So remember those winter weather advisories I was talking about?

They came true! But not in a fun, romp-in-the-snow sort of way...it was more of an icy, freeze-your-ass-off kind of way. They cancelled the first days of school last Tuesday and Wednesday, and this mattered to me because I work on campus, and thus my work was cancelled as well...at least on Tuesday. Wednesday the restaurant decided it would be a good idea to risk the lives of its humble employees on the treacherous thoroughfares, despite the fact that the offices of the entire city of Austin and the state government deemed it necessary to be closed. Running a restaurant is almost as important as running the state though. Oh wait, NO IT ABSOLUTELY IS NOT. We had 13 guests total (4 tables), when on a normal day we have around 100. That was TOTALLY worth going in for.

But anyway, on the days prior to this abomination, I did absolutely nothing. My friends and I sat around Jaclyn's apartment and drank, played games, ate, and watched TV. They were probably the three most counter-productive days of my life, but what was I gonna do? I couldn't really GO anywhere or ACCOMPLISH anything, so drinking was really the only option. You better believe the liquor stores were still open! We called it the Lockdown, and if you were there you'd understand why I capitalized it.

So now it's back to boring life as usual, but the weather remains crappy as hell. I haven't seen the sun in days...I now understand why people in the Northwest become so depressed at this time of the year. Not that I'm depressed, but cloudy, cold weather day after day really starts to get to you. Actually, speaking of depression, I heard on NPR yesterday that January 22nd was statistically the most depressing day of the year. Hoooraaaay winter! Now is when I begin to long for the dog days of summer--the long, lazy afternoons of sitting by the pool, or floating down the Guadalupe River with a beer in hand, beneath the verdant cyprus trees lining its banks. Aaaahhh, perfection. I can't wait.

Nasty weather and the Wii Life

So. It's been a while. What's up? Oh no way, really? You get right out of town. You crazy.

Alright, now that we've gotten the pleasantries out of the way, let's discuss the weather. Ha, ok, maybe we're not done with the pleasantries yet. But seriously though, I went to bed last night and started sweating in bed, so I turned on the air-conditioner because it was so humid and warm out. I wake up shivering to the sound of a downpour, with a musical tinkling sound hinting at what seemed to be freezing rain. Confused, I get up to look out the window and part the blinds slightly, but it is completely fogged over. I go to the front door, open it, and am knocked back by an icy gust and a spray of what felt like icicles. I quickly slammed the door, locked both deadbolts as if the cold might try to break in, and ran to the thermostat to turn the heat on full-blast. Winter weather advisories are in effect for the entire week. Texas weather. What the hell.

In other news, school starts on Tuesday, but guess what? I'M NOT GOING BACK. For the first time in my life, I have no books to buy, no class schedules to memorize, no buses to ride, no syllabuses (syllabi?) to throw away. Now I'm pretty weirded out by all this, and to be honest before Christmas I had no idea how I would spend my time (when I wasn't working). But then my father did possibly the best job of buying my love in our history together--he bought me a Wii. This thing is amazing. AMAZING. Though there aren't a whole hell of a lot of games out for it yet, the game it came with is enough to keep me and my friends entertained for a good long time, and I also got the new Zelda, which is enough to entertain me for a good long time.

It came with something called Wii Sports, a collection of bowling, baseball, tennis, golf, and boxing games that you play interactively with the Wii remote (or the Wiimote, if you will). Wanna box? Put your fists up and punch towards the screen. Wanna play some tennis? Swing that racket and get ready for some serious tennis elbow. Wanna bowl? Well, you get the idea. It is so much fun. The same principle works on other games--like in Zelda, you swing the remote to swing your sword. This evolution in technology is possibly the best thing since fish grew legs and Jesus fed them to the dinosaurs (or so is my understanding).

So begins 2007, the most uncertain year of my life. Freaky weather and the Wii. Let's hope it continues in this vein for a while, because I'm feeling pretty good.