.. for however long it lasts… Maybe just today. I like being able to share photos with people and hear about what people are doing. There are other things not-so-fun.
I signed out of Facebook on my iPhone. I have to say, things have been a bunch quieter.
Did I mention that I have a new iPhone? It’s company provided, so it’s free while I’m employed, which is nice. It’s interesting watching it correct things (to the wrong words) or not correct things. Also, it’s fun dealing with intermittent slowness of updates, thanks to cell phone technology and availability.
This is from a few weeks ago, but I love this performance by my daughter’s school band of “Kitsune – The Fox Spirits’. We are always so proud of the band.
AND.. you can’t leave without hearing “Songs of the Whalemen”
We were scheduled to chaperon Brit’s band to UNO for a band competition. We were a little on edge because the National Weather Service had said we’d have bad weather which could likely lead to tornados. It’s amazing that we can find out what time the weather is going to become really bad. As luck would have it, it would be within the hour after we were due to return to the school to drop the kids off after the concert.
On the way to school from the concert, it was POURING rain. The streets are slightly slanted to dump excess water into the gutters at the side of the road. Our bus driver was driving in that lane. Quietly, I was a little panicked. Ian asked me what was wrong. I said, “We shouldn’t be in this lane. It is full of water….” and then I went on to watching the rain pour down.
Eventually, he decided to change lanes. So much for the anticipated school bus hydroplaning. We did get home safely. Everyone thanked the bus driver for getting us home without incident.
We got food from Burger King by our house and went home to plant ourselves on the couch to watch The Weather Channel. For hours.
All through the afternoon, tornadoes were being spotted over Oklahoma and Kansas. We were waiting for our turn, but hoping not to have one, because really, I am a wimp when it comes to tornadoes. We had a bag packed for our trip to the basement. We had a plan for grabbing Brit, the dogs, the parrot and bringing along some food and water and at least a change of clothes for Brit.
I think we were a bit more vigilant because the weather people have started using stronger, more emotional wording, like, “You could be killed if you don’t get underground immediately!”. This is mostly for people who have become numb to the tornado sirens. I am not one of those people. I am the one checking the Internet to see what is happening and what time I should be underground. Of course, by the time we hear sirens, the answer is, “Right Now.”
We have a new weather radio. We thought it wasn’t working, because it didn’t report the Tornado Watch. Then we heard a really ginormous BEEEEP! and it was warning us of thunderstorms. Good enough, I guess.
Around 10:30, we decided to go to bed. Couldn’t sleep. Warnings going on everywhere and tornados landing all over KS (which borders Nebraska to the South). Not good. Some people didn’t have a siren to warn them. Also did not make for a good sleeping situation.
Around 12:30, I was awakened by BEEEEP!, which was all about a thunderstorm watch. I heard the rain pelting the window. I couldn’t sleep again, so I grabbed my laptop and went to look out the patio window. The lightening was constant. It was an amazing light show, really, with the added symphony of thunder, wind and heavy rain.
This is probably the video of the night, by the way (or the early morning, as the case may be). Watch it carefully. This is what a tornado looks like in the night: http://twitpic.com/99zq54
Around 2:30am, I went back to bed, being reasonably sure there was not going to be a tornado to surprise us in the night. I hadn’t seen much from Jim Cantore on Twitter in awhile, so I decided it was probably alright to go to sleep now. I was comfortable knowing I was not going to wake up to my roof being carried away, like some did.
121 tornados were spotted in OK, KS, NE and IA overnight. At least.
for the USCIS to say, “You’re Approved”. Several of our compadres on VisaJourney who filed around the time we did are getting approved. We think we should have the word sometime this month. This means Ian will be “good to go” (his favorite American saying… one of them) for 10 years until he HAS to apply for anything else. He seems quite keen to vote, though, so I have a strong feeling he might be going for citizenship next.
The only time when it’s been outwardly apparent (aside from the British accent) that Ian’s not a US Citizen is when we traveled to Canada for a day last year. It occurred to us that we needed to make sure the entry and exit rules weren’t different for a British citizen than a US citizen. And of course the entry questions were a bit odd… “Why are you here from the UK”, for example. Erm.. we just crossed the border, dude. We are visiting Seattle and thought it would be fun to leave the country and visit the aquarium, ok?
He would definitely have the advantage, if (and we’re definitely not) we were going to Cuba. He would be able to get off the plane. We would get an immediate return flight. We need a special visa and we need to be on an approved sort of visit (being a journalist or traveling with the Pope or something).
I think sometimes it just takes some time to flip out a bit in the face of adversity, and return to your former self. The hazard of feeling “flipped out a bit” is that you worry if you’re permanently flipped out a bit, or if it is just a temporary thing.
It takes awhile, sometimes, to find strength, like it’s a lost thing in your handbag or in your luggage (if you’re a guy). Sometimes, it takes a bit of time to find perspective.
Sometimes, high blood pressure pills are needed.
In any event, life is interesting, isn’t it? I guess most of my life has been moving along on an even keel, but likely, the more horrid things have just become less horrid over time, or have faded into “that wasn’t really as important as it seemed at the time” oblivion. I thought life would be easier as it went along… lessons learned, and all that, but notsomuch. Mid-life seems to be about how to figure out how to deal with what life throws you, and realizing that no matter what, you can find a way to get through it.
I am blessed, really, and lucky, to have the friends and family that I have, who are such a joy to have in my life.
I’m not overtly religious, but I do believe in God. I’ve spent many, many years in the Catholic church. Once I was all grown up, I decided that I still believed, but was a bit worried about some of the things happening in the church. So, although I do occasionally stop by a church, most of my belief is in my head, recharged at times by some reading, like this passage I had in my head for some reason:
This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
To me, among other things, this means, “Enjoy this day. It’s only here once.”
Also, it’s fun dealing with intermittent slowness of updates, thanks to cell phone technology and availability.