Stuff. Things.
-- The Sick: The worst has passed. Once J got home from his trip, I went on Nyquil, which helped, except for the mild hallucinations. I was over about 70% of it by last night, but still ended up coughing all night long, awake and miserable. Gave in to Nyquil at around 4am. Still coughed a lot, but at least got to sleep.
-- Jason: likely has strep. His culture came back negative, but the doc said he might not be presenting yet, and put him on antibiotics, anyway. His voice is an octave lower than usual and sounds like it's been drug through gravel.
-- Snow: we got another foot last night. Cable and internet were out, power was flickering for awhile. 695 completely shut down with bumper to bumper traffic. Agnes called at around 8, about 100 yds from the Pikesville exit, to ask how far it was to our apartment. She'd been sitting still for 3 hours and was out of water and hadn't eaten since breakfast. Too far to walk, given known routes in blizzard conditions, that's for damn sure. But we can actually see our apartment from 695 very near the Pikesville exit, so we hatched the most brilliant / most stupid plan ever. He and I threw on snowboarding gear, walked to the back of our apartment complex, went around the fences, and climbed up the big hill that leads to the freight train rail that passes parallel to our place. We went down the tracks a ways until we got to 695, but were high above it, like an overpass. BUT, very carefully, someone COULD slip through the fence, climb DOWN the overpass, and get to 695. Which, by the way, looked like it was experiencing a dry run of the zombie apocalypse.
(It may not seem like a lot of snow to northerners, but a) the snow came on very quickly after we'd been told that it was over, and b) our cars just don't tend to be equipped as well as places that get a lot of snow. Lots of cars went off the road. It took about 20 minutes for an AMBULANCE to struggle up the road about 2 miles, because cars could not move out of its way.)
We called Agnes and got through to her on the third or so try-- phone lines were totally jammed and even with three bars, I had a very hard time getting through. She was able to pull her car over enough and then backtrack 695 on foot for an exit. Jason climbed down to meet her and help her back up, and we got back to our apartment much quicker than she would have if she'd attempted the usual route. So whee, daring rescue attempt successful. I would not be surprised if many people actually spent the night on 695 last night. She and Jason just left to try to retrieve her car.
Teevee: The Vampire Diaries is back tonight. Non-spoilers about the show: I am happy that the main relationship seems to be a mostly-functional one, which is heartening considering the kajillion of teenage girls who watch the show. I almost quit watching because Ian Somerhalder is doing this weird bulgy-eye thing after every line, because apparently that's the only way he knows how to convey intensity. It's distracting and ridiculous. Caroline continues to be the very best, making me love her more every episode. And Tyler? Wow, those are really unexpected acting chops, go Tyler. Kind of undecided about Bonnie's current storyline and the fact that all witches we've seen thus far are black, because that's just a little too close to the "magical negro" trope for my liking. But on the other hand, the rest of her characterization has been nuanced and I really like Katerina Graham, so. Knew whatsisface was what he was by his word choice (bad research or intentional tip-off? Hard to tell with this show.) It's still not High Art or anything, but as guilty pleasure viewing goes, I could do a hell of a lot worse. (Though, um. How does it even make sense that a Bulgarian doppelganger must be sacrificed in order to break an Aztec shaman's curse? FAIL.)
Also: IT CANNOT BE UNSEEN.
Paul Wesley looks more like Muppet!Angel than David Boreanaz does, fact.
-- Jason: likely has strep. His culture came back negative, but the doc said he might not be presenting yet, and put him on antibiotics, anyway. His voice is an octave lower than usual and sounds like it's been drug through gravel.
-- Snow: we got another foot last night. Cable and internet were out, power was flickering for awhile. 695 completely shut down with bumper to bumper traffic. Agnes called at around 8, about 100 yds from the Pikesville exit, to ask how far it was to our apartment. She'd been sitting still for 3 hours and was out of water and hadn't eaten since breakfast. Too far to walk, given known routes in blizzard conditions, that's for damn sure. But we can actually see our apartment from 695 very near the Pikesville exit, so we hatched the most brilliant / most stupid plan ever. He and I threw on snowboarding gear, walked to the back of our apartment complex, went around the fences, and climbed up the big hill that leads to the freight train rail that passes parallel to our place. We went down the tracks a ways until we got to 695, but were high above it, like an overpass. BUT, very carefully, someone COULD slip through the fence, climb DOWN the overpass, and get to 695. Which, by the way, looked like it was experiencing a dry run of the zombie apocalypse.
(It may not seem like a lot of snow to northerners, but a) the snow came on very quickly after we'd been told that it was over, and b) our cars just don't tend to be equipped as well as places that get a lot of snow. Lots of cars went off the road. It took about 20 minutes for an AMBULANCE to struggle up the road about 2 miles, because cars could not move out of its way.)
We called Agnes and got through to her on the third or so try-- phone lines were totally jammed and even with three bars, I had a very hard time getting through. She was able to pull her car over enough and then backtrack 695 on foot for an exit. Jason climbed down to meet her and help her back up, and we got back to our apartment much quicker than she would have if she'd attempted the usual route. So whee, daring rescue attempt successful. I would not be surprised if many people actually spent the night on 695 last night. She and Jason just left to try to retrieve her car.
Teevee: The Vampire Diaries is back tonight. Non-spoilers about the show: I am happy that the main relationship seems to be a mostly-functional one, which is heartening considering the kajillion of teenage girls who watch the show. I almost quit watching because Ian Somerhalder is doing this weird bulgy-eye thing after every line, because apparently that's the only way he knows how to convey intensity. It's distracting and ridiculous. Caroline continues to be the very best, making me love her more every episode. And Tyler? Wow, those are really unexpected acting chops, go Tyler. Kind of undecided about Bonnie's current storyline and the fact that all witches we've seen thus far are black, because that's just a little too close to the "magical negro" trope for my liking. But on the other hand, the rest of her characterization has been nuanced and I really like Katerina Graham, so. Knew whatsisface was what he was by his word choice (bad research or intentional tip-off? Hard to tell with this show.) It's still not High Art or anything, but as guilty pleasure viewing goes, I could do a hell of a lot worse. (Though, um. How does it even make sense that a Bulgarian doppelganger must be sacrificed in order to break an Aztec shaman's curse? FAIL.)
Also: IT CANNOT BE UNSEEN.
Paul Wesley looks more like Muppet!Angel than David Boreanaz does, fact.