is it just me?

Twinkies is the name my friend and I use for undergraduates. It mostly refers to the dilly, well dressed undergraduate girls, but in a pinch any student can be a twinkie. In any case, after a nice long winter break (man I miss that part of school - the part where you don't have to go) they are back. While this is bad news for traffic (though we really can't complain), downtown restaurant waiting, and availability of machines at the gym, it is good for the inadvertant entertainment factor they provide me.

On my way to the gym yesterday I see these two girls driving a little red BMW with pop music blaring out the window. The license plate says 4 Zaine (or something like that, I know I pronounced it - in my head - like zany). This is all fine, aside from my general objection to young people driving really nice cars. But then I look at the driver and passenger and they are both wearing head scarves. Now, I have no objection to these or to whatever religion dictates their use. But at what point does the head scarf become sort of a mute point? Doesn't driving a red sports car and blasting your music at least sort of undermine the principles behind the scarf? Maybe I just don't understand, but the whole thing felt at least a touch contradictory. And no 20 year old should drive a new BMW. That should be illegal.

Just in front of the large construction zone near the gym (the latest place I have identified as a likely location for my untimely death given the large machinery I dodge on a daily basis) there was a Colt 45 can with a straw sticking out of it. If Colt 45 and a straw aren't a recipe for a good Saturday night, I don't know what is. On a side note, I remember in college it was commonly accepted knowledge that you got a better buzz if you drank beer through a straw. (Ah, the things we cared about in college.) Is that true? The science of it never really added up for me.

On my bus ride in this morning I passed a car with a vanity plate that said "WHY 2K". Oops. It probably seemed like a good idea some time in 1999. But now they should probably trade it in. I mean, just the idea of y2K makes me laugh. My mother in law sent my husband a Y2K care package that contained a flashlight, and, inexplicably, gum. There was some other stuff too. But I remember the gum. But what if they didn't get it in 1999? What if they got it recently? Would that be better or worse? I can't decide.

Last Friday just before 'rush hour' (we still call it that here even though it just means there are a lot of cars, not stopped traffic, and it only lasts about 20 minutes) it started to snow. It actually snowed quite a lot. We waited nearly 25 minutes for the bus. Then we get to the bottom of this big hill and two busses have slid backwards down it and are stuck. Our bus driver has the good sense not to attempt it. My friend and I decide to get off and walk. As I get of the bus and nearly fall on my ass (the snow had caused instant, very slippery ice) I thought to myself - I am about to walk home in the dark cold snow because my bus cannot make it up the hill. My life is not that awesome. (In fairness, it wasn't that bad. It was pretty and not too cold and I was already halfway home.)

So, mostly January has been boring which is why I haven't been doing too much posting. But if anything good happens you all will be the first to know.