Snow storms, ice storms, & earthquakes-- oh my!

Hello, everyone! 

Happy Sunday! To my Walking Dead fans out there-- what did you think about the return of Season 4 last week? It was something else, I must say. Very suspenseful, and surprisingly a bit comedic. I am looking forward to watching the show every Sunday with a couple of friends here on campus. 

Not only am I looking forward to evenings of zombies, but I am also looking forward to going to church next Sunday! Today, my friend Andrew whom I've known since high school (also attends my college) invited me to check out a nearby Presbyterian church with him, since he knew I attended one back home. I agreed to go and at 10:30 this morning we walked over to the church. Next week will mark its 156th year! It's been restored over the years and it is quite lovely. It has a balcony in the sanctuary which wraps around the wall. The pews face inward to the center of the pulpit. Suspended from the ceiling was apparently a new addition to the sanctuary-- 3000 origami cranes strung on several threads! Everyone there was so welcoming and the service was short but enlightening. During the sermon, the preacher added a personal anecdote, reflecting on the barn dances we have at Montreat (yes, indeed, he did bring up Montreat!). The overall concept of this service was synergy (by definition is the interaction between two or more organizations to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects) and he finished with the remark about Montreat and how, at the barn dance, it doesn't matter your age, gender, sexuality, nor race-- everyone is there dancing together to have a good time and to celebrate their faith. Needless to say, I'll be going back to the church each Sunday if I'm on campus and not at home. 

Origami cranes hanging from the ceiling

How did everyone do in Georgia's second snowpocalypse? I feel we were better prepared this time around. Classes were cancelled a day in advance, though during the first day of snowpocalypse, Atlantans received rain instead of snow. It was a good day for me, though, being able to catch up on homework. The second day, the snow fell, and the third day it iced over a bit, making the land one slippery place to trek. The weather warmed up by the third day, though. The sun was out and began to slowly melt away the remnants of the snow. I decided to check out the city, in hopes of going to the top of the Westin or the Hilton to get a different photo overlooking the snowy city. 

Early morning - snow!

Daytime

Freedom Parkway

ICE

MORE ICE

Obligatory "I'm about to freeze
my butt off" selfie.

When I got to the Hilton, I bought a frappucino before attempting to go up the elevator. I'm not much of a coffee person, but I had a sweet tooth and the Starbucks was all out of hot cocoa syrup! When I reached the elevator, it arrived, and I boarded. Much to my dismay, it asked for a hotel card to use the elevator. Instead of waiting around for a hotel guest to board the elevator, I went to the enclosed bridge which connected the Hilton to the Marriott and walked across it. I wound up cutting through a business conference! I went up the escalators to find my way to the Hyatt, but opted out of going into the Hyatt and instead wandered on down the street. I found myself outside of the Hard Rock Cafe, just a block away from the Westin. I passed by Hooters and the Ritz Carlton. Workers were either salting or shoveling the sidewalks. I decided to walk in the direction of the Tabernacle, and though I didn't pass by it, from a distance I took a photo of the Tabernacle with Skyview Atlanta in the background. I decided not to walk all the way to Centennial Olympic Park, but instead I went to the Westin. 

Look at that beautiful blue sky.

Empty restaurant at Peachtree Center

The Tabernacle and SkyView Atlanta

Can't remember which building this is... but it's cool.

Selfie at Hard Rock Cafe

The Westin

View from bridge between Hilton
and Marriott

Nothing unusual
here, just freezing.

I was wearing my Panic! at the Disco hat from last week's concert, and the bellhop immediately commented on it. "Yes, I was one of the many hundred out on Luckie  Street the other night." We had a conversation about what went down, and the bellhop shared a story of his experience at the Tabernacle a few years ago. After our conversation ended, I asked where to go in order to ride the elevator to the top of the Westin. When I got to the 5th floor, one of the hotel clerks said it was closed because of the inclement weather. Disappointed in not being able to capture the snow-covered city from above, I trekked back to my place. I considered taking the subway to get to Oakland Cemetery, but opted out of the slippery walk to the station. 

Wrote my name in the snow, again.

Across from the Ritz-Carlton

Auburn Avenue?

One of my favorite shots taken with my DSLR rather
than with my phone.

So artsy.

For Singles' Awareness Day-- err-- Valentine's Day-- I went home because I took on a babysitting job for my friend's sister. We had a good time eating pizza and chocolate cake together. Later that evening, I didn't feel it, but my mother and thousands of other Georgians did-- an earthquake! Evidently, in South Carolina they had an earthquake which was a 4.1-4.4 on the Richter scale. It's been about 10 years since our last little quake, and I didn't feel that one either. Relieved it wasn't any worse! To learn more about it, click here.

Just a mockery of how we react to "disasters"
Hey, safety first!

I'm just throwing this out there-- I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. I see it as just another highly commercialized holiday and a force driving us to remind us to express love for those in our lives. We do not need one day out of the year where we actually remember to tell friends and family that we love them. Instead, do it frequently (every day is more ideal). As for gift-giving, be spontaneous. Some of us expect too much on Valentine's Day. Me? I anticipate chocolate, but I don't expect it. Now, I don't mind getting extra chocolate for 'free' another day out of the year, but I don't need it. I just wanted to say I love my family and friends, every day of the year. By being spontaneous, I mean surprise your spouse with some roses on an unexpected day. Hand your best friend a chocolate when they aren't expecting it. Don't wait until February 14th to make them feel special or to make their day. 

My Valentine :-) love my pup!

I don't have much else to say about my weekend other than that I am looking forward to a better week from here on out as the last two have been a bit of a challenge in various ways. I'm going to start hitting the gym this week (finally!) so I can start strengthening my muscles for skating again. I plan to go to the rink a couple times a month, or more as my schedule allows. 

Hope you enjoyed the photography!

Until next time, 

Kelsey


P.S. I have updated the song of the week to Muse's "Apocalypse Please." Very fitting, I would say. :-)

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