Running

Okay, so I haven't posted in about a week (sorry about that!) and the first thing I write about is exercise.  Good lord.
In high school, my best friends were on the cross-country team, something I never did.  For one thing, at that point running seemed silly, and it also took up a lot of time.  I did things like... well, field hockey.  Or being in the musical instead.  The only sport I really cared about then was sailing - still just about my favourite thing to do (more on that at some later point).  But then around junior or senior year, I guess, I had some pretty serious insomnia and the thing that made the most sense to me was to go running so I would be tired enough to go back to bed.  Hey, I'm not saying it actually made sense.  Just, to my sleep-deprived brain that continued to think in lymphocytes and French homework and history, running would exhaust me and clear my mind enough so that I could go back to bed.  Also, contrary to popular belief, Cambridge isn't actually that dangerous.  You can go running by the river at night and you'll be fine.
By then, my brain didn't really work well unless I went running.  I would get crabby and distracted in class.  Also, my perfectionism kicked in at that point.  I was going to run faster and longer than anyone else.  So I did, and I just kept going, I guess.
This past week, I hadn't gone running once until today.  What a difference a week makes.
Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful new year.  Mike, I wish you many long runs.

It is blizzarding outside...

...And there is jazz playing inside my house.  Basically all of New England was put on a blizzard watch yesterday, and it is still snowing.  Usually we get this kind of snowstorm about once a year, but it came very fast and now we can't open the door.  If you were in Boston visiting for the holidays, your flight has probably been cancelled.  I'm sorry.  Since it's difficult to get outside, I would suggest curling up and reading good books and eating chocolate (that's what I've been doing).
Caleb's best friend came over yesterday with his upright bass and stayed the night, so it's rather nice to be sitting here and listening to "Black Orpheus."  At the same time, I'm starting to go a little crazy.  I am one of those people who goes running every day.  The kind of person who goes a bit crazy if they don't.  For two days, now (three, counting today) I have not been outside.  This is made worse by the fact that for Christmas I was given super-fancy high-tech running gear for cold weather after some family drove me home when I was freezing on the Mass Ave bridge.  And now I can't even use it yet.
But I had a wonderful Christmas!  A Christmas in which I made figgy pudding with saffron and crystallized ginger, a Christmas in which Ursie ran around in circles after receiving a present, a Christmas in which we all slept in a bit but still jumped on my parents at around 9:30.  How was your Christmas?  Are you snowed in?  What are you doing?