Thoughts, ramblings and other stuff

So the sunshine is still not here. The best we got was few days of just clouds instead of clouds and non-stop rain. And it switched from hot and raining to cold and raining. Three days ago I had to switch the AC back on because it was getting 25C inside my apartment (same as outside) and with the humidity it was just too sticky. It at least got the humidity down (92% outside but only 72% inside). Then Sunday came with cold wind and no rain for a moment so I enjoy a moment of getting a little drier. And then I woke up today to the sound of falling rain. It was barely above 10C and rained the whole day. Of course as a Polish person (and generally European from North side of Alps) this is what I consider true November weather. This is why it is the worst month - rain, mud, cold and very short days made even shorter by the clouds and rain. The trees are bare, the skies are grey and the days are getting shorter. November in Europe is what depression looks like.

Here usually is not that bad. US is generally much much sunnier - way more sunny days in a year (except Pacific Northwest which has similar weather to Western Europe). I started to get used to autumn and November being sunny and pretty warm. This is usually when the best fall colours happen around here - the yellow, red and orange against blue skies looks amazing. But this year all the rain has already taken all the leaves out. They were still getting not fully changed last weekend and this one they were all gone. I blame the El Niño - I'm told it makes this part of the continent very rainy when it happens.

So this is the best autumn pic I got - a week ago (if you look closely you can see the rain)


So here is something to take the mind off the weather - new Star Wars trailers with new footage

A week ago it was still 28^oC and it was hard to remember that October was ending. Then came the first cooling and the temperatures dropped to below 20^o and then on Halloween night it got even colder and started to rain. In the mountains that rain fell as snow which is apparently shocking at the beginning of November (even if not unheard of) but here it was just cold drizzle. A real November weather in other words. It continued on and off through Saturday and the temperature was barely above 10^o. On Sunday it was even colder but sunny again and the lack of clouds meant the night got really cold and the temperature dropped below 0^o for the first time this autumn. So this morning, while I'm still not fully switched to winter time and it's easy to wake up at dawn, I went and took some photos of frost.

According to forecast today is the last hot day - one that's over 30 ^oC and sunny. It's supposed to be colder and/or rain from now on (although still above 20 ^oC so hardly cold). But the nights are going to be cool 14-17 ^oC and the days are much shorter and I can see the first leaves turning yellow so the air already smells a little like autumn. It just started to rain outside so it'll start to feel like it too. Rain and autumn are intimately connected for all of us Northern Europeans (by that I mean anyone on the North side of the Alps). So even though the temperatures could still be pretty summer like for my Polish sensibilities I have now been here long enough and this is a cold enough year that it feels like summer has ended in September just as it does at home.

In funny turn of events Poland seems to have a very warm (over 25 ^oC this weekend and mostly over 20 so far) and sunny weather this September so my parents say it feels like summer hasn't really went away yet. This is the difference a day of all penetrating drizzle (just a couple days ago) can make. But this is nothing - up North it has already started snowing.

Also Arizona has been flooded and California is still going deeper and deeper into drought so Global Warming is still on. But we managed to make the ozone layer start recovering so at least that worked.

Drama:
Last Resort - I didn't expect to like it - it seemed to be too overboard - but I did. The idea seemed stupid and I only watched it for the cast and because I try to try all that even a little sf but I had fun. There was suspense and action and interesting characters who really nicely interacted with each other - equator crossing, reactions to the order - you feel like the characters know and care about each other. I even liked the nebulous conspiracy. I usually am very wary of this things but I liked how we got all the red herrings for various people to belong to that and then they didn't and might be good guys. I loved the Australians. I liked how they clearly left now for sf - they exploded nukes in Pakistan! And then in US! And of course all the questions - Why? Who? What did the marines do? I hope they'll keep it fun.

Revolution - I wanted to like it (SF!, post-apocalypse!) but it was just so full of so stupid things I almost don't want to see any more. It's like they took the worse parts of Abram's and Kripke's works and put them together. The premise with big event that doesn't have any sensible explanation (changing laws of physics? seriously?) with results that don't even align with the voice-over (pastoral villages! clean, new clothes straight from the machines 15 years after all of them stopped working!). It reminded me of the shared universe from the series of Polish sf novels where there are nanomachines that attached to and disrupt all that's electrical. But I doubt this is going to make that much sense. Also in the novels everyone goes back to steam - lost opportunity for Revolution - they could've gone steampunk.

The most annoying part came from obsession with family (the Google guy is the only non-family member in the group) and spectacularly stupid behaviours that make everything worse (both kids acted like they were at least 10 years younger then they really were - there was pouting and pointing gun at the whole army). Add to that missing parent and rescuing younger (sick) brother from evil that wants him and you can tell who has issues. He even made that brother responsible for the death of a family member in the first episode. I wanted to slap them, or ground for life. So frustrating. The only interesting parts - uncle and his connection to the militia ruler and the device that can make electricity work again. And the poison scene.

Comedies I liked:
Go On - I liked the patients and even Perry's character,
The New Normal - It's kind of cute but grandma is horribly stereotypical in her stereotyping (but the gun thing was funny)
The Mindy Project - It was cute too although full of douchey people but funny too. It's nice to have self-deprecating female lead.

Meh:
Guys with Kids - I'm pretty sure I saw it but I don't remember what happened.

Bad:
Animal Practice - Just not funny

The autumn is officially here. The colours and the frigid air tell me so. The temperatures dropped suddenly on Friday. Although we had a mini heat wave first and the warm humid air made me turn the air-conditioning on for the first time in over a month. It also cause once again the reemergence of waterfall on my wall but it seems that the new maintenance guy knows what he is doing better then the old one. At least he found the part that is rusted and leaking and promised they will replace that when they get a new one.  Luckily the hot weather only lasted two days and then it got much, much colder. From temperature of 30C during a day and 22 at night it dropped into 16 during the day and only 4C at night. You could almost feel frost coming and I turned heating on in the morning. So from A/C to heating in two days. I've worn long sleeved shirt for the firs time since early spring.

Still the days are longer then in Poland now and is still warmer then it's usually is this time of year back home (although my parents say this is a very warm and sunny weekend there). And although the trees mostly already changed colours it still looks more like the beginning of October then the end for me. So just as I said in spring that it felt like a month later then it really was, now it feels like a month before. And it looks like this:

( Picspam )

Ok, now I'm off to see my first American Halloween :)

That snowstorm I mentioned on Wednesday - I finally I processed some photos and I'm going to share them with you whether you want it or not (but I'll cut):


( October Snowstorm Picspam )
The weather was foul, really bad but still... It was snow. If it rained I'd be completely depressed and miserable. How come snow always makes me smile?