measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My tits are falling off! "Good morning Boston, it's eight below with a windchill of thirty-seven below...." This was the first thing that Erich and I heard as our radio alarm went off this morning. It's like the radio station timed it so we'd hear that entire sentence perfectly. We both groaned... audibly. Now, I grew up with frigid cold temperatures. I was used to doing the mad dash in the Senior High parking lot to the RX-7 with my friends, huddling in the little car, hands shaking as I adjusted the manual choke to start the car and hope to god that I didn't flood the engine while doing so. I waited for the school bus a few times in this cold-- with these windchills. It's still fucking cold. I don't care where I'm from, or where I grew up. God damn cold. Minarae called last night to make sure that Erich, Jason, the cats, and I hadn't turned into ice cubes inside the walls of our apartment. I let her know about the disconcerting ice forming on the inside of the window panes in the bedroom... but that no, we were okay. Just a bit... nippy. or nipply. Or both. It's cold enough that when I went to clean off my windshield at the gas station (since the tubes for my wiper fluid are frozen over), the blue juice at the gas station froze on my windshield in strangely shaped rivulets of blue-tinged ice. Thankfully my defroster took care of the problem-- by the time we got to work, of course. And have I mentioned how much I'm thankful for heated seats? And have I mentioned how thankful that I can drive the Jeep again that has said heated seats? The odd thing, however, is that going out this morning didn't feel physically as bad as yesterday since I've had a day to acclimate to it. It's still cold regardless. But I didn't feel the earth-shattering pain in my hands when I ran from the car to the apartment without my gloves after dropping Erich off at the train this morning. And because I did grow up in this stuff-- I do remember the little things my parents taught me about caring for cars in the severe cold... not to let the gas tank go below a quarter (or a half, if you can help it), don't use your wiper fluid because you don't know what ice is in the tubes... drive slow until your car can warm up... that kind of thing. It's not fun, but it is survivable-- and it gives everyone something to bitch about for a while. The weird thing is that out of my roommates, I'm the only one who has dealt with this kind of cold before. The news stations are calling this the coldest weather in *generations* (not decades, or years). The record low that was shattered this morning was from 1920. They've had ice-breaker ships out in Boston Harbor several times this week. And schools are closed everywhere so kids don't risk frostbite while walking to school or waiting for busses-- which had problems with their diesel fuel congealing yesterday. Which means I might get to fix the chaos that was my office this week by enjoying a day where so many people are at home with their kids. Minarae, is that travel offer still open? :) 9:56 a.m. - 16 January 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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