Sunday's Subject #1: Cold and Grumpy

Right, this is a new thing that I'm going to try in order to be a better blogger for this blog. It's called, as the title would imply, "Sunday's Subject". What my plan is for this is to come up with a subject for every Sunday and make it almost like a conversation. This means that all of you are encouraged to disagree, debate, and comment (you don't always have to disagree, but you're welcome to post your thoughts). Today's subject is "cold and grumpy". Basically, it's cold here and I'm perpetually grumpy. Here's the story;

So, I'm leaving home in a week right? Right! So, I should be happy about this. I'll get to cuddle my little lab Hilly, get cuddled by my giant golden retriever Arwen, and patronize the labradoodle Rosie. Not to mention I'll get to see my cats again and my cats always make my day. I also can't forget the friends I'll see and make merry with over the holiday season. I should be happy about all of this right? I'm not. Not really.

Alright, I am excited to see my animals, friends, and family again. I can't deny it because it would be lying, children, and lying in wrong. So, yes excited. But no, not happy.

You see, I'm a desert child. I grew up in the hot and dry where you had to drink your body weight in water every day and couldn't go outside if the weather man said not to for risk of asthma attacks and heat strokes (not that we always listened to these warnings as children...which, come to think of it, is probably why I developed asthma). I do well in heat...not so much the cold. I know how to deal with the cold (sometimes I think better than some of the teenage girls who have lived here all their lives. You should see some of the things they wear in the winter) and I can keep relatively warm with three layers on my legs and 4 layers on the hips up. As a desert child I think I was taught what to do in the cold just in case I ever happened into a snow storm in my shorts and t-shirt.

Why is all of this important to my bad mood? Because, I like snow even if it means the cold has to come with it. Have we gotten any snow? Nope! It's just been cold and wet. There's a great picture that my friend Sandy drew and I don't think he'll mind that I'm sharing it with you.

A picture my friend Sandy drew. On the right there is a small picture labelled "Winter Wonderland" with a happy, smiling guy. On the left is a picture labelled "Aberdeen" with a sad, downtrodden guy walking through the rain. In between the pictures is the "does not equal" sign.

Pretty much sums up what Aberdeen is like in the winter without snow. He drew this the day we had snow for 5 minutes and everyone got excited and posted their excitement on facebook. He was rather disappointed to wake up to find that there was, in fact, no snow to be found.

Unfortunately, it's not the fact that Aberdeen is cold but isn't snowing that is putting me in a perpetual state of grumpiness. If it were it would be an easy fix of hot chocolate, a blanket, and a good book/movie. The cold is just heightening all the things that are agitating me right now. I don't want to go into too much detail about my private life over the Internet, but how about we just say that it hasn't been the smoothest of months for Miss Erin. And I'm fairly certain that if it weren't freezing and I could sit down with a delicious hot drink and think about the events of the past month that have led up to the "blues" without having to worry about my fingers falling off then I might actually be able to get past them. It is not be. 

I also don't think it helps that someone had the bright idea to have an essay due the last day of term! I mean really? Who thought that would produce well thought out and coherent essays? Especially when they decided to give us crap questions. It baffles me. Truly. 

Anyway, I know this probably just sounded like a rant about how horrible my life is and how hard I have it, but I promise, it wasn't. I do have a small point to go with all of this woe. And that is that frustration and stress and...just plain sadness are, I think, a big part of being a University student. This is a time when everyone is truly discovering who they are and where they eventually want to be. There's gotta be some emotional trauma that goes with soul searching.

Anyway, I have to get ready for the committee meeting that I really don't want to go to because I got all of 2 hours of sleep last night (oh yeah, insomnia is also a symptoms of my "blues" because my mind never ever stops). But I made a commitment to the society so I'll go. I might even stay in the library to get some work done.