A GIRL NAMED WINTERS SICK OF WINTER

by Kimberly Winters

                            My world is looking awfully white at the moment.
                            Snow days, late starts, unshoveled sidewalks and icy porches have become par for the course.  I'm up to my earmuffs in snow, and I just can't wait until spring melts away all these little annoyances.
                            Since that is still months away, however, I've decided to compile a little list of all the reasons that a girl named Winters can't stand this chilly season.

1. The cold   -  Obvious ?  Yes, but nevertheless intrusive and intensely frustrating.  Every outing involves a drawn-out process of preparing to facethe freezing temperatures. Slowly, I bundle on layers and layers of cloth, until I resemble a heap of clothing with blue eyes.  My time outside is fleeting, sitting around sounds ever more inviting, and all I want to do is eat and sleep.  In fact, for my recent lack of articles, I will happily blame cold-induced lethargy.
2. Chapped skin   -  Petty and miniscule as this gripe may seem, it is a very bothersome trait of the winter.  At this very moment, my lips are dry and irritated, and my knuckles are beginning to resemble a dragon's scales.  I am constantly plagued by these minr but persistent ailments.  While they are cured, or at least delayed, fairly easily, that does not appease me.  Mainly because I'm feeling rather lazy at the moment and don't care to fetch ChapStick.
3. Sickness   -  While I am fairly healthy, and rarely become sick, I am still plagued by all the little bugs and epidemics that occur at this time of year.  Everyone is sniffling and sneezing.  Many students are absent due to the various illnesses, and feverish teachers miserably teach lethargic students.  I myself am among the infected masses far too often for my tastes.
4. Short days    -  The fleeting daylight is nearly as frustrating as the cold weather.  After all, even if I manage to gather up the energy and motivation to brave the elements, I'm certainly not going to go out in the dark.  In the summer, I walk on a daily basis.  In the winter, it seems as if  I'm barely home from school before the sun has set and it's far too late for anything outdoors.  During the middle of winter, it feels as if the day is over by 5 o'clock.
5. Snow   -  My final complaint may seem rather hypocritical.  After all, this has given me free time and a welcome break from this hectic midterms month.  Still, that's pretty much the extent of the snow's gifts.  All these snow days are just being tacked on to my school year, slowly pushing back my summer vacation.  Not to mention the snow's irritating ability to limit travel, the reason for snow days in the first place.  After all, snow on a weekend can completely destroy that day's plans.  Most upsetting, many frail, lazy or just plain unthinking people refuse to shovel their sidewalks. This leaves me to make my way home through the white mounds on already-narrow streets.  I am all too often slipping and sliding my way through my neighborhoods and have becomeincreasingly paranoid over icy sidewalks.  There is, no doubt, another article in this.  However, I have neither the time, nor the inclinationto write it.  I blame the cold.