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today the glitterbomber is... |
2003-04-07 early friday morning, i set off to drive to ontario to see my boyTM. i had checked the weather and knew it was going to be cold over the weekend, so i wore a sweater, even though i was uncomfortably warm in it. i packed my winter coat and gloves, even though i felt silly, as i had been in short sleeves the past two days. but as i expected, the temperature got lower the further away from home i got. by the time i got to buffalo, it was raining small ice pellets. after i crossed the border, i noticed a dusting of snow on the ground. the amount of snow increased and the road quality decreased the further north i drove. by the time i got to hamilton, traffic had crawled to 20 mph on the highway. i hadn�t known about the storm, and i certainly hadn�t expected snow, so i was not happy, to put it mildly. the roads were barely plowed or salted, making driving treacherous. i was going to meet the boy at his doctor�s office after his appointment, and then we were going to go get lunch. i missed the turn for the office, and there wasn�t anywhere to turn around, as the side streets and parking lots were blocked with snow. i finally managed to turn around in a grocery store parking lot, nearly getting stuck in the process. when i got to the boy, almost 45 minutes late, i just burst into tears. i refused to drive any more, so we left my car in the parking lot, and he drove us to lunch. i calmed down after that, but i still refused to drive. at that point, i told him if i had known it was going to be that bad, i would have stayed home. okay, i�m glad i didn�t stay home, but i was still pretty shaken up. the next day, we went to a wedding of a couple of his friends, gary and julia. it was a lot of fun. even though it was a church ceremony, it was fairly short. the reception was at a country club, and the food was absolute yum. i am still raving about it. usually vegetarian meals at events like this are boring and uninspired, such as pasta and veggies. our vegetarian meals were rice, chickpeas, veggies, and some sort of thick sauce wrapped in phyllo pastry and covered with carrot puree. i think we were the envy of the rest of our table because they had boring chicken and rice. even though this was a wedding of the boy�s friends, i knew more people there than i usually do at weddings, so that made for a fun night. the boy and i started talking about what kind of wedding we want, even though it�s probably a million years away and we should probably be living in the same country first. yesterday, we had dinner at a cool vietnamese restaurant that i love. it�s connected to an asian grocery store that has the best pocky selection ever, so that�s an added bonus. at the restaurant, customers are seated wherever there is room, so you might be sharing a table with other diners (not too close, though, so that�s good). there are all different kinds of people eating there, and i like that diversity. the food is dirt cheap and plentiful. i like the ordering process; you get a form and write your selections in. the food comes out seemingly randomly. it�s noisy and crowded, with servers balancing heavy trays loaded with steaming bowls of soup. the drive back to my place was a bit of a trial. i didn�t leave until nearly 10 p.m., so it was dark and late�not a good combination for a long drive. the good thing was that there was hardly anyone else on the road. i thought i was going to hit a big delay as i was crossing the border. canadian customs was stopping everyone and questioning them while peering into their cars with a flashlight. since it was late, there wasn�t much of a lineup, even though they were only letting one car through at a time. the rest of the drive was uneventful until i was nearly home. i hadn�t planned on making any stops; i just wanted to get home as fast as possible. usually, i can make the drive on almost exactly one tank of gas, but it didn�t look like it was going to happen last night. i tried to make it, but when the fuel gage started going below empty when i was going up hills, i started to get nervous, and i got off the interstate on an exit that, while not explicitly stating that there was gas nearby, looked promising. it was dark and looked almost deserted, but i followed the signs the pointed towards food, thinking that they would lead me to a gas station. it was about a mile or two before i saw signs of civilization, i.e. a shopping plaza. i breathed a sigh of relief; i was starting to have visions of me stranded by the side of the road or knocking on strange people�s doors or being picked up by a trucker or�well, you get the picture. i have an overactive imagination. i gave my car its dinner at the gas station, and stopped inside to pee. i was the only person in there besides the man working behind the counter. as i walked back to the restrooms, i muttered, "if you rape me, i�ll kill you." never mind the fact that he was about a hundred pounds heavier than me. there was no rape or death at the convenience store, so the car and i headed back to the interstate. however, it being dark and me being tired, we missed the southbound ramp and ended up going north again. i was stuck going another ten miles until the next exit, so i could turn around. i didn�t get home until after 2 a.m., and god, am i exhausted today. it�s a good thing i don�t have to be particularly coherent at work today. i�m dreaming of going back to bed. |
