"Romanticism"

Today was the first "snow day" at Notre Dame in over 10 years.  The University has brain-washed it's students into believing that school will never close because of the weather.  So I must say that I have lived through a rare event: a Notre Dame "snow day." 
It wasn't just any old winter day in South Bend either.  True there was snow on the ground and most places it was higher than my knees, but it was sunny outside.  There was no (seemingly never ending) cloud cover that prevented the Vitamin D from hitting my skin, entering my body, controlling the calcium absorption in my intestines and keeping my bones strong and unbreakable.
It turned out to be a beautiful day: sunny, snow-white, restful, and fun.

Now it is the evening and it has started snowing.  It isn't the blizzard conditions that we had last night but, instead, it is beautiful snow falling slowly in large flakes that stick to my nose and eyelashes.

This brings me to a comforting thought: romance and love.

My Calculus TA, Yen-Chang Huang, took the first 20 minutes of our first class to tell us his life story.  He told us where he is from: Taiwan. 
He told us how many years he has been a graduate student at ND: 5. 
He told us what he was studying in Mathematics: i dont remember. 
And he told us why he came from the tropical climate of his home to the cold tundra-like climate of South Bend, Indiana: he thinks thought that snow was romantic.

He got this idea from the movies that he watched back home in Taiwan.  He described a scene from a movie that he watched to us that developed this ideology.

The description went something like this:
"Sow u know win da man and da woman are outside in da end a da movie, riiiight? riiiiiiight?"
"Weeell, u know win day kiss da snow starts falling and ahhh u know its soo romantic!"

Yes, it is true that winter and snow bring out a romantic feeling in most people.  But, there is also the  frustrated/mad/upset feeling that blizzard weather brings which counter acts any good feeling that the winter once gave you.

I have experienced both of these feelings in the past 24 hours.  Walking back to my dorm last night in a windy snowy storm (that some call blizzards) and trudging through the ever-increasing deep snow gave me an upset feeling for a few moments.  However, that was soon quashed by a good feeling of accomplishment - that I was conquering a bone-chilling, frost-biting storm.  But, this evening, I saw a beautiful, calm, still snowfall.  A snowfall that one would associate with a romantic scene.

It gets me thinking about romance and love.  A fun thought to entertain. 
It is something that is, easily, within my reach.

After all this is Notre Dame.  Anyone can find Our Lady.  Now all I have to do is find "my lady."  Which will be harder since she won't be gilded in gold or on top of a golden dome.

But, as of now, Our Lady is on top of a dome that looks more white than golden...

Happy Snowpocalypse everyone!

Seven degrees

I woke up and found myself checking the temperature outside.  When it turned out to be seven, I put on my t-shirt, sweater, and jacket and headed outside towards my Organic Chemistry class.  It was only snowing slightly this morning.  So not a big deal right?  Wrong.

It didn't stop snowing.  It just kept on snowing and snowing and snowing.  It started to get heavier as the day went on.  More and more snow is covering the quads.  More and more snow is covering the parked bicycles.  More and more snow is sticking to the golden dome.

Well it is now what the Texan in me calls the "heat of the day" and it had warmed up a decent amount...

if you call two degrees decent.

We still haven't hit the double digits today and supposedly tonight isn't going to be any better.  The meteorologists have predicted that we shall reach negative ten degrees with a wind chill of negative eighteen.

Hello winter.

Breathing in the Winter

Sorry folks.  It has been quite a while since I have blogged because I have been rehearsing/performing a fantastic play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and partying with the cool cats from the cast.

But a lot has happened since I last typed to y'all so here it goes...

I am currently suffering from show withdrawal but at the same time I am excited to have time to do things like study, sleep, and play floor hockey again.
I have joined my dorm ice hockey team and we have our first practice this week.
I have watched the greatest movie ever made - Citizen Kane -
and the worst movie ever made - The Room -
(I STRONGLY SUGGEST WATCHING BOTH OF THEM IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO)
I made some amazing theater friends.
I found my inner Hamlet and had incredibly insane and angsty moments on stage.
I walked around campus at 4:30 am (twice in one weekend)
I caught a snowflake on my tongue.
I shook off the snow on my jacket by dancing.
I made some snowballs.
I jumped off of random things and fell into the snow.
I was told to "Just wait for an actual snowfall..." by a Chicagoite ??
I danced like a fool.
I had a strawberry milkshake at Steak n' Shake.
I had a hot fudge sundae at IHOP.
I fought imaginary pirates with a plastic sword.
I gave orders to have the English King execute Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
I murdered Polonius.

I did lots of other things too but there is one thing in particular I would like to focus on.

Breathing

It is only in the winter when you can see your breath. 

Your breath has moisture in it. When you exhale into very cold outdoor air, the moisture-laden atmosphere from your lungs becomes chilled to the point where the water condenses into a fog. 

It looks like a a small cloud is formed from your mouth or nostrils.

It kind of reminds me of the "breath of life" God gave to Adam.

I associate certain emotions with seeing your breath like relaxation, happiness, love, comfort.

We all need to breathe, it gives our blood oxygen and is circulated to all parts of our body so our cells can make energy.  It is necessary for life.  Just like love, happiness, comfort, relaxation.

Look even David Blaine needs to breathe...