Friday, December 31, 2010

Saying Goodbye to 2010 and Welcoming 2011

It has been an interesting year filled with new experiences. For some reason this year really seemed to fly by faster than the others before it. Here, to make my profound closing statement for me, are Calvin and Hobbes.


Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011.

Fucking Fuck Fuck.

I can't wait until the holidays are over. I'm really starting to hate my job with a passion. People are getting worse and worse. I think I used every swear word in my vocabulary. I even used "cunting" at some point, of course that one I totally stole from Skins. I liked it, has a nice ring. I'll have to use it more often.

Naturally, all of this swearing was going on in my head while I was trying my best not to explode. But in all honesty it's not entirely the customers fault that things have been so stressful. My manager has been trying out a regular employee at customer service to see if she has the ability to move to our department and she is such a bad fit for working at the desk. In order to work at customer service you have to be 3 things; fast, able to multi-task, and willing to take initiative. You can't stand around waiting for someone to give you work to do, you have to see what needs to be done and do it. To save myself from going on a rant, I'm just going to say she is none of those things.

I'm the type of person that doesn't say anything negative, because I refuse to get into the middle of any "she said, he said" type of games. So I've been keeping my mouth shut about the whole situation. Finally, the other day my manager was talking to one of the other girls that I work with and she came right out and said how terrible this girl has been. The clouds opened up and the Hallelujah choir came over the P.A. system. No really though, it was such a relief that I wasn't the only having an issue with this girl.

So, fingers crossed after the holiday she goes back to the floor because I might just lose my mind otherwise. And I mean brain melting out of my ears, blank stare, cart-me-away-in-a-padded-van-and-a-white-coat kind of lose my mind.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Cuddling Fuzzy Pants

This morning I woke up cuddling my pajama bottoms. How exactly that happened I'm not quite sure. I forgot to mention for Christmas, I got an awesome pair of pajama pants made out of that super soft and fuzzy fleece material that is also really warm and perfect for wearing in the winter.

Since Michigan winters can be a bit cold even with the furnace on, I usually sleep in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. Last night I decided to try out my new pajamas. When I went to sleep they were secured tightly around my hips with the draw string. As I slowly woke up I began to take in my surroundings, my first reaction was that I was really comfortable and I didn't want to wake up. It was warm under the blankets, I had a really nice dream that I was coming out of and something warm and fuzzy was pressed against my cheek.....wait a minute, there should not be something fuzzy touching my cheek.

At which point I immediately woke up all of the way to figure out where this strange invasion of fuzziness had come from only to discover that at some point in the night my pajama pants had migrated off my legs and become clutched firmly in my arms. If you've ever woken up to something unusual or out of place then you know it can be a bit disorienting at first. I remember looking at the pants in my hands thinking, hey these are just like the ones I wore to bed last night. *lifts the covers to see I don't have any pants on* These ARE the ones I wore to bed last night, how the hell did that happen and why am I cuddling them??

I can only guess due to them being so warm I kicked them off in my sleep, which is not surprising because I don't like being hot while I'm sleeping and has happened before. I've just never woken up actually cuddling the pants I've kicked off.

It certainly was an interesting way to wake up.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My Top 10 Most Listened to Songs of 2010

I saw someone do this on Tumblr and I thought it was a great idea since I love music so much.

According to Last.fm (which isn't entirely accurate because I never remember to sync my ipod, but it's as close as I'm going to get) my top 10 most listened to songs of 2010 are as follows:

10. "Fuck You" by Cee-Lo Green
This song was very catchy and I thought the music video was amusing.

9. "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles
Oh, Sara Bareilles, how I hearted the shit out of your music this year. I have loved her and her music since the day I found her on Myspace before she released her first major album. And I love that the rest of the world gets to share in something as lovely as her music with me.

8. "Uncharted" by Sara Bareilles
I think what caught my attention most about this song was the lyrics. While the instrumentals are of course amazing, I love how she's always heavy on the piano, the lyrics narrated a part of myself I rarely address. I have a slight issue with being painted into a corner and having things too planned out, which is a bit self contradictory since I plan everything. But every now and then I have to break out of my well laid plans and breathe before I suffocate myself from my need to have to control my entire future. Shit happens.

7. "Holden Caufield" by Hailey Wojcik
I really disliked the book when I finally read it because in spite of the main narrative of the book that people are ultimately effed up, beneath it all I couldn't get past the fact that it mostly sounded like a rich kid whining constantly. But one good thing came out of it, I probably wouldn't have loved this song as much as I did without having read the book.

6. "Gonna Get Over You" by Sara Bareilles
I don't think there's much more I can say about my love for Sara and her music without repeating myself ad nauseum. Lyrics and instrumentals, bitch.

5. "Amnesia" by Hailey Wojcik
Not only was Hailey Wojcik my ultimate Indie find of 2010, but she was my Indie find of the decade. I loved her music and lyrics immediately and "Amnesia" was a great commentary for many relationships. Since the release of this album she has teamed up with another fellow musician to release an EP titled The [VOY-check] which also happens to be the proper pronunciation of her last name, Wojcik. While I'm not a huge fan of the EP, I think it lacks some of the originality that her album Diorama was absolutely filled with, she is an extremely talented lady and worth a listen to, if you haven't already.

4. "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga
You really didn't think I was going to make it an entire year without Lady Gaga on my top 10 did you?

3. "I Don't Do Boys" by Elektra
This song was stuck in my head for the longest time thanks to it's ridiculously catchy lyrics.

2. "Boys Boys Boys" by Lady Gaga
I find it extremely amusing that this song was played just as much as "I Don't Do Boys" but hey, it's Lady Gaga and I absolutely loved the line in the song "you taste just like glitter mixed with rock and roll".

1. "In My Sleep" by Austin Hartley-Leonard and Kendall Jane Meade
I fell in love with this song at first listen. I remember I was wrapped up in a typically heart breaking episode of Chuck sitting in front of the T.V., clutching my pillow, shouting "Nooooo! Sarah you're meant to be with Chuck! Why are you doing this?!" when this song came on and everything in me stilled immediately and I was held in complete awe at how beautiful this song is and how perfectly it fit with that exact moment in Chuck.


And there you have it my top 10 list of 2010. Stop by next year around this time for my top 11 list of 2011! (See what I did there? Couldn't resist that one. I might just follow through on it too.)

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Aftermath

How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was good. I stuffed my face with lots of yummy food and deserts. My family has a tradition where every Christmas we make what we all just call Assyrian Stew but really the actually name for the stew is called "Kurrish".

The tradition has been going since my Great-great grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Persia during WW I. This dinner is something I look forward to every single year because we only have it at Christmas and it is sooooo delicious.

The stew is made up of tomato juice for the base, green beans, onions, cubed pieces of beef and pork, and 2 or 3 hungarian peppers for flavoring. Depending on the size of the pot you're making you let it simmer for about 4-6 hours keeping in mind the longer it cooks the better it tastes. Then, when it's all set to eat you pour the stew over rice (and not that minute rice crap, actual baked in the oven rice) and serve with a side of pocket bread and green onions. I personally prefer not to have any of the pocket bread because I would rather enjoy the stew as is, rather than filling up on bread. Usually, we also have hummus and tabouli on the table as well which is eaten with the pocket bread, but I've never cared for either one since I was a kid so I choose to leave those off my plate.

This Christmas was nice and relaxing even though it had less of a Christmas feel to it because of how busy I've been with work and the lack of time to prepare for the holiday. I wanted to put up a Christmas tree with my grandma but either she was working or I was working so we never had the time together to do it and eventually it just came down to us not putting one up. So instead my grandma, with the help of my little cousin, decorated the hibiscus we have in the living room.

I thought it was really cute, and Vern (Yes I named my plant) even decided to give us a pretty Christmas flower in the middle of winter.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas

This describes my childhood Christmases to a T. My brother and I used to get up ridiculously early to check out our presents and shake them and try to figure out what they were before we woke my mom up at dawn.

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve

R.I.P. Mophead, the best dog in the world. Thanks for all the fun and love Fuzzball, and for being the Hobbes to my Calvin, we'll all miss you more than you know.

I got a call tonight from my mom saying that our family dog passed away. We knew it had been coming, he started to get sick and the Vet said he had developed pretty bad dementia and there was nothing they could do for him other than put him to sleep. And until you see a dog with dementia you can't imagine how heart breaking it is to have a family pet look at you and not immediately recognize you and wag his tail at the sound of your voice.

When I visited Florida back in October I basically said my goodbyes because we all knew he wasn't going to be around much longer. I'm going to miss him like crazy.

Random Things...

...That are on my mind at 4:25am. This is what happens when I'm supposed to be sleeping.

It's Christmas Eve, I need sleep so I can deal with last minute shoppers at work later today. But am I sleeping? No, instead I'm talking about one of many favorite subjects of mine. Me. Hah, I wish I were joking.


~ I have finally started to put my dream of traveling across the world into motion. I'm so excited even though I'm still a couple years away from actually going.

~ Yesterday, while I was finishing some last minute Christmas shopping I saw a girl not much older than I am, holding a sign that said "Family woman and student. Will work for food." I always just use my Debit card so all I had was $2 dollars on me. I gave it to her, smiled, and wished her a Merry Christmas. She bravely took the money and thanked me. As I turned away I could see her wipe a tear from her eye before she hardened her resolve again. All I could think was "Oh baby girl, whatever it is, I hope it gets better."

~ For the first time in my life, up until a week ago, I made a real prayer. I just want my mom to get better.

~ I have resigned myself to a lifetime of bachelorettehood because all of the gay girls in this city are either taken, psychotic, players, not interested in me or way too far out of my league. And to that I say, "Hello, Singledom. Pull up a chair and have a beer with me, looks like we're going to be here for a while."

~ I miss school.

~ I absolutely love Bruno Mars' latest album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans.

~ How am I not asleep yet? This is ridiculous.

~ It seems like the older I get, the more introverted I become. I don't think that's a good thing.

~ Oh crap, I forgot to pick up my comics yesterday. I wonder if the shop is going to be open today.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Where's a Bazooka when you need one?

Remember how this morning I was all cool with it being super busy with the one "unique" customer here and there? Well I fucking take it all back.


Today was ri-god-damn-diculous. I wanted to shoot myself in the face with a bazooka, that would have been more enjoyable.


PEOPLE, you're supposed to be spreading Christmas cheer and loving thy neighbor and celebrating the birth of baby Jesus and shit. Don't take it out on me because you waited until the week before Christmas to start your shopping.

Fuck.



I feel a little better now.

That Moment When...

...You're awake at 3:30am and you know you have to be up for work at 7am and you're kicking yourself for passing out in bed so early after you got home yesterday evening.

Yep, that's me right now. I got home last night around 6 had dinner and passed the eff out. While I may only be averaging about 35-40hrs at work, it's surprising how much more tired I feel with the holiday rush. During the regular season we at least have a moment to catch our breath at customer service, but now we're lucky if we even get a break in a 7hr shift. That's just how insanely busy it is. But not only is it physically tiring, it's mentally exhausting as well, especially when dealing with the unreasonable customers. Hence, the need to go home and pass out.

Which brings me back to being awake in the early hours of the morning when I'm supposed to be sleeping. Instead I'm going to update my Christmas Playlist. Remember this post? Well I've found a few new songs to add. The first being one that is completely free to download which you should do immediately, because it's totally awesome.

The song is called "I Need My Baby By My Side (On Xmas Night)" by The Bumbers.



This song is very reminiscent of the 70's punk rock era with a very Christmas feel to it. So if you're like me and you loved bands like The Dead Milk Men, Black Flag and Dead Kennedys, you'll really enjoy this song. Plus, it's ridiculously catchy.

The second song I have to add is "Wish List" by The Neon Trees.


If you listen to the radio at all you've probably heard their hit "Animal" which seems to be playing on repeat. Not that I mind, I think it's a really good song but I was surprised at how great this song was as well. So if you're looking to expand your Christmas Playlist then this will be a great addition.

And last, while this song isn't exactly uplifting with Christmas spirit, I had to download it because of the artist. The song is "Alone This Holiday" by The Used.



Of course the song itself is great, jut be prepared to drown your sorrows in a cup of your grandmothers special eggnog by the time you're finished listening to it.

That's it for my Christmas Playlist update. I can't promise I'll be back before Christmas so just in case, have a great holiday and be safe!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Retail Craziness

With Christmas right around the corner things have been ridiculous at work. We're so busy every day I seriously wonder if there really is a recession going on in this country.

As usual, being so busy means I'm interacting with a wide variety of people, and for the most part everyone has been very pleasant and nice. But every now and then I would get an "interesting" character in.

Last night while I was working, this guy and his wife come in to pick up an order they placed at another store to pick up in our store. There's a slight delay in the system so we hadn't received the order and I told them it would be 10 or 15 minutes before I could pull the order up, but they were more than welcome to shop while I got their product and waited for the order to generate. The lady walks away and literally not even a minute later comes back to say she can't wait that long. I kind of raise my eyebrows in surprise because most customers just say okay and wander off for a bit.

So I double check with my manager, because I know a way around the system but it means we have to cancel the order and the store they placed the order with will lose the sale and we generally don't like to do that. I cancel the order and let the lady and her husband know they can just grab what they were buying and check out at the front registers and they won't have to wait for the order anymore.

They both head off again and I assume they're going to get whatever they wanted and check out but again the lady comes back and just stands at the customer service counter. I see her standing there and I'm thinking okay maybe there's something else she needs, so I ask her if her husband found the item or if they needed help with something else. The woman just looks at me and says "I thought you were getting it."

Mind you, it's almost Christmas time so customer service always has a line of people and all of us girls working the desk are busting ass to make sure we get everyone through as fast as possible. I say "Okay, give me a moment and I'll get it for you." I pull up their canceled order to see what they were getting and I see that it's a stereo system and I get the product number to make sure I grab the right one. On my way to get the item I pick up a cart for them so they won't have to carry it out thinking it'll be big but nothing I can't handle getting down.

I head to the department I know it's in and I see the woman's husband standing by a stereo system so I figure that's the one he must need. I look at the box and I think, "hmm, that's a bit bigger than I thought it would be but I can manage." The box is probably about 5 ft long 4 ft wide and 3 ft deep. I see one sitting on the bottom shelf and I go to pick one end up to slide it on the flatbed cart and immediately my reaction is "holy fucking shit this bastard is heavy."

I'm almost done sliding this huge ass box onto the cart when the guy goes "Wait, not that one. I want that one. The one you're getting has a hole in it." I look up to see where he's pointing to and I see another of the same system but higher up on a shelf about shoulder height to me. I look at the guy and back at the box and I'm thinking to myself "he's joking right?" I check to see what hole he's talking about in the box I have and see there's a small ding on the corner where it looks like the box might have been scraped in shipping but you can see that there is Styrofoam protecting the corners. I tell him as much but he still insists that he wants the other box.

To kind of give you a better picture of the situation, this guy that is telling me he wants me to get this stereo system down in a box that I could easily fit in with room to spare is about 6'2''. So I tell him it's going to be a moment, I have to run and find someone who can help me get it down. Normally, I'm the type of girl that's like "pfft, I don't need a guy, I can do it myself." And I can, but with the box being bigger than I was, I had to admit defeat and get help. I grab the first guy I see and he's really nice about me using him as the muscle and we reach up to start to move the box down when another guy comes up behind me and takes the box from me and the two guys get it down easily. They set the box on the cart and walk off leaving me, the freshly rescued damsel in distress, and I'm thinking to myself "way to reinforce gender roles Amanda."

Monday, December 13, 2010

Lots of Snow!

If you haven't heard, the Midwest received quite the winter beating by mother nature this weekend. I can't remember the last time we got this much snow before Christmas arrived but it has rekindled my love for the winter.

I love snow. I think it's really pretty and it can be a lot of fun to play in. While I don't necessarily enjoy driving in it, and it wasn't very much fun having to wade through a snow drift to get to my car last night after work, I still enjoy seeing it on the ground. The arrival of snow means curling up with a blanket and a good book. Sipping hot chocolate at every opportunity. SLEDDING! Building snow men with my little cousin and so many more fun things.

So here's to winter, enjoy it while it lasts and drive safe out there.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Foreign Films

I like long walks on the beach, dancing in the rain, foreign films...wait, no I just like foreign films.

In all honestly, how many people really like foreign films in those classified ads anyway? I do. Well, not that I've placed an ad in the classifieds (do they even still have those, what with CraigsList now?) but I do enjoy foreign movies.

Growing up, I was always that strange child who enjoyed things a typical child wouldn't have. I loved listening to classical music and opera, watching ballet and musicals, and reading Shakespeare before it was ever assigned in school. I remember always being told I was weird because of those "likes" by my friends and family. I didn't care, they were and still are some of the things I get the most enjoyment out of.

I was first introduced to foreign movies in high school. It was the last day of class before summer started and to kill time my teacher ended up putting on a movie titled La Vita e Bella or Life is Beautiful. Class ended before we could finish the movie but I was hooked.

A few weeks later I was hanging with a friend and we decided to walk into town and rent a movie, I saw that one on the shelf and said something about how good it had started out in class so we rented it. If you've seen the movie then you won't be surprised that both of us ended up sitting on the living room floor, glued to the T.V. with a box of tissues between us. The power of the story the movie told resonated with me and it is still one of my favorite movies to date.

I still get weird looks when something is brought up about foreign movies and I tell people I like them. Not that ALL foreign movies are good, I think it's mostly the culture difference in the stories that are told in the movies. Where American cinema can crank out the same movie multiple times and all they change are the setting and the characters, but the plot stays basically the same, i.e.; boy meets girl, they dance around liking each other, finally girl and boy fall in love and all is perfect, happy ending, etc. etc., it can get boring.

And so every now and then I'll put on a movie from France or Italy or wherever that I've heard was really good, or read the reviews on and I'm always reminded of how much I enjoy them. When I tell people that, I always get the comment about "I can't stand subtitles" which I understand, sometimes it can be frustrating where I wish I just spoke French/Spanish/Italian/German and so on and so forth, so I could just watch without the distraction of reading at the same time. While most movies now come dubbed in English if you prefer, I would rather have the subtitles because I find the words not matching up with the lips far more distracting than just speed reading.

For the most part though, I just stay quiet about those things I enjoy, the classical music, ballet, opera, foreign films and all that because either people perceive me as trying to appear above them, or they question my enjoyment of them.

But now with Netflix I have more and more access to foreign movies I normally wouldn't have come in contact with. Before, movie stores either had a very limited foreign section or didn't have one at all. Just one more reason for me to love Netflix.

So, before I go, here is a list of foreign films I've enjoyed a lot that anyone else interested in checking out might be interested in as well. These are the English titles since it would probably be easier to find them that way.

1. Life is Beautiful

2. Amelie

3. Pan's Labyrinth

4. Love Me if You Dare

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

6. La Vie En Rose

7.
Let the Right One In (Soon to be an American remake Let Me In)

8. Spirited Away (If you're in the mood for something animated, but the again you can never go wrong with anything by Miyazaki)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Gleeful Christmas Filled With Traditions

After the new Glee Christmas themed episode this week I've had Christmas music on my mind constantly. I have yet to buy the Glee Christmas album, but after hearing Chris Colfer sing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" I'm definitely going to. I wasn't expecting to hear a male duo sing that song which is traditionally sung by a male and female pair, but of course I loved it immediately.

How can you not love that cuteness?

Growing up, my Grandfather really influenced my love for some of the great classics; Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Dean Martin, and so many more. He was always humming or whistling music by those amazing artists. And without fail, every year when winter set in, I would always catch him singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Since then, it has always been my song of choice for the winter season.

Another tradition I have, every year around this time I scour my iTunes for all of the Christmas music on there to create a kick ass Christmas playlist. While all of the classics, Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Motown Holiday, bring back memories of childhood Christmases spent with family I like finding modern Christmas music by young artists or completely original music.

Here is the list I created this year :
(Click the links if you want to listen to the song on YouTube)

1. "Merry Christmas Baby" by Brighten Ft. The Maine (Starting things off once again this year, this is such a great song.)

2. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone

3. "Last Christmas" by Wham! (I also have three other versions of this song by The Main, Jimmy Eat World and the Glee Cast, I think it's safe to say I like this song just a little bit.)

4. "Santa Stole My Girlfriend" by The Maine (This is a completely adorable and amusing Christmas song)

5. "Christmas Tree" by Lady Gaga Ft. Space Cowboy (I couldn't resist adding this one. I love all things Lady Gaga and she even manages to make a Christmas song dirty.)

6. "Mistletoe" by Colbie Caillat

7. "Don't Shoot Me Santa" by The Killers

8. "My Only Wish (This Year)" by Britney Spears (Don't hate, I've liked this song since middle school)

9. "Little Drummer Boy" by The Almost

10. "Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" by Anberlin

11. "His Favorite Christmas Story" by Capital Lights

12. "All I Want for Christmas" by My Chemical Romance

13. "Sleigh Ride" by Relient K

14. "Ho Ho Hopefully" by The Maine

15. "Santa Baby" by Everclear

16. "I Believe in Us (This Holiday)" by A Rocket to the Moon

17. "Santa Clause is Thumbing to Town" by Relient K

18. "Christmas Won't Be the Same Without You" by Plain White T's

19. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" by The Jackson 5 (This one is such a Christmas classic that I couldn't help sneaking it in.)

20. "Merry Christmas, Here's to Many More" by Relient K

I hope you're enjoying your Christmas season this year, don't forget to spread plenty of joy and cheer around then have yourself a cup of grandma's special eggnog.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Hungover.

I present to you a Haiku.

Hungover.
By Tin

Long Island Iced Tea.
Woke up drunk, now hungover.
Where's my water glass?


Last night one of my closest friends turned 30 and she was having a massive birthday party to celebrate.

Lots of fun and drinks were had...

Too many drinks...

My head hurts...

I probably shouldn't have chugged both of those Long Islands...

Friday, December 3, 2010

Halestorm - "I Get Off"

I have this small obsession with finding songs that are really hot. And I don't mean "hot" in the sense that they're popular. For the longest time "I Feel Perfect" by Porcelain and the Tramps was at the top of my list and it still is, but I recently re-discovered a song by Halestorm called "I Get Off" which has been my new favorite.

Take a listen:



The music video isn't that great. For a song like that I felt they could have come up with a better video for it, but whatever. Now the lead singer is freaking gorgeous. As a female myself I try not to objectify women too much, but day-um. She rocks on the guitar, has that bad-ass Joan Jett-esque voice and is smokin' hot...where the hell can I sign up???

I remember hearing the song a year ago while I was going through a friends Zune (I knew, who buys Zunes?) and was like "Fuuuuuck dude, this song is amazing!" But as I started listening to new music it eventually rotated out of my play list and I forgot about it until I heard it on the radio the other day. I'm surprised it took as long as it did to hit the radio but at least someone took notice.

Their album, also called Halestorm rocks pretty well for the most part. There are a few songs on there that make for great music to listen to when you're pissed off. A few of my favorites off the album are "Love/Hate Heartbreak", "I'm Not An Angel" "It's Not You" and "Better Sorry Than Safe". The lyrics are good as well, but the instrumentals are pretty typical to most rock albums, meaning it's the same 3 chords played throughout each song.

If you're looking for a new rock group to check out definitely give this album a listen. It's not ground breaking but it's worth some of your time.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Aha a Moment to Blog!

It's been far too long my little blog. I'm only working a few hours today so you and I can spend some much needed time together.

It started snowing yesterday and I would just like to point out that the people still driving 70 mph on the highway like it's summer and causing accidents are morons. Yeah, I said it. You idiot people act like you have never driven in the snow before. It's fucking Michigan!

Luckily, I just got new tires on my car that morning, which couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Driving home last night on pure ice was freaky but my brand spanking new tires had some great traction and my car didn't even slide once, woohoo!

After what could have potentially been a really bad accident on Thanksgiving I have been very on edge when it comes to driving in bad weather lately.

So drive safe out there everybody and remember, it's winter, slow the fuck down!