Just my Imagination ...

... runnin' away with me.

Snow this morning. Unexpected (I don't so much watch the news), but nice. I tried shoveling for a few minutes, but gave up soon after I realized the strips of driveway I scraped clean were dusted again with new snow every time I turned my back.

Sneaky snow.

I've been curled with a down throw all afternoon, watching "Arrested Development" and now, "The Simpsons." I can't decide between the couch, the carpet, the couch. One disturbing realization: Homer Simpson and I share many of the same qualities.

I took a shower in the dark today and it made everything more.

I like the snow. Very much I like it. The squirrels running around like they don't know what the hell is happening, seeing sudden bursts of breath from dogwalkers passing my window, the fogged, purpled sky. My brother, sister, and I used to jump out of the barn into big piles of snowdrift--we'd get a running start and then land so hard we'd get stuck, up to our chests, in snow. My brother would usually wiggle out first and then come save Randy and me. Over and over, all day, this pounding over warped floorboards and then for two seconds, flying. On good snow days, we'd call the neighbors and meet them at Suicide Hill (really, we had a suicide hill) for sledding. My Dad would pump up a huge, old inner tube and we'd all climb in and slide down this hill at a gazillion miles an hour and crash at the bottom, covered in snow and cockleburrs. Pure fun.

Tomorrow may be a good day for sledding. Where do people sled in Vermillion? Down by the bluff? There's no water tower hills here--what do you do?

I start teaching on Tuesday. I've never been on the campus, have no idea where my office will be, don't know how to get a fleet vehicle, am not sure if my syllabi have been copied, can't pronounce some of the names on my class rosters, have no idea how to fill three, consecutive class hours, haven't received my desk copy for my 201 class yet, and Monday is a holiday.

In other words, I am much more prepared for this semester than I was for the Fall.

Happy New Year! (Again!)