Welcome to Hoth!

It's snowed like hell yesterday and the world now resembles Hoth.



You know, the planet from Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker goes to investigate the meteor and gets attacked by the wampa, escapes, sees the vision of Obi-Wan telling him to go to Degobah and seek Yoda and...

Wow. OK, just forget that tangent, please. Thanks.

Anyway, we got about 7 inches of snow, they closed campus early, although not early enough to do me any good.



Mum and I went to shovel Grandmother and Grandfather's driveway and sidewalk while Daddy took care of ours. A seriously stupid woman got stuck right in front of us in her well-equipped-for-the-snow black VW beetle. On the way home, we encountered so many morons stuck in their dinky little cars that Mum started turning a different direction just so we could avoid them. Between that and an open back window in the Jeep to accomodate the snow shovel handle, we were laughing pretty hard by the time we reached home.

Thank God there was a shaker of Cosmopolitans and a night of American Idol in our near future.

Pop, Pop, Pop

Bus drivers are fascinating people. There are a few "usuals" that I see on a regular basis. My favorites inclue The Popper, The Cougher, and That One Guy.

The Popper is a two hundred pound black woman who pops her gum constantly. Pop, pop, pop... Pop, pop, pop. All the way home. She's also exceedingly grouchy and nearly ran over a guy once who was just trying to put his bike on the rack on the front of the bus.

The cougher I always see in the mornings. She's been sick recently and her phlegmatic coughs are heard over the roar of U2 on my iPod. I sit far away from her, but she'll at least smile and say "Good morning" to me.

That One Guy waited for me for three minutes one morning. I was across the street, waiting for the light to change, so I didn't get run over by a Beemer. (More on that in a second.) He knew that I was usually there at that time of the morning, figured I was running late, and actually stalled, so I wouldn't miss the bus. How sweet is that?! Granted, he didn't wait long enough and I was still across the street when he left, but it's the thought that counts, right?

A slight tangent about getting run over by a BMW... About a month ago, I was crossing the street from the bus stop to go to the theatre. This was the night before Henry IV opened. I was about 5 feet from the curb and a BMW pulls up on my right, waiting to turn right. He rolled closer and closer, paying more attention to his cell phone than my flesh. I veered to my left a little, trying to avoid him, but he kept coming. He got within about 5 inches of my right knee before the bastard finally stopped. And the thing was, he looked at me as if to say, "What the hell are you doing crossing the street in front of my precious car?" I looked at him as if to say, "Asshole! Hang up your freakin' phone and drive your car!"

I got to the theatre and told Sean, the director, that I'd nearly been run over by a car and he said, "Didn't you tell this guy that if he'd hit you, I'd would have hunt him down and killed him?" We always made jokes about "You should have this key, in case I get hit by a bus." They don't seem so funny anymore.

And now for something completely out of left field. My fellow Banshees are attending the LA Drama Critics Circle Awards tonight and we've been nominated for two awards. Good luck, you guys!