Good Riddance, 2008

Yeah, yeah... I know it's already five days into 2009 and a little late to be reminiscing about how great it was to kick 2008 to the curb, but I'm still going to write about how I spent the end of last year if for no other reason than it will explain my lack of posting for the past few weeks.

On December 22, I woke up at 6 AM feeling like I was going to spontaneously combust. I'll spare you the gross details, but let's just say that I either had some bizarre case of the flu or food poisoning or a little of both. I did nothing all day except sleep and lie in bed feeling sorry for myself and growing increasingly bitter that I left all of my holiday errands to the last minute. Needless to say, none of them got done.

The next day I continued to feel like crap, but the heavy snow that had begun to fall the night before was only going to get worse, so my husband and I decided to stick to our plans and make the five-hour drive to Michigan, where we'd be spending the holidays with my parents and extended family. That was all fine and good... if we were able to get out of our back alley. We had rented a mid-sized car for the trip, and it just wasn't cutting it in the wild terrain that exists behind our condo. We immediately became stuck in the trenches of snow that had piled up around everyone's parking spots.

After taking the wheel while my husband attempted to push the car forward (all as my dog looked on excitedly from the back seat), we gave up and called our neighbor, who came down with a repairman that happened to be over. The three of them rocked and rocked and rocked the car back and forth until finally I was rolling down the alley. Despite the fact that my husband was running like a madman behind me and waving his hands wildly like I was actually going to forget him, I continued on until I reached a clear side-street. I wasn't going to risk getting stuck again!

We then drove back to Hertz and exchanged the car for an SUV. Screw fuel efficiency -- we didn't want to die! My dog got a kick out of this, too; it was a pretty big deal for him to jump from one car to another in the Union Station parking garage while the security guard quizzed us about what in the heck we were doing.

Our five-hour journey turned into eight hours as pretty much NONE of the expressways in Michigan were plowed. Guys, I know the state is hurting and all... but come on! We're talking MAJOR highways where you couldn't even see the pavement and everyone was just sliding all over the place.

Thankfully, we arrived at my childhood home safely and had five days to rest before heading back. While I didn't have any more flu-like symptoms during that time, I was pretty much unable to eat. You know I'm sick when I don't use the holidays as an excuse to scarf down ten frosted sugar cookies every night! It was depressing.

In the earning morning of our return to Chicago, my parents -- and 300,000 other people in the area -- lost power. No electricity whatsoever, and they didn't have a back-up generator. It was still out twelve hours later... and then when it finally came back on, there was a surge that fried my dad's brand new flatscreen TV. Yes, my dear friends, it was a Christmas to remember. (My dad has since returned the TV and miraculously received all of his money back. )

Since my return home I've been buried in writing projects, and things are going to remain pretty intense on that end for the rest of the month. So, posts will probably be pretty sporadic here on According to e for the next few weeks (though I'll still be writing for redblog two or three times a day... and have a few more Long Live Locke entries to finish before Lost's Season Five premiere on January 21).

In the meantime, let me leave you with a picture from New Year's Eve. We were at a friend's party and they had all of these old-school games that I used to love, like Don't Spill the Beans and Don't Break the Ice. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I pretty much rock at Don't Break the Ice.



I hope that your holidays were healthier than mine... here's to a wonderful 2009. (Hey, that rhymed!)

- e