Of my Monotony and Other Small Musings

So I've been a bit MIA ... Mostly due to the lack of excitement in my life right now. It's all - wake up, head to class, eat, more class, eat, work, sometimes an extracurricular or some friend time, and then a chapter of my book and then sleep.

Of course all this monotony on my part is completely balanced out by mother nature's craziness. I swear, next thing she'll do is shave her head and have a mental breakdown.

Anyways - 2 days ago, I was wearing double layers. As in, my thermal skiing underwear (for -30 winter weather) made an appearance (or rather, hopefully not, as it was supposed to be discretely UNDER all of my regular clothes). That is NOT ok. Mainly because my jeans were not bought with the purpose of putting leggings under them.

And today? Holy sweet breath of baby Jesus, it was WARM! Like +2C. I wanted to frolick in the breezes in my summer dresses. Man, it was nice.

 

Isn't my school beautiful? Yep, gonna be said to be leaving it all behind this May. Onto bigger and better things, I guess. Also, the reason you're stuck with my unemotional grimace is because I refuse to look like an idiot grinning at her iPod while walking down the street.

Also, my hair is looking fabulous, if I may say so myself. Now, all I have to do is permanently wear a hat, so no one can see that my roots have grown out to my ears. I think Montreal (aka Freezing-Cold-Land) is the perfect place for this mission.

Of Weather-Related Musings and Grandma Behaviour

The weather is still having a laugh at us. I think I could post daily updates on just how crazy it is. Some days I wonder why I moved here, simply because it's SO cold and so unpleasant sometimes ...

But then days like today happen.

I always fall for it. Damn you, Montreal, for lulling me into a false sense of security ... and then blasting me with some freakishly glacial air or getting all hot and bothered and raining all over me and my winter coat (which, despite being delightfully waterproof, still smells like wet dog when drying).

This good weather does make me more ... happy (is that even the right word? Less disgruntled is a better description) to go to class. Which is pretty much all I've been doing lately. That and sleeping. I've given up on banking friend-time, and I'm onto banking sleeping time (I KNOW THIS WORKS!!!). I went to bed at 9pm last night. I woke up at 6:30am feeling as fresh as a daisy. It was amazing. I'm considering cancelling all of my evening plans forEVER and just sleeping at 9pm.

I swear I'm actually not a hermit or a catlady or a grandma. Most of the time.

Of Meteorological Temper Tantrums and (Some) Having-A-Life Moments

What ho? What light through yonder window breaks? Why, it's me, returned from a self-imposed hiatus from life (a.k.a. a Fringe marathon).

The fitness part of this blog has been temporarily postponed until it's not so fricking cold (which could be as far off as April). So I have to fill my time with other pursuits. I WAS going to attend a concert at the Music School and go to the museum, BUT ...

Mother nature decided to have a temper tantrum and have a blizzard. Oh, and the temperature changes every day - one day, it's 0C (oh, so warm!), the next, it's -27C (oh, can't breathe!), then back to -8C (oh, so warm!). Makes dressing to go outside very difficult. I, in my delusional state (I blame the cold), thought, oh well, jeans get colder faster and they get stiff, so I'm not going to wear jeans - instead, I'll wear LEGGINGS. Somehow, it didn't click that leggings = a micro-thin layer of fabric between my skin and the -30C air.

I tell you, I'm SO smart sometimes. This whole going to university thing has definitely taught me to win at life.

Speaking of life - I had one! For a couple of hours ... my roommate was throwing a party and I actually mingled and partied and did all the things that normal people do. And then I left to sleep over  at my friend's place, because, let's be honest, it was 11pm and I needed my sleep. Grandmas unite!

And to prove that this miraculous having-a-life moment happened, I present the evidence (unfortunately, I cannot include the rather strong smell of alcohol that has pervaded our apartment for the past week as a result of this party, but believe me, it's there).

Of Forecast Lies and Traction Aids

This morning, I went for my first run back in Montreal.

• 2.5 miles, 23:57 - 9:34 pace

I definitely felt slower, but let's face it - it's supposedly -6C and slightly windy.

I say supposedly because it's all. Lies. Because I dressed for -6C (tech shirt, tech long sleeve on top and my windbreaker) and I was red in the face (as per usual) and sweating buckets like the middle of summer (not usual in January).

Then of course I noticed that they measure the temperature at the airport.

The airport? Really? Because that's over an hour away, and what do I care what the weather is like at the airport? If I'm going to the airport, I'm literally going from the taxi to the terminal. The weather there has no effect on me. Seriously, I should've done a RE:WTF?! style rant about this. I was that miffed.

The new things that I tried today, and that probably saved my run from being a 12:00 min/mile shuffle are my new Due North Traction Aids.

They are these tough plastic webs that stretch over your shoes. When off of your shoes, they are conveniently flat, so you can store them very easily. The traction comes from the carbide reinforced spikes (in blue) that are on the forefoot and the heel. Let me tell you, these babies saved me today. I felt like I was running on plain pavement when wading through layers of slush and ice and snow that were caked on the sidewalk. The grip was amazing. At first I was a little scared, because on the sections where the sidewalk was cleared, they made these scratching noises and I was afraid that I would break the spikes, but the manufacturer assures that these spikes are super strong and won't just break. In any case, there are 2 replacement spikes included with the traction aids.

The only (minor) concern I had was that at the end of my 2.5 mile run, the slush had gotten congealed on the bottom of my runners, which covered up the spikes a bit and made my going a bit slippery. I would say these are perfect for harder snow and ice, but with slush, you have to watch out and knock the excess slush off when it accumulates.

At least now I have something to do at those traffic lights besides look mean. And fabulous.