[Coda]

*throws a roll of quarters at the back of Alpha's head*

Don't trust Ashy. She is a wicked temptress up to no good.

[Tiva]

Ashy is his buddy..... they talk all of the time, it is far to late for him.

[Arikana]

D:
Start replacing the Ashy influence in Alpha with your influence, Tiva? :P

[Alpha]

Oh, she's just as bad. Ashy is only when it comes to certain things.

[Arikana]

Oh.... Then who can replace the bad Ashy and Tiva influences in you, Alpha? owo

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I'm awake!

You guys have no idea how much of a novelty this is right now. I've been up for an hour and I'm still kinda giggly about the sunshine.

[Arikana]

Has it snowed out west yet, Quiet? :o

[Quiet Man Cometh]

What is this "snow" you speak of?

I'm in Vancouver. ;). Anything white that sticks around past sunrise is a rarity, and anything more than 2cm stops traffic. My dad up in the northern interior of the province has had snow for a while though. It's usually starts sometime around September/October.

[Lucid:]

I'm familiar with this "a light smattering of this foreign cold white dust shuts down the city" concept. Washington was so nice... Living in Utah sucks. The snow's starting to melt here, but the stubborn patches of grass that are shades for the majority of the day still have a good 4 inches or so. And since it won't melt, it stays cold! :C I have been crusading against this vile monstrosity by stomping on every patch of snow I can. It melts faster if it gets broken up! ;D

[Tohopekaliga]

I have seen at least three snowflakes near my home.

Ever.

They melted above eye level, though.

[Arikana]

@Quiet: Wait, what? Snow doesn't stay long in Vancouver? owo That's new. I thought it would seeing how the provinces west of Ontario tend to be a lot colder than us. >w>
I'm so jealous of your dad's city/town. I want snow so badly right now!! I've missed it so much!! :( <3

@Lucid: You don't like snow? D':

@Toho: owo That sounds awful. Snow is such wonderful awesomeness. >w<
Where do you live that rarely gets snow? owo

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Coastal weather is usually more temperate than other areas around it because the water keeps the temperatures more uniform. It's he reason that we have a lot of homeless over here that actually come from Eastern Canada. The milder winters are less harsh to deal with. The weather in the interior is more extreme. We don't get a lot of snow, but we also don't get a heck of a lot of sunshine either.

Up where my dad is if you don't get at least a couple of feet of snow, something's off. I've had to dig poo holes for my dogs sometimes, and rescue my sister's Jack Russel from being stranded because the snow is above her head. She'd get fetched up on her belly and get stuck. My spaniel was a little snow plow, show she'd follow him most of the time, unless there was something interesting elsewhere.

I lived up there for seven years, in Fort St. John, and have personally seen it snow at least one day in every month of the year. Didn't seem to matter too much what the previous day's weather was. Could be 30C and still random snow the next day.

One drawback about the interior is that it's dry. When snow actually sticks around down here, it's so wet you can make some pretty cool stuff out of it, and good snowballs. Up in Fort St. John (which is mile 43 of the Alaska Highway if anyone wants to know) the snow is so dry that snowballs are almost impossible. It's so light and fluffy though, you can go charging through it without much issue, but it makes up for that by being such little flakes that when disturbed, the snow turns hard as rock. I don't recommend stomping on it. My dad showed me how to make an igloo one year, just by clearing a space, shoveling a heap of snow into it, waiting a bit for it to harden, and then hollowing it out. Make sure the outside is a few inches thick, put a candle in it for half an hour or so to melt the inside layer into ice, and you should be able to stand on it. Apparently it's a trick that cross country skiers use. Handy for survival too, since snow never gets lower than 0 degrees. Dig yourself a little hole and you'll be warmer than if you just stand out in the open.

[Arikana]

Nice. That's the thing I'm most jealous of the Northern half the country. They have legit cold survival skills. Whereas what we call cold in the lower half of the country is nothing to them. >w>

Do you miss living with your dad up in Fort St. John? :o
Why did you move out? :o

[Alpha]

*grabs roll of quarters* Thanks Coda....I think....Owww...*rubs back of head*

Ari: Eh, not really bad influences......just encourage. In fact, Tiva actually is a good influence at times.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I was born down here on the coast. My parents used to live up there for a while but moved down here when my sister and I came along. I moved up there to finish high school in part because I could be finished in one semester instead of two, and to spend time with my dad, since my parents were separated by then. I originally couldn't leave Vancouver because I was getting kidney dialysis here and was too young to move to a community unit. I moved up north after my transplant in 2002 and ended up living there for five years. The original plan was only to be there for six months or so in between high school and university but plans changed, and I ended up staying and going to the local college for my first two years of school. I moved back to Vancouver to finish university in 2007..

I think about moving back sometimes because the job market is so much better and it's a much smaller city. I found it really helped my stress when I moved. However, I do like it a bit more down here, and I have family on both sides of the province. My mom's family is all here, and my dad's family is all there. Truthfully, I'm not 100% satisfied living in either area, but so far I'm doing okay here, though I haven't managed a visit up north this year so far, which is kinda disappointing.

Living here in Van versus up north in FSJ is so radically different from the cities to the social circles I have in each, that it's really hard to compare the two. Everything I lack in one place can be found in the other. Urban versus Rural; large social group versus small; busy versus calm; city venues for entertainment versus outdoor activities.

[Lucid:]

Originally Posted by Arikana

@Lucid: You don't like snow? D':

That's...a bit of an understatement.

I HATE snow. I hate snow with a flaming passion. Snow serves no purpose but to hinder my happiness. Snow is not only cold itself, but also makes all the air around it cold and, even worse, DRY. I hate dry air. I can't breathe it. I need my air to be nice and moist. Snow is wet. I can't wear flats or else it'll soak through my shoes and socks and pant legs. It's slippery, so I can't wear heels (my go-to rain shoes) to protect my poor clothing. I'm stuck with these horrid snow boots that are clunky and heavy and make my feet too hot when I'm indoors. Snow is hard to drive in. I've never driven in snow before a week ago; it's scary. It also requires me to scrape my car in the mornings. See: Cold, Wet. As well as a waste of my time. Oh, and once the snow is more than a few hours old, it gets all stepped on, driven on, mushed, and muddy. It's disgusting to look at. There's no reason to have snow when you can have not-snow instead.