There was an October snow storm over the weekend and it took everyone in the city by surprise. Saturday morning I was awakened by the sound of snow plows.

I have a very strong association with the sound. When I was in middle school, snowplows at night meant bedtime smiles of hope for snow days. Plows in the morning provided the best chance of all, and in early 90’s NH, it wasn’t uncommon.

There was one winter in particular when I hated school so much that snow days felt like gifts from god. I had a Sony alarm clock radio that was tuned to a local station that announced school closures between songs. The hit song of the season, the song that would play every morning on repeat, the song that bookended the list of school cancelations and became the song of hope and happiness:

I’m forever doomed to respond to the beginning—  “tick tick tick tick” — with embarrassing joy. Don’t judge. It’s the sound of freedom.

In the city, plows have a similar effect on me– smiling at night, excited in the morning–which is surprising because of how different everything else is here. Though real “snow days” are rare, the muffled scraping noises that backdrop a white wall of falling sky is just as calming. A major enhancement to the experience now is a giant cup of stiff, black coffee to sip as the city whitens.

Snow in NYC is often temporary, and by the time I went into work on Monday, Halloween Day, it was gone. No complaints.

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Being in the office felt strange after missing last week with the back injury, and I didn’t last long before needing to recline and continue healing up at home. I got the MRI as prescribed, and was home by 2p– perfect timing…

…because just as I got home, a streetfight broke out in front of my building. It started with yelling. I grabbed my camera and jumped to the balcony– no time for setting up properly, but the D7000 performed well. Ah Harlem!

MRI results tomorrow, I should be figured out shortly thereafter. Very ready for the nanobots.