cold.

synonyms: algid, arctic, below freezing, below zero, benumbed, biting, bitter, blasting, bleak, boreal, brisk, brumal, chill, chilled, cool, cool, crisp, cutting, freezing, frigid, frore, frosty, frozen, gelid, gelid, glacial, hiemal, hyperborean, icebox, iced, icy, inclement, intense, keen, nipping, nippy, numbed, numbing, one-dog night, penetrating, piercing, polar, raw, rimy, severe, sharp, shivery, sleety, snappy, snappy, snowy, stinging, wintry

antonyms: hot, sweltering, warm

if you've ever lived in the midwest you know how algid it can get during the months of january and february. the past several weeks have made me reconsider the typical notion that hell is a burning pit of fire; rather i think it is an arctic hyperborean icebox. it makes me think of christmas day this past year, when i stepped outside of sarah's house, expecting the usual benumbing chill that accompanies winter up north. instead i was greeted by a gentle 70-degree-farenheight houston breeze, bearing no resemblance to the boreal deep freeze that is the winter season. what exactly am i saying, you ask? chicago sucks right now. i thought i was a thick-skinned yankee. i thought i was accustomed to those gelid one-dog nights. as it turns out, i am nothing of the sort. houston betrayed the real me.

sigh.

houston. that's in the top five best weekends of my life. also included in that list would be that weekend in august of 2001 when goo and i went to wisconsin and i met mike and matty for the first time, as well as that weekend in november 1999 that i spent in chicago with helen and denyelle and friends. january 2000, weekend before my birthday in chicago, that was great too. that weekend this past fall when mom and steve came to chicago for a few days is definitely high up there. none of those in any certain order, it changes depending on who i miss the most.

often i miss people that are dear to me because they are far away. sometimes i miss people because they are different versions of what they used to be. or maybe it's me that has changed so much that others would say the same thing in regards to myself. i don't know. enlighten me.