Listed

There are books that could be written about the things that are better about being in sunny southern California in January than in gelid Minneapolis, but no one would read them anyway. With that in mind, here are as many things as I can think of that are nice about being here, now:

1. The fire in my coffee shop.
2. My electric blanket, flannel sheets, and real mattress (which has now spoiled me, slightly, for the air mattress at my parents').
3. My Heat Machine.
4. A fair amount of smog-less, if not at all warm, sunshine.
5. Tomato rasam.
6. Minnesotans like cold weather; it appears to make them sing. Today I heard friends singing and whistling, respectively, selections from R.E.M., "You Are the Everything," and Salt 'N' Peppa, "Push It."
7. As of today, it's not really all that cold. Today hit 19, and we're supposed to be up to the 30s (!) Sunday and Monday before our next "cold snap."*
8. I'm back on coffee, and, oooh, it's a wonder drug.
9. Friends offer me rides to school.
10. Once on campus, there's really very little need to ever actually be outside, thanks to the tunnels. (Is that a good thing? I'm stretching, here...)
11. A light shade of sunshine and a dusting of freckles from my recent adventure to the Sunlit Lands means that here, I glow!
12. It's been cold for so long that the mountains of snow along my curb are compacted and solid enough now to be relatively easily traversed.
13. I finally ordered a balaclava (thanks to the generosity of Ter, who wrote, "I get cold just thinking about you in Minnesota. Please order what you need to stay warm on the bike ride to school"), and am now that much closer to being a (warm) Winter Bike Ninja.
14. At my parents', tomorrow will be 1 minute, 30 seconds longer than today. Here, tomorrow will be 2 minutes, 19 seconds longer!
15. My mom got me a beautiful new coat to replace the one I'd gotten at Goodwill in high school for $6, which was awesome but had always been too big and was becoming distinctly worn. Did I mention that this one is toasty and stylish and makes me look like a grown up?
16. As long as I'm on warm clothes, I finally found The Perfect Boots, and bought them with Christmas money earmarked (boot-marked?) for the purpose. They are tall, black, leather, mostly flat but thick-soled, warm but sleek, waterproof, elegant and classic, Thinsulate-lined, and should take me from biking to teaching and concert-going to downtown-ing.
17. Did I mention that my flight delay resulted in a free round-trip flight voucher? I can get there from here!
18. And finally, even here, far from coastward friends and family, I am still loved, supported, and appreciated.

*This is a blithe phrase that seems to refer, here, to single-digit and sub-zero temperatures, the kind of epic cold that instantly really hurts any exposed skin and works a dark magic that does things like icing the inside of upper-story windows and freezing bike locks shut.