Tag: winter

Hoodies in May

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I’ve been wearing hoodies all month and cursing the morning chill. What month are we in again? February? March?  MAY.

Anyone who lives in the Northeast is sharing my plight. Winter, you’ve had your run. It’s time to kindly GTFO because I’m sick of the jackets, tired of the hoodies, and fed up with wanting to hibernate as soon as I get home because I’m cold. I’ve built up a tolerance to chilly temperatures and snow, but it is MAY. May is supposed to be flip flop, barbecue, and everything outdoors month, not wrap yourself in a blanket and continue your winter hibernation month.

All the stores have their flags, paper plates, and all-things-grill stuff out for sell now. It’d be nice to pretend that I actually want to buy some of that stuff, but no thanks. It would be a recipe for a drenched disaster. Did I mention the rain? Two weeks straight. Yes. Two weeks. Two solid weeks of 40 degree weather and rain.

I realize there is absolutely nothing I can do to change the weather and that I’m ranting in the wind, but I need to vent somewhere. I’m not one of those “Oh, but you can put on as many layers as you want” people because you never actually get warm. I mean, you have to move at some point. The second you reach for your glass of water, bam, your fingers are suddenly freezing. Like I said, I tolerate winter now, but when it decides to steal May, I go crazy.

Give me sunshine. Give me warmth. Give me flip flops, and give me eighty degrees (at this point, I’ll settle for 65).  “But you can only take off so many layers…” I’d rather be hot, to be honest. I will never be a cold weather person. There is nothing on the planet that will ever change that about me.

Here’s to my fellow warm weather people!

You can find the original image on Wikimedia Commons

The Ballad of the Red Cart

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Resting on a sheet of ice
until Winter plays nice,
the Red Cart stands its frosty ground.

Before the ballad begins, I need to inform you all that my hard drive recently kicked the bucket. It had served me for a good, solid six years. I salute you old friend! Anyone who is computer savvy knows what that means. For those who aren’t: it basically means all of my programs are gone until I can dig through piles of discs tucked away in boxes. I mostly just need Photoshop and Word.

Without Photoshop, I can’t do my digital drawings. The red cart was drawn with my fingers on a tablet…>.>

Digital commissions are on a temporary hiatus (paper commissions are still a go though!).

The Ballad of the Red Cart
There is a large pond with decorative fountains at one of the shopping centers the bus passes every morning. This winter has been a cold one, even for northern standards. It didn’t take long for the beautiful pond to freeze over.

For the past month or two, there has been a lonely red cart sitting on the sheet of ice that was once a glorious body of water. It is there day in and day out in the same spot, never sinking and never sliding. I don’t think there are any souls brave enough to venture out onto the ice to retrieve it. What may be a proper resting place for a lonely cart may be a cold and wet morning of misery for a 100+ pound human being.

It’s one of those amusing staples of my morning and afternoon routine, but now that temperatures are rising, I may not see my lonely red friend Tuesday morning when I go back to work! The ice finally began to melt Friday morning, and by Friday afternoon, it’s front was tilted downwards, held up by a thick icy slush.

It begs one to wonder how many carts are at the bottom of the pond.

Weekly Roundup – MMO Winter Fun and Games

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~ A quick recap of things around Empire Earth over the past week.

This Week in…
 Survival!
I survived my second Black Friday. If anyone was wondering why Weekly Roundup was on hiatus last week, you have your answer. With everyone opening Thanksgiving night now, we only get a few hours of sleep before we have to be up and at it again. Free food and Monster drinks were a huge helper in that endeavor.

MMO Land
December can be such a fun month; you have awesome festive food, treats, lights, gifts, and dual pistols that shoot giant snowballs.

 Screenshot is from last year’s Star Trek Online winter event

I love hopping into my favorite MMOs and joining in their winter events. I snag as many of the freebies as I can. It is the only time I actually enjoy *le MMO grind.* Lord of the Rings Online tends to have amazing outfits. Star Trek Online has awesome snow blasting weapons. I remember the original Guild Wars had a tradition of giving away amazing hats and headpieces! I would camp the timed instances for each of my characters in order to get the much sought after holiday headgear.

Currently Reading
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien – This book is awesome. There is no other way to put it. I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I am. I honestly expected something dull and long winded. It is anything but! The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars right now is because I haven’t finished it yet.

Matters of Opinion
My blunt, unabashed thoughts in 140 characters or less:
I want a month long vacation without any monetary consequences. I just want to take a month off from work and do whatever I want.

Video of the Week
It’s people like this guy who turn crummy situations into awesome things:

Announcement
There will be no The Outlanders update this month. I apologize for this, but ‘Tis the holiday season, the most busy time of year. I really want that month >.>