Chill Out.

Checked the temperature this morning before walking to my babysitting job, and the website I checked said it was 7 degrees (yes, that's a single-digit "seven") but it would FEEL LIKE -19.

After the 20 minute walk my legs were numb but everything else had been layered and bundled well enough to keep me from becoming a human popsicle.

I got to have a play date with C. (the 20-month-old boy I sit for now) and Miss M (the 27-month-old girl I sat for last year) today, which was hillarious. Between C's looks of bewilderment at how many words a minute came out of M's mouth, and M's regular exclaimations of "I just peed!" it was really quite an afternoon.

I'm currently sitting in bed under the covers with a hat and scarf on, trying to thaw from the walk home.

Winter... not so much my favorite season.

When the World Gives You Snow, Give the World Cookies

First, let me say this: I AM DONE. DONEDONEDONEDONEDONE. No more classes for a month. It still has not set in that I won't be in class every night of the week, but I already feel the weight of the 6,000 papers that have been handed in is off my shoulders, and I'm looking forward to a day in the not-so-distant future when the fog of exhaustion has also lifted. Soon.

Second, I will say that as exciting as it is to be done, it is also a bit anticlimactic, since our final two classes were cancelled last night because of the snowstorm that swept through. Now I'm all for snow days (especially since I haven't had one in over 10 years), but to have one on the last night of class with a professor I really like and who I may not have again next semester was kind of a let-down. (Nerd alert: I'm also bummed to have not gotten my final papers back from her, because I would have been able to know my grades)

That said, I managed to have a most excellent adventure last night with three other friends from school. We went out for a celebratory dinner, and then headed back to a friend's house who lived nearby. From her apartment, we could look down on the street below where the cars were not moving. At all. For 30 minutes we looked down at the chaos below, and cars didn't move.

And so we four social workers started feeling bad for the people stuck in their cars, and decided that we would make cookies for them. So off we trekked to the supermarket a few blocks away (stopping to help push a minivan into the parking lot on our way) to buy a few tubs of ready-made Tollhouse cookie mix and some candy canes, then back to the apartment to make the cookies, and then out to the street to spread our cookie-love.

It was fun. There were many drivers that ignored us, or rolled down their windows, heard that we were offering free cookies, and then shook their heads and rolled them back up. But there were even more drivers who got big smiles on their faces and thanked us. One man said he'd been in his car for 3 hours, and he had only come from 2 miles away. Another woman said she'd been in her car for 9 hours trying to get home. These people were exhausted and though we couldn't get them home any more quickly, we could at least give them a moment of happiness with a chocolate chip cookie or two.

The Dangers of December

1. Lack of sleep. This lack of sleep can come from the increase in studying and papers due, or from the inability to sleep due to a freezing cold bedroom. If you're battling both, forget it.

2. Anxiety-provoking Patriots games. I'm glad I was in the library and away from the television for most of last night. In the end, though, the Patriots (and my lucky underwear) came through.

3. Icy sidewalks. I walk a mile and a half each morning to the hospital. Usually this walk takes me 30 minutes. Since the snow/slush storm yesterday, and the subsequent plumeting temperatures, the sidewalks on which I walk to work have become trecherous, and my walk time has increased by at least 15 minutes. I am forced to do the funny penguin walk in an effort to keep from slipping. (Sidenote: Dear Trader Joe's, You know how much I love you, so please love me back and de-ice the death traps that are your sidewalks. Thanks! -Fibby) And as if icy sidewalks aren't trecherous enough, today I faced...

4. Wild turkeys. Yes, it's true, Brookline has wild turkeys, and they hog the sidewalks and make awful noises and look like they're going to charge at any minute. Always fun to be on guard against a wild turkey attack first thing in the morning.

A longer post later on the excitement that was my weekend (hint: it involved electricity and the fire department), but for now, back to work...

Happy _____ Day!

So I was standing around the kitchen, finishing my breakfast this morning, and commenting on the weather and general lack of snow considering the fact that it's mid-winter. I realized it was February (how did THAT happen!?) and said out loud (with great enthusiasm), "Oh - it's Groundhog Day today!"


To which my roommate replied, "It's also the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord."





Ahem. Very similar holidays, those two.

Odds 'n Ends

It was the first nose-hair-freezing day of the season today. For those of you who have never experienced such a day, you know it when you step outside for the first time, breathe in through your nose, and get the sensation that all your nose hairs just froze together in clumps. Yeah. New England is great.

Speaking of cold, I got home and it was 47 degrees (F) in my room. For those of you not up to speed on my living conditions for the past few years, apparently, I have something against myself, and choose to live in apartments without heat (to be fair, my apartment in SF had heat, but it would smoke up the place and cause the smoke detector to go off, and my apartment now has heat - just not in my room). I always think it won't be that bad, but then a really cold day like today comes along, and I find myself sitting on my bed wearing socks, pants, shirt, sweater, bathrobe, and scarf, wondering when I will finally admit to myself that I'm too old for these adventures.

Looks like my bedroom feels (but not actually my bedroom).

For those of you following the Isaiah Washington scandal, there was a wonderful article written for Entertainment Weekly that I think everyone should read. No matter what side of the issue you're on, it will make you think.

I'm working on perfecting my resume to start sending out for Year 2 internships. I'm looking to be in a hospital setting where I can work with children and their families - hopefully in oncology and maybe also in emergency. All well and good, but now I've got to find a hospital with a social worker willing to supervise me and let me live my dream. If anyone knows anyone, let me know. Otherwise, stay tuned...

Warm Wishes and Whatnot

I'm about to head up to Maine where I'll be sans internet for the next five days, so I'm wishing everyone out there happy holidays. Good tidings to you all and here's hoping for a little snow dusting in the next week so it actually feels like winter.