Monday, December 15, 2008

Where I've Been This Week

In case you wonder where I've been since last Tuesday, I've been (ready?) snowed under. That's right. My small town in southern Louisiana picked up eight (count 'em, eight) inches of the fluffiest white snow you can imagine. My twenty-something neighbors made snow angels, threw snow balls, and built a snowman, complete with jaunty Louisiana bluesman hat. A small herd of children marauded excitedly from yard to yard. And the power, needless to say, went out for multiple days for the second time in three months. Thanks to an under-sized emergency transformer thrown up and never replaced after Hurricane Gustav, I went 72 hours before I got my power back, even though everybody else on my road got theirs back in 48. Sigh.

Just imagine trying to sleep under three cotton blankets and a comforter while wearing jeans, a turtleneck sweater, a Brooklyn Industries hooded sweatshirt (zipped up), two pairs of socks, wooly slippers, and gloves. In pitch darkness. Only crawling out of said cave to sit on a toilet seat made of ice.

To make matters worse, the roads for that first day were so icy (and Louisiana drivers so inexperienced) that trucks were in ditches all over the place and cars were bouncing off the highway abutments like popping corn.

And it was finals week going into Commencement on Saturday, so on top of everything else, students were panicking and teachers were walking the halls in the clothes they slept in, looking seriously rough and having trouble maintaining focus.

I ultimately wound up spending two nights at a friend's place, did almost NO work, and lost yet another freezerful of food, bringing my total loss to about $150 worth of food in three months. The up-side was that it was so cold in my house that the soy milk, yogurt, meat and cheese in the fridge didn't spoil. Yeah.

This morning I came across the following YouTube video, so now I know who to blame for this um...interesting evolution. (I originally attributed it to the way we've screwed up the ecological balance, but who knew?)

To the little girl in Baton Rouge who wrote Santa asking for snow, I'd like to say, "Okay, now. That's enough." But just in case she really does have some kind of special line to the old guy in the red suit, I'd like to suggest that she ask for world peace next. Snow is pretty, but peace would be glorious. Wouldn't it?


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The photo above was captured by Vonna Varnado, one of my students and a multi-talented artist to watch.

4 comments:

LISA VAZQUEZ said...

Hello there!

Wow...snow...I haven't seen snow like that in more than 20 years it seems!

If it interests you...I thought I'd mention that David is having "Funky White Boy Appreciation Week" at his blog (UndercoverBlackMan). He's featuring a few white men as guest writers and presenting a few posts on "funky white boys". The first honoree: Paul on The David Letterman Show.

A few of us have joined in the fun and are posting our "funky white boy" lists at our blogs! (smiles)

Just thought you'd like to know!

(smiles
Lisa

Lorraine said...

We have the same sort of thing in MARCH were I live in Texas.



That was a great day.

Professor Zero said...

Good grief! It was just pretty over here, no drama ... and it was a couple of days before I heard it was bad in your area ... but I hadn't realized it was *this* bad.

It sounds like the 1989 freeze, my first winter in Louisiana, where it went down to 0 degrees F and my heater broke and pipes froze... *that* was cold ... although somehow I kept on having hot water, others didn't. Glad you're warmed up now!!!

changeseeker said...

BWBT: Yes, indeedy, it had been twenty years since I saw this kind of display myself. Frankly, I'd be just as happy now to go another twenty.

As for "funky White boys," NOLA-bred Dr. John would get my vote as seriously funky, but what with grades and weather and my incipient trip to The Big Apple, I'm too distracted right now to think about much else. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

Lorraine: March, huh? (*shakes head*) What's the world coming to? Still, I never mind the weather OTHER people are having. Just the weather I'M having, y'know? :^)

PZ: When it gets to zero, I'm gonna think about going back to Florida. I have my limits. I probably should have headed west this time, huh? The problem was, I kept thinking my power MIGHT be back on any minute. Riiiight...