A step by step guide to getting through the winter

Hallooooooo! And welcome to December. Be prepared to be assaulted by badly sung Christmas music in any store you go. The weather will mock you, not giving you snow when you think there should be pretty whiteness and then dumping a foot on you at the earliest inconvience. For those in the population who get kind of down at the change of the seasons (personally I always feel better when the leaves are on the trees) the winter can be very long. Driving through Virginia long...shudder. So find 5 things that make your next hour, next day, or even the next week go by like a breeze! (I should so do my own infomercials.)

5. Home Improvements: This can get expensive but a little at a time is all it takes. My newest project is the upstairs (the Empty World that is no longer filled with stuff) redoing both the guest room and turning the smaller room into a writing room/study. Now all of this is just cosmetic, paints, new shades, some new cheapy furniture, pictures on the walls (and my fav LOTR poster from college my little brother found for me at his house and saved it! Oh yeah some days he rocks.) I really really really want to get the upstairs carpeted but that is a bit too much right now so I'm think more along the lines of bound carpet sections and maybe some nice sticky tiles for those places the carpet won't cover.

4. TBR aka the To Be Read pile: I have a big one...a very big one...the entire shelf of a book case kind of TBR. And I love the stupid thing to death. Now for people who dont' like reading there is always the TBW (To Be Watched), the loveliness of Netflicks and Cast TV for shows, or even the insanity of Youtube. Viral videos are great time killers, no lie.

3. Time Sinks: This is anything that takes 0 brain power but consumes half of your day. Winter is great for these, especially if you are unfortunate to fall alseep at 5am (when it is still dark out) and wake up around 5 pm (when it is again dark out). Video games are great T/S. Games like Caesar and Pharaoh, Balder's Gate (PS2 version) and Kingdom Hearts (so sue me I'm a chick) really don't require thought so much as pressing random buttons in near random order. *This is opposed to Battle for Middle Earth which routinely proves to me why I am not a general of an army. Sauron should really just fire me and get it over with. Do you think he gives out pink slips or just fireballs you death? Hmm food for thought.)

2. Hobbies. It could be porno watching, cheering for your favorite sports club or World of Warcraft. Do something to get that adrenaline going. (It's healthy...except too much porn, I'm pretty sure if you pull a Quagmire it is not healthy.) Hockey, football, basketball, Ninja Warrior, there is something out there for everybody. You could even be daring and dual screen it with two games on, a raid and a game on (...not that I would ever not give my full attention to keeping my friends alive. Nope not me...), bring friends over to the game or go visit your friendly neighborhood bartender. Keep up those hobbies because they are the bread and butter of getting through a New Englad winter.

1. Peoples: Friends, family, random people you meet on the street. Historically the winter was the time when people are most likely to be alone (and if you read that article in Time about how loneliness is now experiementally being called a social illness as opposed to a singular persons mental state this kind of ties it I guess) locked away in their homes and villages trapped by mountains of snow. (For some reason writing that sentence made me think of David the Gnome. I miss that show.) Being sociable when you are digging your car out of a snow monster is hard but good for your soul. :) Trust me.

So that concludes my rant from the Gate of North.


Lies.

To Be Continued