In The Dead Of

A lot of people don't like winter, and I respect that. It gets dark and dank and dreary. Muddy snow looks like snot. Driving is tricky. But summer's the season that makes me uncomfortable. Heat makes me slow down and feel lethargic. I hate sweating. I don't like being immersed in bodies of water, or the inevitable bareness of swimsuit attire. I don't like being without the security blanket my several layers of clothing provides. I prefer snowballs to water balloons, hot chocolate to lemonade, scarves to sunscreen.

This isn't to say I don't like summer, just that summer heat makes me feel uncomfortable and stupid, like I'm not enough of what the world wants me to be. Not sporty enough, not sexy enough, not drive-down-the-highway-with-the-top-down-and-your-hair-flying-around enough. I don't like my hair flying around.

Winter reminds me that I'm not actually the uncool shut-in summer makes me feel. I love being outside in the cold, bundled up and playing in the dead leaves or snow, stomping around in boots. I'm all about that.

But for everyone who's struggled this winter, and is looking forward to summer: I get it, I do. I hope the sunshine comes for you soon.

The Wall

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I hope you all had good ones. Did you make any resolutions? Mine are simply to write more, complete last year's creative projects, and . . . eat food? Tone my butt? I don't know. Seve and I have talked about taking up slacklining.

I got an email recently from Goodreads congratulating me on another great year of reading and calculating my literary consumption of 2013 to be . . . 2 books. Now, I read voraciously in 2013, but I clearly never updated that to reflect on my Goodreads account. I'm not one to read or write reviews, but I do regret not at least keeping a log of the books I read.

I don't often recommend things either, but I will now: the other day I was loading up our Netflix account and a foreign film called "The Wall" popped up on my dash. I was immediately intrigued by its premise (A woman inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the countryside). I started it right then and there instead of browsing to whatever it was I had originally wanted to watch. And I'm glad I did, as the film has stayed with me for days. It was sci-fi but not really? Not at all? YouTube markets it as scary, but it's not that either, not in the least. I won't tell you much more than that because after watching the film I looked up as much information on it as possible and sort of regret it because other people's interpretations have tainted that initial beautiful and immersing feeling I felt while watching it. Just know that it's beautiful, and immersing, and on Netflix, so go watch it right now.

Also, I recently learned to crack open an egg with one hand and I'm feeling terribly accomplished at the moment.