Memories of Being Snowed In

January 10, 2011 ~ JodiLea

.Towers North Dorm – Before Snow

Since I live in the SF Bay Area I don’t get snowed in. We don’t even get snowed on. That doesn’t mean I have never been snowed in. I went to College in Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University to be exact. We were snowed in for a whole week once. The town of Cape Girardeau only owned one snow plow so it was busy with the public streets. The college streets and parking lots were no priority at all. It took days for my roommate to even find her car, not that it mattered. We could not dig it out for another 3 days anyway.

So what did we do? We could not go home for the weekend like usual. Could not get across the Illinois border to buy liquor (we were freshmen and only 18). The upper-class~~men~~women on our floor that were over 21 could purchase liquor from the grocery store down the street. For a price they would smuggle said purchases into the dorm (big No-No) and supply us lowly freshwomen with our booze of choice.

When I think back on it now, that was so dumb! Boys were not allowed in our dorms, so we sat around drinking and getting melancholy and horny. Some gals were lucky enough to have a TV in their room and we would pop popcorn and gather around to watch girl stuff. In our pj’s and curlers.

I feel sorry for the modern freshwomen – the dorms are co-ed and you live in a “suite” with 3 other roommates. No running about in curlers down the hall to grab some popcorn. Well, you could I suppose if there were no boys you wanted to impress. Anyway, I digress..

We were a captive student body. We still had to climb “cardiac hill” to get to most of our classes in the ice and snow. The ice was so bad one day that a guy behind me had to literally shove my ass up the hill. I was not strong enough to pull myself up using the railing.

There was a great tradition at the college we had heard about, but until the big snow we could not experience it. One of the coldest, high windchill factor days the college called a “snow day”. Did students stay indoors where it was safe and study? Hell no. We sledded down cardiac hill on cafeteria trays. Despite all the big signs posted in the cafeteria – “DO NOT REMOVE TRAYS FROM THE CAFETERIA”.

I wish I could remember how we managed to sneak the trays out. I DO remember the sledding. It was so fun until you hit a rock. Flimsy plastic trays do not provide any cushion. You feel every rock, stick, whatever you sled over. But we were young and silly. We all compared our bruised butts in the shower room waiting for a shower stall to free up. We were chilled to the bone, sore, and hungry.

It was one of the happiest days of my life. Go figure.

Dealing With January

January 9, 2011January 9, 2011 ~ JodiLea

That’s me. The unsuspecting one, waddling towards doom. The tall one? That’s January.

I hate January.

It’s cold, gray, wet, gloomy and depressing. If I am curled up in my “Huddler” (a 49er blanket with sleeves), by the wood burning stove, reading a great book, then January isn’t so bad. But those 3 days out of 31 aren’t enough to get over January.

I know I am being a big baby. We spoiled Californians just can’t do without the sun for more than 2 days in a row. We get squirrelly. We get irritable. It is a volatile situation, especially in the work place. A group of squirrelly and irritable co-workers do not make a happy productive team. I stay in my little office in January. I communicate via emails.

This year I am determined to make the most of January. I scheduled a trip home to see my granddaughters and have a nice long conjugal visit with my husband. I am going to get my broken tooth fixed. Get lab tests done for my doctor. Visit some good friends I have not seen since the summer. Oh, and I will get to work in my own office. At work for a change.

I made an appointment with my hairdresser for a highlight. I think I want to be a bit of a redhead for a while. I don’t even know if my hubby likes redheads (he wouldn’t dare tell me if he did – I get jealous). I’ll keep you posted on that.

I have been wanting to clean out old non-used crap at my mother’s house, but restraining myself because it will probably hurt her feelings. I will wait on that. So, when I am home and confronted with my own old non-used crap, I plan to recycle it. It goes to a charity or the dump, depending on just how crappy it really is. If I get lucky, my hubby will allow me to get rid of some of his crap. He is the one with the most crap in my opinion.

When I fly back to mom’s there will be only 1 more day of left of January. I believe I can get through this.

How I Stay Focused?

January 8, 2011January 8, 2011 ~ JodiLea

Well, to answer the question – about as good as my camera does.

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Some photos are crisp and balanced. Some photos look like they were taken during an earthquake. My granddaughter is even gorgeous during an earthquake, don’t you think?

I can usually focus on a task in my office at work. Ask Ed, whose office is down the hall from mine. It’s like I have blinders on. People pass by my office, break time comes and goes, I forget to eat, I lose all track of time. Ed laughs at me. For some reason my “stress mode” as he calls it, is entertaining. Whatever.

Most of the time any distraction whatsoever will derail my train of thought and I have to wait for the next one. Trying to post every day has been a challenge and I should write in the morning instead of at 11:00pm when I am worn out and ready for bed. I am a morning person. Even if I am up watching movies with my mom because she can’t sleep and needs company until 3:00am I am awake by 7:00am. It sucks on days I want to sleep in.

Working at home (actually my mother’s home) has been an experience. Basically, if I can’t fit in my days work before mom wakes up, not much will get done. Constant focus interruptuss, if you will. So, because my employer is paying me to work I do that in the morning and I run out of time to blog. Until late in the evening when my brain is practically useless. Yawn. I will try to focus on a solution to this problem.

In the morning.