Thursday, February 14, 2008

I can't heart the snow

Can you hear that? That grinding noise? It's probably the collective hatred of a million teeth up here gnashing over the latest snowstorm. 11 feet this year and counting. March is typically the snowiest month and it's still over two weeks away. When I went to bed day before yesterday, they were predicting 2-4 inches, and when I got up, the storm was raging outside and suddenly, they were announcing 10 inches. It takes them a week to clear the snow and it seems like we get another dump just a few days after they finish cleaning. I had to go out to the burbs yesterday and when I arrived home, there was no place to park. Zero. I spent about 15 minutes going in ever wider circles in the neighborhood before I found a spot eight blocks away. I am just so OVER this. I never thought I'd feel this way, but it's just too much this year. Too frigging much. (Wait, tell us how you really feel.)

In other news, I picked up a Quebecois film at the library the other day. It's called Le Bonheur c'est une chanson triste. (Happiness, it's a sad song.) It's about this girl, conflicted with where she is in life (successful, but...) who finds a video camera and decides to accost strangers and ask them what "happiness" is. I loved this film, it made me think about so many things, but finally, I concluded that "It's the wrong question." Why? Because it's undefinable, mercurial, different for each individual, and unsustainable. The cool part of the film is that the answer is in all the little moments of connecting with people, the moments we take for granted, a shared smile with a cashier, or a laugh with a coworker. She's experiencing happiness but unaware because she's too busy trying to define it, so that she can "look" for it. Happiness. It's all around you, all you've got to do is take a bite.

19 comments:

My adventures said...

For some reason that last line has me humming the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore Show... "love is all around". And I'm not sure I could take all that WINTER!!! We only have about 3 or 4 days worth way down here, we had day 3 yesterday, it got down to 32, but then was up to 60 by noon.

ChickenStrip said...

Oh my God, I'm printing this one out and putting it over my computer at work.

So true, T, so true.

bardelf said...

I think I would go outside and just SCREAM at so much never-ending snow, torn. I cannot fathom it. We've yet to have a single flake here in eastern NC, which is just as unusual as your overwhelming abundance of it.

Anonymous said...

Happiness is my morning coffee followed by a good poop. It does get my moving in the morning;) We have an inch of snow on the ground and I was complaining. If we had ten feet of snow we wouldn't get out until June. This time of the year here we have Spring during the day and Winter at night. Ed

Anonymous said...

Great insights about happiness. I was waiting for "it" to happen when I realized, like you, that it's already here. It's moments of time added up. The little things. And yes, it's different for everyone.

Anonymous said...

The "happiness" section is one of the sweetest posts I've ever read -I love it.

dantallion said...

I've been doing winter here for mostr of my life. It rarely gets to me. This year, however, has been a HUGE, neverending pain in the ass, and like you, I've had enough.

Anonymous said...

We've really had very little snow this year, at most about 4 inches total. But ice! Ice!! I hate the ice!!!!

(Lemuel)

Cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cooper said...

Even I can no longer be poetical about the snow! It's the worst winter in terms of snowfall I've ever witnessed as an adult ...and I am so OVER it. Clear the driveway, rinse, shovel, repeat!

I want to see that film and have made a note of it. I LOVE the way you define happiness. It's just right ... it really is the small moments of connection that create our lives. Thanks for this.

Rox said...

I am also over the snow. I'm over winter. I'm over all the jerks going to warm sunny snowless places and not taking me with them!!!

You know it's Valentine's Day in Canada when your hubby gets up on the roof to shovel! WHATEVER!

Patrick said...

I'm taking a nice big bite just by stopping here.

Thanks for the sunny warmth, especially when you're feeling so trapped by the snow.

GayProf said...

I thought that you had a garage for your car.

All I can say is that the snow doesn't seem more intense than the last time I lived in the Midwest, but it does seem warmer than I remember (like, you know, zero instead of -10).

Anonymous said...

Why choose the unhappiness? (She says archly with an evil grin.)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great film. I don't speak French, though.

Sorry about all the snow. I had to smirk when I read that March is typically your worst month for snow. That's right about the time we start sunbathing, bike riding and roller bladding around here.

dpaste said...

But if you bite happiness, won't it get angry? Or at the very least, bleed all over you?

Anonymous said...

happiness is having the teenage daughter i always wanted and a partner who really, really loves me. happy valentine's day !

xx
donna

Summer said...

"The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." Benjamin Franklin

Anonymous said...

As much as I despise winter in general, I have to grudgingly admit that this one has been pretty much nothing so far. Highly unusual for this region...we're way down on snowfall and have yet to dip below zero at all (all of it fine with me). But this is what "Climate Change" has warned about, not just "global warming" but also more extremes regarding weather. So, hey, get used to it I guess.