The Ike Diaries, Part 2
Even more hurricane journaling, minus some censored family or personal griping / introspection.
You can take it as read that the discussions among my mom, dad, and me out on our patio during our enforced together time ranged widely and included much of military hardware, political ranting, religious speculation and ranting, story-telling, and recitation of Mark Twain.
Monday, 9/15/08
9:25 am Still no power.
Zephyr woke me up whining - his food bowl was empty. Filled his bowl, got up for the day. Ate a banana. [Exciting, what? - ed.]
Cold front coming through thank goodness. 80s during the day and 60s at night.
Dad's making noises about getting a generator.
We've been hearing sirens all over, Mom's reluctant to have us go out. FEMA is supposed to start passing out supplies at 10am (about damn time!). Not sure if we are going to go stand in line for ice and MREs or not. We'll probably be okay for now, so maybe we don't need the full FEMA supply.
Who knows how long until we'll have our power back, though.
Looks like we've voted to stay in for now; we'll assess the fridge, make stew, cook what's still good.
Noon We had fried fish - salmon with garlic herb marinade - for breakfast. Mom is making Everything-in-the-Fridge Stew on the stove. I'm feeling a bit questionable in the tummy but not really sick.
[censored family stuff]
There are four hummingbirds at war over the feeder. They're actually quite cute.
I really just want to lie down.
1:50 pm So I got pretty sick-feeling and had to go out with dad. He was charging the phones and the car battery. All the slow neighborhood driving means that Mom's tank is still full. I sat in the air conditioning with a basin in case of vomiting and just breathed. It was pretty horrid for a while and I wish I knew what was really wrong with me. Been burping all day and queasiness from the heat and it's just really hard, really annoying, really worrying.
Now it's 2:00 and we can really only sit around waiting. I know I have other things to worry about so why get concerned about my art stuff, you know... I do wish I were getting a bit more done.
Writing a story, doing an illustration, or sketching something - anything. It's just very frustrating feeling not quite well enough to do anything.
maybe I'll take a nap. It is the hottest part of the day now.
2:20 pm [My supervisor] just called. Rice is open tomorrow for those who can get in safely. The building was damaged - the roof awning came down on part of it. If I can get in I'll go just to have some power. All of this week's classes have been cancelled. [Censored work stuff]
I'm actually kind of looking forward to it - getting email, checking in online, checking my flight status, looking up phone numbers. I hope everything will be on target for New York.
Donna is still not answering at either number. Hope they are doing ok and managed to get out to a place with power if theirs is still out.
6:45pm Kim has power over by River Oaks.
Dad's back to modeling and Mom back to her applique. I could probably get some drawing done, except I have no references and my sketches kind of suck. Argh.
Concept art hard. I should think about my other projects, too. I can't remember all of my assignments. Aargh. [cut blather about fandom art stuff]
7:20 pm OMG FEMA really stinks!
Pods aren't distributing as long as they said they would. Fun times.
Our mosquito repellant candle went out so we're all slathered in Deep Woods OFF! to try to keep away these huge annoying flies.
We did get the wind chimes up again.
Had a momentary stress-argument about whether to re-arrange the patio.
Still no word from Donna - hopefully they are all okay and went to Sugarland where there is power.
[cut blather]
Centerpoint has no idea of a timetable for power recovery for the whole city.
Tuesday, 9/16/08
7:35 pm Work was okay, no major tragedies, a few bad property damages, but everyone is ok.
Spent the afternoon calling students about cancelled classes.
Contacted Donna, got that worked out. She decamped to parental homes until their power came back on.
Spent my two hours of laptop battery this evening doing illustration work. [cut for art and writing blather]
My light is going to make me a prime bug target soon. I should go inside, lie down, and get in some good reading. [cut blather random]
8:00 pm I think it's time to retire to my room. Bugs galore on the pation as the evening fades into indigo.
Wednesday, 9/17/08
This is actually just me blogging live. At work, eating stew for lunch. Still no power at home.
Rice is going to be distributing ice later, and a co-worker has offered to loan me her big ice chest so I can go get some.
You can take it as read that the discussions among my mom, dad, and me out on our patio during our enforced together time ranged widely and included much of military hardware, political ranting, religious speculation and ranting, story-telling, and recitation of Mark Twain.
Monday, 9/15/08
9:25 am Still no power.
Zephyr woke me up whining - his food bowl was empty. Filled his bowl, got up for the day. Ate a banana. [Exciting, what? - ed.]
Cold front coming through thank goodness. 80s during the day and 60s at night.
Dad's making noises about getting a generator.
We've been hearing sirens all over, Mom's reluctant to have us go out. FEMA is supposed to start passing out supplies at 10am (about damn time!). Not sure if we are going to go stand in line for ice and MREs or not. We'll probably be okay for now, so maybe we don't need the full FEMA supply.
Who knows how long until we'll have our power back, though.
Looks like we've voted to stay in for now; we'll assess the fridge, make stew, cook what's still good.
Noon We had fried fish - salmon with garlic herb marinade - for breakfast. Mom is making Everything-in-the-Fridge Stew on the stove. I'm feeling a bit questionable in the tummy but not really sick.
[censored family stuff]
There are four hummingbirds at war over the feeder. They're actually quite cute.
I really just want to lie down.
1:50 pm So I got pretty sick-feeling and had to go out with dad. He was charging the phones and the car battery. All the slow neighborhood driving means that Mom's tank is still full. I sat in the air conditioning with a basin in case of vomiting and just breathed. It was pretty horrid for a while and I wish I knew what was really wrong with me. Been burping all day and queasiness from the heat and it's just really hard, really annoying, really worrying.
Now it's 2:00 and we can really only sit around waiting. I know I have other things to worry about so why get concerned about my art stuff, you know... I do wish I were getting a bit more done.
Writing a story, doing an illustration, or sketching something - anything. It's just very frustrating feeling not quite well enough to do anything.
maybe I'll take a nap. It is the hottest part of the day now.
2:20 pm [My supervisor] just called. Rice is open tomorrow for those who can get in safely. The building was damaged - the roof awning came down on part of it. If I can get in I'll go just to have some power. All of this week's classes have been cancelled. [Censored work stuff]
I'm actually kind of looking forward to it - getting email, checking in online, checking my flight status, looking up phone numbers. I hope everything will be on target for New York.
Donna is still not answering at either number. Hope they are doing ok and managed to get out to a place with power if theirs is still out.
6:45pm Kim has power over by River Oaks.
Dad's back to modeling and Mom back to her applique. I could probably get some drawing done, except I have no references and my sketches kind of suck. Argh.
Concept art hard. I should think about my other projects, too. I can't remember all of my assignments. Aargh. [cut blather about fandom art stuff]
7:20 pm OMG FEMA really stinks!
Pods aren't distributing as long as they said they would. Fun times.
Our mosquito repellant candle went out so we're all slathered in Deep Woods OFF! to try to keep away these huge annoying flies.
We did get the wind chimes up again.
Had a momentary stress-argument about whether to re-arrange the patio.
Still no word from Donna - hopefully they are all okay and went to Sugarland where there is power.
[cut blather]
Centerpoint has no idea of a timetable for power recovery for the whole city.
Tuesday, 9/16/08
7:35 pm Work was okay, no major tragedies, a few bad property damages, but everyone is ok.
Spent the afternoon calling students about cancelled classes.
Contacted Donna, got that worked out. She decamped to parental homes until their power came back on.
Spent my two hours of laptop battery this evening doing illustration work. [cut for art and writing blather]
My light is going to make me a prime bug target soon. I should go inside, lie down, and get in some good reading. [cut blather random]
8:00 pm I think it's time to retire to my room. Bugs galore on the pation as the evening fades into indigo.
Wednesday, 9/17/08
This is actually just me blogging live. At work, eating stew for lunch. Still no power at home.
Rice is going to be distributing ice later, and a co-worker has offered to loan me her big ice chest so I can go get some.