hello outside world...

so it is official, i exist in the outside world. today, not even 5 days after it was mailed, i have received a letter from home... G&G i love u!! for some reason, even considering the mass amount of electronic correspondence i have been lucky to have with home, receiving a hard-copy version of mail (you know the kind, where pen is put to paper, envelopes are licked, and stamps... come on, stay with me, stamps, they're the square little stickers that you put on envelopes to make them go to where they are addressed... are affixed, and the package is then dropped in a red stand-up box typically in post-offices, once found on street corners) brings a smile to the face unlike any other type of e-versions of similar messages. i am oh-so-fond of the little bundles of joy that arrive in my e-mailbox (see: did you get it?), but knowing that i have an address, a correct one despite the strangeness of it, means i have roots of some sort, and roots provide connection, i guess life in some sense... ok tiff, that's taking it a bit far, but you get the idea. anyways, it's a happy morning, and i thank mr. mailman for that!

so here's just a random thought of the day. maybe living in ctown the last 3+ years has screwed up my perception of the forecast, but it amazes me every day that i wake up here to see the skies exactly as forecasted the previous couple of days. sunny means sunny, cloudy means cloudy, and rain means rain. today, the sun is here, as i was told it would be... thank-you forecast, for not letting me down. imagine if we could actually learn to trust our weather people... what an interesting relationship that could be. rather than 'tomorrow will be warm.'... to which we would respond 'ya sure, i'll believe it when i see it', could turn into, 'tomorrow the sun will shine', and we would respond 'interesting, thanks for the information, i will be sure to bring my sunglasses'. i'm intrigued! i will enjoy the valid forecasts for the next 5 weeks, after which i will come home, and be entertained by the necessity to be prepared for anything (and everything) on any given day.

i hope the weather you are experiencing at this moment brings a smile to your face. here the sun is glorious, but the forecast is bringing even better surprises my way... in the form of little white flakes!! yippee!