Post-Snow Commute

Since the snow has drama has been over for almost a week now, it only makes sense that everything is still slow, right? I mean, how much can we expect from a city that can’t function at the slightest mention of flurries?

Right here is where I have to remind you that my commute is not easy. In order to get to or from school, I have to take a bus, a train, AND a shuttle. When I have night classes it can be more difficult to get home since the city seems to think that the trains should run every 10-15 minutes after 7:00pm and as for the buses… well, they’ll run whenever the hell they feel like it. Combine that with the snow-as-a-snail metro and you can see that we’re all headed for disaster.

So there I am at school, patiently waiting for my SECOND shuttle because the first one had too many people for me to squeeze on. I kid you not; it took an hour from the time that class got out until I was at the metro station, a mere two miles away. And yes, I’m aware that I could have walked. But it was dark and all the sidewalks were covered with snow. Not to mention that DC drivers are some of the worst I’ve seen in my entire life. Enough said.

Due to wanting to stay alive, I was at the metro at a time that I should have been on the bus to get home. I had to wait ten minutes for the next train, then about another twenty minutes for it to get to my stop. By this time, it’s 8:00pm and I’m getting cranky. And because the night wasn’t quite crappy enough, the Transportation Gods chose to slow down the bus, leaving me to stand outside in the freezing cold for a half hour.

It took another half hour to get home and by the time I walked in my front door, I was in tears. Mark had dinner for me and being the awesome boyfriend he is, greeted me with a hug a warm dinner. It was just what I needed to make me forget about my metro woes…

Until tonight. 

Sick of Snow Days

I never thought it would happen. All I wanted was ONE snow day. Ok, maybe I really wanted TWO snow days. Just something to give me a little break from school and work. In no way, shape, or form was I prepared to have almost an entire WEEK off school! I was able to make it to work on Monday but even that was dangerous so I’ve been home for the remainder of the week.

There’s now a bit of cabin fever going around in our apartment. Mark and I are driving each other crazy and Jade is thrilled because she thinks that mommy and daddy are home all day just to play with her. And to be honest, all the snow days are giving me anxiety. You see, so far, my university hasn’t extended our semester. There was an emergency preparedness plan in place so that if H1N1 hit the campus, classes could continue over the internet. During our unforeseen snow break, professors have been encouraged to keep the students up to date on assignments and scheduling. Way to ruin my snow break, school! Anxiety-ridden, I keep thinking about all the work I’m going to have upon returning to classes.

And you’d think that with all this time, my apartment would be spotless. Not so much. I’ve been on the couch for the last three days, watching every bit of crappy programming that television offers. It’s not just about procrastination; it’s a serious lack of capability when it comes to getting my shit together. I know the reasons for this and I’m working on correcting them, but in the meantime I let my apartment slide. My cleaners come tomorrow (hopefully!) and I always feel less stressed when everything is in its place. It’s just easier to get work done and not be a slacker when your belongings are clean and organized.

The one productive thing that I managed to begin is a recipe binder. I’m always hanging on to old magazines and some of them have some recipes that I’d like to try. I was able to go through a good amount of the magazines and tear out all the recipes that look good and categorize them in a binder. Plus, I found some awesome baked goods recipes that look easy enough for me to attempt. One of these next few days, I’ll start posting recipes again.

Lesson that was learned from snow days: be productive everyday. It lessons my anxiety. 

The Snow Is Here!!

Yes, it finally happened. The snow is upon us. Thankfully, I received my groceries this morning and am now hunkered down in bed, right where I belong. I’ve heard horror stories over the past few days about people waiting until the last minute to go to the grocery store and the shelves being empty. Check out the pictures from this blog. 

I still can’t believe that people panicked to the point of cleaning out the grocery stores! And if that weren’t enough, the local news stations have been running live coverage of the snow since NOON and it doesn’t end until MIDNIGHT. And I’m sure that it’ll be on first thing again tomorrow. Can’t these people just let us watch our Friday night shows? I mean, seriously, what else do we have to do? 

Only in DC...