two against one

My city and my immune system have teamed up against me to ensure that instead of being out doing any of the 5893020343290 things I need to be doing to finish the several major projects I have due next week, I am in the apartment hiding out from the cold and wintry mix coming down, sneezing violently/ blowing my nose every five minutes and trying madly to get all the laundry and cleaning done before the future in-laws arrive.

Oh, and calling everyone I can think of to get interviews for said impending assignments. PLEASE JUST CALL ME BACK STATE REPRESENTATIVES I ONLY NEED TEN MINUTES.

So as I wait for the towels to finish washing, a Massachusetts Department of Transportation employee to call me back and the next bout of sneezing to attack me, I thought I’d blog.

I feel like everyone I know is on the verge of a mental breakdown, myself very much included. Mental and possibly sinus-al, in my case. The semester is five weeks from finished and I really thought for some reason that the work would start to dwindle down so we could concentrate on the longer and more important final projects. Not so. Instead there are all these smaller-but-still-important projects that keep me so busy I can't even begin to think about final stories. We're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to slap together something, anything that resembles quality reporting and writing. But then Boston and Mother Nature decides April 1st would be a good day for some snow and my body decides this week is the perfect time for a raging sinus infection and I just want some SLEEP, y'all.

Plus, if that wasn’t enough, this is what my workspace looks like:

I’ll never get anything done.

P.s. Happy April Fools Day, y'all. This weather is a cruel prank, I'm pretty sure.

P.p.s. I hope Penny saved this post from dying in its own self pity.

spring's all that

In the city, spring is kind of like that really hot chick who was just utterly fugly as a child. I'm talking bad teeth, terrible haircut and maybe she even smelled weird, like stale crayons or something. Then one day, bam. All the boys want to take her to homecoming.

(Why yes, I did try to reference terrible hot teen makeover movie She's All That in my title. Thank you for noticing.)

Here me out: Most people would probably say spring is the prettiest season, what with the green and the flowers and the tiny baby animals everywhere.* However, if you live in an urban climate that gets any reasonable amount of snow, the transition from winter to spring is easily the nastiest, ugliest time of the year. 

actually this doesn't look THAT bad... but just wait

Think about spring turning to summer. Life gets hotter, different plants crop up, everything seems brighter. Or summer to fall: the leaves turn gorgeous colors, the air gets crisper... Even fall to winter is beautiful in a stark way. 

But winter to spring? By this point, with no new snowfall to renew the white blanket, all the snow has turned a gritty, black-flecked (and likely pee-filled) hue of gray. Worse, garbage that has literally been frozen for months is being unearthed for the first time since November as the snow/ice melts. Instead of snowing, it rains, which just creates huge, trash filled puddles in between the slush that still remains. 

if only more people hadn't missed the can in the fall...

So yeah, spring. Girl's got a great personality – even these mid forty-degree days we've been having feel amazing – but she's still stuck firmly in her awkward years. I can't wait for her to lose the braces, finally discover clothes that flatter her (secretly bangin' all these years) body and get a really good haircut. I wonder if Freddie Prinze, Jr. is doing anything right now...


* I'm more of a fall/winter girl myself but I see their point.