SNOWTF!? Pt. 5- The bus ride from Antarctica

The ride home from school today was so perilous that I decided to write about it. First of all it started snowing like the wrath of god during 6th or 7th period today (Deja Vu?) and by the end of the school day we were practically buried. Everything was canceled. I mean EVERYTHING. They even said everything was canceled over the school's PA. Then they said that everything that all those canceled activities had been re-canceled. And what might one do instead of going to the after-school activity that had just received a double dose of cancellation? All of those things are canceled too. Was anybody planning to dance? Nope. Swim? No. Wrestle? No way. Play basketball? Nay. Band concert? not even close. How about some shoveling?

And of course the snow's final curse was the inevitable cancellation of everybody's ride home. We were standing out there like penguins watching the empty road behind the school remain empty for way to long. Some lucky people got their bus reasonably on time, but of course I don't get home late enough on a regular day. The principals actually started herding us inside to continue waiting. When bus 172 finally showed up (after I'd seen buses 173, 171, 175, 170, 171.69, 154/6x+2, 170.com, 172-3, 1-800-not-172, 17%, $17.20, 42, and so many more), I looked at my watch. "Hmm, I am usually at home by now". Oh well, sometimes you just have to be patient. While I was being patient, bus 172 was taking its good ol' time in the crazy conditions. Getting up one particular street involved pulling more than halfway up, running into a snowbank, hearing sounds I had no idea a bus could make, then painfully backing up down the street to try again (can you back up down a hill? Does that mean you back down going up? I'm pretty sure it should be the other way around). Once this process had been repeated a couple of times, the requirement of nearly running down a pedestrian had to be met. Apparently, my friend Rachel (who lives on the street that we'd just been stuck on for half an hour) fell in to a snowbank that just happened to be right next to an out-of-control school bus that I just happened to be on. She had the living fershizzle scared out of her, but fortunately lived to send my a text message about it. Then when we finally got up, down, around, over, and through to my stop, I faced some snow of my own. I'm used to trudging through the woods to get home, but I was not expecting to have to vault over the Berlin wall at the end. But I did, and ended up kind of wet. Could have been worse, though.

SNOWTF!? Pt.4 - Sledding edition!

So normally I'm not a major fan of snow. Its wet and cold and can be quite annoying when it inevitably finds its way into your boots, up your sleeves and down your neck. But more recently I have had a new found appreciation for snow. Being now in possession of a fancy camera, I am able to photograph the snow and admire its beauty. And since I am not being forced to interact with it, I can choose if and when I ever even want to be in the snow. And last night I chose to go sledding.

Let me tell you how perfect it was for night sledding in Meadville yesterday. It stayed light after 10:30. We're not sure why but it probably had something to do with the moon. I came out to Robertson field (the hill at Allegheny's athletic complex) and met a bunch of friends, some of which were in college. But the point was that the normally annoying snow brought us epic sledding awesomeness. There where some crazed college kids there who made a human ramp out of two guys holding sleds next to each other. That caused serious fail at the beginning , but by the end they were getting impressive air as well. Our personal sledding successes involved making a chain, going face first, forgetting the sled (Caitlin!!) and SURFING!! Towards the end I started heading down the slopes snowboard style standing on the sled. I lost balance and would put my hand down, then end up falling onto the sled and ending up hitting the bottom in a tangle of my own limbs. Each time going down would get me a little bit further. By the last run, I stood up all the way to the bottom of the hill, then promptly flew off and landed on my face. That. Was. EPIC!!!