So this is the first night in over a week that I've had internet at my apartment. I was in an essential internet blackout since my computer went down awhile back. My dad gave me an old laptop from his office and told me to use it until my computer came back to life...like the New Kids on the Block oooohhhh. Anyways, I couldn't use it because I didn't have the proper software to use my wireless card. So I was miserably detached from the world. I have no cable, no internet, and no job, it was my own personal hell. I was tempted to spend my days sitting on my windowsill and gazing longingly out the window like a cat, or one of those pathetic women from a pharmaceutical commercial. But then I realized that my windows faced a crusty Shell station, so I quickly altered that idea. Then yesterday, I realized that I had an older laptop from a long time ago that I had used as a back up at Miami. So I popped my card and, like magic, I was reconnected from the world.

It was definitely an experience not having internet. I came to realize that there are approximately 25 judge/court shows on daytime TV. Thanks Judge Judy for creating a monster and polluting every channel with white trash suing their former roommates for $25 cause they got drunk and broke a desk lamp. As a result, I gave up on TV and took to reading. I read 4 books in a week and was going to bed at a reasonable hour every night cause I had nothing else to do. In the past, I would stay up till all hours of the night, cause lets be honest, there is always something to entertain you on the internet, so why waste you time with boring things like sleeping. Oh the irony considering sleep is one of my favorite things ever, but not so much the initial falling asleep part.

Alright, enough of boring running commentary comparing my lack of internet to some sort of Amish existence. Last Wed night, I was driving back to Chicago from Milwaukee when a nifty little snowstorm blew in. It was a minor nuisance as I approached the WI/IL border until I tried switching lanes and was meeting some snow resistance. I ignored this foreshadowing and continued driving as if it was a dry pavement, summer day. Well I crossed the border and, as anyone who has taken 94 North to Milwaukee knows, there is kind of an S shaped stretch just before the first toll. Well I was in the middle of this stretch going around 65 when all of a sudden the stability control started beeping at me. Oh Shit, considering I wasn't accelerating or turning, that means that my wheels no longer were in contract with the pavement to a safe degree...and then I immediately started fishtailing. Its funny in these situations how your body kind of kicks into gear and just takes control. I alternated breaking and gripping the wheel, terrified, trying madly to not slam into the median. Well I came to a stop about 18 in from the median and took a minute to look skyward and thank the heavens that I was not all messed up. Well I completed the drive, noticing the myriad of accidents literally lining the highway. I got home and was just really excited to do everything: drink Gatorade, read a book, lay in my bed....

I don't want to get all sappy and say I had a moment where I realized my own mortality, cause I didn't. It was an instance where I realized I probably dodged a bullet and got lucky. And its funny too, cause you always see these moments in film where people dodge danger and injury and their hands are shaking and they can't function. I checked, but my hands didn't shake. My body just felt really loose and kind of clammy, but overall I just felt intense and really focused that, dammit, I am going to make it home without any trouble. But overall, again, I realized that I am pretty blessed that one of my most troublesome and stressful moments in recent memory was an almost-accident that didn't end up happening. Maybe life isn't that bad, right? Though if I see the Shiny Toy Guns commercial on NBC commercial one more time, I may drive off the road.

So I went to see my friends, Powerspace, play a show at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago right after Christmas. I went to the show solo, cause im awesome and so secure with my singularity, but started talking to this guy in the back during the set, initially cause he complimented my vest. Well turns out he was the lead singer of a band called the White Tie Affair and they were the headliner that night. Long story short, he was incredibly cool, pretty chill and refreshingly not annoyingly name dropping his band and trying to make me become a Myspace friend. Well I turned on MTV when I was at home last Tues, and whadda ya know, The White Tie Affair-Candle was on. Go figure. Its kind of poppy and they are a bit sugary for my taste. But solid dudes, the song is uber catchy, and I heard it on the radio when I was at Walgreens today. So give it a spin, its pretty bitchin'.

"I know we're hanging at the end of the road, flown to high and made a swarm too low..."

JW