December 9

Right now is the first time I've been excited to blog in a week. For all intents and purposes, today was the first snow of the winter. What I mean by this is that today I woke up to so much snow and I got to appreciate it and enjoy it like I never have before. I woke up naturally at six o'clock this morning, and I can't describe to you how beautiful the view outside my window looked. It looks similar right now. Maybe it's the mist in the air, but the streetlights project very orange light. Everything - the sky, the ground, the snow - is all orange. Look how much orange is in this picture. I don't know why I find this so beautiful. Anyways, when I woke up for real, I put on a turtleneck and wool socks. And my new weatherproof-lace-up-black-rubber-boots-with-fur-at-the-top. And I was so warm and that was wonderful. And we trekked to the dining hall and I ate about a third of a giant waffle because, and it took me until today to realize this, giant waffles are way better in theory than in actuality. Then I played in the snow and sledded down a ten foot stretch of snowy grass even though I'm secretly afraid of sledding. And it felt so good to be outside and moving and everything was wet and cold and I was warm. And the snow woke me up and washed me down and set me free.

I just watched a movie called "Man on Wire." It's a documentary about a French man, Phillipe Petit, who tightrope walked between the Twin Towers. It was great and I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants a life wake up call. At the end of the movie, Phillipe says in his heavily-accented English, "I say live life like you are living on the edge of life." He lived like nearly no one has lived before. What am I doing to live on the edge of life? I do and see the same things every day. I am on the same path as everyone else. Sometimes, I don't even know what defines me from any other college student/ eighteen-year-old/ human. But the film gave me hope. Hope that there is so much living in front of me, and I am going to see and be part of all of it. One day, I am gonna grow wings. And so are you, whoever you are. Even if you're already like, old. You have so much life waiting for you and most likely, you're going to do what no one has ever been brave enough to attempt, ever.

Song of the day is "Breakin' the Law" by the New Pornographers. My room is ready for some kind of big holiday or something.