Hello, is that you, Alberta?

The wind is absolutely howling outside my window. It's miserable. It's aggressive. I feel like I'm getting a visit from the Ghost of Alberta's Wintery Past. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. And even worse, it's paired with moments of feeling like I have a cold coming on for the first time in, well months. I had a bit of a bug after Yunnan and when I went back to Canada. But otherwise I can't remember the last time. Like I said... I don't like it. Nope.

And it's crazy how quickly the weather has turned here! Just yesterday I was running in shorts and a t-shirt and was fully comfortable in a standard hoodie at nearly midnight as I was returning to Kaifaqu... I spent the night eating with some good friends and playing uber-nerdy games in Jinshi with the crew out there and had no sense that it was nippy, nor do I have any inkling that a cold was coming on. Not in my throat OR in the air.

Maybe it was the Oilers loss this morning, the full moon last night, or just being generally run down, but I'm definitely feeling the weight of oncoming illness and I worry about it settling in. Let's blame the wind though. I hate being sick. And wind. Like, they're the worst things ever. So hopefully I can just keep ploughing through my marking and get my stuff ready for tomorrow without falling victim to the plague. I think I have the black lung, Pop. *cough* Wind, wind, go away... come again, uhhhh, never.

As a side note, I feel like I have to come clean. Okay... I'll admit it. I haven't always been a diehard Edmonton Oilers fan. I've been mentioning my love for the Oil a tonne lately, and my family members are asking, "since when??". I tried to convince them that I've always been true to the blue. This isn't totally true. I've always cheered for them, but I have been and remain a loyal Pens fan first and foremost. However, over the past years of being surrounded by Canuck fans out in BC and listening to all the "loyal" Flames fans cheer on Iggy and the gang, I've embraced a love for the Blue and Orange from E-town. China has furthered this love, as I need to give a hard time to the 'Nucks fans AND I can actually watch the Oilers games on Sunday mornings on HNIC on CBC. Yes, Bootle, I know you are apparently loyal to those sparks they call hockey players in Cowtown. And my Great-Aunt May and the rest of my mom's family have been loyal for a long time, but Calgary's team wasn't so hot prior to Jerome's arrival and the red mile was nonexistent and I'm pretty sure they could've gone the way of Winnipeg. Just saying. I've been a Pens fan since, well, forever. Super Mario wasn't just a hero on my NES.

Okay. Off to a bit more work and bed. Much China love, all.

T