I heard on the radio earlier that today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year – not January 16th, specifically, or MLK Day, specifically (that would be a HUGE “Yikes”). Rather, it is most depressing because it’s a Monday, and it’s January, so it’s historically very cold. It’s far enough into the new year that you’ve probably tried and failed to accomplish your resolution, and among other things, the holidays are definitively over.

I had a splendid day despite the odds working against me, particularly in regards to the holidays being over. See, in my house, the Christmas tree will remain standing proud and tall until one too-aggressive sneeze is able to knock off all its needles in one blow. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it will stay up until early to mid February. Maybe we leave it up because we’re lazy; maybe we do it because we can’t bear to let Christmas go. Maybe we even do it to feel superior to the people dumping their Christmas tree carcasses on the corners of New York City. Whatever it may be, I’d like to think it’s because we’re just trying to beat the real most depressing day of the year: the day the tree comes down. read more

French fries are irresistible. No matter how much you try to avoid them, they always present themselves to you, and you aren’t ever going to refuse. Maybe that’s just me. I’ve found that even when I don’t order them at a restaurant, I still fall victim as my friends and family offer up their fries. It’s gotten to a point that whenever anyone has fries, I think I have license to take some. Therefore, if I’m eating with someone I’ve never even met before and they have fries, I will get an urge to take some even though I know it would be totally rude and odd. The same thing happens in the dining hall at school – I see someone I don’t know carrying a plate with french fries, and suddenly, I’m nearly plucking off a handful. I catch myself every time, but one day I think I’ll trip up. read more

I’ve complained about this to enough people before, so I’ll keep this one brief.

I’m a generally cold person – figuratively at times, yes, but I mostly mean literally. I grew up in New York and went to boarding school in Connecticut for high school, so I’ve definitely had exposure to frigid winters. Therefore, one would imagine I’d be well adjusted to cold and be able to endure it.

Perhaps I did have this endurance in years past. Yet no one told me that by attending college in Colorado, I’d lose it. There, the weather fluctuates ridiculously. For instance, last year, there was a weekend in the dead of January that I was wearing shorts. The following weekend, we had a blizzard. Take a couple days from last month, even. Friday, 10:00 am: 61 degrees Fahrenheit. Saturday, 10:00 am: 1 degree Fahrenheit. A 60 DEGREE CHANGE IN 24 HOURS. Thus, it is basically impossible for me to acclimatize to any sort of weather anymore. 40 degrees may have felt balmy to me in Connecticut on a day in February, but in Colorado, it can feel absolutely miserable, given that the previous day may have been 65. read more

I met up with some old friends from grade school today for some good old fashioned hiking, reminiscing, and movie watching. We try to get together a few times a year during breaks to fill each other in on our lives, and it’s always a comical time hearing about each other’s adventures. The last time we really saw each other was back in summer – I had had them over to my house for a barbecue and they left pretty late that night. Somehow we got to talking about speeding tickets, and one of my friends admitted that he had actually gotten a ticket that night, driving home from my house. read more