turned out to be ice pellets and a little graupel mixed in with the snow. its not nearly as fucking charming when you have to drive to the dump in it. my wipers don't work all that well (actually the passenger one is making an escape attempt--its halfway off already), nor did i seem to have much traction. i live in a rural area--the dump is open sat from 0700 to 1200, and i'm only around every other saturday. i wind up going once every 4 to 6 weeks, which is fine in winter, when i can store my rotting garbage outside in my truck. summer is going to be tough. we don't have city water either--we get our water from a stream up the hill, complete with plentiful rocks and hair snakes, these weird string-sized worms that come out of my shower head in fall and spring. my landlords just get them in the toilet, but in my house they seem to migrate to the shower water pipe.

on my drive home, my brakes seemed a little soft and the brake light just came on. owning a car is so much fun! can i even drive it to the shop without having an accident? can i drain the brake fluid myself and fill it without getting any air bubbles in it? can i just keep bumming rides off my friends, so i don't have to deal with my car?

oh, and did i mention i'm getting audited! the feds claim i owe them a little under $10k.

i'm making cinnamon rolls. i don't really feel like baking this morning, but i'm going to a potluck tonight so i have to get something produced. we got about an inch of snow overnight, and its still snowing (moderate intensity). i have to say it still takes my breath away to wake up and look out at a dreamy, snowy landscape. even after 6 endless months of winter with 2 to 3 storms a week, i'm still charmed by a fresh snowfall. my landlord isn't, since his plow truck broke.

i changed the sparkplugs, oil/filter, and air filter on my piece-of-shit car yesterday and i think its running worse now. its as though i unmasked new problems. i have never seen oil as nasty as what drained out yesterday. it looked like melted chocolate.

turns out my stepsister's baby is fine. a little early, but no big deal. i can't even get into the random dysfunctionality that caused the comms breakdown. i think living 1500 miles away does help! physical distance can mean emotional distance!!

i kid you not: lightning struck our wireless internet antenna, rending us nearly incommunicado for 5 days, since it fused most of our phone lines to the automated NOAA weather radio. i found an old 14.4 modem in the closet and we have limped back online, although i'd rather peel my face off than surf at this speed.

my stepsister had her first baby this week, almost 5 weeks early. she has been unavailable since the birth (did lightning strike them too?) and we are all worried.

i recently started taking omega 3 fatty acid pills. i tell you, its like a fucking miracle. i am a whole new person. anyone out there with short term memory problems or mood swings/irritability should SERIOUSLY look into these magic little gelcaps. try some different brands, tho--some give you bad fishy burps, others don't.

one of my old fuck buddies called me twice last week. you never can tell with these asshole types. i will soon be seeing him regularly at work. i will also be seeing my ex, which will be really humiliating for a few days, i'm sure. hopefully i'll get over that soon--he'll be up here every day all summer.