i had a dream...

...that i was a tribute in the hunger games. it was scary.

perhaps my obsession is becoming less healthy.

please excuse me while i watch the trailer another 9 billion times.

so...

i think people should post on their blogs more. don't you?

peanuts

no, not the comic strip. me again. here.

baby snowmageddon

if i’d known when i left school at 4pm that the snowstorm would wreak havoc on normal rush hour traffic, i’d have filled my tank before i got on the beltway. as it was, i had just enough to get me to ben’s, even if it took me twice as long as usual. when i realized, around 5pm, that my commute would take much longer than usual, i called ben. i estimated i’d be there around 6. we chatted till my phone ran out of battery and cut us off. a few minutes later, the real traffic hit: i was moving about one car length every fifteen minutes. two hours later, i started eating the dinner i’d brought for the two of us. i turned up the radio and attempted to dance, belted into my seat. thirty minutes later, i wondered how crazy it would look to jump out and make a snow angel on the shoulder of the highway. i definitely had time and i didn’t think anyone would honk. two hours after that, i silently cursed the people for whom the rules didn’t apply as they created their own lanes. five minutes later, i joined them and drove a whole mile in ten minutes. it was exhilarating. an hour later, four lanes of traffic (and a few invented lanes) funneled into one, snaking around jack-knifed semis and other distressed vehicles stuck in the middle of the highway. twenty minutes after that was a tree, stretched across three lanes. around 8pm, i started hoping that ben would eat without me. then i put a few pieces of gum in my mouth to see how big a bubble i could blow. an hour later, i irrationally worried that he’d go to bed before i got there and send me back out on the highway towards home. with a sore jaw, i spit out my gum. around 10pm, on the exit ramp 1.5 miles from ben’s house, my car heaved and sputtered and coughed it’s last breath of gas and refused to move one inch further. four kind strangers helped me push it through the slush to the side of the road. a fifth kind stranger said he’d watch my vehicle in addition to his while i hitched a ride to get gas for the two of us. i politely asked the kind strangers to drop me off near ben’s house, instead of the gas station. at 10:30ish, i knocked on the door of a very worried ben. five minutes later, i collapsed into the passenger seat of christian’s car and the three of us went in search of gas. two stations later, we'd filled the 5 gallon can and headed back to the exit, dodging a downed power line. christian drove as close as he could to the exit ramp and ben and i sloshed the block across the intersection to my car and the waiting kind stranger. it took another thirty minutes, much spilled gas, some very cold gas-covered fingers (ben’s), a bit of creativity involving a long drinking straw, and another kind stranger’s flashlight to decant the gas into the cars. at midnight, 2 blocks from ben’s house, a large load of snow fell on the roof of my (now breathing, moving) vehicle. 10 feet later, we noticed the power line stretched across the road (a different one), making it impassable. we turned around to discover that what we thought was snow falling on my car was actually another power line, now stretched across the road and blocking our escape. so i parked and we gingerly stepped around the power lines and walked back to ben’s, arriving around 12:30am, stoked the fire, drank some tea and finally fell asleep.

quote of the day

"harry potter 7 was lame; the werewolf didn't even have abs." -smashly

didja see it yet? didja didja didja?

if you didn't, you're behind because now you have to read hunger games AND watch hp7. you'd better hurry before hp7.2 and hunger games the movie are released. i don't accept late work.

the aftermath

i went to the midnight showing of harry potter 7. how did i deal with the aftermath of staying up all night? well...i slept in till 6:30 and didn't wear any make-up. i thought i covered my exhaustion fairly well till one of my students asked, why do you look like you're sick? {sigh} it was totally worth it. so worth it that i went to see it again friday night.

turns out

i woke up this morning with a zit on my lip. it was ripe. so i squeezed it. turns out it was (is) another cold sore. i believe i've angered it.

i woke up this morning not wanting to do my hair. turns out it {kind of} fits in a ponytail for the first time since 2007.

i woke up this morning not too excited about a certain institute activity tonight. turns out, outrageous polyester plaids can change a girl's perspective.

i can tell the future.

i knew it was going to rain today.

not because it was forecast.

not because it was cloudy.

because i washed my car yesterday.

sleepless in virginia

there's a big fat spider on my sliding glass door. i need to wake up every hour or so to make sure he hasn't come inside. i know he wants to; he's jealous of my spiderman tshirt.

true confessions

i don't think anyone appreciates how much i really love cheese.

study like a scholar, scholar

really, it speaks for itself

video by hbllproductions

five seconds

this is where truth or dare in the shadow of mr. lincoln on july 4 will get ya:

(video via washingtonpost.com)

and if you stick out the heat (and the dares) you get this:

happy birthday, america!

another deep thought

if you ever try to make your own chocolate diet coke, don't use powdered quik or you'll have a carbonated volcano spewing chocolate lava all over your kitchen. and it doesn't even taste good.

image by lauren diaz

the party don't stop, no

this has been keeping company with the strange dreams in my head.

it's been stuck there all day. ALL DAY.

don't ask.

but it prompted me and kz to watch the official music video in which she looks about 14. so of course we had to google her to find out her actual age (same as suz), which led us to this gem of a quote:

Everyone's really offended by that (the Jack Daniel's lyric). But come on, brushing your teeth with Jack Daniel's: what girl does that? People are like, 'Do you really advocate brushing your teeth with bourbon?' I'm like, 'Yes, actually, I do, every day, for everybody. Especially eight year olds.' I mean, what are you talking about? Of course I don't. Come on.

(found here)

maybe i should wake up in the morning feeling like p-diddy. would that make it go away?

but until then...

don't stop, make it pop

dj blow my speakers up

tonight i'mma fight

till we see the sunlight

tik tok on the clock

but the party don't stop, no

mwahahahahaaaaa

why is danny devito trying to kill me?

maybe because i can't spell his name. your guess is as good as mine. but in my dream the other night, he sure was persistent. he chased me all over the city with a machine gun. until ss discovered that if you stand on top of a bed and face him, the bullets have no power over you. it was all very care bears meets matrix meets labyrinth. of course, in the dream i was the hero, despite the face-off being ss' idea. what? it was my dream; they never make sense and they've been particularly strange lately.

ps. i love you mom. fer rills. thanks for borning me.

because i like to laugh

and don't know how to embed.

click here

is it too ridiculous to post valentine's day pictures in march?

just askin.

breaking up is hard to do

dear winter,

you know i love you, but i just can't take it any more. what used to be a pristine, fun and happy relationship has frozen over, turned gray and treacherous. i'd say it's not you, it's me. but really it is a little bit you. or a lot. you're just so cold and relentless and i feel i need more variety in my life, you know? i really love cozying up inside, but now and then, really, i NEED TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. it's not healthy to be cooped up for so long. also, you're taking people's power and and HEAT and with sub-freezing temperatures, that's just wrong.  and so please. stop coming around, at least for now. maybe we can try again next winter. so we're not really breaking up, just taking a break. a long one. but we can still be friends. we've had some good times, no? 

like the first time you dumped 20 inches of snow on us in a little over 24 hours. that was wild. and there's no mistaking your beauty.

(pictures from the january 2010 snowstorm)

and then there was the time we rang in the new year with the boy. and he came to the 90s party at my house even though he was in charge of a ysa dance and then gave me a ride to said dance and i played navigator and got us lost, but we made it there before midnight, despite the snow and danced and partied all night long (or until 1am, when the dance ended).  remember that? that was good times.

(me, the boy, and a big chandelier)

and the time i moved out of my studio into a new one in the midst of a snowstorm. also good times, thanks to shellie and the boy. and then the same night helped throw a wedding reception for some friends amidst the unrelenting snowstorm? i learned how to use my 4 wheel drive that day. and the next day i turned twenty-ten and many friends braved the elements to share some asphalt pie with me in celebration. 

there was the time amidst the snowpocalypse (when you dumped about 22" of snow in a little over 24 hours AGAIN) that we bravely took the rav to skeen's to go running....  

  

...and she dug out a parking spot in her driveway just for me...

...and we had to put plastic bags on our feet to keep them dry (and it worked like a charm). lovely.

i don't think i'll ever see 395 this deserted ever again.

and of course, remember that time we doubled with tali and went snowshoeing slash telemarking after the flakes had ceased flying? and the rangers were super awesome and let us park illegally and blaze our own trail somewhere in the hills near the potomac but we discovered that its so difficult to go uphill on telemark skis that it took us an hour and a half to blaze a half mile loop and  never even got out of earshot of the generator? that was great.




oh and who could forget the mobile karaoke party, courtesy of stephanie, carrie and jeanette friday night - smack in the middle of snowpocalypse?

(me, emily, kate, mary)

all good times, but i'm ready to move on. i'll always love you, but i have to do this for me. i hope you understand.

annie

ps if i were you, i'd blame it on that puxatawney phil for making you stick around so long. stupid groundhog.

my ax is ALWAYS sharp (i'm a girl scout)

in case you didn't know, the national weather service issued a winter storm warning with blizzard conditions - up to 28 inches of snow are expected in the dc region between 6am Friday and 10pm Saturday.  consequently, thursday evening everyone in the greater dc area commenced to panic. schools pre-emptively closed, college classes were cancelled and stores are now out of toilet paper, bread and bottled water and lines for the check-out were ridiculous.  all before a single flake fell.  fellow dc-ists, please note this sage advice from laura lorson of npr kansas:

1. Chopping up your furniture for fuel goes a lot more smoothly if you keep your axes nice and sharp.

2. Do not pay more than $50 for a loaf of black-market Wonder Bread.

3. There's more food in your house than you think. Search the junk drawers — there are often stale Gummi bears and Lemonhead candies.

4. Check on your shut-in neighbors, especially the ones who don't think you are sufficiently serious about lawn care in the summertime. Be extra-nice and superconcerned while you are there. They will feel guilty. The evil glee in your heart will keep you warm.

5. If Pa goes out to find more wheat, tell him to go to Almanzo Wilder's. He's holding back some in the walls to use for seed next spring.

6. Four-wheel drive will get you only so far. Next year, consider investing in a mule. Their accelerator pedals never stick! In fact, their accelerator pedals are a stick!

7. Keep a sense of perspective. Running out of Chai Latte K-Cups is not worth a call to 911.

8. To clear your driveway of heavy snow and ice, get married.

9. Stay off the roads if you can ... but if you absolutely, positively have to get to Capitol Hill, strap yourself to Mitch McConnell and tell him that Harry Reid's scheduled a vote on abolishing the filibuster.

10. Enjoy it. Stay home; stay safe; make soup; read a book. Make snow angels. Learn what we already know here in the Midwest — you can think of snow as an annoyance, or accept it for what it is — a gift of time. Time with your family, time with your thoughts, time to be thankful for shelter and warmth and hot chocolate. Take the gift; enjoy it; use it well.

thanks for the advice, laura! it rivals the advice i received before moving from georgia to colorado: don't eat the yellow snow.  good thing i only paid $47.68 for the last loaf of wonder bread after i fought off an old lady trying to beat me with her walker. sucker.

thanks also to my mother for bringing this lovely broadcast to my attention and to npr for employing such a person. the full broadcast can be found here:

Listen to the Story

All Things Considered

[2 min 53 sec]

 

note to self

its not a very good idea to keep your drink next to your paintbrush water.