sundance in a snow storm

after a busy morning (with not a lot of sleep), i've got a few hours, so me and e.v.e. (my new mini-lappy) are hanging out in sundance hq. my phone was able to export my notes (which is cool). now if i can turn them into something worth reading...

• 2:50 pm: i've been up here since 10:30. today i went to the vietnamese place next door to order some overpriced pad thai for our manager, went out for mexican food for lunch despite having packed a lunch, and saw parker posey walk by.

• allison and devin came up here, just to be a part of it all. after they took shuttles all over town, only to realize that the hq is right next to where they parked, i found out that i could have picked them up. hanging out around a dirty table and talking, we looked over and saw morgan spurlock waiting in line at the cafe. go celebrities.

• when we have a run, we wait in the parking garage for our people to come. as i was waiting, i had my star sighting for the day: i saw robert yeoman. yeah. very cool. for those of you who don't know, he's wes anderson's cinematographer. i don't know him my sight but saw his name badge and introduced myself. he was very nice and gracious, and, when he found out that i was an aspiring director of photographer, he asked if he could answer any questions for me. i politely explained that my mind had fused at the moment and that i didn't have anything right now. he said that if i was interested, he'd be happy to meet up sometime for a drink and talk. i'm definitely taking him up on that.

• the lady i was waiting for was the director of an iranian film about women during a coup in the fifties. i was expecting an austere woman to come and instead met perhaps the friendliest and nicest person yet. she and her family were very warm and friendly and way cool. they made for good conversation on the way down to the sundance resort.

• because we couldn't all fit in my soccer mom van, her brother and a few others took a cab. as we were leaving park city she got a call from him in the cab, asking where we were going. i said we were going to sundance. the driver didn't know where that was. i wondered what kind of a taxi driver in park city didn't know where sundance was.

• i was hoping they'd invite me in to the screening. still, i've got harry potter to read in a comfortable chair in front of the fire at the front lodge. i told them to call me when the show was over, but i don't have reception here....

• i meet up with them, they say they're staying for dinner. i tell them i can't stay. they decide to come with me. i bring the car around. they're all gone. how did i just lose seven iranians? i find them. they've decided to stay. that's probably a good thing; the storm here is getting pretty bad.

• 9:24 i'm sitting in a tunnel in a very long line of cars waiting for avalanche testing that was supposed to be finished at 9. and there's a snow storm. glad i have my phone charger and this american life on the pod.
• 9:37 stopped in another long line at the dam. behind a timid red grand prix.
• 9:47 still stopped. in front of me a guy in sport shorts occasionally gets out to look. behind me a lady is continuously taking flash photographs/pictures with a flash. at least the cars going the other way are moving. i guess that's good?
• 9:55 my hair's getting shaggy. i need a haircut but i kind of like it long(er). but i'm not sure how else to cut it.
• 9:57 every so often, a car up ahead will pull out of line and turn around. me, i'm fully invested here.
• 10:01 i'm 20 minutes from home and my car is empty. it'd be cool if i could just turn around and call it a night. but tonight is busy and full in park city.
  

• just as i leave heber city, two large snow plows get on, staggered in the two lanes in front of me. there's not much snow on the roads or in the air but they blow up enough to be doing more harm than good. the road is an indistinguishable marble of packed snow and asphalt; the backside of the snow plow is an unfamiliar shape barely visible through the haze; the flashing yellow hazard light pulses like some bizarre experiment. and the background music on my radio show is a woman's choir singing dischordant sounds. nothing i can see is recognizable and the light continues to flash, temporarily disorienting me twice a second on the off beats. i started yawning 20 minutes ago and i feel like i'm in a dreamscape where nothing is right. this is bizarre. i wish i was home in bed.

• 2:04 am: made the most heinous canyon drive twice tonight.