Are we there yet?

I've been feeling mighty beleagured as of late with our extra-wintery winter here in Chicago. I usually do hit a wall around mid-February, but the wall came a little early. What with our 6,000 inches of snow and the once-in-ten-years stretch of gloominess where the shit head sun only came out for a whopping 12 minutes since January, it's hard not to hope for our weeklong spring to come early.

Yesterday we did have bright sunshine, but it came at a price. It's was about -20 with the windchill midday when I put on every piece of clothing I owned and left my apartment to see a couple of movies. I didn't feel a bit cold, but I also couldn't see or hear anything and was getting claustrophobic with this anaconda-sized scarf wrapped around my face. Thankfully the streets were clear and most homicidal maniacs were at home updating their Myspace pages, so I was safe. A guy at the bus stop did try to chat me up. Our conversation went a little like this:

Dude: Been waiting long?
Me: What?
Dude: Been WAITING LONG? For a BUS?
Me: What? Uh, bus? No.
Dude: What's your name?
Me: What?
Dude: Name. What IS YOUR NAME?
Me: Angie
Dude: You remind me of my ex-girlfriend.
Me: How can you tell?
Dude: You have the same nose.
Me: Maybe I am your ex-girlfriend.
Dude: Or my future ex-girlfriend.

Anyway, that's what people talk about to keep death at bay while waiting for the Halsted bus on one of the coldest days of the year.

I'm sort of on politics overload now, so I think I'm going to abstain from any more primary-related posts for a bit. I do have one thing to bring up though. Maybe it's the big bowls of paranoid I've been eating for breakfast, but doesn't this primary seem more orchestrated and scripted than usual, like in this eerily creepy way? I don't mean stump speeches and interviews, they're always canned. I guess what I'm saying is this primary reminds me of a a scripted reality show. Kind of like The Hills. Sort of real, but not. So this begs the question: Who's pulling the strings?

I hate to say it. I think it's these guys.