How I Spend My Snow Day

I'm always of two minds when it comes to inclement weather. On the one hand, I love working within a school system that has a tendency to shut down whenever the sky threatens to release frozen precipitation. On the other hand, I don't get paid if there's no school. If I was the kind of person who looked at life through long-term lenses, I'd probably spend a lot of time worrying about what's gonna happen when my paycheck comes after missing a number of snow days. But that's not who I am. I've come to embrace the present and enjoy the day off for what it is. I'll deal with the ramifications of a decreased payday when it comes next month.

Today is one of those days. Floyd County (or FloCo, as my friend Sarah describes it) got dumped on yesterday evening. I received a picture message from one of the teachers with whom I work around 5:30. It was an image of her back deck. There was roughly half an inch of snow covering the grill. Just before 7, she sent another message saying it was really coming down hard. Big flakes. The accompanying picture showed about an inch on the grill. Not long after that, she claimed her family was going sledding.

I was a little jealous. See, while I work in FloCo, I live in Blacksburg. Blacksburg got nothing. The kids in my neighborhood? They're all at school today. They went on time. I slept late. If you look outside my door, you'd have to wonder why.

This is my Snow Day! Isn't it magical?!

I didn't actually sleep late. Technically. I got up at the same time I normally get up. But I didn't get out of bed. I got on the computer. I surfed Pinterest for a while. I looked at the Facebook and the Twitter. I basically just killed time. Then I realized I didn't have anything to do or anywhere to be. So I forced myself to lie back down and attempt to sleep some more. I rationalized it by telling myself that I spend a lot of nights just not getting enough sleep. I figured this was a good opportunity to catch up, if such a thing is possible.

If you count that as sleeping late, I slept late. I don't know how I would classify that. Woke up on time, took a very early nap before really starting the day?

Anyway, eventually I got up. My plan is to be at least somewhat productive today. No, I don't have to do anything for work. My paperwork is completely caught up, so I have no stress there. But I've been meaning to clean out my room since the Christmas break. I just never got around to it. I've got a stack of books that have nowhere to live, I should find a place to put them. I've got plenty of clothes in my closet that I never wear, I should decide what I don't use anymore and take it to Goodwill. I've got some books I'd like to read, I could make a dent in one or two of those. Or I could play video games.

I still like video games. I just never justify the time it takes to play them anymore. Maybe I should do that today. I have a perfectly good PlayStation sitting next to my TV that gets used mostly for Netflix and viewing Blurays. I'm sure I still have games lying around somewhere. But I'll probably have to clean my room to get to them. Maybe I could go out and catch an early movie. I'm sure there's something worth seeing at a matinee.

The world is my oyster, friends.