All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.

The last few weeks have been crazy here. Snow Snow and More SNOW! In the beginning it was cute. Like, awww, 2 inches of snow. Ain't that sweet. Let's try to make snow angels and watch it all melt at the same time. Everyone worked from home because a lot of the buses simply can't get up and down our steep hills. That's where I start going stir crazy. For 3 days, no buses. Finally today, I saw a golden opportunity. I had about 5 hours before the next storm hit. Except this really was going to be a storm, with 25 mph winds and get your candles ready storm. But I had to get out of here, because I know once this hits I'll be home again until I leave for Florida. Some people may love this. Ooh, a Top Chef marathon. That's my Thursday. But when it keeps rerunning over and over and over and over again, it's just mean.

At first I was all, oh god, this is nothing this stupid snow. It's so miniscule to the Detroit shit I've seen. But in all honesty this is way fucking different. Seattle actually hardly has snow. Maybe once a year, tops and it melts before you even notice it. Suddenly, because of global warming or Al Gore we're seeing it more and more and it's fucking all of our lives up. These damn hills just cause slip and slides and no one in Seattle has ever heard of a snow truck. They use sand instead of salt. And if you live on a very steep hill, like I do, you're stuck. You hope you have enough food and you have friends over that live in walkable distance. You try to call a cab and they laugh and laugh and laugh.

So when I had that 5 hour open window of opportunity I shoved everything I could into it. I went to the gym, had famous mac and cheese at Beecher's, looked at books with a friend, sold clothes at Crossroads and then spent the remaining 2 hours soaking in the women's only spa I frequent where I got a massage and read in an indoor hot tub and steam room. As I'm laying around naked, one of the employees comes in and whispers, "It's starting."

Everyone just started going. QFC was mobbed with last minute candle shoppers. I was trying my best to figure out a way to get down one hill and then up another without worrying about the possibility that I may have to rent a hotel room or crash at a friend's house which would mean I'd have to go back up another hill. Ugh.

The first bus was easy and of course, packed. A crazy guy was talking about jerking off and I was still remaining as calm as can be (that spa does wonders for any anxiety you may ever have in life). Once downtown though things were getting bad. I asked if anything was going up the hill and the bus driver said a definite no. I was either to walk up or find me a cab ASAP.

As this point I'm talking to Dominic, who's in Buffalo where his whole house is probably covered in snow and somehow they all survive just fine. I spot a cab and he immediately asks, Where to? Not like a normal Where to? But like, I don't have tire chains bitch so it better just be up the block.

I gave him my puppy dog eyes and said he didn't have to take me up all the way if he thought it was unsafe. He agreed and off we went, in sllllooooowwwww motion because suddenly there was the biggest traffic jam ever. Every downtown shopper trying to get there holiday gifts all knew this was the time to leave. I watch the meter tick away as we inch along.

And then I see it in the distance. The NUMBER 4 BUS!!!! Yes! Even if it doesn't go up the hill, it'll get me closer than this cab can. I give the dude a $10 tip because I just need to get to this bus and can't deal with change (and he really did me a big favor by just picking me up in the first place) and I'm carefully trying to run, but not run because everything is slippery, just to catch the bus. When we meet, I'm all smiles. I love this driver more than I love peanut butter. I'm talking to Dominic hoping for the best. The bus is also doing a slow crawl, but we're moving. We're going up even. All the way up! We did it! I'm home! Yay!!!!

So after all of that, I'm already itching to get back off this hill again. Maybe to somewhere sunny and warm and 77 degrees. But that's not till Thursday and that's 6 whole days away. Can I be indoors that long without eating my arm or saying Redrum Redrum? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...