The mercury rose to
thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit today: nearly tropical for the
Frozen North. I found myself with my hat off and coat open, soaking in the
fresh air that doesn't
hurt when it touched
bare skin or
lung tissue. Forecasts call for more
cold, and so residents are bracing themselves once again.
Today was anticlimactic to say the least. I got little accomplished, aside from various readings from texts and cleaning my room for the second time since I’ve been back. Up here it is too cold and not cost-affective to use salt on the roads and walkways, so sand is used instead. Now, salt works buy raising the temperature of the frozen sludge and ice on the ground, melting it and making life easier for pedestrian and motorist alike. Sand, on the other had, has no chemical properties even remotely close to NaCL. I suppose the Powers That Be reason that sand offers traction on the seemingly permanent ice underfoot, and while that may be somewhat true, it turns everything into a gritty, sloppy mess. And when I say everything I do mean everything, as the sand is tracked inside and no amount of cleaning can rid you of it fully. Have you ever tried to sleep with sand in your bed?
I learned today a mentor of mine was killed over Christmas break: hit by a truck while walking her dog on a road not more than fifty yards from where I am currently sitting. Her husband had the body shipped to somewhere in Arizona where a team of trained technicians ever so gently hacked off her head and put it in cryogenic freeze to wait for a day when they can revive her. She was forty-seven, and a rather nice if not eccentric lady. This weekend there will be a poetry reading in her memory.
I swear I am not making this up.
The strange mood swings I’ve been experiencing recently are beginning to show to family and friends. I still have no idea what’s causing them, other than the bad thing that happened too long ago to really think about. I hope surrounding myself with friends will alleviate these sudden shifts. Being busy and intellectually stimulated should help as well.
Everything is melting and coalescing into little brown pools of sludge and grit. Outside my window there’s nothing save for a small car with its emergency blinkers parked somewhere it shouldn't be. Across the hall someone is laughing loudly.