No Sledding, No Snowsuit

This is one of the sweetest things I've heard in a while:
"We're hoping for 365 days off from school," 9-year-old Reagan Manz told The Associated Press. "We could go sledding the whole time and not get bored."

When I was younger and it had snowed overnight, the first thing my brother and I would do upon waking up was pull on our snowsuits and run outside. Yesterday, as I stayed inside cleaning out a closet, staring hopefully at the pregnant cat, and doing four loads of laundry, I thought about how much has changed. When you're a kid and you wake up and there's snow on the ground, you're going out. There are no questions about that. There are forts to build and defend, and hills to go cascading down with your friends (or Mom, if the hill is really steep).

I wanted to go out and play yesterday, to wrestle with Mike in the snow, or at least to walk around. Even though I still think snow is beautiful, as an adult, it's more of a pain than a joy. Cleaning off the car or being confined to the house when there are things that need to be done. I wonder how many people have children just so they can relive the awe and excitement of things like snowfall, summer, Halloween and Christmas.

Real snow this time.

To follow the Tom-Spot's lead, here also is the view from my window on this snowy Sunday.



I guess this qualifies as a blizzard. At least, that's what they're saying. It's hard to tell a blizzard in the city, where the streets always remain relatively clear and the power never goes out. This can't be compared to the blizzards I remember from home. The Blizzard of '92, for instance, when the power was out for four days, when we were heatless and cooking soup on a camp stove. In the city right now, there's nothing stopping me from taking a stroll to CVS for a pint of ice cream.

Our Mock Blizzard

It's still snowing in Boston Common -- and nowhere else. Now there is enough to drift and ripple in the wind. The sidewalk had to be plowed. I still don't know why this is being done, but it makes me happy. To create a fake snowstorm seems so decadent, so almost arrogant -- such a huge production, one that is taking days and how many dollars, just for the sake of something as trivial as snow. "We cannot wait," shout the snowmakers, "we want snow now!" I love it. It's almost as pompously human as the skyscrapers overlooking the Common. It's our new spectacle, this mock blizzard.

Although now the zamboni, once so adored, circles the Common skating rink, old news, forgotten.

Ken Hopes Makeover Will Win Back Barbie

After 43 years of dating, Barbie and Ken decided that they needed some time apart. They just didn't have any shared interests anymore. Now, two years after the split, Ken is hoping to reconcile. He's hoping that his new leather jacket and more relaxed, hip appearance will win back Barbie. Plus, he's been to the gym. And the hair salon. He feels good, he feels confident; Barbie's not gonna know what hit her.

Although it was fun to read about Ken's makeover, the best part was seeing this montage of the evolution of Ken's style. Ken 2000 looks like he belongs in The Birdcage movie, 1990's Ken looks like a European gigolo, and 1970's Ken looks like he's gonna pimp some bitches, snort some coke and then get on the dance floor to disco like Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

I don't know if it's nostalgia speaking, but 1980's Ken is the best catch as far as I'm concerned. He's unassuming, a little vacant, but he seems sincere. Like a big dog that follows you around and loves you unconditionally. Plus, he seems to have avoided the major fashion pitfalls of his era. Barbie should have separated from him as soon as the 90's hit. 1980's Ken is the Ken I know, who waved to Barbie from the passenger seat of her pink corvette (he was down with feminism and always let her drive). Not that the new Ken isn't hot. He's more my type, in fact, but it seems like he's trying too hard.

Good for him though. And good luck.

As if Boston didn't have enough snow already...

They were making it on the Common today. I don't know why. By evening when I was walking home, the whole area from the hill to Charles Street was covered. These cannons, sounding like jet engines, blasted mist that came down as snow. There's always something going on in the city.

What I Love About Comics

There's a huge cross-over going on, involving all of the hundreds of characters in DC's arsenal, organized over the past three years to include and intertwine through nearly every comic book DC publishes, in which 20 years of continuity are rolling back to make the past known to dozens of characters via one tremendous universe-splitting reverse-mindwipe... and one character, observing all this, comments:

"It's all mega-scientifically sound. And quite the show. I wish I had some chocolate."