1. Puddles on the sidewalks, made conscious for me primarily by the fact that the sole of my right shoe is cracked and thus soaked my right sock for much of the day.
2. Faculty, staff, and students in the Writing Program huddled around the radio in the main office today, living and dying with each shot in today's overtime thriller.
3. The ghost town that the SU campus becomes, two full days before spring break actually begins (one colleague reported 5 of 20 students showing up for a noon-ish class).
4. Sinus headaches that ebb and flow with the earth's tides, signalling a change in local atmospheric pressure (could be worse--I used to get 4-day nosebleeds).
and most relevantly,
5. Difficulty sleeping, as opening the window is no longer sufficient to counteract the unadjustable, 80 degree steam heat that literally toasts me (to the delight of moisturizer manufacturers) every winter.
I will never be more thankful for spring than I will be this year. Mild winter or no, I HATE the wintertime! I handled my first one with daily whining, a few tears, and many invented curse words.
What's that I hear...?
Could it be a mournful dirge coming from the tiniest blog violin in the world?
I believe that it's a mini violin, Sir Smartypants! :)