Yesterday I thought that February was having its last revenge. (February, a terrible month in general, went pretty terribly for me. Hence the lack of updates. I had little inclination to do much of anything, including document my own wild and unpredictable mood swings. Damn lack of light.) There was snow on the horizon, and as I drove home from work in the gathering storm, I was rear-ended. Not badly--more of an irritating thump on the back bumper than anything to worry about--but still enough to make me think, yes, I am glad this month is ending.
March is making an interesting entrance. That storm made good on its threats, and I woke to more than 10 cm of snow. Phoned in late for work before I'd even gone out the door, then spent the next two hours trying to dig my car out and get away from the apartment. Never did manage to make it up the crazy lane to the road. There was much slipping, sliding, and one fun quarter of an hour in which I got stuck on an ice patch and was unable to move. Good times were then had by all when I discovered that my car seemed to be leaking a bright yellow-green fluid--antifreeze, it was decided, as my windshield washer fluid is purple at the moment. (Antifreeze being one of the vehicular fluids that I deemed a "death fluid" when learning to drive--a fluid that can lead to the death of the car if leaking or absent while driving.)
Needless to say, this combination of factors--crazy snow, my inability to reach the road and the leaking antifreeze--not to mention the fact that it'd be at least another two hours before I would arrive at work if I took the TTC, meant that I stayed home today. Did some work from home, too; I'm ever so productive. And my brother came by to discover the source of the leaking antifreeze so that I can get to work bright and early tomorrow morning. My brother's a good guy. I may be hard on him sometimes, and perhaps tease him more than he deserves, but that's just because he's my brother. Some things are expected.
Despite all that, today's been a good day. As I've said to a few people in the past couple of days, I'm starting to feel human again. I've been sitting in front of windows whenever I can, absorbing light for all I'm worth. (Reading Robin McKinley's Sunshine, I thought, yes, yes, that's exactly it! I need my sunlight.)
Also, Tia, my ailing puppy, has been doing better recently--especially for a dog with terminal lymphoma. Having missed being put to sleep only by grace of an ice storm, she has now gone into a partial remission, it is theorized, and this (as well as the grooming that has removed the huge and heavy piles of fur from her tiny, bloated body) has made her significantly happier. As long as she's happy.
And I keep pushing forward on the *%&@ bagpipe story. Add a little, delete a lot, add some more, rewrite and delete most of it ... and so it goes. But there is progress! I now have one full scene of over 2000 words that I do not hate and do not plan on deleting. At this rate I may just have a readable story by the time I hit the May deadline. And, like winter, I think I'll be happiest when it's finally finished.
