Snow.

Dear Mama,
Today was absolutely magical.
It snowed.
I'm not talking little drizzle from the sky that halfway froze on the way down, I'm talking... at least 5 inches in only a few hours.
Classes were cancelled after four o'clock this afternoon.
On Wednesdays I only have chapel and one class at 1:45. My professor had gone ahead and cancelled class in expectation of the snow today, so after chapel, I was free!

As The Ap's and I were walking to chapel, I could feel my silver hoop earrings begin to freeze in my ears. It was very uncomfortable. The Ap's was actually complaining about the cold more than I! And she is from the Land of Snow! That's when I knew for sure this cold was really cold. It was serious. And I was free to complain without being teased for being a thin-skinned Southerner.

The Ap's and I walked in the Great Golfball and sat down. Bow-tie came to sit with us. He is one of The Ap's many admirers. Sadly for him, he ended up sitting next to me instead of her. So, he took to pestering me through chapel. I did not appreciate this. Now, granted, it was probably the most boring chapel of all time. Honestly, just looking around at the 13,000 faces I was surrounded by, they all looked like they were having the life sucked from their very souls. Just to make sure it wasn't only me, I whispered to The Ap's, "Is it just me, or does everyone look bored our of their minds?" "Yeah" she said, "They all look pretty miserable."

It turned around in the last 4 minutes of the message! The last four minutes were worth the half of an hour sitting there wondering where he was going with this entire thing, and why in the world he kept repeating his clichés. Well, maybe it didn't completely change my opinion of the message, I mean, if it had I certainly wouldn't have written the previous paragraph! So... Make of that what you will.

Anyway, after chapel, The Ap's and I went with a couple friends to get subs for lunch. I got a footlong, ate half of it, and saved the other half for dinner. (Yeah, I'm practical like that). After lunch, I got back to the  dorm and spent the day studying and taking a couple online quizzes. (I got 100% on all of them!) (...just to sound braggy and self-centered...)
I got an email saying that classes tomorrow are cancelled, and... I'm so excited to not have class tomorrow!

I looked up the requirements for my trip home, what I can and cannot bring, all that good stuff.

Around 5:00 The Ap's left the room to grab dinner, then Mountain-Side was picking her up for a small gathering of people from swing dancing at his house. And I wasn't just being lame and refusing to go! He'd only invited a few people, and with the exception of Bow-tie, all those people went... (yeah. you're a smart one! Like how I made you figure that out on your own?)
The Ap's was really excited to go. She left the room all cute and pink for Valentine's day, and the Other and I just sat in the room like, "Well.... guess we should go back to headphones and homework."
We went on doing our own thing, until The Other left, saying she'd be back at curfew.

And with that
I was alone.
Ahh....
Alone in a dorm room is a beautiful thing.

I was done with homework.
So, do you know what that meant? No homework, no roommates, chilly day with snow falling outside?
That's right.
Disney movies with the volume up as loud as I want!

(Okay, stop judging. Sometimes, it's frustrating to always have to wear headphones. It's relieving to be free to use my computer speakers. Also, there are times that I have a moment where I want some innocent entertainment. Today was one of those days. I just wanted to watch something I'd seen when I was little. It makes me happy every now and then.)

(*Real time interruption* The Other and The Ap's just came in. The Ap's is glowing from her evening with Mountain-Side and her friends from swing. The Other is telling me how she was afraid she was going to be late. They are both about 3 minutes late for curfew, but the RA hadn't come in yet, so they were fine... Guess it's time to put the headphones back in and listen to more Boyce Avenue while I finish this up!.... Nope. The Ap's is telling me more about her night. So never mind about the music. I'll be back in a minute.)

(okay, I'm back.)

After my movie ended, I heard loud cheering from outside.
I look out my window, and there is a huge group of people in a circle.
Then I saw how many other people were outside! There were so many! Everyone was running, and playing, it looked like a lot of fun!
I decided I would join.
I got bundled up, and went out.

It's funny... snow makes everyone instant friends. I've been here for over a semester, and I had more people randomly start talking to me tonight than I ever had before!

Immediately upon walking outside, a girl grabbed me, told me to watch, and then said, "No, do it with me!" and proceeded to belly-side down the snow. (We were on a hill. If that helps it to make a bit more sense.)
Of course, I did it. I thought she and I knew each other but because I could only see her eyes, I didn't recognize her.
Turned out that she had no clue who I was.
I ended up being in this random group of 6 or so girls through most of the night. We introduced ourselves, and from there it was really easy to laugh, dance to the music that was playing over the speakers, throw snowballs, etc.
After a while, they went inside, and I went over to the group of yelling people.
Evidently a snowball fight had morphed into a wrestling match. Two people would be in the center, a ref would tell them when to start, and they would wrestle until one person could pin another; then those two would switch out for two other people.
The circle surrounding the wrestlers was about 4 or 5 layers of people thick. I couldn't see anything. It was like being in a comedy, where the main character is trying desperately to see something, and instead they only see the backs of other people's heads, and watch everyone go up and down to the "OHHH!!!"s of excitement.
I finally found an opening... right as it broke up into a snowball fight again.
Like I said... it was akin to a comedy.

Altogether, I had a good time.
My hair froze, which made people stop me and ask if I was really cold. I actually wasn't! My hair just was frozen, as were my eyelashes. Several girls stopped me and told me I looked "Beautiful, like an ice princess or something!".
I wasn't completely sure what to say to them, because my two pairs of sweatpants and gigantic hoddie didn't really seem to be screaming princess of anything when I left the dorm. Maybe upon stepping outside, I'd magically morphed into one of those ridiculously pretty girls from the movies!
After a carful mental debate, I decided I had morphed. That was more logical than the possibility that I looked so strange they felt they had to say something, right?

Eventually I came back inside because my two pairs of gloves just weren't enough anymore. I hung up my wet things over a towel (yeah, you taught me good) and changed into something warm and comfortable.

So now I am here on my bed under my blankets.
I am warm.
I am happy.
I'm a little hungry
so I'm gonna make half a peanut butter sandwich.

I love you,

Me

Scary.

Dear Mama,
Tonight, the Ap's and I went to Open Mic (... basically anyone on campus who thinks they can sing is allowed to sign up and sing or recite poetry. Some of them are correct in their assumptions of their abilities. Some, on the other hand, are poorly mistaken.) It was pretty good! Although, the volume was turned up so loud that you couldn't always understand what the people were saying. But, all in all, it was very enjoyable!
Soon enough, I got hungry. I do that, you know.
The Ap's had already eaten, but she still stood in line with me because she's a lovely human being. The Open Mic ended, and we danced in place to the next few songs the leaders of the Open Mic played while they took down the set. The guys behind us look ridiculously melancholy, and I wanted very badly to ask why, but not badly enough to carry on a conversation afterward, so I left them alone.
I got my six inch sub, and the Ap's and I made an agreement: She would hang out while I ate if I would walk back to the dorm with her (rather than us riding on the bus.)
I was not pleased, but I knew she really just wanted to walk back and she wanted me to come too.
So, I agreed.
and I ate.
and then we left...
into the cold night.

I was not really dressed for this chilly adventure from one end of campus to the other, but I tried to not think about it. we passed a few people, and I could see their breath. The Ap's offered to take the bus, but I knew she really, really wanted to walk, so I said something overly dramatic about how I had made a decision and I was sticking to it, and we continued through to the abandoned football stadium.
Now, it got to that point in conversation where the obvious had to be stated: if I were home, dad would pop out of that bush wearing a gorilla mask.
It was just the truth!
It was dark, freezing, and uncomfortable. It would be the moment dad would choose to scare the living daylights out of me.
We discussed this, you know, what we would do and so forth.
Then... that silence fell
You know the one.
You make light of something you're legitimately fearful of, and afterward you are both too busy playing these scenarios in your head to actually speak? Yeah. That silence.
It was so... so so quiet....
And then, like it was playing out from my mind, some man ran from the shadows and grabbed April!
THERE WAS A MAN
RUNNING
GRABBING APRIL
She screamed
I screamed
WE WERE GOING TO DIE!!

She and I jumped away, hugged ourselves, and tried to make sense of it all...
Then I realized... he didn't really grab her.
It turned out he didn't even touch her. We scared him about as much as he scared us!
He and his friend were jogging, and they just happened to be really quiet runners who didn't have the decency to not run so close to us we could touch them.
I leaned up against the wall of the football stadium and experienced a moment where I just needed to remember how to breathe.
We got up, and continued to walk.
We started to laugh... and we kept laughing, we kept laughing until *POW!!!*
And we jumped.
Who in the world fires off a firework at 10:00pm for no apparent reason?
I looked at the Ap's and said, "You know, Satan just wants me to have a heart attack and die tonight."
She agreed that it was a plausible reason for the past events.
We continued to walk, because our campus is ridiculously long, and we saw the darker part of the walkway, out in front of the Giant Golfball. It has a few street lights, but it's just... darker than the rest of campus, and I never like walking through there at night. I have a very active mind, especially at night, and there is rarely a time I go out in the dark when I don't have scenarios running through my mind about how I will protect myself from a man lurking in the bushes.
But, the Ap's and I had eased up. We're talking freely about... something. I started to complain about how cold my fingers were, we sang a song in harmony, I started to trip and caught myself, you know, the usual stuff.
We begin to go through the dark part, and as another girl came my way I think to myself, "You know, this is an irrational fear."
Mid-thought, I'm surrounded.
Completely surrounded by the sound of men screaming at me.
Just screaming.
they're all around
I can't see them, but they're everywhere!
April and I both scream, as does the girl coming toward us. We all slightly huddle against the fence and wait for it to end.
It felt longer than it really was
Then I realized... it was the Idiots.

The Idiots drive around really fast at night, and whenever they see a girl on the sidewalk they full-on yell. The car is always packed, so it sounds like there is an angry mob after you or something equally traumatizing. The Idiots have attacked me once before, and April, twice. These guys just load up, and drive around yelling at people for kicks...
As they sped off, I yelled, "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT?!" (because I manage anger in a healthy way.)
I was not happy.
The other girl started to laugh a little, and April and I did a bit too, but we were both kind of uneasy.
We continued to walk, and... something I haven't shared with you up to this point is this:
I really had to tinkle.
That's not a good thing when people are scaring you, because that desire does not leave. It just stays. Makes itself known. For all of eternity.
So, we finally reach our building, and I'm trying to act all cool while The Ap's messes with her PassCard. I can feel my eyes bulging. I needed to get inside. Bad.
Finally, she opened the door, I raced up the stairs, into those nasty public restrooms, and slam the stall door behind me.
Then I had a horrible realization
My fingers were so frozen I couldn't unbutton.
I tried multiple times but I couldn't get my fingers to work!
I'm standing there, realizing I am trapped.
I cannot be free.
The night took more than my sanity, it took the function of my fingers.

That's when it got religious.
I prayed.
"God. Please. Help me. Please, please, please God help me."
You would have thought I was a martyr asking God to give me strength in the face of persecution.

Thankfully, there are no limits on the drama level of our prayers, because... He heard mine.

And that is my story for today.

-Me