Winter fun

This afternoon, a couple of the math girls and I went on a tour of some of Ithaca's waterfalls... beginning with Cascadilla, then Ithaca Falls, and then Taughannock Falls. The perk was, they were mostly frozen :). Cascadilla was rather small, Ithaca was pretty amazing as most of it was frozen and it's rather large. And it was a pretty drive up to Taughannock, with sightings of the lake and the eastern hill and a field of deer grazing, ending up with ducks on the edge of Cayuga Lake and a spectacular view of the falls and frozen gorge. It was a cool way to begin the birthday celebrations. Then after lots of fun decorating my apartment, playing with party blowers, dinner at the Thai place, and then fondue and a movie, we discovered it had snowed! Silly me decides to try driving them home, straight up the hill. My all-weather tires decided snow wasn't included in that. I got two blocks up the hill in about 10 minutes, had a crash course in snow driving on the phone (thank you!), and made it back home. The girls decided they didn't want to join me for a snowball fight, so I had fun alone :).
I made 2 snow angels (because one just looked so lonely by itself), a snowman, a snow duck (to honor the ducks of the day), a snow mound, and a snow splatter painting on the side of my building. If you've never layed down and watch the snow fall on you, you should try it. It looks like the stars are falling on you, or you're flying through space. Little fairies coming to you. It looks really neat. And so is the sound of snow balls falling onto snow banks. However, I must say that snowball fights with the sky and a wall get boring after a while ;), as the sky's snowballs are rather tiny and the wall just has nothing for you. It is a fun sound. After a while, I decided it would be wise to go back inside, as I leave tomorrow to be interviewed for a few days, and I probably shouldn't be sleep deprived or sick. It's amazingly warm out though for the snow, which is why playing in it was so fun, it was so hard to come in. But it will snow again. And I challenge anyone to a snow ball fight! :)
By the way, Erin thanks for taking me to Ross, the gloves are amazing! They didn't see the ski slopes, but they sure make fantastic snow balls. It was so fun to be all suited up in my new winter gear :). It's just exciting and beautiful. Freshly fallen snow is beautiful... you hate to walk or drive on it and taint it. It's just a beautiful blanket. I took some pictures of my fun, as well as some trying to be artistic shots because the snow just looked so pretty, and you can find them here.

Snow, of course

Tonight, during the Baha'i Club meeting, we got about an inch of snow in just an hour or two, which made the roads the messiest they've been (still not too bad). There's a certain quiet with the snow though. It absorbs sound, or something. It's beautiful. I love the total stillness of the air. I first noticed it last year when skiing in Utah. But tonight, standing on my doorstep, I heard the silence again. Well, maybe I just noticed the lack of sound, depending on how you view silence ;).
And, I've officially been slipping and sliding now (though I was purposefully going about 2 mph). Let me tell you, you really pay attention to where the hills and potholes are when there's slippery slush/ice/snow on the roads. But I do enjoy the groaning of the wheels on the snow. It's a really cool sound, and unlike any other. I feel triumphant :).

End of a not so fun week

Well, this week was not at all what I planned, and I'm rather glad to have it behind me. After spending some quality time on my couch, I think I'm on the road to recovery. Word to the wise: try and avoid beginning your semester sick. However, despite being sick, it was a decent beginning to classes. My three classes this semester (Analysis, Logic, and Algebraic Topology) are going to offer a wide variety of difficulty, work, and mathematical thinking. It's quite diverse, as are my professors. I already have work to do, work I haven't started since I haven't really been able to think, though I've participated much more in class this week than I did last semester, oddly enough.
The good news is that I have found a place to live this summer only a 15 minute drive from work, I get to go to one of my Baha'i sister's wedding in February (I'll be in SC for the last weekend of Feb, those of you that are there), and I'm off to Baltimore in just 2 days for psychological assessment and polygraph tests. And in just three weeks, I'm off to NEBYfest to see some of my favorite people and spend lots and lots of time around books :).
I do have one note of thanks that I didn't live in Jane Austen's time... I have spent a good bit of time in Jane Austen world, trying to fill the hours on the couch. I watched Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, and am now re-reading Pride and Prejudice. And while I do love the story and the writing, I'm very glad I have a hope in life beyond who I marry. Thank goodness for the progress of humanity.
The thing that made this week fun was the snow :). I've gotten to lie on the couch and watch the snow fall while wrapped in blankets, walk in the snow and admire all the snow on the ground. Last night gave us the most snow at once that we've had, and it was done to a very cold -15 degrees wind chill too. Today it's supposed to be a bit warmer, with a -11 wind chill ;). I'm loving the cold. I feel so alive. :)

Puppies

Last night, in my dream, I bought a puppy. Granted it was from JC Penny, but it was the most adorable puppy I've ever seen. It was so soft, playful, and loving. I loved that puppy, and I couldn't let go of it. I wanted to be holding it constantly. Then, after my time in the mall, I remembered that I'm not allowed to have a puppy, that my landlord would be upset. So then I realized I had to return it. At this point, the puppy starts crawling into my jacket pocket or my bag or all these little corners so that I can't find him to return him. I then find out that this poor puppy had some sort of abusive background and was scared of abandonment (or something like that, doesn't really make sense, it was after all a dream). So then I try to go to the store to return him, but at that point I couldn't remember which store he was from. It was only after having gone to several stores that I realized that he was from JC Pennys, not Macys or Sears. But then I woke up, before actually returning him. And the thought of that puppy is so comforting but also a bit sad to me, but it definitely made the horrible night just a little bit better. Yay for puppies.

Winter walk

This afternoon I decided I had spent enough time indoors, and even though the wind chill was -2, I decided to go for a walk. In the first five minutes, while still adjusting the scarf and my headphones, I decided I was crazy and wouldn't last another block. Once I started walking though, I loved it (and I even stayed warm)! I probably walked about 2 miles, admiring the snow and the cute little houses and loving the cold fresh air. I don't know what it is about cold air and me, but I do love it. It's refreshing, it reminds me that I'm alive. Maybe it's because there's such a stark difference between my body temperature and the air that I'm breathing... but I love it. There were snow flurries and a beautiful sunset, old places and new places, frozen creeks and such.

As I came back home, I thought I'd stop by the bottom of the gorge, and it's absolutely beautiful. Some of the falls are frozen and covered in snow, but amongst the frozen bits, the water is still rushing quickly. It was completely beautiful. And while I'm having great difficulties with my camera taking pictures in focus, I took pictures anyway :). Just to keep to remember how beautiful it is, to remind me come March when I'm ready for spring and winter is still here.

Lost in translation

This Story People quote seems particularly applicable tonight:
"There are some days when no matter what I say it feels like I'm far away in another country & whoever is doing the translating has had far too much to drink."

I was just curious

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Home again

I have arrived back in Ithaca to begin my second semester. As I drove into New York state today, I was thinking of how I left it, what I was thinking, feeling, planning, etc. And now, as I come back to Ithaca, it seems somewhat foreign to me, but at the same time right. When I first opened the door to my apartment, I was surprised. I had forgotten how it felt to come home here. I must say it's pretty cool to be able to leave home and be going home at the same time, knowing that I have several more homes across the globe. My apartment seems strangely empty, and I hope that will change as I have Feast tomorrow and devotions on Sunday and see the girls on Sunday. I'm seeing this town in a whole new light. I came to some important realizations over break I guess, so maybe that's why the change in perspective. I must say that I enjoy the snow on the ground, the sun in the sky, and being able to use my trunk as a refrigerator as I drive around town :).
As I was watching a movie the other night, the thought crossed through my head that this part of my life would be the part that gets "fast-forwarded" through, or sped up. Just highlights of these few years would be shown. At first, I was thinking that I just need to get through these years to get to the "good" part, whatever that might mean. Reading a Christmas card from my grandparents, they just moved out of a house that they've been living in for almost 50 years. They are still so happy together and have moved to a new place where they will be happy as well. I find myself thinking, "I can't wait to have that happen for me too." Not necessarily the moving part, but the being somewhere for over 50 years, or have something happen for that long. I think I'm far too impatient for life to hurry up and go by. I'm not sure why. I just keep thinking, "I can't wait until..." Am I bored? Anxious? Unsure? Whatever it is, I've decided to change it. I had a fabulous break, one I would not want to fast-forward through, and I plan on these next few months to be just like that. I have no idea what is in store for me, but I cannot wait, because I know whatever it is will mold me closer to the person I'm supposed to be. "Hold me, mold me, make me, shape me, into what You want me to be. I open my heart to receive." This is one line of a gospel song that was stuck in my head for my entire year of service, and it comes to mind now. I like this idea. That every day God is shaping us. And the little I do know from ceramics, it's not easy to shape clay and have it retain the form. You have to do it with effort and many, many times.
It's funny. I can learn so much if I only listen to myself. I thought about things 3 years ago that I still haven't gotten. I can't believe it's already 2007. Three years ago I was polishing a candleabra from the Shrine of the Bab, saying goodbye to a friend, and thinking about sincerity. Sincerity seemed to be the theme of my year of service, and it's become very important to me since. We do so much in our lives, and it's so easy to just go through the movements of living, but it's something completely different to be thought and energy into things. To sincerely listen to someone, to sincerely want to help in whatever way they want, to sincerely greet someone and realize that they are an entire person with thoughts and lives and friends and family and a busy day, too. If we really respected and paid attention to each other, life would be so much more enjoyable. At the BWC, I was always happy to see everyone, whether it was someone taking out the trash, guarding the gate, answering the telephone, ringing up my groceries, planting flowers, running the copier. I knew everyone, and that made me happy. It always made me happy to see people. So, why not be happy now? Just because I don't know them doesn't make them any less important. Maybe that's one way that we can love everyone. There is a common theme amongst religions that we should prefer our brother over ourselves, to love every person on earth. Maybe this is just one step towards that. Recognizing the humanity and nobility in every person. Something to continue thinking about.