1:30am

after shoveling another foot of snow (for those of you who are keeping count, that's approximately 26" of the white stuff), i decided to take a little walk. somebody else on my street had the same idea, i saw someone setting up a camera on a tripod in the middle of the street to take some photos. little did i realize i'd walk all the way down to harvard square and back. mass ave was thoroughly empty, there were one or two cars sliding down the road (kicking up a cloud of snow in the process) instead of actually driving down the road. every so often the rumble of a snowplow truck would go by or the flash of a roving police cruiser. i walked in the streets whenever i could, since most of the sidewalks were still unplowed, or not plowed recently. when i had to resort to the sidewalks it felt like walking in sand, kind of tiring. i then cut through cambridge common to get to harvard square. harvard square was empty, the only signs of life were the handful of taxicabs parked along the curb and a few homeless people wrapped in sleeping bag cocoons inside the harvard coop courtyard. i came home cutting across the harvard yard. when i got back, my goatee and eyebrows were covered in ice crystals (think kurt russell from 1982's the thing), my glasses fogged up. i undressed in the bathroom so i wouldn't get snow everywhere.

the blizzards are back! the blizzards are back!

the blizzards, as opposed to those nor'easters, which i think is just a fancy name for a type of blizzard.

1:30pm

6:30pm

i went outside this morning to shovel 2" worth of snow on the sidewalk. after dinner, i went back out to shovel a foot more of snow, including the steps to the basement. it's snowing, yes, in quiet abundance, and occasionally strong winds will kick in and make it look like it's snowing horizontally. soft powdery snow, not good for snowmen making, but easy on the trees and easy to shovel. i heard my neighbor upstairs but he never ventured out to do any shoveling, which was quite alright, i wanted to do it anyway. every few hours i'd hear my next door neighbor shoveling though. how? he scrapes the sidewalks, making sure they're completely free of snow. the sound is like a challenge, it compels me to go outside and shovel as well, otherwise he'll have the nice clean sidewalks while i have snow piled up on mine. it's all about making my turf look presentable. all day long there's been weather updates on the news, one of the few times when the weather forecasters become local celebrities. god i miss mish michaels! i don't know why i bother shoveling anyway, in a matter of hours there's going to be another foot of snow again. in the afternoon i fell asleep, waking up to a chicken noodle soup dinner from a can.