as the wind dies down

Last week, I found myself straddling the line of nostalgia and quicksand. I love being home, especially when the weather is good (which is was for about 2 hours of the entire week), because it's familiar. I like walking into the Washington Plaza Starbucks and sitting in the corner to read. I like wandering through Columbia Center mall and remembering the time when I played bigger or better for Bethany Lotz's birthday. I like parking at the end of Newcomer and just watching the old men walk by, just like they have for the past 50 years.

But then I find myself avoiding familiar places, because I know it means familiar people. Not friends, just casual acquaintances that you're obligated to say hello to but there is clearly no reason for conversation besides obligation. People assume you never left town and are just doing what you always do, in the places you always do it. But I'm not the same person I was 3 years ago. I don't make out by the backstop in Leslie Groves or spend 4 hours a day at some team practice or, god forbid, roller skate. Sure I still have a lot of the same interests, likes and dislikes, but I also have encountered many new likes, dislikes, and interests. I've kicked a lot of the bad habits I held onto in high school, and inevitably developed new ones. As a result I end up just getting annoyed with people who either assume that time has frozen since 2005, or who ask "how's school" because they feel like they have to.

(And if you haven't seen it, the Hanford High auditorium is spectacular. I wouldn't have even recognized it as the same building.)

mother nature: an update

It's snowed three times in the past 72 hours, and then it melts within the hour. This is just getting a little out of hand.

mother nature: a history

Today, I am defiant. This defiance comes in a string of attempts to coax mother nature out of her darkness and to usher spring into the air. My first attempt at this grand task came two weeks ago when I wore flip-flops to church, rather than the usual closed-toe shoes and thick winter socks. I was doing fine, until it started getting a lot colder and I eventually had to change because I could no longer feel 4 of my 10 toes. It then snowed again the next morning. Clearly, mother nature was ready for a fight.

The next attempt came last Wednesday, when I donned a striped spring skirt and white top, my quintessential spring look. But alas, I was defeated again because I had left my jacket at my grandma's house that evening, so when I got out of the car around 10:30 p.m. that night I literally could not stop shaking. 0-2.

My third and certainly not last battleground is being staged as we speak. The ensemble consists of a denim pencil skirt, t-shirt and cute flats. The day started out gloriously; not a cloud in the sky or a worry on my mind. Within the next three hours, the wind has kicked up to almost 20 mph and the clouds are rolling in faster than a fat lady to the McDonalds drive-thru. But I will stand victorious, no matter how many limbs have to be lost to frostbite or how many fists I have to shake in the air. Spring is coming, dammit. Mother nature's got nothing else to fight with. (Except maybe a hailstorm or unexpected cold front...)

(it's actually Sunday)

I usually write these as I sit and wait for edits at the paper, so it's late/early Sunday. I hate that the next day starts at midnight. Let's think about this. If "midnight," or halfway through the night, is the dividing line between today and tomorrow, that means that each day only gets half of a night, because the rest is technically morning. And we say "I was up till 3 in the morning," but in order for that to be factually correct one would have to say "I was awake until midnight and then continued for the first three hours of the next day." And I don't know about you, but 3 a.m. feels a whole lot like night to me.

the looming list of things to finish before Thursday at 3:30 p.m.:

- 3 scholarships
-breaks down to three essays, two activities lists, 5 letters of recommendation, 3 story clips
- 1 worldview essay
-(if anyone has read any good editorials in the past 3 months, please let me know.)
- 1 poetry exploration essay
- 1 peer evaluation
- 1 Jan Term application
- 1 3-page scene
- 1 life to plan

Ready, set, go.