News From The End Of The World

The end is coming in Los Angeles, have you heard? That's right: Carmageddon is here. Tonight, starting around 7 p.m., authorities will begin shutting down a major section of one of our major freeways. Havoc will ensue, we've all been promised. There are billboards, public service announcements, apps and probably even entire companies springing up around this one event. My favorite billboard leads with the line: DON'T GET STUCK. Have you heard about this, rest of the country? 'Cause here it's mayjah.

What will happen? Will there be gridlock spread out over every inch of the city? Will there be rioting for essential goods? Will the entire county spontaneously burst into flames? I predict...not much. Most people I know are staying home, staying local, keeping it low-key. Riding bikes, reading books perhaps? I'm hoping for an idyllic weekend, and perhaps fewer inland yahoos at the beach.

Reading: I finished Unwind, and whoa. Have you read it? There is a chapter near the end that is hands-down the creepiest thing I have ever read. Bravo, Mr. Shusterman--you blew Stephen King out of the water. I'm now reading Thirteen Reasons Why because I needed a taste of reality, even if it's kind of dark and depressing. I'm thinking I might need to read Bossypants or Anna and the French Kiss after that to lighten the mood.

Writing: Revising a chapter a week, thanks to the tireless nagging encouragement of my CP Liz. She's going to ComicCon next week and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. It's not three-chapter-a-week progress, but right now I'll take any forward motion.

What are you up to this weekend? If you're in L.A., are you hunkering down with some rations and duct tape? And can you believe we're already halfway through July? What happened??