Opinions of a Wolf

This week I finally finished all of my graduate work not only for the semester, but ever!  My MLIS will be officially awarded in January, but as of this week, I don’t ever have to do homework or go to class again!  I am so excited, not only to finally be done, but to officially be a professional librarian.  🙂  Not to mention that I’ll have more time for reading and writing for fun, hehe.

In other news, the winter cold has finally hit Boston.  I am so glad I managed to find a nice, cheap pair of warm boots just in time.  My pair from last winter fell completely apart by the end of the season.  I blame salt and all the walking I do all the time.  Thus we have entered what I refer to as the strategizing season.  Bostonians start walking that line between looking cute/fashionable and actually being warm.  There of course is a whole urban dweller look to being warm though.  The multiple layers.  The knee-high boots for the ladies.  The various versions of gloves that still let you use your smartphones and iPods.  My personal favorites are the commuter gloves that you let fold back the fingertip of the glove to use your smartphone, but glomits (fingerless gloves with a mitten flap you can fold back) seem to be the most popular on the bus.  Personally, I currently have two pairs of fingerless gloves.  I need to get the commuter gloves.  My fingers can’t take it.

Then there’s the how to stay warm at the bus stop strategies.  There’s the stationary dancers who hop from foot to foot.  The leaners who attempt to block the wind by leaning against something.  This strategy makes sense at bus stops with a shelter.  At ones without a shelter though, they wind up leaning against a telephone pole, and I honestly think any warmth they feel is psychosomatic.  Then there’s the stoic crowd that I’m generally a part of.  We stand there firmly in one place either staring the direction the bus is supposed to come from glaring at it or employing the watched pot never boils concept and looking the opposite direction.

But it’s not just the commute that’s cold.  If you have to pay for your own heat, your apartment tends to be not as warm as one would like either.  The layering employed for the commute gets extended inside, only the coat is replaced with a sweatshirt in an attempt to trick yourself into thinking that your apartment is actually a bit warmer than outside.  At least there’s no wind inside.  Personally, I acquired an electric blanket to put at the bottom of my pile of blankets.  This means that I’ve been winding up in bed earlier and earlier every night.  Since the tv isn’t in there, this means a lot more reading is occurring.  I’ve also heard of other strategies, such as running the oven, doing jumping jacks, drinking tea repeatedly, running the hot water in the shower, etc…  Ah, winter.  How we’ve missed you.

I actually don’t mind the cold that much.  I’ve lived in New England my whole life, so I’m used to it.  I do, however, think it’s a travesty when it occurs without snow.  I love snow! You hear that, weather?  If it’s this cold out, you may as well make it snow….