It’s been a very long day, in part due to having spent more than an hour sitting in traffic. Normally, getting around Lexington isn’t too bad. There are shortcuts to most anywhere I want to go, and some roads that you don’t take at certain times, things like that. However, tonight the sky just up and began spitting snowy slush, so traffic slowed to a crawl. Jess and I were trying to go to Wal-mart because we both needed groceries and I was picking up a prescription, and what would normally be a 15-minute drive turned into an over-30-minute drive. Vehicles were blocking intersections left and right, which is pretty typical for Lexington drivers, actually, but tonight was more annoying than usual because the rest of us couldn’t zip around those stuck in the intersection because of the slushy roads.

Jess and I skittered a few times in her car on our way back to my apartment, most noticeably when coming down a hill to a stoplight. After we stopped, I told her distractedly, “I was worried we were going to slide into the end zone.” …What? We both had a laugh at that one; why did my brain provide me with “end zone” instead of “intersection”? I love the messed-up things that come out of my mouth when I’m only half paying attention to what I’m saying. The drive to Wal-mart was much more serene, but then it didn’t have a choice—we didn’t get above 20 mph on any street.

I had hoped that Wal-mart would be a little more deserted than usual, which is to say not at all deserted, but perhaps with a little breathing room in the crowd. I swear, you could go there at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday and the place would be packed. Anyway, owing to the weather, my initial thought was that most people would be staying at home, avoiding the roads. Then I realized with a growing horror that this is Kentucky, and while we get a decent amount of snow every year, we’re also southern enough that any snow over a few inches is cause for alarm. Hence, Wal-mart was bound to be packed with locals buying every last bottle of water in the place for fear of the pipes freezing and being stuck at home for days and weeks.

Whaddya know, it was packed as usual. I waited in the pharmacy for nigh on fifteen minutes, waiting to pick up my prescription that I’d called in earlier. We also had to steer around folks in every aisle we went down; who knew that, when a blizzard strikes, people not only go for the necessities, but also for Bagel Bites and frozen soft pretzels?

I’m feeling very accomplished despite the large amount of time spent running errands because I’ve finished my linear algebra, honors paper, networking program, and Java Server Pages design for web programming. Now all that remains is to take a shower, then relax in bed with The Dark Side of Genius in preparation for Wednesday.