Weather, Or Not

Too many false starts. I keep nodding off, waking up, looking at the clock, and wondering how it got so late. I barely remember the days now. I know I ate something Wednesday, but I can't recall what. I know I slept, but when? Maybe I cat nap dreamed about the future and mistook it for the past. I remember T-Mobile waking me up with an unfamiliar sound at an ungodly hour with a message on my screen wishing me a "happy birthday today!" It was the 14th. My birthday is the 19th. Or is it? I don't recall them sending me a birthday message any earlier year. Am I who I thought I was, or did that guy never exist, or did something turn me/him into something else (me/whoever now?) I/he find myself/himself hoping to turn back into unambiguous me (him?) next time I (really?) sleep. It's late, and one of us is about to do that now. Who will wake up next? Anybody?

Saturday and Sunday were both days of sleep, of not wanting to get out from under the cozy covers, and when I did get out not getting anything done. The days are seeming drear and the nights full of an unserene quiet. Maybe this will change, maybe it won't. Lying abed awake or asleep it doesn't matter. There is just the indeterminate hour passing imperceptibly. Maybe I go back to sleep, maybe I don't. Once it's done I can't tell the difference. At some point I get hungry, and at some point the hunger becomes more unpleasant than eating, then I get up and eat. With luck, the eating makes me sleepy again, and the cycles repeat. How much longer, who knows? I care less every day.


( Late Sunday Verse )

Felt crappy all day Wednesday. Still do. Took an unintentional nap that was also ineffectual. Ate a big dinner that was overeffectual. It's gotten very cold tonight, and I'm going back to bed to warm up under the covers. Maybe my brain will start working again, but probably not. The next four nights will be very cold too. I think I'll be spending a lot of time under the covers. The days will be sunny but chilly. Not my favorite weather, but I can't afford to travel, so I'm stuck with it. But maybe I'll feel less crappy anyway. Probably not.

Monday brought weather, as predicted, and I had to use an umbrella when I went out to the mailbox. There was no mail, but I will consider it virtuous exercise rather than a foolish waste of effort. I heated up Saturday leftovers for dinner, along with Friday leftovers for a side dish. The main Friday leftovers I might have Tuesday night or Wednesday night, but I'll need a fresh side dish. Why must life be so complicated?

Although we could get a bit more rain tonight, Tuesday is supposed to be only partly cloudy, wo I want to get to sleep so I will be done sleeping by the time the sun comes out. I've been spoiled by the foggy and rainy weather we've had lately, with the room being dark or dim every time I wake up, making it easy to get back to sleep. That luxury will be going away over the coming weeks. Adjustment will be difficult, I'm sure.

Oh, midnight.

Oh, I thought I'd done this, but I guess not. Despite a night of often furious storming, and a dark gray morning of nearly imperceptible dawn, Saturday brightened through the afternoon and left us with nearly dry pavement at sunset. I opened the blinds for about three hours of afternoon sunlight to warm the bed. The rain is predicted to return tonight, with more wind, and both Sunday and Monday are still expected to be very wet, but after next Tuesday the forecast is saying no more rain for at least ten days.

This is unfortunate, as the state is overall only at about half normal snowpack levels for this date, with the south in much better shape than the north. January through March is typically the snowiest season, but we need to get started on that accumulation soon. The next couple of days could add some welcome snow, but not enough to catch up to a typical season. The Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountain states are also suffering from scant snowfall this year. The problem is that this years rain has been coming from the tropics rather than the north Pacific. Being warmer, tropical storms bring lots of rain but are not cold enough to provide lasting snow. Given that this is a La Nina year, it probably won't get fixed. We could be in for two or three years of drought. It could get ugly.

Tonight's rain hasn't started yet, and I'll probably have to get to sleep before it does. If it's anything like last night though, I'm sure it will wake me up. But dammit, I'm sneezing and my nose has gotten runny again. I hope I didn't get a load of germs with my groceries. Infection is the last thing I need this time of year.

It was the quietest New Year's Eve I've experienced in the mini-metropolis. This was probably in part due to the fact that it was raining pretty steadily at midnight, and people were likely reluctant to go outside and get wet while trying to set off fireworks or even get to their cars to blow the horns. There was one big skyrocket that burst with bright flash and loud bang right over my apartment, but nothing else nearby. The guy across the street who usually sets off a lot of small skyrockets wasn't around, and only one local dog was outside barking. I felt bad for the dog.

I went looking for Pasadena webcams, and couldn't find any on the regular streets, though there are about ten watching the freeways. I guess people use them to check on traffic conditions. When I first got Idernet, there was a webcam on Colorado Boulevard at Raymond Avenue I used to enjoy watching, a lively part of town, but I guess it's gone now. The streets in Pasadena used to be very lively on New Year's Eve, but maybe last night would have been a bust anyway, because it was raining there too. I watched a recorded video today, and it rained through the whole parade as well, and a couple of times it looked as though they were getting one of those classic Los Angeles downpours, where the sky turns dusky dark and motorists turn their headlights on.

There was a marching band from Japan who played "Stars and Stripes Forever" while using colored streamers and stars to make an American flag, and that is the only foreign entry I remember seeing. In recent years there have been many floats and bands from other countries, especially Canada, but this year nothing. I don't know if the Tournament didn't invite them or they just turned the invitations down, but it's a pretty clear sign the we are an ex-empire now. Come to think of it, I don't even recall any entry from Puerto Rico, and it's essentially part of the United States, so maybe we're an ex-commonwealth too.

Personally, I've started the new year with a kitchen fail. My stick blender broke while I was using it. Black and Decker. It used to be a good company, but all the stuff I've bought from them over the last couple of years has been crap. The stick blender was the best of the items, and I did like it, but given how weak it proved to be in the end I don't think I'll replace it. I still have my old hand mixer, so I'll probably just dig that out.

The rain has eased up this evening, and tomorrow is supposed to be merely cloudy again, but Saturday could bring more thunderstorms, and then Sunday and Monday are to be rainy again. Next Thursday is still predicted to be the only sunny day ahead, but later in the month it will be day after day of clouds. So, January. Tomorrow is supposed to be grocery day, but once again the ad doesn't have much of interest in it. I'm hoping they'll put up some new digital coupons overnight, but they probably won't.

Only 364 days left. Whew. I hope we can make it.

The fog returned for the penultimate day of the year. I got up fairly early, and didn't have a nap, so I'm verging on collapse now. I did manage to cook a full dinner, and actually eat it, but I might regret that soon. Reflux is threatening. It's going to be quite chilly tonight, and I hope have to sit up. Rain is still on for New Year's Day, as well as the third and fourth, with showers predicted for the rest of the first week of 2026. The rain should keep the nights a bit warmer though. We aren't expected to get more actual sun until the tenth. That's going to be a long stretch of gray. But I'll probably sleep through most of it. There's not much else left to do anymore.

The sun appeared unexpectedly Thursday afternoon. I was having a nap, and though the brightness leaking around the blinds woke me up I was unable to fully rouse myself, despite a strong desire to open th9ose blinds and lie in the sunlight for a while. Instead I just fell asleep again, and when I finally woke the sky had refilled with clouds. Well, the forecast is promising more sun in a couple of days, so I can get my sunbathing in then.

The news informed me that there was some flooding in parts of the mini-metropolis during the big storm Wednesday evening, just not this part. There were also a few thousand mini-metropolites without power for some time, and I was lucky not to be one of them. One guy died in Redding. There was flooding all up and down the valley, and even more in Southern California. Three people died down there, including one guy who got hit by a falling tree. We got off pretty easy around here, it seems.

We're supposed to get more rain tomorrow, but then the forecast says four entire sunny days in a row will follow. That means the nights will be getting colder. Clear nights let the day's heat escape. Colder nights mean more furnace time, and a higher utility bill. I suppose I can cut back somewhere else. Like tonight I think I'll cut back on food, because again I really don't feel like cooking. In fact I think I'm about to go to sleep again, and shouldn't be sitting at the computer when I do that. Don't want to fall out of this chair and hurt the floor with my empty head.

The rain has slowed to a sprinkle for now, but more showers are expected this afternoon, and rain is to continue off and on through Friday. In fact the region remains under a flood watch until then. There was actually a flood warning Sunday afternoon and evening, along with a high wind alert, but despite a fairly relentless rain and a few episodes of stormy downpours my apartment stayed dry and we didn't lose power.

The forecast is now saying Sunday and Monday will be mostly sunny, but if they are I'm sure we will suffer shock and perhaps many cases of temporary blindness as the unaccustomed light floods this place that has endured fog or rain for over a month now. I suspect that the population has a record number of cases of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'm pretty sure I've got one myself. A couple of days of sun probably won't be enough to cure it, and we'll be back to rain after that brief respite, clear into the new year.

There are onerous tasks I need to do later today, and I'm currently indulging myself with an extra donut, as partial compensation. Safeway had a buy-one-get-one sale on my donuts this week, and so I have twice as many as usual. That should help me get through the next few days of grey. I also have Mexican cocoa, and a fresh bottle of brandy to pike it with, so my continued survival might not be entirely tragic, for the nonce.

What the hell is a nonce anyway? It sounds vaguely insulting. Oh, well, I guess it doesn't much matter, not at this late date. Not worth the effort of a Google. I'm just going to enjoy my extra donut and pretend that's all there is to life. Donuts and brandy-spiked cinnamon cocoa. Certainly Paradise enow?

About to crash, but probably not burn. My circulation is not good enough for me to do any significant burning. In fact my feet probably make the bed colder. I should get a hot water bottle, though on waking some winter day I might find that my feet had not only sucked all the heat from it but had frozen the thing solid. It could be my revenge on technology, for all the times it has failed me.

Anyway, I didn't have a nap Wednesday, so I'll need to make up for it now. When I get up I'll have to begin putting together a shopping list for my Friday grocery pickup. Needless to say, Safeway has disappointed me again with a mostly mediocre sale, though they do have my donuts on a buy-one-get-one deal. That will be a good thing if they don't sell out, but the bogo sale makes selling out more likely. I guess we'll see.

The gray continues, but with rain not due until Friday morning. I did a Google search for local weather, and see that they've changed their design. Showers are now designated by a gray cloud with three raindrops superimposed, two on top and one below, and damned if the things didn't look like a bunch of skulls when I first saw them. Most disturbing, especially at bedtime. Also disturbing that many showery days are coming this month. A few good rains with some sunny days between would be nice. I don't supposed I should be looking this gift horse in the mouth though. At least it's better than full on drought.