"I could't finish my dissertation because I was too cold to think." Will be my excuse if I don't finish my dissertation this winter.

There are lots of things that I like. Baking cookies, for instance, and my family, my dog, the color red, Project Runway, crayons, sleep, Prokofiev, mountains, and Target.

There are fewer things in this world that I passionately dislike, but there are definitely some. Raisins come to mind, and canker sores, plucking my eyebrows, cockroaches, being on an airplane when the engine explodes and it plummets from the sky¹, and raisins.

It's a short list. But number one on that list² is being cold. Being cold is one of the things I dislike most in this world (as my family and anyone who knows me well can attest), and this week has reminded me of that because Michigan has finally turned to winter. And today was the worst of the worst of Michigan winter days, or at least it will be until February when we get the same weather, only 20 degrees colder. It started off on the mild side, with our first real snow that turned overnight to slush, but by the time I came out of class this evening there was wind and snow and wind and cold and wind. And I am pretty sure I have not felt warm all day, indoors or out. I am pretty sure I will never feel warm again until June.

Here is how much I dislike being cold: I dislike it so much that it makes #1 in some form or other on a vast majority of my negative-leaning top ten lists. The "Top Ten Worst" kinds of lists. For example:

Least Favorite Seasons: #1 Winter.
Least Favorite Chores: #1 Scraping ice off my windshield.
Reasons I Get Annoyed with My Dog: #1 He still wants to go on walks when it's -7 degrees outside.
Ways I Don't Want to Die: #1 Freezing to death in the Arctic.³
States I Don't Want to Move To: #1 North Dakota.
Reasons I Almost Didn't Come to Michigan: #1 It's cold here.⁴
Favorite Modern Convenience: #1 Ubiquitous central heat.
Things That Make Me Wish I Wasn't a Runner: #1 January

But since winter is now here for the duration, and since it will likely be my very last Michigan winter ever, I've spent a few minutes this weekend trying to come up with good things about winter. There aren't many, but there are a few. Like when it's not windy and there are four inches of fresh snow on the ground and I get to take Jin over to the tennis court and let him romp around in it. Or the fact that I'm a February birthday, although that's not really a direct consequence of winter. Or white Christmas lights on trees. Or the fur hood on my winter coat....

Okay, that's about all I've got. Any other thoughts would be much appreciated. I have another five months of cold nose and cold toes and socks and sweaters and -7 degree walks with my dog to look forward to.

[P.S. I have 2 new book reviews up: The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Good Thief.]

¹ I am pretty sure I would passionately dislike this.

² Only because I have not experienced a plane crash, yet, and someday when I do it will either rapidly take number one, or drop off my list because I will find out it's not all that bad after all. Probably the first.

³ And at least five of #2-9 involve freezing to death in other locations, like Mt. Everest or the Washtenaw Community College parking lot, and at least one involves plunging to my death in an aircraft catastrophe.

⁴ A lot of people have heard my "I didn't want to move to Michigan but I felt like I was supposed to" story, and quite honestly, the one and only reason I had for desperately not wanting to move to Michigan was the cold. I don't even think I had any other reasons. I thought if I moved here I would probably either die or hate my life. I was wrong on both accounts. But I still complain about the cold. Obviously.