Part II

It’s now 6:12 pm, same day. I took a nap. That’s not generally a luxury I can afford on weekdays, which is a shame because sleep is one of my very favourite things, particularly at 2-ish O’clock, when I’ve already been up for eight hours and still have a pile of stuff to do.

Anyway, so we revisit Monday evening. I got off the train and headed to Target, Like A Boss, and stocked up on food. Target’s grocery and home sections were rather picked over. Random cartons of eggs were strewn about, cracked eggs leaking yolk on the shelves. Seriously. It was like everyone suddenly got together and prepared for the (inevitable) zombie apocalypse. I managed to find everything I needed except soy milk (which they never have anyway) and get out of there without major incident.

This morning I woke up at 6:20ish as usual, after hitting the snooze button only once, and set to work on my Immunology exam that was due at 5pm (are you seeing a trend with my work ethic here?). Immunology isn’t too tough, given that generally all I have to do is open the book and his notes and then choose the right answers. There are usually a few tricky ones, but I’m not exactly trying to figure out pressure exerted on the interface of two different density liquids in a centrifuge. That’s work for Thursday.

I wish I could build up a tense, atmospheric aura about the morning commute. I can’t, though. I dredged my way to Wilson, clutching the strings that hang from the earflaps of my hat together in my (fortunately) gloved hands in an attempt to keep it from flying off. This is more dramatic than it sounds, given that my hat is this huge, furry monstrosity that looks like something a Russian in Siberia might wear on a Tuesday in April. I couldn’t really look up, I just focused a few feet in front of me and attempted not to run into any early morning Target shoppers/ bus waiters/ hobos/ crazy hoodlums. Although I think even the crazy hoodlums seem to have decided that this weather is too much for them. In Uptown, that’s pretty impressive.

Fortunately a train rolled up right as I climbed the stairs, which, while forcing me to run clumsily up the stairs in my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Uggs (seriously, those things aren’t waterproof and have no traction. They are NOT worth the $200 dollars I didn’t pay for them- thank god for Nordstrom Rack) and attempt not to trip, did prevent me from having to wait on the platform. I did notice that downtown wasn’t visible from the stop, though I could still vaguely see the lights for Wrigley Field. Not that they were on or anything, I could just tell they were there.

I managed to get a seat- not always an easy task on the 9am trips- and set to reading some good ol’ Neil Gaiman. This managed to absorb my entire trip, so I didn’t pay close attention to the conditions on the way home. When I disembarked at Chicago and headed toward Lake Michigan, I regretted that, as the wind caught me unawares. It was fine until I crossed Michigan, at which point I suddenly felt like Helen Hunt in Twister. The walk east bit at my face and forced me again to hold my hat on, though the block I had to walk south was worse. The tall buildings of the Northwestern Medical Complex acted like tall buildings tend to act, and made the worst wind tunnel I’ve ever experienced- and this includes the fact that I used to walk along the north side of the RPAC at OSU. I pretty much toppled inside, relieved, flashed my card to the security guy who probably recognises my funny hat anyway, and headed upstairs.

I worked from around 9:30-1. I went to the upper floors of my building and worked at slicing mouse brains for a while. It was not terribly successful, but it wasn’t awful. Turns out mouse brains are really tough to hold down and cut without turning them into a fine pulp. But anyway, no one wants to hear about taking brains apart, this entry is about the epic blizzard of epic.

I periodically checked outside the window, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on when you’re as high up as I was above the ground. All I could see was periodic drifts of snow and the cold, icy water of Lake Michigan. I was at enough of an altitude to not be able to discern what actual water conditions were like, though weather.com had been warning of impending waves of tsunami proportions.

We only got through three brains and by then it was 12:30 and I had some culture cells to pass, and my co-worker had to get on the Green Line to go home (which, as my roommate will tell you, is the worst) and we all decided it was best to pack up and get going. In the meantime I checked Northwestern’s website and my mail and found that after 5:00pm classes had been cancelled, including my second of two classes. Not that I had been planning on it, but I definitely was not going up to Evanston now.

Unlike my trip to downtown, I paid sharp attention to my trip back uptown. The one block I had to traverse south again was excruciating. The wind was blowing due west (though I’m almost positive it had been blowing due east on my way in) and I had to hold onto my hat and coat. It was just before one at this time, and people were trickling out of all the buildings around. Tiny blades of ice stabbed my face, and I tried to determine if they were blowing off the lake, but it wasn’t worth the effort of turning my face in that direction. I was glad I wasn’t heading to Evanston on the intercampus shuttle- Lake Shore Drive has to be a treacherous mess.

Once I turned onto Chicago it wasn’t so bad, mostly because I was walking with the wind. Though I could barely see up the Hancock, ground level seemed oddly clear. Snow trickled down, but it wasn’t heavy yet. The streets weren’t packed (yet) and even the temperature seemed reasonable. I suppose anything was better than that awful wind. I’ve been on Michigan a few times at that hour, and there are usually tourists wandering around- you can spot tourists from a mile away within a month of living here, mostly because you’ve got somewhere to go and they don’t. There were no tourists today. Just locals in a hurry to get to the CTA. I approved of all of them.

A tiny part of me was actually tempted to stop by the Anthropologie or the beautiful, shiny, organised, new Nordstrom Rack. But I resisted- mostly because I don’t have any money. No one was shopping anyway. I didn’t even see people inside the McDonald’s. The only direction anyone seemed to be heading was toward the train, but it wasn’t a mass exodus or anything. Just a steady line of people who had given up on accomplishing anything with their day.

The ride home was uneventful. The northbound train was pretty packed for that hour. I had to sit next to one of those people who isn’t fat exactly, but just seems to take up a lot of space. It’s a pretty natural occurrence in the winter, and an obvious hazard with everyone in their puffy jackets and their bags, but it’s still annoying when you’re trying to hold a book open. Things thinned out by the time I hit Belmont, though, and I got home again without incident.

I finished my Immunology exam around 2:30, emailed it, and peaked outside. The blizzard was slated to begin at 3:00 pm, yet the blustering had begun already. Snow swirled from the ground almost up to the second floor windows of the apartment across from us. I shivered in our poorly insulated living room, curled up in my bed, and promptly fell asleep.