In Continuum.

Snowed In

Temperatures took a death plunge this morning when i woke up.The cold air rushed into my blanket the moment i flipped it off my body,with the dog on top struggling to gain its balance on the tsunami made from plain fabric.I was woken up by the dog again,with its front paws on my chest and smelling my nose for some reason,the perfect alarm clock i'd say.

The little monitor on the air-conditioning in the livingroom has a thermometer that shows the temperature of the air indoors.15 Degrees,that's the lowest temperature it has been since i landed here,and the outside temperature is traditionally two or three degrees lower than that.Winter of Taiwan,the familiar chill.Awesome!

I've always liked it when it is cold rather than warm.Nobody ever understood my theory,but i'll try to explain it here.You see,when you are really cold with the temperatures dropping to close to or beyond zero,you can put on a hell lot of clothes to keep yourself warm.That's not a problem,because there is a way to prevent you from any discomfort.But the humidity and discomfort in Singapore due to the heat is different.Even if you strip off all your clothes and run around in the nude,you are still going to feel hot because that's the way it is.You can hide from coldness but never from the hot.

But of course,no matter how low the temperatures decides to plunge,it is probably not going to snow in the cities anytime soon,unless mother nature decides to reenact the scenes from The Day After Tomorrow,which was a dumbass movie in the first place,i wouldnt know.As the weather forcast on television was informing us about the approach of the cold air mass from China,my uncle asked us if we've seen or touched snow.I remember snow,the way they crunched under our feets and how they fell like rain but not as rapidly,and not nearly as noisy.It just fell like a million cotten,falling carefully on the shoulders of everybody under its cold comfortable blanket.

We were in Vancouver,Canada about twelve years ago.I was merely in Primary School,but i remember the first time i felt the chill of a real winter,as the car doors opened and the white world invited me into their cold arms.I remember the front lawn of my aunt's house in Vancouver,with a mini-snowman sitting at the front with the rest of the street covered in the same white.There was hardly any other colours,save for just black and white,and i remember the way the snow gathered on the seats of the swings down the street,and the way they gathered on the window sills and on the steps leading up to the front door.

I forgot the name of the mountain we went to,but it was supposedly a famous skiing spot for the locals and the tourists.Over a frozen river the car drove,through a metal bridge decorated with a pair of iron lions on each end of it,we drove past rows and rows of dead maple trees,and took a cable car all the way up to the top of the mountain.That was the first time i saw snow,the way they should be as they stretch out all the way into the horizon.Real Christmas trees dotted the landscape,white fluffy snow gathered on each arms of the trees and surrounding them a red barrier that divided the tourist-allowed area and the wild.They even had signs around that said "Beware of Bears".I remember staring for so long in between the trunks of the trees for any signs of a moving brown mass that my eyes stung from the cold.

Now that i think of it,snow is over-rated.I mean,as rare as they are,they are nothing more than shredded ice really.The only difference between them is that in Singapore,the maximum quantity you get with shredded ice is probably limited to the size of the bowl,but in Canada,they comes in mountains and states and the whole bloody country.They felt like rain as they melt on your coats and jackets,and if you walk through the snow long enough you'd be drenched throughout.But still,it was nice just to dig holes in the ground and dump snowballs on one another.Like India,an experience worthy of remembrance,but a repeated one is not exactly desired.

So now i am stuck with what i have in Taiwan,with occasional snow in the higher peaks but never the city.Instead of snowfall i have only the cold winds and the rain falling in waves all around.The dog is wearing a little sweater that says 'Supper Star' now,and i am wrapped in thick clothings desperate for a hot bowl of beef noodles.Or just the back of her against my chest,holding hands and falling sleep.Yeah,that's probably what i need right now.Anything warm,anything you.

I've been dreaming of a snowed-in.You know,how in other countries they declare that school is out if it snowed too heavily over the night,and the way morning would seem like night when the snow is too thick for the sunlight to filter through.When you have difficulty to open the front door and to walk through the yard.The way you sink knee-deep into the layer of white foam,and running back into the house because it is too damn cold,but a smile on your face because school's out.

*

'Hey,it snowed in.Guess we are trapped here.'

'Yeah,i guess we are.Come back to bed?'

'Can we afford to?'

'We have the time.We have the time.'

'But it will stop snowing soon.'

'Then what are you waiting for?Let's enjoy it.'