When the first snow day was announced I was ecstatic; I could put off my math homework for at least two more days. This is essentially what keeps me going in high school, knowing that anytime school could be cancelled by the uncontrollable force of mother nature, yet it all started to go down hill when I woke up at 11:45.

Waking up so late on a snow day irritated me, I had planned to spend my day not doing anything productive as much as possible, but I had already slept half the un-productive day away. Then of course there was the inevitable cold walk from my bed to the shower that only continued to dampen my mood.

After my shower I caught my first glimpse of the snow fall. I knew there would be a lot, enough to cancel school, but not THAT much. And of course there was a steady stream of snow still coming down. I knew that my parents would ask me to wage the up-hill battle of shoveling the driveway while it was still snowing. No matter how much sense my objection to shoveling made, my parents would still make me.

At about one o’clock I thought it would be fitting to watch The Shinning, but alas I couldn’t find my copy. So I spent a good 30 minutes cursing at who ever had taken it or misplaced. I soon found the irony of the situation. In The Shinning Jake Torrance slowly goes insane while snowed in at an old hotel, and I seemed to be doing the same  while snowed in at my own house. I hoped I wouldn’t end up brandishing an ax as Jack Torrance did, so I settled to watch Fargo instead.

Two hours later I was doing the inevitable, shoveling the driveway. I had wasted all my energy shoveling half the driveway, and when I looked back at my path, it had already been covered in a fresh blanket of snow. I threw the shovel down and started looking for an ax.

The next day I was recruited by one of the local families to babysit their children. I took the offer because I wanted to make easy money, and because I thought getting out of the house would ease my sanity.

When I arrived I immediately regretted my decision. The second I walked in the kids started screaming and pulling on me to play with them. I tried my best to micro manage them, but they were too much. Halfway through the day and I already wanted to take a nap, but I can’t do that when I babysit because in the eye of the law that would be “neglect.” I was asked to babysit the same kids again the next day and through gritted teeth I agreed.

Essentially the same thing happened the next day, except halfway through the day my phone began to ring. I reached into my pocket and didn’t feel my phone. A quick check of the other pockets didn’t reward anything. I began to frantically search the couch cushions for my phone yet it was not there. So for a good half hour I searched the living room for my phantom cell phone.

I couldn’t help, but think back to The Shinning. Was any of this real? Was my phone really ringing or was it simply my mind playing tricks on me? The only thing that was missing was were two creepy twin girls asking me to “come play with us,” (The kids I were baby sitting did have a pair of twins, but they were the polar opposite of creepy. They were quite adorable in fact).

I knew we wouldn’t have a fourth snow day and was quite relieved to be able to see my friends again. But then the news of a green/white day spread across social media sites and the prospect of a senior skip day was presented.

I regret to tell myself that I had, in fact, even considered taking part in one of these much coveted “skip days,” but I couldn’t bare to spend another day stuck in my house with nothing to do.

Hopefully it begins to get warmer or the sun shines brighter, because I don’t think I’ll be able to bear another snow day.

I never did find that ax.