To Wait Baby

I'm good at waiting. I've had a lot of practice, it doesn't bother me and I usually have plenty of things with me to keep me occupied. Waiting means you've got something good planned...usually.

I wish I had something more exciting to tell you today, though. Mostly the day has exceeded expectations. The laundry room was pretty empty, the greenmarket was open, the restaurant for breakfast was open, the mail was delivered and the rain didn't start in earnest until about an hour ago. Even the cupcake place was still open and still had cupcakes when we arrived around 4.

The winds keep getting downgraded. This is not to say that they aren't still dangerous but a little downgrade when you get to these levels always feels hopeful. I just heard on the news that the dangerous winds and rain will be from 2am to 2pm. I think I'll see how it looks and try to walk the dog around midnight then see how it goes from there. I will say that, with the evacuation (of very low lying areas) complete, the transit system shut down (unprecedented) and being back in my apartment (2nd floor, 7 floor building, facing the courtyard) it's starting to feel a little eerie. The courtyard is quiet, the street subdued, and the walls thick. It's unusual to feel alone here.

I'm not alone. I was just out on the street where all the delis and many of the restaurants are not only still open but mostly full. I've done my laundry, I've showered, I have food, the dog has had a longish walk and the electronics have been or are being charged. I have candles and matches and a loose plan of attack if we have any real trouble. I have even taken a strong dose of aleve for the headache this weird barometric pressure is giving me. I think I'll spend a little time closing the harder to reach windows, filling some containers with water and unplugging any unnecessary electronics and then I'll maybe take a nap or watch one of my Netflix discs (Rabbit Hole and The King's Speech).

I know this must seem a little unnatural for folks who are used to the hard, quick natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes. It's the nature of the beast, though. We get a lot of warning and often it turns to nothing but even when it does there's a pretty long waiting period. Irene is big and she's moving at about 15 mph. She'll get here when she fucking well gets here and she's not going to hurry up for anybody. Unlike many of her predecessors it seems she won't be swayed from her path either. The combination of the new moon's high tide and the hurricane conditions will likely make the flooding the very worst part of the storm. Con Edison may turn power off pre-emptively if it seems like seawater flooding will damage equipment. Right now there's no reason to believe I'll be affected but, hey, you never know. (Yes, old time New Yorkers, that was a lottery joke. How do you like me now?)

For those who are worried for me I hope you can see your way clear to breathe easy. Have a glass of wine. That's what I'll be doing. I'll try to keep you posted on social media but if the power goes out I'll want to be careful to conserve energy on the phone and, with or without power, cell phone lines may go down or be clogged with extra traffic.

For those of you who are in Irene's sites after she breezes through New York, please don't take me to be saying you shouldn't worry about this. Follow instructions, get some provisions and secure yourself a safe place to sit this out. Then have a glass of wine. If we don't live through this we don't get to brag about our awesome storm stories later.

Happy Saturday you all! We're living the exciting life, no?