bill maher's hair ate my twinkies, and other tales

i am sufficiently unthawed from the recent chilly (and i mean CHILLY) weather we had here in los angeles to blog once again.

probably the chilliest moment i experienced was at CBS Television City (the official name of the CBS studios here in L.A.), or should i say series of moments. we got tickets to the bill maher show, which was great. what was not so great was being herded like cattle onto 12-inch wide aluminum benches (wait---i think they may have qualified as poles, not benches....they were too uncomfortable, metallic, and shallow to serve as benches. that said, i thank you to keep your minds out of the gutter now that i've effectively written that i was herded onto a pole).

anyhooz, once we were sufficiently herded, we were left to wait. for one and one-half hours. in 30-mile-per-hour winds with the temperature hovering somewhere around 39 degrees.

you can imagine our relief upon entering the warm, toasty studio. notice i used the word 'imagine'? that's because we DID have to imagine a warm, toasty studio, because -- wait for it -- it was even COLDER INSIDE THE STUDIO THAN IT WAS OUTSIDE! i was wearing a cashmere sweater and a down vest, and about ten minutes into the taping, i had to zip up the vest. and it's one of those vests that zips up to your nostrils. no matter - my nostrils were amongst the coldest parts of mine body at that point.

so, bill maher. his hair is even scarier in person and he is height-challenged. at the same time, he's a riot act and in the end, i'm glad i suffered for free entertainment of the highest order (though i have decided that one always suffers , one way or the other, when entertainment is free). best part: gloria steinem rockin' the house. sister was fierce, and not in a tyra-banks kind-of way.

btw, i apologize for teasing you with this post's title. there are no twinkies in this story, though god knows i could slam about twenty of the little darlings right about now.