blizzardWe are snowed in at

blizzard

We are snowed in at my in-laws at Rockaway Beach after our weekend in Manhattan.

They live in a huge old 3 story house half a block from the ocean. But only 3 rooms are
habitable - at the very top of the house - 2 tiny bedrooms and a kitchen (I don't count the
bathroom).

There is nowhere to sit but 2 kitchen chairs, one office chair, and the bed.
The kitchen table is a rickety old desk. In the bed, I can feel each individual bed spring
poking into my tender, princess-like flesh.

The funny part is, they have been living like this
for a year and a half. Now I understand how they travel to Kenya and Peru and everywhere and
stay in 5 dollar a night hotels. They are just naturally Spartans. It's not JUST that they're cheapskates;
the springs don't poke them, they don't notice the freezing cold, the 3 flights of stairs seem normal to them.

I thought I was not very fussy about things like sheets and towels, and their dinginess, oldness, tatteredness, or dirtiness, but the stuff here is gross beyond compare.

The worst part of this for me, besides the incredible amounts of dust, the general grossness and uncomfortableness, is that I cannot get away from people chewing. At any one moment, someone is eating something. Last night they were eating for 2 hours, somehow; first dinner, which I finished quickly (since it was all inedible to me except the plain pasta). I fled to the bedroom and put on headphones - brought for just such an occasion.

JHK went to shovel snow and seemed to enjoy the healthy exercise. Freak! My ass is freezing cold even with 2 pairs of pants and underwear and sitting in a padded office chair. "Don't you want to go have a snowball fight and make snow angels?" Fuck no!

"Some houses are overheated and that's a problem. That's not a problem with this house!" my mom in law just shrieked from the next room. She always shrieks - I'm not sure why. Usually I find it somewhat charming.

I would not make a good astronaut.