It snowed last night, and the idea of going to school was greatly considered. It's not me, you know, but all the (other) assholes out there behind the wheel of a vehicle. I'm fine in the snow, but I can't trust anyone else.

So when the snow fall let up, and I realized that my classes weren't going to be cancelled, I bravely set forth with only one small pit stop (to drop $75 at Staples for school supplies) before making my way across the treacherous bridge to the land of hills and the school with the coldest greenhouse/atrium on the planet.

The drive was fairly harrowing considering that the bridge is so old and pothole-ridden that it doesn't matter what kinds of driving skills you have...you're still taking a great risk. The lanes are narrow, and if you get stuck next to a truck, there is the distressing feeling that you might get pushed into the oncoming traffic. Thank god the government had the foresight to install flexible orange pilons to separate the lanes of traffic. I feel so much safer than if they put in something much more permanent. And the bridge deck itself has blossomed with new and exciting potholes, so many that to avoid them would be to, once again, face your mortality in the headlights of the oncoming rush. So you weave your way through the potholes, past the trucks, to the safety of the other side. And then what?

Today, as it had snowed, I wasn't quite out of the danger once I got to the other side. No. I still had to park up the hill from the school, and navigate/slide my way down the slushy sidewalk. The trick is to retain just enough control so that you don't hurl into the traffic of Royal Avenue, even though there is a sidewalk and pedestrians technically have the right-of-way. Technicalities don't count if you're stuck to someone's bumper. But I managed to stop before I got squished, so good for me. I talked to the poor black lab dog which was sniffing the corner to find a good pee spot. Apparently it's person cares enough to tie a bandana around it's neck (is that a sign of caring or is that a sign of doggy abuse?), but not enough to actually watch the dog to make sure that it doesn't wander into traffic. I'm sure that the dog is well-trained, but no amount of training is going to prevent a dog from chasing a squirrel. And to me, it's just not a chance that I'm willing to take. Call me cold, but I prefer to keep an eye on my dog and not to humiliate it by tying some random scrap of cloth around its neck. Sure, we'll wear matching yellow rain-slickers, but that just makes sense.

So by the time I got to the front door of school, I guess that I was pretty happy. I ran into a classmate who is usually outside having a smoke break. We exchanged "good mornings", and he noted that I was in a good mood. He then went on to say how I hadn't been in a bad mood lately, and I thought "Really? Me?", because I can't think of any reason why I'd be in a bad mood. Sure, school is busy, but it's busy for everyone, so why should I let it bother me more than it's bothering other people? His observation confused me because, if anyone would be struggling and in a bad mood, it would be him. But no, he was checking in on me, and that made me feel weird. We joked it off, but as I walked away, I thought to myself "I should have asked him how he's doing. That would have been the decent thing to do." But I can't, and I didn't. Anyhow, I guess that I was happy because I made it to the front door unscathed, which, to me, is always something to be happy about.