In need of rations

Have you seen the outside?! Snow accumulation in early December, that doesn't happen here!

This winter has me thinking about the past; about where I've been and where I am now. This time last year was a cold time for myself, both figuratively and literally. I make the following statements with some trepidation & with the risk of sounding overly dramatic, but it really provides an accurate summation of how I was feeling that the time. My spirit was broken, as was my central heating. I had really never experienced such a cold winter in my life, it being the first I had really spent sans the comfort or structure of a familial or academic institution. Without delving into too much detail, I can say there was a significant feeling of malaise in both my personal and "professional" life. Some nights I would wake up in my apartment and sit upright in my bed, and it would be so cold I could see my breath. I may have been more upset about the situation had not the state of my apartment been such a strikingly accurate allegory of my life at large at the time.

Fast forward a year. Events in my life are definitely trending in a more sanguine direction. I have a "good" job that is nice and "steady". I've been engaging in "healthier" relationships. But I still maintain a "cynical as best" mindset. Call it a defense mechanism I guess. The winter is still young. Maybe in a year I can write about how this was my warmest winter on record.

I would love to elaborate more, but my brain cells are currently ensconced within 6 tallboys worth of Rainier beerz.

So a goodnight I bid to you, fair reader...