The Tornado Story

Because Kim asked, and hey, not everyone has lived through a tornado!
While finishing up degree #2 in southwest Ohio (I grew up in NE Ohio), I moved down to Cincinnati with a girl I knew from my younger years.  That’s a story in and of itself. But we’re not here to discuss that…
I don’t remember anything about the weather being odd at all.  It was April of 1999, and I only know that because I just went and Googled it.
So, it’s 4:00 in the morning and I wake bolt upright with that feeling that something is wrong.  Immediately I hear this “chug chug chugging!” outside the window.  Seriously, when people tell you that a tornado sounds like a train they are NOT kidding.  And of course in my brilliance, I peek out the window to find the pine tree outside my bedroom that is normally taller than the apartment building itself is practically on the ground.
By this time I hear my roomate rustling in her bedroom and we meet somewhere in the hall, trying to figure out what the heck is happening.  I mean, yeah, all signs pointed to tornado but it WAS 4:00 IN THE MORNING! Not exactly the time I do my most coherent thinking.
We’re on the second floor and there is no basement to go to, so we huddle in my roommate’s walk-in closet with a radio.  By the time we figure out there’s a tornado, it’s over.
I called my parents at 6am to tell them not to worry, everyone is fine.  They weren’t worried, because of course they were asleep and hadn’t heard a thing about any tornado ripping through Cincinnati.
The sun rises, we get ready and go outside to inspect the damage.  My car had a huge dent in the side from being hit with a piece of flying debris.  Like, a chunk off of someone’s house.  That kind of debris.
The shopping centers across the street and next to our building are gone.  Totally demolished.  Unrecognizable.  Which means, had the tornado not turned its path just a tiny bit, our apartment would have been gone, too.  Without a doubt that was the scariest part.  I mean, this sucker literally skimmed the side of our building and took out the neighboring strip mall.
Also, 2 people died in a ditch that was on my way to work.  That was creepy.
We were without power for 3 days and stayed at my roommate’s parents’ house, because they were only 15 minutes away.  That sucked a lot too.
So.  There’s the tornado story.  By the time I left Cincinnati (May of 2000) most everything had been rebuilt or salvaged in some capacity.  I didn’t enjoy my time living there to begin with, and it was like some giant force of nature telling me to go live somewhere else.  Preferably a big city where tornados are pretty rare.
Except in January, apparently.

Note to Self

Kapgar did his part to spread a nifty meme–a letter to your younger self.  So I’m writing to me at about age 17:

Dear Angst-Ridden Teenage Me,

I know it is hard to believe now, but when you get out of high school, not going to prom isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference in the world. 
I know you also won’t believe it now, but when you go to college both men and women will actually like you for being an intelligent person.  But please, when you go there, don’t pay so much attention to boys and get better grades. DO NOT minor in Russian.  Photography or psychology would be fine.  Spanish would be great, but I know you won’t do it.
Especially ignore that good looking blond you’ll have such a major crush on.  I know how pretty and funny he seems, but he is going to cheat on you and shatter your heart into a million pieces.  You’ll be cheated on plenty more, but at least it will be by guys you don’t necessarily worship.  Anyway, when he hits his 30’s he’s going to have lousy hair and the stereotypical computer programmer physique.  If somehow you’d managed to stay with him, you’d end up in the middle of Missouri.  
Also stay away from that one guy that’s dating your best friend your sophomore year.  Oh you’ll eventually date him, but it’s going to be a big mess and little more.  He’ll bother you once every few years for the remainder of your life so best to just let it go. 
Majoring in English and getting your Master’s will be the right thing at the right time.  But don’t be shell-shocked when you find out that you take your first job out of school in HR, end up as a Recruiter and stop writing entirely (except for this nifty thing called a blog).
Move to Chicago sooner.  Your first roommate out of school is going to be a psycho bitch.  Don’t be afraid to break the  lease, because she’s going to do it to you anyway.
Your first boss is going to be a psycho bitch, too.  That and the Category 4 tornado that strikes Cincinnati while you’re living there are all great reasons to leave sooner vs. later.
Treasure your friends from college, because a lot of them are going to be your neighbors in Chicago.  You might end up being in your good friend’s wedding after all if you don’t act like such a shit to her the first few years you live in Chi-town.

Definitely get that first tattoo.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better.  But then it’s going to be better than you ever imagined, I promise.

Your mom will relax, but she’s also going to become a Republican.  Take solace in the fact that starting at about age 20 your skin is going to clear up and will be nicer than you ever would have believed.  Be sure to moisturize.

Supporting Women and Women-run Businesses

Sorry, I’m sort of on a “girl power!” kick this week.  Blame my presently shifting hormones. :p
Sometime last year, when I first started creating a list over at 43 Things, I added that I wanted to support women artists, women-run businesses, and positive endeavors by women in general.  I didn’t create that by the way–some other folks already had it on their lists and I loved the sound of it.
So, since then, I’ve supported women authors and women artists, buying directly from the artist whenever possible.  My personal trainer is a woman, who runs her own business.  My cleaning lady is, duh, a woman.  She doesn’t come from an agency–it’s just her. (Yes, I have a personal trainer AND a cleaning lady.  Shaddup, I haven’t had to buy work clothes in two years!) 
I’m extremely proud that without even really consciously thinking about it I’ve kept up my end of that particular one-of-43-Things thing.  I’ve never removed it because it’s something I want to remind myself to do continually.  Especially since we women seem to be so particularly skilled at tearing one another down and forget sometimes how we can build one another up.
*Teeny update:  I sent my application to be a ChemoAngels card angel, but I’m on a waiting list at the moment.  Something tells me the universe listened and kept up its end of the deal, but then switched things up on me and maybe decided I had some other things to focus on first…

Couch Potato Barbie

Yesterday, in the course of running about, E. and I popped into Target (second happiest place on earth next to Ikea!!).  I was looking for a smaller and more portable version of Scrabble (P., next time you are free, it is SO on).  Of course, we couldn’t resist the chance to stroll up and down the toy aisle!
And there she was.  On an end cap.  Barbie sitting on a little cardboard couch.  With accessory pizza on her lap, accessory popcorn, and two accessory sodas that came with the pack.  Yet, Barbie still looked like Barbie in her tiny little strappy tank top and lounging shorts.
Sigh.  The message here?  Sure, you can hang out on your couch and stuff your face with junk and still be ungodly skinny and perky!
As E. put it, what happened to the days when Barbie DID stuff?  Those days when she drove a Corvette, toured the country in her RV, was a vet a doctor and a stewardess.  (was she ever a pilot? I don’t recall)
And that’s when I silently thought to myself, dear god please let my future children be boys.  Or at least if I have girls, let them be as uninterested in Barbie as I was (I liked to do her hair and make her clothes out of loose bits of fabric and that was about it–go fig).

Boing!

Last night E. had a night out with the boys, so I opted to just chill and hit a reasonable bedtime.  I hoped that this would mean I’d sleep in today and get a solid 8 or more hours of sleep but that ended up not being the case.
At 6:30 I was wide awake!!  Nevermind that I had already been awakened during the night by whiny kitties who (oops) had no food in their bowl.  
I tossed and turned and around 7:30 the whiny kitties were whining about something else which I’ve yet to figure out. 
So here I am.  Ready to start the day much earlier than I anticipated.  Oh well.
Yesterday the girls and I went shopping downtown.  I’m going to a networking event Tuesday evening and since 1) I’ve been working from home for 2 years 2) I didn’t have to interview for this job b/c I had worked for the company previously and 3) I’d gained weight from working at home I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear to a professional event.  (the office is business casual–I have enough to wear when I have to go in)  I ended up with a really cutey blazer from H&M and a nice black top I picked up from Nordstrom Rack.  Aaaaaand just to kick off the shopping mojo, I bought two pairs of earrings and a necklace that looks exactly like this one which has been on my Amazon wishlist since pre-Christmas.  And much cheaper at Nordy’s Rack!  All said, I spent less than $100 which I am extremely proud of!
I came home shopping-weary, did a bit of paperwork and misc. personal tasks (note to self:  finish prepping tax stuff), and hit the couch to start Season 2 of Big Love.  Gotta say, I’m not as into Season 2 as I was Season 1.  The subplots are just irritating me.  Jeanne Triplehorn and Chloe Sevigny make the show for me and the interactions of the sister-wives are what makes me want to watch.  But I guess the producers felt a character-driven show just wasn’t enough and had to bring in the law and wire tapping and various nonsense.  Oh well.
To the shower, then off to see the fella!

Hugs?

No no, I’m not asking for them.   Tonight at dinner E. and I were having a conversation about huggers.  That is, people who tend to greet with a hug vs. those that don’t.  See, I’m a hugger.  I come from a family of huggers and to this day when I am visiting my folks I will get a request for a hug before my mom goes to bed, and always hug my dad before I go to bed (and yes, we always go to bed in that order, it’s a little freaky in its predictability).  If my mom meets you for the first time, she will hug you. Plain and simple. 
Of course I have friends who are not huggers and really recoil at being hugged, especially from strangers.  I try to keep this in mind as a hugger, so as not to make anyone uncomfortable.
So anyway.  Hugger or not a hugger?  Does your family hug and do you see a correlation? 
In other news, as you can probably tell from my frequent updating today, I was a complete slacker at work.  Which is bad, I have a lot to work on.  But I seem to have burned myself out early in the week.  I wish I could share the ridiculous request that was made of me involving a job that hasn’t even been created yet, but I figure best not to carry on about these things in bloggyland for obvious reasons.
Tomorrow is Friday and I need to focus–despite the fact I need to wash the sheets and comforter, finish preparing some delicious veggie-packed chili (chopping everything tonight so I can pop it in the crockpot first thing), go to the bank to deposit some checks, and probably something else that I’m forgetting. 

Wait, What?

Now I’m no economics major, but I was reading about this “economic stimulus” that’s being debated on Capitol Hill and I am confused.
We, as a country, are a gazillion dollars in debt.  So…the government is talking about giving us money so that we spend money so that…this benefits us how exactly?  We can buy things and help people keep their jobs all while whistling a happy tune as China looms ever closer to controlling us utterly and completely?
I figured I’d try to set a good example for poor wayward Uncle Sam who probably has a credit rating of F- right now and apply it toward my student loan should it go through.
But then, isn’t that sort of like when my grandparents give me money and I try to give it back and we end up arguing about who needs it more?
I just…I think my brain is going to burst, this is so utterly absurd to me.

V.I.T.’s*

I’ve been so busy and preoccupied that I missed out on posting some *Very Important Things!

• Monday was my one year anniversary with E.!! I can’t believe I failed to mention that.   Good thing I got him a card!  We tried to go to the restaurant where we had our first date, but it was closed until yesterday for repairs.  Most of our celebrating was done over the weekend because…well, who wants to celebrate anything on a Monday?

• On Sunday I saw Cloverfield.  There are a lot of mixed reviews and opinions out there.  As always, I am of the mindset that any movie that can provoke such a reaction is a good piece of film for that point alone.  As with LOST, anyone who doesn’t like having questions left unanswered is probably not going to like it.  The shakey Blair Witch-ish camera work will probably bother some–as a person prone to motion sickness, I was okay, and once the action picked up I didn’t even notice anymore.  To call it a “rip off of the Blair Witch Project” is just stupid.  They took a groundbreaking filming method and applied it to a different context.  It’s a very different film, and I do believe the choice of camera work served a purpose.  On a related note, there are complaints that the characters are  “too self absorbed.” Uh, cough.  The whole movie and filming style is a jab at our YouTube, myspace, bloggerific, everyone’s-got-their-five-minutes culture.  So, I recommend, but realize it’s not for everyone.  One last thing–it was really intense and the emotional/tension intensity was more disturbing to me than anything.  There really isn’t any gore, but I genuinely screamed out loud at one point.

• Heath Ledger–I feel like I should say something here.   It’s just really unbelievable and I feel for his child.  There are all kinds of theories and I’ve heard mixed messages on what was found in his bloodstream.  Let’s let it go and wish his family the best.  Dark Knight is going to be really, really weird to see.

• The Sinkhole that Ate Chicago!  Holy crap, I finally got out of the building and over that direction to see the destruction AT THE END OF MY STREET.  (I was so happy to find that Starbucks was open!)  It seriously looks like a bomb went off.  I don’t know how long they are going to be working on it, because the street is just totally destroyed.  Seeing it live and in person really hit home for me how incredibly lucky I was to live so close and experience not even a hiccup in my daily life.  (except for having to go around to get to the CTA station–extremely minor considering I could have had a car float away on a river of sludge!)

Dentist Painless, Comcast Painful

I am happy to report that my trip to the dentist went exceedingly well.  No cavities!!  DDS thought the pain I was having in my upper left jaw was probably sinus related, and he showed me on the fancy-schmancy digital xray he was able to project on to a tv screen (!!) where my “problem teeth” were in relation to my sinus (read: directly under).  Best of all if I had to get work done they actually offer nitrous oxide gas.  In fact, when I told the hygienist how my last trip to a different dentist was so awful (6 cavities, no nitrous) she asked me if I needed nitrous for the cleaning (!).  I’m not that much of a baby!
So I was in tired but better spirits…never mind the drama involved in replacing my cell phone battery, it’s working now…ready to face the day and really focus on work…except about an hour into my morning Comcrap went down AGAIN!!  I am curretly type type typing on my laptop piggybacked on someone else’s wireless (shhhh…).  I do wonder if it has anything to do with this (very close to my apartment).
Working on my laptop is a pain because 1) Vista and 2) my e-mail for work is not compatible with Vist and 3) Did I mention Vista?
But I’m counting my blessings b/c at least I don’t have a flooded car or basement like some of my unfortunate neighbors…

Still Behind…

I wanted to follow Hilly’s example and only post when I have something interesting to say, but realized this is the fastest way to tell people why I am not returning their e-mails/commenting on or reading blogs/not returning their messages.
I had a really busy (but fun!!) weekend and was barely home at all.  Actually, I think I just stopped into my house for like 15 minutes at a time until last night!  Then this morning Comcast was down and I had to deal with that (fixed, obviously)…and my cell phone battery went belly up completely on Saturday (to be fixed today)…
I have to go to the dentist today which I am dreading*, and into the office, and to the U.S. Cellular store to get my phone fixed. 
So if you haven’t heard from me I still love you and will get to you as soon as I can.
*When I was a little girl, my dentist had a “treasure chest” from which you could pick treats.  Since I had almost all my stubborn little baby teeth pulled, I was at the dentist a lot.  So as a kid I could associate it with getting a toy.  As an adult…not so much.  Blah.