Snow Day and the Social Butterfly

Happy Wednesday! 

WARNING: Due to the inclement weather, there will be plenty of pictures on this blog. Brace yourselves! 

Before I get into talking about snow, I would like to wish one of my best friends a happy birthday-- so, happy 18th birthday to my bro, Carson! Hope your day has been swell. 

June 2013 - Left to right: Carson, me, and Charlie
Photo by Matthew

How about that weather, Atlanta? It is no doubt cold and horrendous, but I am looking at it from a beautiful perspective. This is the first time I've experienced snow whilst downtown, and it has been incredible. It fell from about 11:00 a.m. yesterday through about 9:00 p.m. or so. It was quite a sight-- not only the snowfall itself, but the traffic! As I perused my Facebook feed last night, I came across some interesting links regarding this "snowpocalypse"... one article which compares the traffic in Atlanta to a sort of "Walking Dead" scenario (which couldn't be a more fitting description considering downtown is home to the first few episodes of the show; not to mention I'm a huge fan). The article can be found here. 

Yesterday, with the knowledge of the impending weather, class was still going on in the morning. I woke up at my usual Tuesday-Thursday time of 5:45 a.m. to get ready for my 8 a.m. American Government class. I dressed to stay warm and headed to class in the windy city. Like every cold morning, it wasn't the most pleasant walk, but I got a workout nonetheless. After my first class I proceed to English class, which was shortened because of the potential snow storm. I walked back to my dorm after it was over. As I got closer I noticed very little flurries and shook it off as just that-- a flurry. When I settled in, I began to start reading some material for my 2:30 class as I ate lunch. After about noon I received a text from my mother to let me know it was snowing where she worked. I asked if it was really snowing or if it was simply a flurry. 

It was snowing.

See the little flurries? Notice it sticking
on the bushes.

You know you're in Atlanta when...

I hadn't looked out the window in awhile, with blinds pulled down and all (though still open), so I got up to check and to my surprise the light flurry turned into a thicker flurry and was slowly accumulating. I got in touch with one of my high school friends who lives in my building and she came up to join me and to check out my view. 

When Nithya got to my room we were awestruck by the snow since it had been a few years since we last experienced a snowfall quite like this. Already there were some traffic backups present. We debated whether or not to go out in the courtyard for some snowball fighting or sledding. We met up with her room mate, Meera, and went outside. Later, another friend of ours from high school joined us. Edith tried sledding for the first time, but it wasn't very successful since others had been sledding where we were hoping to slide around. 

We got hungry and decided to walk to Pizza Hut just a block away to pick up a cheese pizza. 20 minutes later we were walking out with a warm box of pizza which smelled wonderful. During the whole trek back to the dorms, all I could think of was that one Spongebob episode where Spongebob had to deliver a Krusty Krab pizza whilst trekking on uncharted territory to deliver the pizza in an obscure town. Of course, I began to sing Spongebob's little song... 

"The Krusty Krab pizza, is the pizza, for you and...
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

We went back to Nithya and Meera's dorm to chow down on pizza and drink hot chocolate. 

Pizza Hut!

Afterward, we headed outside to brave the cold and to watch other residents attempt sledding. A group of guys in the courtyard filled a laundry basket of snowballs and ambushed the wannabe sledders and shredders. Luckily, none of us were hit by the strangers. 

The courtyard

Sledding!

Southern Snowman. Pretty pathetic, I know. 

Nithya, me, and Meera

Nithya, Meera, me, and Edith

We decided to go check out the other dorms nextdoor, which is where Edith recently moved. We spent a couple hours in her room listening to a variety of music and even got to watch her dance! Edith really knows how to groove! I tried to teach her a thing or two about swing dancing, but, it didn't go too well. Still, I exposed my friends to some Glenn Miller! 

After spending a few hours with Edith, we walked back to our dorms and spent a few hours in my room. There was supposed to be free pizza on every floor around 8 p.m. that night, but it kept getting delayed, so eventually we got tired of waiting and had breakfast for dinner at my place. We listened to music, laughed a lot, and I even taught them how to play Apples to Apples. Just wait 'til I break out the Cards Against Humanity game... 

Walking back to my place.

Being silly.

We stayed up until almost 2 a.m., because class was cancelled today and is cancelled for Thursday as well. 

Snowy day skyline - Atlanta, GA
Isn't my view just fabulous?

Today was another lazy day, but my friends and I still got out to brave the cold. I was up pretty early, despite my very late night, but it wasn't until 1:00 p.m. that Nithya, Meera, and I finally walked to Waffle House for lunch (which was originally supposed to be a brunch). It was a slippery walk, but we were able to walk on the street a good ways since it was such an apocalyptic void. The food was great and so was the service, as usual in my experiences at Waffle House. Kudos to our waitress, who'd been there since 8 a.m. yesterday. Needless to say, we tipped well. 

Good morning, Atlanta.

Walking to Waffle House.

Lunch time at Waffle House!

We bummed around for hours at Nithya's dorm, and hours flew by and we decided to venture out again. We walked all the way to Landmark Diner, where we enjoyed mozzarella sticks and cake. Yum. Need I say more?

Wrote my nickname in the snow.

Meera and Nithya enjoying tiramisu and chocolate cake.

We walked back to the dorms again one last time for the night and while I hit the books, presumably they did, too. It's been a great snow week and I am so glad I've been on my weekend since Tuesday, mid-day. 

Before I finish up this post, I figured I would take a step back and share a little about my weekend, pre-snowpocalypse. 

I went home Friday morning (January 24th) to finally take my driver's test! I will save all the details about the test, but I will say that it was as easy as my friends have made it out to be. I didn't believe it at first, but I was pretty calm when I took the test... and I passed! Later that evening I went to the pizza cafe with my brother to catch up and we had a really good conversation which isn't something that usually happens. Afterward, I drove us home and watched The Heat with my mother. It's a hysterical movie starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. My brother is a big Hangover series fan, and he admitted he enjoyed The Heat more than The Hangover: Part III. My mother dozed off about halfway through the  movie, but it was still an enjoyable night. The next day was spent running errands and taking my dog to the park before I went to a sitting job that evening.

No shame in taking selfies with Ruby!

I returned to campus Sunday afternoon and tried to get some homework done before class the next day. ASL is a blast (and a breeze right now, considering the background I have with it) and our class on Monday was very engaging. We're starting to work on WH-questions with each other. I've been signing a bit too fast for those with whom I've partnered up for group activities, but I'm trying to slow it down for those new to ASL. It is really great to be surrounded by 20 or more students wanting to learn such a beautiful language together. I'm loving it!

After class, I went to the counseling center (finally!) to meet with one of the counselors there. I went back in early December to see what I could do about getting some help in coping with depression. I'd dug myself pretty deep and was under a lot of stress and worry. When I met with my assigned counselor, she was impressed by my strength and asked where it was coming from. I had to think on that for a moment, because I've been strong for years up until last semester where my strength began to decline, but I suppose moving out and shifting my focus has helped build my strength up. But I answered her question with "my grandfather. I get my strength from him." Though he is passed, just the thought of him encourages me to go on, because if he were still physically here he would be motivating me. The counselor had a little trouble pinpointing exactly what help I was looking for, now that the notes she wrote the other day were few in comparison to the notes taken by the other counselor last month. Basically, I've requested grief counseling and possibly some group therapy so I can meet others who relate and are wanting to feel better, too.

Positive quote in the counseling center

Well, folks, I have updated the song of the week to Dean Martin's "Let it Snow." I say it's fitting, considering the weather. :-)

Until next time,

Kelsey