Snapshots, Sandy and Otherwise

— Walking down my street just now, I thought, “Hm. Something’s different … can’t quite put my finger on it.” Then realized that it’s because the power is back on. We have streetlights, and the houses have lights at night again. We have been in pitch blackness for a week now.

— Hanging out at the Elks Club with David and Maria. They have been holing up there for a week, because they have Internet, and it is warm. David and Maria and their two daughters have had no heat or power for a week. I didn’t have anything pressing to do on the Internet, I just wanted to … get online, and surf the web, and upload some pics. So I drove out there and hung out in the cozy Elks Club with my dear old friends for a couple of hours. We got a pizza. Maria and I talked and talked and talked, comparing stories and catching up. The disaster is different, from town to town. Their town got slammed. My town did not, and I still have not had Internet for a week. And the majority of my town has been without power. I uploaded some pics to Flickr, and put up a blog post, but mostly it was about talking to Maria, and then David, and swapping stories, and being together.

— Lucy was a cowgirl for Halloween, and William was a fireman. Of course Halloween was basically canceled in Rhode Island and no one had power. But the pictures of the two of them wandering around aimlessly in their costumes is just too much for my heart to bear.

— Speaking of Halloween, it is also Cashel’s birthday. Cashel is a teenager now, too big for trick or treating, but he did dress up. I talked to him on Halloween (my presents would not get to him in time because of damn Sandy). Cashel had dressed up as Elder Price from Book of Mormon and a friend of his also dressed up as a Book of Mormon character. Cashel and I were laughing about the fact that he was dressing up as a Mormon missionary for Halloween and that he should just start preaching and taking donations and see what happens. I love that kid. He just got his braces off.

— Allison and I are going to get together this weekend and go see Argo (I’ve already seen it) and also go to see the exhibit at the New York Historical Society about the role New York City played in WWII. I cannot wait. Especially because our city is suffering right now. I would love to go and celebrate its awesomeness. Also, any time I can go and visit the institution set up by my beloved dead boyfriend, I’m happy.

— I know this isn’t really interesting to anyone but me, but I have been experimenting with reading in bed. I know. AMAZING. But I always fall asleep the second – literally the second – I become horizontal – and it has frustrated me that I can’t read while lying down. But I have been trying to train myself to resist. I have experimented with different positions that aren’t so sleep-like and I have had some success. I figure if I could wean myself from being “not a morning person AT ALL” to being “the biggest morning person WHO HAS EVER LIVED”, then I think I can change my relationship to reading while lying down.

— I had a very vivid dream last night that I woke up to the sound of megaphones and microphones blaring out in the street saying, “YOU NO LONGER LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES. YOU ARE NOW A PROVINCE OF YEMEN.” Bombs were exploding, and tracers in the sky, and there was a flood, too, we were under attack. I have been reading a lot about war recently (well, I always am reading about war, but more so recently) and the stories of coup d’etats happening overnight, of waking up to realize the army has taken over, or you are now under attack, have been at the forefront. Also, there is the fact that for the past week, cop cars have been circling my neighborhood blasting announcements about gasoline and electricity out to the populace. I have gotten used to it and rush to the window to hear the latest. But it does all sound very Bolshevik. I’m glad the United States is not now the property of Yemen. I have enough to worry about.

— Thank you so much to those of you out there who have emailed me privately and asked if they could do anything for me, send me anything, help out in any way. I will respond to you all when I have a moment, but I so appreciate you caring about a person you have never met, and the impulse to help. It’s really quite moving and I thank you all.

— At one point during the eerie pitch-pipe wind section of Hurricane Sandy, when my windows were buckling inwards due to the force of the blasts and things were getting quite scary, I glanced over at Hope to see how she was taking it. This is what I saw.