Holy shit, some guy from Bellevue shot up the Omaha Westroads mall.

I'm so glad I don't live there anymore.

ARGHHHHH

Some stupid fucking news bimbo just ruined the ending of the His Dark Materials trilogy. No warning or anything.

ARRRGHGHHGHGHHHHH

This has really been my week for jerks to gleefuly crush all my anticipation for stories I've been really looking forward to.

Oh look, sunlight. I'm taking out the trash and then going to bed.

Snape Fans and Car Crashes

After I got back from Cedar Rapids, I was too stupid for real art so I drew this shitty comic instead. It's a true story.

In other news, as I was driving up I-35, the weather got kind of gross. Mostly a little freezing rain, a few snowflakes, that sort of thing. But the EXACT second I drove past the sign that says WELCOME TO MINNESOTA, all hell broke loose. It was a blizzard and the road was so covered over with blowing snow that I couldn't tell where the road edges were (thank god for the rumble strips).

I slowed down accordingly and did just fine all the way up until I got off the interstate, at which point I promptly lost control of Seebs' car and crashed it into a ditch not even two fucking miles from our house.

The interstate had been bad enough, but the road off Exit 69 hadn't been plowed yet and traffic wasn't heavy enough to flatten it down evenly. The car skidded in the other vehicles' wheel ruts, which proved fatal when going around a curve. The wheels shuddered around a little and suddenly I was sliding all the way across the road into the other lane's ditch.

I fetched up in a snowbank that came almost to my hips when I got out of the car, and snow sprayed the windshield from the impact. The brakes did absolutely nothing but I wasn't going fast enough to do any damage. The road was pretty clear of other vehicles, too, so I consider myself lucky as hell. I couldn't find my cel phone so I just grabbed my coat, gloves, ID, inhaler and decided to hike the rest of the way.

I got picked up not ten feet down the road. This was very fortunate, because there weren't any sidewalks and the road itself was, as I've mentioned, very tricksy to navigate.

The guy who gave me the lift was pretty cool and told me about other snow emergencies he's rescued people from in the past. It's kind of like a hobby here in Northfield, from what I can gather. He'd been on peacekeeping missions to Brazil and all sorts of interesting shit.

Anyway, I got home and Seebs took the big car and we went to Target for snow boots (neither of us had a pair) and then to the car to try to dig it out a bit and wait for AAA.

The guy showed up to tow us out a bit later than expected due to the 89 other cars I'd seen off the road by then, and once it was free, I got back in and drove the rest of the way home with extreme caution. Even going under twenty miles an hour, I still slid around like butter on a hot knife whenever there were wheel ruts.

I think I'll wait til they plow it before I go out again.

So, home safe and sound. Dog very happy to see me. I'm told he was very mellow while I was gone, and Rah let him sleep on her to avoid the night-time whinging that had me worrying about everyone's sanity.

Pics of ditch-infested car soon. Woo! My first accident!

Hey Rain!

I need directions to your folks' house and I also don't know what time I should arrive. Call me or leave AIM message, yah?

I'm pretty sure that if I load up on cough drops I will be fine for the trip, as I've been feeling significantly better as of tonight.

Got her!

This Hole Was Made For Me

This is the most horrifying, claustrophobic short story I've read in three or four years. Kudos.

Still sick. Coughing up bloody leather and my eyes burn whenever I close them. Been doing absolutely nothing but playing video games because I'm stupid. Did take the dog for a walk today, after bundling up nice and warm.

It finally snowed for real-real--about 6 inches. It was bright enough to read outdoors at midnight and the sky was glowing with a wonderful orange-pink light.

The Captain was skeptical at first, but once he decided the snow wasn't going to eat his paws, he was quickly overtaken by glee and became officially frolicksome. On our walk, he was so struck by the novelty of it all that he pranced like a little Broadway dancer. His toes are webbed and spread apart in the snow so that whenever he takes a step the entire paw sort of balloons into a furry mauve snowshoe. For this situation, the appropriate sound effect is 'pratt pratt pratt'.

Later the snow turned to sleet before tapering off entirely, and what was on the ground quickly grew a hard shell. The Captain likes nothing more in the world than breaking through the crust with his paws and sniffing the resulting holes for possible mice.

Also, he has added some interesting new whale song to his whining repertoire. I laughed my ass off earlier when he started singing this yodeling, purring wookiee lullaby to a cat on the stairs who was out of his reach.

Ha ha, Captain. You suck.


Rain! I misplaced my phone again! I'll call you tomorrow once I've dug it out of the laundry or wherever it is.