2018-03-08

【Aiden in English】

        It’s great when you can celebrate a birthday without having to go to school. Not that I’m skipping school, it’s just because there is a projected foot of snow. Furthermore, it’s not my birthday, but my grandmother’s. She’s turning 81 today, which isn’t something that occurs often.

        Looking out the window while I’m writing this, it doesn’t appear like there’s going to be school today or tomorrow. After a peaceful morning of flurries, the snowfall really ramped it into high gear. Some flakes that fell near my window were large as quarters (that sounded really lame). Did I forget to mention that it’s March? Last time I recalled, March meant spring, and spring meant warm, blossoming weather, not blankets of frozen water. Nothing wrong with that though.

        A small side story regarding our school and snow days. This year, after having a few missed school days, the district decided to tax on days in June instead of eliminating our entire Spring Break. I’m thankful for that. However, their mindset was still set on ending the year early. So when it was projected for blizzard yesterday, the school waved off all warnings and let the bus drivers deal with the road conditions as usual. I don’t know how they made this decision. For one, if the school’s power went out, that should be a giant flashing red light. Also, if they couldn’t notice, there was about half of foot of snow on the ground. 

        The bus ride back took ages, involving detours and flashing police cars all over the place. The drama ended when I got back home, only to find that power went out the same day. In addition, two school busses were flipped over by the lack of traction on turns. But why am I saying all this? Well, the district is now super sensitive to snow days, and at the hint of snow will give a day off. Also, I’m surprised that none of the parents of the kids on the busses decided to sue the school. 

        So here I am, at home, writing this post, eating the BD cake while celebrating my grandmother’s 81st birthday. Looking outside, I see my neighbors’ kids jumping around in the snow. We just shoveled our driveway at noon, which turned out to be quite a waste of time since the snowstorm continued to grow right after. A wasted thirty minutes of my life. 

        Can someone explain to me why snow is so poetic? It causes many pains in our lives, but songwriters continue shoving snow into bars. Perhaps it stands for the holidays, or the wintery months, or the fact that it’s one of purest colors on earth. Snow in March sounds poetic as well. But the most poetic of all, a birthday snowstorm in March.

【紅霞譯文】

        祝壽慶生當天不必到校上學令人欣喜萬分，其實並非我有意翹課，而是因為預計一英尺厚的暴雪即將來襲；再說，壽星不是我而是外婆，今天她老人家恰好八十一歲，這種天公作美的巧合可遇不可求。

        寫到這裡我舉目朝窗外張望，今明兩天恐怕學校都得放假。早上雪花輕歌曼舞，之後便紛紛揚揚狂傾而下，有的竟然大如25美分硬幣（聽起來確實荒唐），莫非我忘記提及眼下正值初春三月？憶往昔，三月本已萬物復甦春暖花開，而不該千里冰封萬里雪飄，但天要落雨娘要嫁人，變化自在情理之中。

        既然談到我們學校與雪天放假，那就順便扯點題外話。鑑於今年停課多日，學區決定要在六月份補齊學時而不再占用整個春假，我舉雙手贊成。即便如此，學區還打算儘早完成本學年進度，這就是為什麼昨天明知暴風雪兵臨城下，日常活動依舊進行，充其量向各個校車發出預警通知，讓司機自行處理路障問題，我不知道校方如何決策，諸如萬一停電，學校勢必要配備好超級照明燈；就算校方毫不知情，可是地上積雪已達半英尺來厚。

        昨個兒乘校車回家折騰了很長時間，一路上沒少繞彎路兜圈子，執勤警車閃着警燈到處轉悠，等我好不容易平安到家，又發現小區斷電，真可謂“屋漏偏逢連夜雨，船遲又遇打頭風”。其間，另有兩輛校車由於失控而造成翻車，但我為何要說這個呢？沒錯，“一朝被蛇咬十年怕井繩”，現在學區對雪天特別敏感，只要有風吹草動立馬打發學生回家待命，奇怪的是甚至沒有任何翻車的學生家長起訴學校。

        我囚在家裡動筆書寫這篇文章，一邊慶祝外婆八十一歲華誕，一邊吃着生日蛋糕，外面鄰家孩童正在雪地上跳來跳去。中午十分，我們剛把車道清理乾淨，結果多此一舉，因為暴風雪一直下個不停，讓我白白浪費卅分鐘人生。

        有誰能告訴我為什麼雪極富詩意？它使我們遭受種種磨難，但作曲家們卻讓雪的旋律如美酒般傾瀉。也許雪代表假期或者冬季或者世上最純潔的東西之一，三月的雪“詩情偏向峭寒高”，而最具詩意的當屬三月生日暴風雪。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2017: 2017 Twp Rec B-ball Quarterfinal(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球四分之一賽)

2017: Montgomery County Science Research Competition—Under Pressure(蒙哥馬利郡科學研究競賽—壓力)

2012: 三年級弦樂教育(Third Grade String Edu)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

2017: Grandma’s 80th Birthday @ Golden CIty(金城酒家慶外婆八十歲生日)

2015: Grandma’s 78th BirthdayPeony @ Pavilion Asian Fusion, NJ(新州牡丹亭現代亞洲餐館慶祝外婆78歲生日)