Despite being largely cooped indoors for the past three days, I have managed to enjoy myself to a great degree despite the lack of travel. Remembering the times previously when weather conditions have kept me largely indoors for periods of time, I thought it would be worthwhile to compare this particular experience, which has not been too unpleasant with times I was much more bothered by being cooped up indoors. No doubt there are others who have pondered this particular phenomenon, as I have heard from others that their experiences have been much less pleasant over this particular cold weekend. While some large cities (like Tokyo and Portland) have been snowed in, there are some cities (like Sochi, Russia) that could really use the snow. Life is funny like that, in that it is hard for areas to get what they need in this world, and where a lot get what they don’t want.

The last time I remember having to deal with a cabin fever-inducing situation was when I lived in Tampa in Fall 2004. That was a particularly unpleasant period because so many hurricanes hit Florida, four of them, one after another. The second of those four hurricanes was Hurricane Frances, which weakened over the peninsula of Florida and sat directly over the Tampa area for a day, dumping 9 inches of rain, knocking out power, and leaving many roads flooded over or blocked by debris. It also tore half of the shingles off of a neighbor’s roof. Being cooped up for a couple days in a home with no power, no air conditioning, and no running water was a miserable experience, and I quickly got cabin fever enough that after a couple days I felt it necessary to drive around just to be outside and have some fresh air.

I must admit that I don’t have that particular feeling this time. Even though since Thursday evening I have been inside, I don’t feel quite as cooped up as I did before. Perhaps the fact that the power is on, and I have been able to stay in communication with others, means that even if I would prefer to be able to travel a bit, I do not feel too distressed. I don’t want this to go on too much longer, to be sure, but given that this is the fourth day of this particular weather, I feel I have not fared too poorly, all things considered. From what I can see, many of the people that I know have gone outside to enjoy the taste of winter, while others have tried to drive or dealt with the closing of public transportation in the area (funny how public transportation fails in the times of an area’s greatest need). In the meantime, I suppose that there could be vastly more unpleasant ways to spend a snowy weekend, though.