The Winter of My Discontent

Here's my verdict: winter in New York City sucks. I came to this realization yesterady. Before that, I thought a New York winter would be the best thing ever, and now I stand firmly corrected.

The winter I experienced in Denver a couple months ago was the winter I've been wishing for, and it was nice of God to allow me it, because all the winter I've had since then sucks. I guess I associate winter with a lot of the comforts of my childhood, because I moved from a place with a genuine winter just as I began to experience the rites of passage that mark the path to adulthood. A real winter had become something of a glass-encased artifact of my past, and the miserable mess of recent months has pretty much shattered the glass. Maybe the winter I have so anticipated will remain a relic.

Here are my thoughts on why: when I was a kid, winter was non-threatening. Winter meant days off of school, lots of huge white flakes, flying down a hill on a toboggan. I have one really vivid memory of sledding down the big hill on the greenbelt with my dad and my brother. It's dark, and there are a million stars. I'm not entirely convinced this happened; it may be a composite of several actual memories, but in many ways it represents the winters of my youth. They were always comfortable, and I think the biggest reason was that each day began and ended at home. Even when I was flung from my bed and down a mountain with skis strapped to my feet, something I found very unpleasant at age twelve, home was still there. Home meant a warm fire, a warm bed, warm food. Home meant security. I had a great growing up experience in the sense that I never really doubted whether everything would be ok. So winter was a great season, because I could enjoy all the things that are fun about snow and know that my haven waited for me.

In New York, snow is not fun and there is no haven. Boots are a practical necessity instead of just a fashion statement, since the plows throw the slush onto the shoulder and it is impossible to get to the sidewalk except by way of the shoulder. Even though I take the train and the bus, the waiting areas for both are not heated, so I spend a lot more time involuntarily experiencing the temperature than I ever have before (the irony being that this is also what kept my summer from being enjoyable). There is a lot of wind. It is really hard to fancy a little walk when I must choose between an insulated nose and non-squinty eyes (since both mean my vision is totally obscured by my breath getting trapped between my scarf and sunglasses). This is truly discouraging, since one of my favorite things about New York is all the places I love to walk. Also, we have yet to even have a genuine snowstorm. It's all been pathetic flurries, mostly at night, just enough to mess up the sidewalk. This week we had a "storm," but that can only really be described as flying ice pellets.

And as I'm being pelted by the wind and the ice and the slush, I'm realizing that all I'm going home to is a kind of ugly apartment and a cat. That's a far cry from a warm house with carpet and my mom and probably fresh cookies. So maybe New York City winters don't suck as much as being an adult sucks.

Positive Note: My social life has been depressingly nonexistent since January, but that's looking up a bit this weekend. My friend Jenny is moving to Birmingham and is having a going away party, so I have Saturday night plans (let's all just not think about how long it's been since I've had those). Also, my college friend Aisha goes to a Bible study in midtown on Mondays, and I'm going to join her this week since I'm off work (yes - mid-winter break - gotta love that). She says there's a guy there who she keeps thinking is perfect for me so hmmm ... :)

Top 5 Grammy Moments:
5) John Mayer describing his relationship with Jessica Simpson in Japanese on the red carpet (E! later helpfully translated it for the viewers - it wasn't very informative).
4) The Black Eyed Peas proving that having platinum records does not in fact improve your ability to read multisyllabic words from a teleprompter.
3) Prince introducing Beyonce, since Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph regularly portray those two on a Saturday Night Live sketch. And it is very very funny.
2) The Dixie Chicks winning Song of the Year for "Not Ready To Make Nice." This is what they call poetic justice, because after Natalie Maines's ill-timed and disrespectful comment about President Bush back in '03, there was a conservative campaign to destroy the band's career (effectively a waste of time and an intense overreaction). The song itself is a response to this backlash.
1) Carrie Underwood singing The Eagles' "Desperado." Proof that American Idol is not just a blip on the cultural radar.

Song In My Head: "Timeless" - Selah - "The autumn can color me gold/The winter can dress me in snow/It's You I see, the timeless part of me."