Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Blog virgin

I am about to lose my blog virginity. I'm nervous, fumbling, and don't know what to say. First times are always awkward. You build up exactly how it's all going to go, until you get there and you forget. So maybe I'll start off by explaining the title of my blog, "Sort of Silly". Well, first of all, it's sort of a silly title isn't it? It demeans my blog before you've even read it. But I've always thought that all blogs are sort of silly. Aren't they? People can just talk about nothing and feel important because they pretend to themselves that someone's listening. It sounds sort of silly to me. My blog will, most likely, be about sort of silly things (I have a few ideas), because I'd like to write about whatever comes to mind, which is the point of blogs, no? But I titled my blog as such mainly because I'd like to write about life in general, and, I think, life is just sort of silly.

How about a real post then?

Snow.

There are very few things I actually enjoy about snow. Unfortunately, living where I do, there is a lot of it, and unfortunately, living where I do, it tends to come all within a very short period of time. Hence, today, there is suddenly a lot of snow. However, I have decided that this year I will try to go into winter with a more positive outlook on snow. Instead of focusing on the horrible aspects of snow, I will focus on the almost-good aspects of snow. In the end, it'll only get worse as winter goes on. Here are a few things I noticed that I actually enjoy about the snow.

1. The quiet
For some reason (there certainly is one, I just don't know which), the snow seems to silence all the noise in the city. Not entirely, of course, but it makes quite a difference, which is quite calming. It dims the sound of far or loud noises, but enhances the closer, quieter ones, bringing you more "in the moment". Now, instead of focusing on the enormous effort involved in walking to the bus stop, the lack of buses running, the increase in time spent outside freezing while I wait for the bus, the decrease in speed of such buses, and my increase in tardiness, I shall focus on the muffled squeaking of my footsteps in the snow.

2. The glitter
While freezing and trying to walk up the hill (when I remembered how with every step one takes, one slips half a step back down the hill) from the metro (which was broken for a "periode indéterminée", no doubt because of the sudden increase in people taking the metro since the buses weren't running) I noticed that the ground was covered in glitter. It was surprisingly distracting from everything dislikable about my then-current situation.

3. The wonderland
I never really understood why everyone always thought that so much snow on houses and streets was so pretty, until I noticed that the snow masked the roughness of my neighbourhood. Suddenly, all those tough, quasi-gangster-looking faces were covered up by scarves, hats, and hoods, not to mention bright red, which does make everyone's, even the scariest faces, looked a little more adorable. The snow covered up, unfortunately for the environment, all the rubbish that missed the bins, all the spit and cigarette butts, and the dog shit (thankfully there was enough snow to not make its being hidden a bad thing). Even the sketchy looking, slightly more run-down apartments were covered in a cosy white blanket. And those men who like to sit on the corner of the pavement and smoke pot while shirtless, well, can't.



I'm sure there will be other things that will distract me from everything I hate about the snow, and probably these three things will wear off, but as long as I don't let my moods about the weather resemble the weather, winter might go by a little faster.