What Have I Gotten Myself Into? and Other Miscellania

[rantingranger]

• How could the Librarian have fooled me? We rangers have known that we may not feel joy or gratitude for years. Put on a sensible skirt and I swear, you think you can pull anything ...
• ... and why the hell haven't I gotten my ranger skirt yet?
• In all seriousness, the Librarian had to deal with that onslaught of snow that slammed so many of you when she flew up to Washington to celebrate with her family. She made it, about as scheduled. Yay! I hope you all can eventually enjoy that mess. We might get thunderstorms here tomorrow.
• Cheese fixes sore throats.
• Coffee will never cease tormenting me. I remember enjoying drinking it exactly once (refrigerated - the Librarian said it "tasted like coffee ice cream" in the last few months. I awoke this morning, couldn't finish my coffee, packed tea for work and declared myself done with coffee. The tea sucked. So did the dark, rainy, delirious commute back around my mountain. I wanted something sweet to drink, but all my fruity stuff stings and burns, and I'd run out of soda. I knew the half-finished, near-frozen coffee - and I came home with hands numb from chills - lurked in waiting. And of course - sweet, sweet coffee ice cream. Dammit.
• A little coffee also goes nicely with one's sugar-milk.
• Sick rangers get to eat non-grilled cheese sandwiches and red licorice. And love it.
• Superstitions developed over my two-years of ceaseless job searching before your eyes lead me to keep the hand closer to the chest these days, but the Santa Monica Mountains have my attention. "Santeria" serenaded me out of Muir Woods this evening, and the Boy will spend his Christmas in Santa Monica. The Southland? ... seriously?
• I need to return to the frozen tundra soon. Illness aside, I shouldn't feel so cold all the gotdamn time. I also miss people. And I have people to introduce :)> Anonymous Jess's July celebration seems far away, hard to afford while I continue to live in this place, and difficult to guarantee - Point Reyes wouldn't even get me the whole day for the Boy's second birthday (grrrrrrrr ... ). But July sounds better than another bout of February at this point, even if my viking half pines for the otherworldly cold.
• Merry merry, everybody.