Arctic Blast 2008. Seattle Snowpocalypse. The worst snow storm in 12 years.
Whatever you call it, it sucks to be in the Pacific Northwest right now. I remember a time when I anxiously awaited every dusting of snow in the hopes of canceled school and sledding down our insanely steep hill. In 1996, the other bad Seattle snowstorm, some idiot neighbor kids waxed a surfboard and asked for trouble. I vividly recall one of them smacking square into the back of a car parked at the bottom of the hill and sliding under it. My parents always said the same thing: "the snow is fun to look at, but such a pain to drive in!" (which is semi-funny because I think my mom has driven in snow about twice in her life)
After living through two winters in Bend with my rear-wheel drive vehicle and never having to put on my chains, I thought nothing could stop me in Seattle! I was wrong.
After a dusting of snow two Saturdays ago, followed by fairly intense ice the next morning, I hoped that was the sum-total of the Seattle "wintery weather." Ah, the pain of wishful thinking. Wednesday, all of the local schools canceled school in anticipation of a storm that didn't come until Thursday morning. Right when I needed to head to work. At 6:30am, we already had an inch at my house and my best efforts to make it up our hill failed. I called into work, went back to bed, woke up several hours later and was shocked to see over five inches on the ground and snow still falling. It went on like this for a couple days, with, of course, some wind and continual sub-30 temperatures. At this point, I haven't driven my car in five days, missed two days of work, missed seeing a camp friend from this summer get married, had to cancel a much anticipated trip to Portland, and am so sad to hear of friends and family not able to make it home for Christmas. We've probably amassed over a foot in a few days, and apparently more is on the way.
So, am I jaded just because I'm an adult? I don't remember being so stir-crazy in 1996. Part of that probably has to do with the fact that my brother isn't here with me. He's always a good source of entertainment and laughs. I should be happy. The snow is beautiful if you have nowhere to go (which I don't, really), Christmas is rapidly approaching, I'm already home (so traveling here isn't an issue) and I went snowshoeing for the first time in my life yesterday which rocked my world. So awesome.
I've had a tough time with Christmas this year. I get so sickened and frustrated with the to-do lists, the obligations and obligatory gift-giving, the busyness and the lack of focus on the true meaning. Granted, I think it is important to completely separate commercial/american christmas from Christmas, but still, I can't help but shake my head when I see TV commercials, overhear stressed-out housewives or realize that I myself have done little to embrace the advent season.
Being stuck at home is a weird thing. Some people (my mother) are excited to have an excuse to stay home (though cabin-fever is setting in and she just started to play the piano for the first time in about 10 years), while others (my father) look for anything they can do to combat idle hands. My dad has shoveled the stairs more times than I can count, taken care of every chore imaginable, has gone on a couple of walks with me, and went into work today not because he had to, but (I wager) just to get away. I'm in-between. As I've written about before, I've been slowly turning into an introvert over the last couple of years and heartily enjoy a day to lay on the couch in my fleece robe with some tea and an amazing book. However, apparently when I'm at home against my will, things get ugly. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on the internet (I think I should give up Facebook for Lent this year), how many movies I've watched and I'm sad to report that all of these free days have resulted in exactly zero hours of work on my chemistry lectures for next quarter. Professor Klug needs to get her ass in gear. I did bust out the sewing machine to make my parents legitimate stockings and a running hat for myself to replace the one I lost at the finish line of the Seattle Half Marathon last year. Yay productivity!
Perhaps when it is not my choice to be at home, I get less done because there are no deadlines, the days sort of blur together and I quickly fall into lazy complacent-ness. Ick. Get me OUT of here. I've got two days until Christmas. It's time to forget about the weather and focus on Jesus' birth and all of the joy, thankfulness and meaning this event carries. Maybe when I do that, I'll have something worthwhile to blog about.The upshot of all this snow is that people should complain less about the rain when it comes.
Meanwhile, check out these two sites. Disclaimer: you may wet yourself.
FAIL Blog
Overheard Everywhere
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