A Potpourri of Weird Stuff ...

Driving long distances has become a major part of my life lately what with judging gigs in places no one ever goes. It doesn’t help that we’re temporarily down to one vehicle in the family (thus making me a bit of a chauffeur). Being on the road more naturally results in an increase in weird driving experiences – I can live with that -- but this is the penultimate weird driving experience in my recent memory.

I’m driving home Saturday night around 11:00, going about 75, and I’m pretty much the only thing on the freeway. I see headlights of something big moving up on me really, really, really fast. No serious worry though … the fast lane on my left and is totally empty and so are the two slower lanes to my right. I’m thinking the really big and fast moving thing is going to change lanes and pass me in any one of these other lanes. Ahhhh but that’s what a reasonable person would do. What is now recognizable as a behemoth SUV, clearly being driven by an A-type personality, pulls up on me at about 100 mph (no joke) and hits the brakes about two feet off my rear bumper then lays on the horn for at least a 10-count … ok, freaking me out and stunning me into stupid for a few seconds … then it jerks around me into the fast lane and as it passes me the passenger inside puts his hand out the window and … yeah, there it is … flips me the bird!?!?!?!?!

I’m still puzzled …

In other “weird news” I had to replace my cell phone (yes, again). Me and B were disembarking from the car and heading into a restaurant for dinner a week or so ago when I purposely tossed my phone into the cup holder in the center console of the car for safe keeping. I do this all the time. When we came out of the restaurant about two hours later I saw that the cup holder wasn’t empty as usual … this time there was an almost full cup of cream and sugar coffee sitting there … in the dark … like a spider …. and my phone was soaking in it.

B did everything he could to revive the poor little phone over the next few days but it was a goner. This time I’ve bought the cheapest ever phone and so I’ll probably have it for years.

As the weekend approaches I find myself more and more concerned about the weather driving up to Reno. I’m investigating taking the train ……….. might be an adventure in the works.

On the Renegades front … guard rehearsals have been cancelled until 4/1 … for me this is a concern because by my calculations there would be a show about 6 weeks after that and I’m not sold on the concept that I am capable of learning an entire show and making it presentable in 6 weeks. Oh My! I guess I’ll just strap on the seatbelt and see how bumpy the ride gets. By all accounts the horn and drum lines are doing fabulous. I would really hate it if the guard is the stumbling block this year. It would be 2002 all over again. Even though we pulled it out at the end it was a very hard year for the guard. I’m simultaneously dreading and looking forward to the magic that will certainly come in preparation for Family Day.