The Aerie
This time I'm referring to the weather. Man, it's gonna be NIPPY out
there tonight. Real Minnesota weather, the kind that builds character.
The kind that lends bragging rights. The kind that drives out the
riffraff. The criminal mindset is not one that finds spiritual value
in the endurance of hardship. No, the same process that finds it
easier to steal a dollar than earn a dollar finds it easier to move
south rather than endure the cold.
Besides, it's a lot harder to break into a house when opening any door
or window sends a torrent of bitterly cold air flooding across the
floor.
"Honey, I think someone's in the house!"
"What makes you say that?"
"The furnace just kicked in!"
So tonight is the night of Cold from Hell, probably the coldest night
of the year. It always strikes me as odd how the coldest weather comes
in February, a good two months after the daylight has resumed
increasing towards summer. Yes, it's just like August's 100-degree
days following June, I know, but that amazes me too, okay? I'm easily
amazed, and frequently astonished.
It's odd thinking about plus-100 degree weather when it's getting
colder than ten degrees below zero tonight. But it's in our future.
Makes me wish we could afford that central air this year, but it's not
in the cards: we're lucky we heard about the [1]Presto Bathroom on the
radio. That's where the refinancing money is going: new bathroom in
the basement. Amazingly affordable, too.
As for the Cold from Hell I and II, I'm finally over that bastard. Oy
vey, that was a nasty cold. I've had colds that were worse in the
"disgusting symptoms" category, including a sinus infection I can
still remember ten years after the fact. But this one was so friggin'
tiring. The whole time I had it I wanted to do nothing but sleep.
After my [2]last entry I fell back asleep, and by the time I woke up
on Thursday morning I'd been asleep for 28 of the latest 36 hours.
That shot my schedule to hell, missing two days of productivity. I'm
supposed to have [3]Mitlanyal finished by Saturday. Don't tell my
publisher, but that ain't gonna happen. I won't be too late, but I'm
still trying to get to-dos done that were due last week, so it'll be
Wednesday before I can even start on the damned thing. Sigh. Oh, I've
been working on it here and there, mostly proofreading and updating
some of the events and language, but the big stuff -- redoing the
calendars and rewriting some of the character sketches -- have been
piling up while illness and business kept me occupied.
All my whining is just that, whining. My eldest boy just had four
teeth pulled today in preparation for orthodontia, so really he holds
four cards that trump my complaints. "How was your day?" "Oh, I'm so
behind on my schedule, boo-hoo." "Oh, really, I just had four teeth
ripped out of my jaw by the roots..."
Ah, and then there's my buddy Moldy. The one from the [4]benefit
concert? Well, part of the benefit was to send him and his wife out to
L.A. to see the Rezillos. Well the Rezillos cancelled -- terrorism
scares kept them from being able to fly out of England, both Heathrow
and Gatwick shut down for the day.
So they had fun, but they didn't have fun at the Rezillos concert.
Then Moldy gets back last week, and on Sunday morning about 3:00 a.m.
he's driving home, he hits a couple of parked cars, and flips his car
over and lands on his roof.
Some acetylene torching later and a visit from the Jaws of Life, and
they get him to the ER to check him out. Bumps, bruises, nothing
serious except some bleeding on the brain, which they can't tell is
from the accident or from the cancer treatments. But they let him out
of the hospital under his own power, so hopefully that means that his
condition isn't as serious as the term "bleeding on the brain" might
indicate.
So now he's out a car, and possibly going to be out of a job if he
can't get to work on time.
So let's see... I had a bad cold, and now I have to work real hard.
My son had four teeth ripped out of his head.
Moldy has brain cancer, brain bleeding, misses his concert, a wrecks
his car, and now has various insurance and other hassles, and maybe
will have problems keeping his job.
Next time I start complaining, whether about colds or the weather,
somebody tell me to go stick my head in a bucket.
[5]Last
Posted by Albatross at February 25, 2003 11:58 AM