One thing I can say with almost absolute certainty is that I will never live in a warm clime. Right now the snow is falling, Dave Brubeck is on the turntable, I have a bottle of Merlot and a stack of Christmas cards to write, and I feel like I am in heaven. Watching snow fall is one of my biggest sources of joy ever. I find it extremely humourous at how befuddled New Yorkers are by snow. I saw a woman trying to shovel the sidewalk with a hoe!

I love nothing more than bundling up and heading forth into a snowstorm. It used to be that I would scrape off the windshield of my Jetta, put on NPR, and drive through Southern Maine to work, but now I simply trudge into a subway. While driving to work in a winter storm is rife with obvious treachery, taking the subway to work during a winter storm has its challenges as well. Try lifting your arm up when you have on your winter coat, sweater, scarf, gloves, and hat. Hard, isn't it? Well, it's quite difficult to lift your arm overhead and hold the bar in the subway when you can't get a seat. I call this being "all jumbled up." This used to happen to me in the car too, when my winter garb was just too bulky and uncomfortable when trying to drive. I could never get the seatbelt on properly; it was always impeded by six layers of clothing and therefore not much use.

We got out of work today at 3pm due to the snow, and I felt all the giddy excitement I used to feel on snow days from school, when you'd be laying (lying? Is there an English major out there?) in bed at 6am listening to the radio rattle off all the schools that had cancellations for the day. I'd hear "Concord High School" on the list and roll over in my sleeping bag (I slept in a 60-below sleeping bag on top of my bed during high school) and sleep for another five hours, and awaken to a true "winter wonderland:" trees heavy with snow, frost on the inside of my bedroom windows, whiteness everywhere.