M.I.A.

Gosh. I've pretty much been away since before Thanksgiving. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling it. I apologize for the absence - what with said holiday, landing into a self-induced food coma, and struggling to keep up with the last few weeks of this current semester, it's been one thing after another and yet another. Yet here I am with some breathing room before the next, quickly-approaching holiday and I'm here to say "hello".

This afternoon was my first off in a while. I took the time to do some baking, cleaning, and laundry, but what I didn't do was exercise. That is, until I bicycled over to my friends' house in Burbank for a total round-trip of 26 miles and therefore a decent amount of exercise. My friends were also gifted the gift of pumpkin pie. Upon this, I had two separate thoughts: I have definitely ridden more miles than this in one go; what's up with me? and Man, what I'd give to be part of a delivery-by-bicycle service.

Anyway, tonight was a great night for riding, to and from. Not too cold, although my feet did start to feel numb and my fingers ached something special. I don't know if I mentioned this, but in about a week and a half I'll be visiting family in Nebraska - the land of fifteen degree temps at four in the morning and lots and lots of snow. Two friends of mine also located in the Midwest recently shared photos with me displaying more snow than I've seen on the Angeles Crest after a temperature-related fluke. More snow than the folks at The Grove could ever display at their supposed winter wonderland. In SoCal. It's safe to say that I'm a little nervous, particularly about such things as:


1. Exposed skin. Even my eyes, or, say, the bridge of my nose. My sister says that she doesn't want me to lift my arm and have, say, my sweater go up with it only to have my lower back be exposed to the elements. Just what's going to happen to my eyes then?

2. Looming darkness. It's one thing for it to get dark at quarter-to-five-o'clock in the afternoon in the Valley. You can still go outside and ride your bicycle around the neighborhood, looking at Christmas lights (like I did last night). Something tells me you can't do that when it's fifteen degrees outside. My biggest fear with this is something happening a la the final scenes of The Shining. Freezing to death while enjoying the beauty of nature isn't on the vacation to-do list. And on that note...

3. Not being able to go anywhere. I plan to bring a couple of board games, my laptop, and whatever pie-baking skills I've got because I assume being indoors is going to be a daily thing. A novel daily thing, considering I intend to chase my nephew back and forth most days. Let's just say what I'm most nervous about is seeing the sun shining outside then running outside only to be stabbed rhythmically back indoors to where it's safe and warm. Then resuming watching of Donald Duck cartoons with the boy. "Hahahaha! Duck mad." Or so he says.


All joking aside, I really am looking forward to two weeks in a different climate. I assume we'll do just as much drinking as we did last April, if only a lot less fishing - which, coupled with baking and shoveling snow, will only aid in perpetuating the warmth only home could provide.

(P.S. Home is the Valley, LA, Hollywood, as it is also Williamsburg/Greenpoint, NY, and now the Midwest. In my opinion, home is where your family is, and I'm happy to adopt the city of Falls City, Nebraska, as my own.)