Welcome to Winter, Leave Your Sanity by The Door

You know, they say this is Utah's coldest winter in twenty years. I think this means that Id is having a laugh at me. Me and everyone else in Utah from anywhere semitropical.

So you can see why I was a little upset when last night's weather report said it would snow today.

I checked it again before I went out this morning. I check weather reports the way normal college students check FaceBook. (What? Having a chronic fear of frostbite will pay off one of these days.)

When I went out this morning the weather guy said it would be "freezing rain." And I thought, oh, the rain will be cold. So I pulled out my umbrella and a scarf and walked out.

It turns out that the “freezing” is less of an adjective. "Freezing rain" is noun phrase.

What I mean is, the sidewalk was a skating rink, and not in the fun, I might get to hold a guy’s hand, maybe I'll buy a churro way. More in the I may break several major bones, no way am I getting to class on time way.

Like this, 

(frozen sidewalk by kabturek at Flickr)

but not as pretty, and more life threatening.

I passed two ambulances and a fire truck on the way to campus.

I saw cars sliding. Cars. Sliding. (Youtube it.)

I also fell down. Several times.

I have several interesting bruises developing on my thighs. And everywhere else.

The worst part? It would all be really funny if I didn't have to do it again tomorrow.

Anxiously Engaged

So I tried a new thing with New Years Resolutions this year. The new thing is that I actually have one.

This year I want to be "anxiously engaged."  I think this may be a Mormon term--I mean that I want to be active, out, doing things, interacting, participating.

It kind of terrifies me.

I have this ridiculously long list of things that I should be doing. Know what I should be doing?

Trying to stop the last of my Chinese from slipping through my fingers and into the abyss from which it will never be recovered.

Regularly going to the meetings for a school journal I joined last semester.

Talking to all of my teachers from last semester and letting them know that I think they're fantastic and I want them to hire me. For anything. Like, maybe dusting.

Volunteering at my school's radio station, so that I can muster up the courage to apply for a This American Life internship. Because even just applying for that would make me cooler.

Doing yoga. Writing consistently. Spending at least two hours on every one hour in class. Actually going to the majority of the church activities. Going to the swing club on Saturday nights. Getting my printer fixed. Publishing a paper in a school journal. Possibly sending that paper to a conference. Publishing something (yes, anything) in an online magazine. Learning how to whistle with my fingers and play the guitar and the harmonica. Getting a job. Talking to my professors. Talking to people.

I look at this list, sometimes even one thing on this list (hello, This American Life application. And Chinese), and I want to crawl under my comforter and hibernate through the Winter. And possibly the rest of my college experience. Resign myself to mediocrity (or whatever is right below that), and just let it go. Read a few good books, listen to some bad pop music.

Yesterday I called my mom. I hadn't realized it before I talked to her, but I was freaking out.

She suggested I drop the "anxiously" from my goal.