Can't get to login window or my account

Question

Greetings,
This post concerns my new-ish i7 MBP (early 2011), running 10.6.8.
My normal practice when closing the MBP is to Fast User Switch to the loginwindow, then close the machine to put it to sleep (with my primary user still logged in but the login window showing). 
Earlier today I followed that procedure.  I don't recall if I saw the "spinning cube effect" back to the login window.  In any event, some time later, when I opened the machine, the first thing I saw was the "spinning cube effect" to the login window screen.  I entered my credentials but at that point the system did not switch over to my account.  Instead, I received a blank "aurora" wallpaper screen.  I don't recall whether the spinning cube effect preceded that or not.  In any event, I am now stuck in GUI limbo. 
Is there any way -- a magic key combo, for example -- to return to either my account (doubtful) or the login screen (somewhat less doubtful) without doing a hard reboot?  (I take it Ctrl-Alt-Delete doesn't work... )  Any guesses as to what got me to this unpleasant spot?
Many thanks.

Answer 1

There's no point in that. Require a password to wake from sleep in the Security preference pane.
I do, and on occasion I do just close the lid, but I prefer the other method.  I got bitten by the password-on-wake screen a couple times before on a previous machine.  That screen refused to accept keyboard input and would go back to sleep within 30 seconds,  requiring -- you guessed it -- a hard reboot.  Once I switched methods I never had another problem.  That, and the fact that the login screen requires you to enter both login and password (the way I have set it) makes that my preference.
I guess that if you close the lid while the rotating-cube effect is playing, the system may hang. You could call that a bug,
Why, yes, I would!  Bear in mind, of course, that the system didn't hang.  Upon awakening, I got the login screen, gave it my credentials, and then I got the blank (aurora) screen.