The inaugural post of Xave's Xlog (apart from a brief introductory post) was entitled The Mystery of Downsview Station and chronicled my New Year's Eve adventure. That was Me Being an Idiot #1, and today I'll present the second installment in what may prove to be a regular feature.
Today's story is actually directly related to New Year's Eve. In case you haven't read it, I lost my toque that night (among other things). Well, as I'm sure you can guess, Ottawa is a cold place, not the sort of place you want to be without a hat. Furthermore, I've been skating to school since the semester started a week and a half ago, and the increased speed that goes along with skating combined with the wind tunnel effect created by the layout of the Rideau Canal creates even more of a hat necessity.
Now, I'd been getting by okay so far. Some days I wore a hoody and sometimes it just hasn't been that cold. I did intend to get a hat; I even went hat shopping on Monday, but the stores I went to were over-priced, and the hat I got in the fall had only cost me like 8 bucks (and it was really nice!). So I didn't get a hat on Monday, and it didn't seem like a big deal. This would prove to be a costly decision.
Last night it dropped 20 degrees.
I had early class this morning, so I rolled out of bed, trudged to the shower, had some breakfast, got my lunch together and put my coat on. I opened the closet and saw my roommate's scarf hanging there. I had borrowed this scarf several days earlier because he was out at the time. But I wasn't sure if it was an extra scarf, or if it was his primary scarf and he had just forgot it that day. Since he was asleep (meaning I couldn't ask him), I decided to leave it in case he needed it. Bad Decision #2.
When I got outside, the cold wind hit me like I hit the bottle on New Year's Eve. (how many times can I plug that entry in this post? Stay tuned to find out!) I got down to the canal, laced up my skates, and set off on my journey. Now, on these skates to school, sometimes I put my shoes in my backpack, and sometimes I just hold them. Today was one of the holding days, simply because I was too lazy/cold to take my backpack off and shove them in. Bad Decision #3.
When my ears started to discover how cold it was, I tried to alleviate the cold by holding my mitts to them. Unfortunately, I could only do one ear at a time since I was holding my shoes with the other hand. The skate was treacherous; apart from the cold and the wind, the ice was in bad condition. It seemed like the snow was packed really deep into the ice, whereas it usually sits on top of the ice allowing the skates to cut through and still get a smooth ride. I even had my first wipe-out of the year, which was actually kinda fun, because I was low down and leaning forward at the time, and even though I couldn't see myself do it (given that I'm me) I think it probably looked like I was sliding headfirst into second base (like Pete Rose).
When I arrived at the other end, I sat down beside another student-skater, who remarked to me something along the lines of "dude, you got some frostbite going on". I felt my ears, and sure enough, they were totally numb, and when I got inside to the bathroom I discovered that parts of them were totally white. Now, I've never had frostbite before, at least nothing worse than anyone who's lived in Canada has, so I had no idea what to expect. Would I be good to go in 5 minutes? Would I need amputation and reconstructive surgery? I was not ruling out any possibility between these 2 extremes.
Well, the first 10 minutes were the worst. I was in excruciating pain as my ears thawed, and I stayed in the bathroom pacing, waiting for the pain to subside, even though class had already started. Eventually it felt a bit better and I headed up to class. About an hour into class we had a break, at which point I went to the bathroom and discovered that my ears had swollen up and were seriously huge. So I headed over to the bookstore and bought an overpriced U of O toque, the kind I had tried to avoid on Monday. The rest of class was mildly painful, though I didn't have to deal with the embarrassment of looking like a monkey.
At lunch I went over to health services and set up an appointment for after my second class of the day. The good news: for now it's just a first degree burn, and if I take care of it, it should stay that way. If it blisters or opens up I'll have to go back, and then technically it'll be a second degree burn, but the outlook is good all things considered. According to the doc, I'll have trouble sleeping tonight and I'll be in serious pain tomorrow morning, but otherwise things are rosy (especially my ears).
So, I guess you're all dying to see Me as a Monkey. Well..... okay.
/************ WARNING***************/
if you're grossed out by huge ears, do not pass go, do not collect $200, turn back now before it's too late!
Yeah, I'm an idiot.
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