I SURVIVED SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011

Photo from space of the blizzard

Did everyone survive the snowpocalypse?! That was just insane. I think we got like eight inches and about a half inch of ice underneath that. But it was weird... it was like a combination of snow and ice, so dense. I managed to survive, but not by much. Yep, I had yet another near death experience. This time like, for real, for real.

On Monday while we were at school it started to snow, sleet, and rain. So we got our band director to cancel jazz band rehearsal, which was after school. My friends A.J. and Chase asked for a ride home (they both live in my neighborhood). We get out to the gravel parking lot (a TERRIBLE parking lot, it's where the sophomores and juniors have to park and it's super far from the school) and all of the cars are covered in a solid layer of ice. It's not frosted or anything. Sheer ice. So I turn my car on and get the defroster going like it's actually going to help. I grab my scraper and get to work. And I am getting nowhere. And neither is anyone else. It was actually kind of comical because pretty much everyone had their cars running while they were trying to scrap the ice off. Finally after about five minutes Chase grabs my other scraper and starts helping me and then A.J. gets fed up and takes mine. He was getting so angry, it was kind of funny. I couldn't have planned that one any better, two guys scraping my car for me? Score!

We're like the first people done, I almost stopped and helped one of them. But it was still sleeting/snowing, so I was like eh, whatever. I felt bad, but it's not my fault they didn't have two guys willing to scrape their windows. We get onto the highway and of course, get stuck behind a salt truck. I know they roads were like super icy, but he was going twenty miles per hour! Not okay. So I pass him and my band director.

We're driving down the interstate at about forty (which I didn't think was that bad, but I was wrong) when suddenly my car starts fishtailing. Which is nothing new, I've fishtailed plenty in my experience. But then I notice that I can't seem to turn my wheel fast enough. And then I notice that I don't really have control anymore. And then I notice that both sides of the interstate are kind of busy. Then I have this moment of holy crap, I'm no longer in control of my life. Have you ever felt this? This overwhelming feeling of how fragile your life is and there's nothing you can do to keep it from getting shattered? It's terrifying, and I won't lie it's also somehow exhilarating.

The next five seconds seem to go by really fast, but then again slow. Suddenly, for some unexplainable reason, I start hysterically laughing. I always thought I'd scream when I was near death, but nope, apparently I laugh. And I hear A.J. next me going "Holy shit! Holy shit!" over and over again really fast. (I don't know what Chase was doing in the back seat.) My car fishtails completely around so I'm facing the wrong way, and we slide sideways into the median (which is actually a strip of grass). I can picture that short amount of time that we were on the median perfectly in my head. It probably only lasted like half a second, but it was a long time. There was this moment where A.J. and I looked at each other, eyes wide, and shared this brainwave of Oh. Shit. I was sure we were about to flip. Like 100% sure. I could feel the car start to lean. Which wouldn't be good because a) flipping a car is never good and b) there was a whole line of traffic coming down that side of the interstate and we would probably cause a pile up.

But then next thing I know we're on the other side of the interstate, opposite of where we were originally, going the correct way down the interstate, back towards the school. How? I couldn't tell you. I have absolutely no clue. That's how I know there's a God. Because I'm sorry that just goes against any laws of physics. No one really seems to know how we survived that one. So I turned around when we got to the exit and headed home like nothing happened. And yes, I did drive thirty the whole way home. We could not believe it. It just didn't seem real. It happened so quickly. Looking back we were like, all right, now that we know we're not going to die that was actually pretty awesome. But my God.

*Moment of silence contemplating the almost end of my short life*

Aaaaaand... moving on. I mean what else can I do? I probably give off the impression that I'm a bad driver. But I'm really not. I'm a fast driver, but that day I was going slow and not messing around. Sometimes stuff like that just happens. And it usually happens to me. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Excepting the fact we just went through a mini-ice age. Thankfully we live pretty much in town so we never lost power, but the rest of my school district is out in the country. A lot of them lost power for a day, but some lost power until last night. I've never actually witnessed a blizzard, and I have to say it was kind of cool. Of course, everyone pretty much freaked out... But I kind of liked it. I love winter when it's like this.

Those cars are FROZEN to Lake Shore Drive

Did anyone hear about what happened in Chicago? Insane! All those cars frozen on Lake Shore Drive? I just can't wrap my brain around how much of the U.S. was hit by this storm. We had the last three days out of school. Shocked? I know, I was too. I was kind of hoping we'd have today off too, but a six-day weekend is just too much to ask for.

Well, I didn't plan on the blog being this long... I'll have another one up soon, because there's still more I want to write about. But I hate long blogs so I won't add on any more.

Protesters at Tahrir Square in Cairo

Oh! And there's only three days until my seventeenth birthday! And two until the Super Bowl!

Crap! One more thing. I've been trying to follow what's been happening in Egypt, and I found this article. It's really moving and personal. I strongly suggest you read it.