i took a sharp left down an alley yesterday and suddenly remembered that less than a month ago, i wouldn't have dared with the amount of snow and ice on that had inhabited the ground then. yet, this past week has been amazing--shirt sleeves and shorts in march, who knew?! i think this is a premonition of a daringly warm summer, but i'll take it for now. yet, this weekend winter felt necessary to reassert itself, and keep chicago in check with a blast of sleet. ugh, the return of the wet 30s, but the forecast is to be clear through the next week. oddly better, since i'm in the lower denomination who would rather clear weeks and stormy weekends. in this spring/summer weather, i finally relearn to love my job and reel in the negative attitude (sometimes, its beyond my will to keep it in check) when the sun emerges. i'd like to think i have more control over my emotions (who wouldn't), but i'll be realistic (we're all so naive) and recognize the strength of sun and warmth on my general happiness. smiles and all, i'd prefer to tear across the loop, &enjoy riding my bike, and then continue to feel justified in my movie *cough*degrassi*cough* watching, brunches filled with excessive coffee and bloody marys, complete with naps on weekends, which always feel so much more appropriate with gloom, gloom, gloom.
today was technically the first day of spring. ironically, also the worst weather we've had in weeks. yet daylight savings "spring ahead" has saved my sanity (in addition to 3 pieces of free cake in 2 days. apparently its birthday season. i'm in luck) since arriving home in daylight encourages me to do more than simply curl up with the closest cat who wants to snuggle (usually oscar). we celebrated with brunch at erica and sean's. cozy hang out with an amazing variety of yummy vegan food and homemade pickled creations erica had canned the previous summer (i'm going to be all over that this summer). i spent the remainder of the day cleaning up from the final chili night. chili night was forcibly ended (though by allison and i, ha) since winter is "over". according to it's nature, the event insisted on going out with a bang. bang indeed. At 930, i escaped to the porch since with the sheer number of attendees, i could hardly move around in my own kitchen. i kept proclaiming, "this is a potluck, not a party," yet i even knew i was sadly mistaken. at 11pm, a dance party to spice girls erupted despite my futile yells to "turn it the fuck down". finally, by 12:30 the crowd has dissipated. but to not be mistaken, it was TOTALLY awesome to have a sort of closure with the official winter. &i felt damn proud to have carried this event from october-march (despite russell's proclamations for failure) with allison. thanks to boggle, booze, and cheap crayons +paper from the family dollar, everyone seemed to have a blast. already there are murmurings of spring BBQs. i can only hope. &hope they are planned by someone else.
sundays have been filled with shakespeare night at cait's (currently reading the taming of the shrew after an avid viewing of
ten things i hate about you) as well as emo nights at tuman's (so much braid, promise ring & jawbreaker) at the end of the month. the first criterium of the year kicks off this monday and i'm anxiously trying to pull myself together with a proper bike AND arrive down at calumet by 6:30pm. i've shirked at properly getting into shape as compared to some of my teammates, but i'm damn excited to begin this season.
as always, i feel incomplete and abstract by not filling in the gaps, but it is what it is. i cannot wait for summer, and as much for people to cease talking about how close summer is. short-shorts will rule my life, and more, after work hang outs with the burgeoning community of humboldt/logan. but really, things just seem to be working my way, thank you.
