I Survived the Blizzard of '10

Friday, December 10, 2010. Approx. 5:00 p.m.
I have a full schedule, tonight.  Looking forward to going to the Coeval reading and stopping by Nelly's place for a hot chocolate get together.  Hope I can stay awake, though.  This week has been tough.  Maybe if I just lay down for a while... rest my head... 

6:50 p.m.
*Lightly shaken awake by Sam Allgood.* 
"April... did you want to be awake?  Didn't you have plans?" 
*mumble.*
I try to move, but every limb has been cut open during my nap and filled with sand.  
"I don't know if I'm going to go...." 

7:05 p.m.
I'm not going out, tonight. 

9:06 p.m.
How silently the snow falls! How pretty!  What a lovely nap, and what a lovely night.  

Saturday, December 11, Approx. 1:45 a.m.
Went and hung out with the boy for a while.  He mentioned that Cub Foods was particularly busy, today.  People stocking up,... for what?  

2:10 a.m.
I'm still not tired because of the nap I took earlier today.  It's still snowing!  It will be a white Christmas, for sure. 

3:35 a.m.
Time to go to bed, I think.  What lovely snow! 

11:45 a.m.
I awoke to sheer whiteness outside my bedroom window.  A glowing, apocalyptic sort of whiteness.  It was frightening.  I stood up and glanced out the window and noticed--it was still snowing.  There was about 2 feet on the ground now.  Not evenly dispatched like a blanket, as snowfall is often called, but rolling waves of white, with crests as high as my waist.  

12:50 p.m.
Christmas Banquet was cancelled for tonight, because of the snowfall.  No one can move their cars.  No one wants to.  We are running out of food.  A few brave men ventured out into the abyss and dug out one of their cars to make the 1/2 mile journey to McDonalds, which ended up taking 2 hours.  Everyone is pulling out skis and snowshoes, trying to enjoy the snow, for what it's worth.  Out of the 70 city buses around the metro, twenty something are stuck, I hear.  Facebook tells me that Jaci found Taco Bell to be closed.  The city is shut down.  They pulled the plows off the road.  

3:30 p.m. 
Trying to distract myself from the blizzard with homework.  The snow has finally receded.  16 inches they say... no--3 feet.  
We are wondering if Dominos will still deliver. 

6:30 p.m.
Dominos isn't delivering.  We don't know what to do for food.  A nice man in a snowsuit stopped by, introduced himself as Chip, and said that he was walking to Dominos to pick up some pizzas, if we wanted one.  We didn't have any cash, so we couldn't get pizza. 

7:05 p.m.
Bethel is offering food between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00 tonight.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bad pizza, soda.  Some chips, too.  There is talk of food shortages. 

7:30 p.m.
We head over to the Dining Center.  There is a line going around the corner, down the stairs, ending near the Royal Grounds.  So many people are hungry.  We're nervous.  Will there be enough food? 

7:50 p.m.
We make it inside the Dining Center.  I am offered two slices of cardboard pizza and two pieces of bread for peanut butter sandwich-making.  A Styrofoam cup for soda.  Could this be the end? 

11:00 p.m.
We decide to embrace our fates and the blizzard and head out to be children in the snow.  The brisk air chills my face, as I had forgotten a scarf.  My $30 boots from 2 years ago are held together by duct tape and hope.  Mounds of snow from the plows are everywhere, and some wise natives have turned them into snow-dwellings.  It is comforting to know that there are persons capable of surviving the elements at Bethel.  

11:20 p.m
We go sledding and, for about an hour, forget our fates. 

12:30 p.m.
We get back to the room to enjoy some hot chocolate with rationed milk.  Some of us need to mix the milk with water, to make it last.  Our other rations include: 17 white chocolate peppermint Kisses, half a container of nuts, half a bag of pretzels, 3 year old tea, and a candy cane.

9:00 a.m.
Church has been cancelled.  God has given up on us. 

12:00 p.m.
We find out the Metrodome has collapsed.  God has given up on the Vikings.