall. That would be irresponsible of me. I have too much to do tomorrow to get ready for the trip. Since I sat in bed all last week none of these necessities got done. I'll be lucky to get things half completed.

While I lay sick and incapacitated, my paycheck sat in the bursar's office uncashed and I have bills due, my prescription sits in the doc's office needing to be picked up and filled before I go...Those two things alone will take at least 3 hours of the day. More likely 4. Packing I can do in 30 minutes if I rush. The damnable laundry! I'll pick out what I want to wear on the trip, put it in a plastic bag and pack it up to wash at mom's house--just like I do every year. Dirty dishes have piled up in my bedroom, my trash overflows, the bathroom floor needs mopping, we're out of toilet paper, my floor needs vacuuming....I imagine much of the tedium of living would be easier if shared with another person. I know having someone complicates life exponentially in ways I can't conceive. But for now I feel tired and wish I had someone here.

The cold disease has mostly gone away. I haven't wanted to tempt the evil germs so I stayed home and rested. My gentleman friend has left the country for two weeks, plunging me back into lonely boredom when I return from Mom's house. It won't be too bad because I need a week to unwind after spending time with the family. But I might miss him all the same--only if he misses me too and doesn't go falling in love with some Israeli.

The weirdness of flying into another world never ceases to amaze me. This time tomorrow I'll be sleeping in a bunk bed in South Florida, in a house with a green lawn, hibiscus blooming, starry sky and frogs croaking. Where the only street sounds come from neighbors' cars and kids playing. Even now in Brooklyn, the raggae from the club up the block beats incessantly at 3 am. I don't mind the music but the DJ's screaming gets on my nerves. And car alarms. Why do people continue to use them, they don't work.
Still the snow falls.

I should sleep so I can feel less guilty tomorrow when I don't get anything done. A black cat just slunk across the white snowy lot, it's almost like a Rockwell painting but with barbedwire and graffiti.
Still snowing.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have fun in Florida! 

Message from Sister T

Anonymous said...

I was wrong, my street still looks like crap. It didn't snow enough. In Harlem we just needed 3-6 inches to make everything pretty. Here we'd need 6 feet.  

Message from JL

Anonymous said...

I hope we get a snow like that at least once this season. You never can tell with Oklahoma. I'd like to take the little ones out to play and build a snowman.

Have a safe trip.  

Message from sleeping mommy

Anonymous said...

Save some snow to drop on me from your aeroplane while flying over. I'll hold out my tongue to catch a few flakes. :)

Will we still hear from you during your trip? 

Message from Kwirki Girl

Anonymous said...

Have a good time 

Message from Rahhb

Anonymous said...

Have a good time 

Message from Rahhb

Anonymous said...

Have a good time 

Message from Rahhb

Anonymous said...

Have a good time! 

Message from Rahhb

Anonymous said...

Have a great trip, JL!

On car alarms:

Our neighbor's car alarm started going off last night at 1:10. And it continued to wail for about 20 minutes. Right in their driveway. For. 20. minutes.

Just as I was about to call the U.S.A.F. and ask if they could have this car turned into a crater, it finally shut off/up.

I agree--why have a car alarm--especially if you're not going to respond when it goes off? Because I can quite guarantee you that no one else cares. Perhaps they should include that as a disclaimer on the box? 

Message from EastCoastEddie

Anonymous said...

Maybe he's wondering if you might find a Danish Welsh hottie on your trip.

I'd like to share that I'll be journeying to the Northwest in a couple of days, to watch my folks Roomba take care of business on their floors and carpets. It would be nice if we all had our own personal private jets to take us where we want to travel. 

Message from Anonymous

Anonymous said...

Hurrah! South Florida! I'm going there myself in a few weeks. When it's, you know, FOUR degrees like it was this morning here in Boston, sitting on the beach sounds ideal. Have fun! 

Message from Kelly

Anonymous said...

Hurrah! South Florida! I'm going there myself in a few weeks. When it's, you know, FOUR degrees like it was this morning here in Boston, sitting on the beach sounds ideal. Have fun! 

Message from Kelly

Anonymous said...

Hurrah! South Florida! I'm going there myself in a few weeks. When it's, you know, FOUR degrees like it was this morning here in Boston, sitting on the beach sounds ideal. Have fun! 

Message from Kellyim

Anonymous said...

Hurrah! South Florida! I'm going there myself in a few weeks. When it's, you know, FOUR degrees like it was this morning here in Boston, sitting on the beach sounds ideal. Have fun! 

Message from Kellyim

Anonymous said...

Speaking of car alarms, these repeating messages are pretty appropriate. LOL 

Message from Kwirki Girl

Anonymous said...

Kelly, are you by chance going to Florida anytime soon? Oh, and how's the temp back in Beantown? LOL. 

Message from Rahhb

Anonymous said...

I miss snow sometimes, but posts like this bring me close enough to it.

BTW, I've added a couple new posts to my blog. I need to write as often as you do, and as well, but I'm learning. 

Message from Stephen M (Ethesis)

Anonymous said...

I check all the time to see if you are back or if you have posted again- which you probably know.

That reminds me- what traffic meeter type services do you use? 

Message from Mike

Anonymous said...

Hi all,
I'm back. I decided to leave the blog while on my trip. Mostly I just wanted to see if I could leave it alone for that long, to make sure my addiction isn't too debilitating. I was fine. Also, I didn't want my mother finding the address in the history of her browser and I would have felt bad deleting her history, it looked like there are a lot of places on there she would need to remember.

Mike, I use sitemeter.
Thanks everyone. 

Message from JL

Anonymous said...

Glad you are back. As you can see from:

http://ethesis.blogspot.com/2005/01/vote-for-post-my-daughters-sacrament.html

I'm flacking for votes ;)

 

Message from Stephen M (Ethesis)

Anonymous said...

http://ethesis.blogspot.com/2004/10/my-daughter-got-call-from-bishop.html

is the link to her talk.

Votes definitely solicited. 

Message from Stephen M (Ethesis)

Anonymous said...

Dang it- I figured it was sitemeter- I was hoping you had suggestions for good free options. I don't really have enough web traffic to justify paying for sitemeter. re_invigorate is not bad at all, except for being down right now.
 

Message from Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,
I don't pay. Sitemeter has a free account option. I don't spend any money on the blog.

I saw those polls. I'll go over and vote for ya. Maybe I should solicit votes too, eh? 

Message from JL

Anonymous said...

Very nice website. Please visit my website!!! :)


http://www.metropolis5000.com 

Message from Webmaestro