12.16.2008
11.20.2008
oh but I'm all right, I'm all right
I caught Paul Simon on The Colbert Report the other night and this moved me almost beyond words.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/210693/november-17-2008/paul-simon-pt--2
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/210693/november-17-2008/paul-simon-pt--2
11.07.2008
that's just what you are
I'm having an especially hard time right now with where I am in life, here at the crossroads. I was just sitting on my bed trying to talk myself down, force myself to see what I usually see so easily: that life is a horribly beautiful adventure and the only way to fully enjoy the journey is to experience it openly and lovingly, naively and hopefully, with faith that everyone is connected and there are no coincidences, and knowledge that the love that you give becomes the love that you get, and consciousness that the divine is everywhere including inside all of us.
I'm not even close to there right now. But, here's what just happened while I sat on my bed thinking about all of that and attempting to convince myself the pity party is over. I had the thought, as I do so often, that I need to journal, to write it all down. It occurred to me as I pulled out old CDs that I need to give myself some quiet time to go back in time to when I was younger and stronger, idealistic, still more potential than actuality and see what that headstrong, confident girl can tell this tired, sad mom about life. I was thinking about how to do that...listen to old music obviously, pore over old photos, read my sporadic journals, and yes, unearth the rest of the time capsule bags and boxes stashed in my office and the attic. I decided to come blog about it all, take some action and start to crawl out of the cave I've been living in and head back to the sunshine daydream days that I've been missing lately. When I got to the computer, I had an email from Daily Om. Feeling like I could use a little Om right now, I opened it, and read this...in astonishment.
November 7, 2008
An Exercise In Self
Seeking Advice From Yourself
Since we probably know ourselves better than anyone else does, then we may very well be the best person to ask for advice when we are in a quandary. One interesting exercise is to try asking for advice from your past and future selves. There is the younger self that you used to be and the older, more mature self that you will become. You can gain a different perspective when you view present situations through your younger self’s eyes or your mature self’s more experienced point of view. Perhaps, your younger self would view a current dilemma in a more innocent, less cynical way. Likewise, your older, hopefully wiser, self may offer advice from a more compassionate, experienced perspective.
Think back to how you viewed the world when you were younger. What were your thoughts on happiness, love, and injustice? Think about how you would have reacted to a dilemma you are currently facing. The perspective may shed a different light on relationships, money matters, or life decisions. Likewise, think about the person you will become. A more mature version of you might mull a problem or conflict over carefully before taking action right away… or perhaps not. Maybe your older self would be more willing to take risks, care less about what other people think, and want to enjoy life more.
You can even set up an advisory panel of your past, present, and future selves. You might even want to try to have a written dialogue with your selves to record the thoughts, feelings, and advice that your younger and older selves might have for your present self regarding a current situation. Your different selves can give you some invaluable answers. After all, no one can know you better than your selves. You are your wisest guide.
http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2008/15869.html
Wow. About that all things connected, no coincidences thing.... just got a nice reminder.
When I was about 10, one of my favorite shows was Land of the Lost (seems I've always been a sucker for time travel). I remember clearly my favorite episode. It centered around Holly, the daughter, who met her future self in a cave and was able to have a long, positive conversation with her. After that Saturday I can't tell you how many afternoons I must have spent recreating that episode, sometimes as Holly but more often as myself, meeting grown up April and talking to her about how things would go. Yes, I was an only child for my first nine years and lived in a vivid imaginary world of my own much of the time when I was a kid even after Amy, Justin and Amber came along.
Two or three years ago, before I lived at this magic house, I spent a lot of time here late into the night in the real life version of a vivid imaginary world that was the Jellyphish Lounge. One night, or early morning, I found myself standing alone next to the tree in the front yard, looking toward the park, contemplating the mystery. Suddenly I had the distinct and strong impression that I was at a doorway or maybe a gate, and if I looked and listened closely enough, my childhood self was looking for me and had something important to say. At that point I immediately thought for the first time in years of that Land of the Lost episode. I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I got scared...I told myself I'd be back but I couldn't handle it right then. No, if you're wondering, I was nowhere near sober. But since that night I've felt strongly that I would have that encounter again, would see it through, and that for whatever reason, it had something to do with being at this house. I had no idea at that point in time that this would be my own home someday.
All of that to say this: I obviously have something to learn right now, and I think some former and/or future version of me is going to help me learn it, and I think I'm in exactly the right place at the right time. Even if it is the crossroads.
I'm not even close to there right now. But, here's what just happened while I sat on my bed thinking about all of that and attempting to convince myself the pity party is over. I had the thought, as I do so often, that I need to journal, to write it all down. It occurred to me as I pulled out old CDs that I need to give myself some quiet time to go back in time to when I was younger and stronger, idealistic, still more potential than actuality and see what that headstrong, confident girl can tell this tired, sad mom about life. I was thinking about how to do that...listen to old music obviously, pore over old photos, read my sporadic journals, and yes, unearth the rest of the time capsule bags and boxes stashed in my office and the attic. I decided to come blog about it all, take some action and start to crawl out of the cave I've been living in and head back to the sunshine daydream days that I've been missing lately. When I got to the computer, I had an email from Daily Om. Feeling like I could use a little Om right now, I opened it, and read this...in astonishment.
November 7, 2008
An Exercise In Self
Seeking Advice From Yourself
Since we probably know ourselves better than anyone else does, then we may very well be the best person to ask for advice when we are in a quandary. One interesting exercise is to try asking for advice from your past and future selves. There is the younger self that you used to be and the older, more mature self that you will become. You can gain a different perspective when you view present situations through your younger self’s eyes or your mature self’s more experienced point of view. Perhaps, your younger self would view a current dilemma in a more innocent, less cynical way. Likewise, your older, hopefully wiser, self may offer advice from a more compassionate, experienced perspective.
Think back to how you viewed the world when you were younger. What were your thoughts on happiness, love, and injustice? Think about how you would have reacted to a dilemma you are currently facing. The perspective may shed a different light on relationships, money matters, or life decisions. Likewise, think about the person you will become. A more mature version of you might mull a problem or conflict over carefully before taking action right away… or perhaps not. Maybe your older self would be more willing to take risks, care less about what other people think, and want to enjoy life more.
You can even set up an advisory panel of your past, present, and future selves. You might even want to try to have a written dialogue with your selves to record the thoughts, feelings, and advice that your younger and older selves might have for your present self regarding a current situation. Your different selves can give you some invaluable answers. After all, no one can know you better than your selves. You are your wisest guide.
http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2008/15869.html
Wow. About that all things connected, no coincidences thing.... just got a nice reminder.
When I was about 10, one of my favorite shows was Land of the Lost (seems I've always been a sucker for time travel). I remember clearly my favorite episode. It centered around Holly, the daughter, who met her future self in a cave and was able to have a long, positive conversation with her. After that Saturday I can't tell you how many afternoons I must have spent recreating that episode, sometimes as Holly but more often as myself, meeting grown up April and talking to her about how things would go. Yes, I was an only child for my first nine years and lived in a vivid imaginary world of my own much of the time when I was a kid even after Amy, Justin and Amber came along.
Two or three years ago, before I lived at this magic house, I spent a lot of time here late into the night in the real life version of a vivid imaginary world that was the Jellyphish Lounge. One night, or early morning, I found myself standing alone next to the tree in the front yard, looking toward the park, contemplating the mystery. Suddenly I had the distinct and strong impression that I was at a doorway or maybe a gate, and if I looked and listened closely enough, my childhood self was looking for me and had something important to say. At that point I immediately thought for the first time in years of that Land of the Lost episode. I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I got scared...I told myself I'd be back but I couldn't handle it right then. No, if you're wondering, I was nowhere near sober. But since that night I've felt strongly that I would have that encounter again, would see it through, and that for whatever reason, it had something to do with being at this house. I had no idea at that point in time that this would be my own home someday.
All of that to say this: I obviously have something to learn right now, and I think some former and/or future version of me is going to help me learn it, and I think I'm in exactly the right place at the right time. Even if it is the crossroads.
9.30.2008
You know, breakdowns come and breakdowns go...
Two weeks, one Monsoon, two new gray hairs, one monster stress zit, and two or three breakdowns later (depending on who's counting, or whose you're counting, or both)... it looks like it's time for another post-Ike update.
Houston is not the city it was. Life isn't "back to normal" and won't be any time soon, if ever. Life will go on, and Houston is certainly alive and kicking, but normal still seems a long way off. Everywhere you look there are reminders of the abnormal: blinking, broken, or missing traffic lights, downed billboards and giant trees, broken windows and roofs, piles of drying brush lining the streets. Yes, most of us have power back now. But that's "most" of us and that's "now" and for some of us the lights just came back on yesterday! In spite of the fact that my house somehow miraculously had power back the Saturday night after the storm, our phone/DSL and cable are still out indefinitely. Well, to be fair, I did reach a recording from AT&T last Tuesday with the reassurance that the damage to my line should be repaired by October 7th at 8:00pm. And Comcast sent around a couple of people taking a survey to find out whether we have Comcast and if so whether or not it's working. No kidding -- they knocked on my door today, and my answers are yes and no.
The internet being out for the forseeable future is more than just an inconvenience or a hindrance to timely blogging. It's a giant source of stress because I work from home. Or, I did. Now I work from wherever I can find free wireless that is stable and fast enough for me to VPN to my office in Virginia. I was on shaky ground with three projects that all have tight deadlines before the hurricane, and now I'm barely keeping my head above water -- no pun intended seeing as how I'm officing at Onion Creek (http://www.onioncreekcafe.com/ if you're not from around here, because if you are, then you know). Yes, every morning I pack my laptop bag, head 6 blocks down the street and set up shop on one of the funky couches and get to computer geeking. As a bonus, I've run into friends and had people meet me there for lunch... in fact my starving student Jordan met me Friday for both breakfast AND lunch. It's been incredible to have a place to go get some work done, but it's not optimal and it can't really be a permanent solution.
The major breakdown I had was work-stress related, Monday when I realized how little I had accomplished last week. I took last Monday off for personal hurricane (and yes, monsoon) recovery, spent half of Tuesday searching for a place to work and the afternoon working on a tall barstool at copy.com (http://www.copydotcom.com/) and then found the wi-fi at the OC on Wednesday. Not the most productive work week, and at a time when I needed to be busting it out. Topped off the week with a nasty cold, which always happens when I go out in public -- overdue, really, since I traveled to DC and back right before the hurricane. I spent most of the weekend curled up asleep and/or coughing, and still felt about that good when I got to my coffee shop couch office on Monday morning and realized that I was kicking off another week of the same.
So yeah, "breakdowns come and breakdowns go" but then there's that next line of the song to challenge me -- thanks Dad (and Paul Simon)! "So what are you going to do about it, that's what I'd like to know?" I'm going to keep on taking baby steps and get myself back on track with my job, get myself down to the OC in the morning and keep on being incredibly grateful that I have friends, family, health, a house with a roof and windows, electricity, air conditioning, and a job to even worry about.
Life is a series of problems to be solved, and this too shall pass.
Houston is not the city it was. Life isn't "back to normal" and won't be any time soon, if ever. Life will go on, and Houston is certainly alive and kicking, but normal still seems a long way off. Everywhere you look there are reminders of the abnormal: blinking, broken, or missing traffic lights, downed billboards and giant trees, broken windows and roofs, piles of drying brush lining the streets. Yes, most of us have power back now. But that's "most" of us and that's "now" and for some of us the lights just came back on yesterday! In spite of the fact that my house somehow miraculously had power back the Saturday night after the storm, our phone/DSL and cable are still out indefinitely. Well, to be fair, I did reach a recording from AT&T last Tuesday with the reassurance that the damage to my line should be repaired by October 7th at 8:00pm. And Comcast sent around a couple of people taking a survey to find out whether we have Comcast and if so whether or not it's working. No kidding -- they knocked on my door today, and my answers are yes and no.
The internet being out for the forseeable future is more than just an inconvenience or a hindrance to timely blogging. It's a giant source of stress because I work from home. Or, I did. Now I work from wherever I can find free wireless that is stable and fast enough for me to VPN to my office in Virginia. I was on shaky ground with three projects that all have tight deadlines before the hurricane, and now I'm barely keeping my head above water -- no pun intended seeing as how I'm officing at Onion Creek (http://www.onioncreekcafe.com/ if you're not from around here, because if you are, then you know). Yes, every morning I pack my laptop bag, head 6 blocks down the street and set up shop on one of the funky couches and get to computer geeking. As a bonus, I've run into friends and had people meet me there for lunch... in fact my starving student Jordan met me Friday for both breakfast AND lunch. It's been incredible to have a place to go get some work done, but it's not optimal and it can't really be a permanent solution.
The major breakdown I had was work-stress related, Monday when I realized how little I had accomplished last week. I took last Monday off for personal hurricane (and yes, monsoon) recovery, spent half of Tuesday searching for a place to work and the afternoon working on a tall barstool at copy.com (http://www.copydotcom.com/) and then found the wi-fi at the OC on Wednesday. Not the most productive work week, and at a time when I needed to be busting it out. Topped off the week with a nasty cold, which always happens when I go out in public -- overdue, really, since I traveled to DC and back right before the hurricane. I spent most of the weekend curled up asleep and/or coughing, and still felt about that good when I got to my coffee shop couch office on Monday morning and realized that I was kicking off another week of the same.
So yeah, "breakdowns come and breakdowns go" but then there's that next line of the song to challenge me -- thanks Dad (and Paul Simon)! "So what are you going to do about it, that's what I'd like to know?" I'm going to keep on taking baby steps and get myself back on track with my job, get myself down to the OC in the morning and keep on being incredibly grateful that I have friends, family, health, a house with a roof and windows, electricity, air conditioning, and a job to even worry about.
Life is a series of problems to be solved, and this too shall pass.
9.16.2008
The waiting is the hardest part
After weathering Hurricane Ike with very few problems to speak of and heaving a giant collective sigh of relief, we spent one long hot day at the compound and then power came back on Saturday night at 10:00pm. We did a little celebratory rocking and went to bed in the a/c, naively thinking everyone else was doing the same and life in Houston would be getting back to normal on Sunday.
Now it's Tuesday morning. Or, I guess technically afternoon? Sometime yesterday the reality of our situation here started to dawn on me. Maybe it was the steady stream of sweaty exhausted friends stopping by on foot, bikes, or the rare vehicle to bask in the air conditioning and beg for a space on an extra bed or couch. Maybe it was the walk to the Little Buddy complete with people screaming questions out of cars slowly cruising by ("They got ice? Gas? Cold soda? My baby needs something cold!"). Maybe it was getting a text message from the CDC saying to drink bottled water. Maybe it was seeing us as a tiny green dot in a sea of orange on the power outage map, or hearing that HISD is closed the rest of the week and possibly into the next, or hearing that Kroger is rationing food so we need to go to the store in groups and split up to buy more. Maybe it was finally sobering up when we ran out of Malibu. Maybe it was all that and an impossible to find bag of tortilla chips, but it's hitting me.
Reality is that power is still out all over town. Some of our friends don't even have running water. We've got about 6 people staying here and many more stopping in to shower, charge cell phones, or use the internet via the highly resourceful hippies out back. We have no cable or phone (so no DSL) but we do have power, and now are aware how incredibly lucky we are. Some streets are still flooded, gas is hard to find and expensive, store shelves are getting empty, and trees are down all over the place. We all hunkered down and then prepared for a couple of days of inconvenience. Most of us had no clue we could potentially be facing days turning into weeks of living in bizarro world.
Don't get me wrong, we're making the best of it around here. This place is affectionately known as the compound, and it's definitely living up to its name right now. Everyone who stops in brings something along to share, or is here to help clean up and restore order in and around the party shack out back. By noon on Sunday, The Amazing Goodlings had already shown up looking freaking adorable in their matching gloves and rubber boots (who else can rock post-hurricane cleanup gear?) , chain saw and rake in hand. The treetops blocking the door to Club DubDub and covering the roof are already nothing but a good story. Allen and Jennifer are superheroes, and so are Kirk & April, Tim, Dana, and Jordan. I'm truly amazed that stuff is cleaned up already! The mood around here is sort of a cross between a slumber party and summer camp. We're all on a kind of forced vacation, oddly suspended in time and space. It's certainly not unfamiliar to be here in our house at all hours of the day or night with 10 of our closest friends, but the circumstances this time are a little different. And we're going on 3 days... but so far, so good. We have DVDs, books, and lots of music and so far, plenty of food and water. And air conditioning!
Jordan is Mad Maxing it with a posse of kids over at his girlfriend Neyana's house. They have power there too, and provisions like beef jerky, cases of Hungry Man Beef Soup and Chef Boyardee Ravioli. There is nothing about him being over there that I understand, but Tim assures me that I've done the right thing in not insisting he come home immediately and stay here because I said so. Thank goodness I have my friends here to make lunches, drinks and beds for (and rock with, of course!) or I might have lost it after all. Seriously.
A few pics. Early Saturday morning view out the window.... where are the rest of those trees?
This is looking down the street at the limbs starting to pile up:
I've added more pics to this album and even got started on the captions:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=jcreil7.2q36ya57&x=0&h=1&y=r8fiog&localeid=en_US
Now it's Tuesday morning. Or, I guess technically afternoon? Sometime yesterday the reality of our situation here started to dawn on me. Maybe it was the steady stream of sweaty exhausted friends stopping by on foot, bikes, or the rare vehicle to bask in the air conditioning and beg for a space on an extra bed or couch. Maybe it was the walk to the Little Buddy complete with people screaming questions out of cars slowly cruising by ("They got ice? Gas? Cold soda? My baby needs something cold!"). Maybe it was getting a text message from the CDC saying to drink bottled water. Maybe it was seeing us as a tiny green dot in a sea of orange on the power outage map, or hearing that HISD is closed the rest of the week and possibly into the next, or hearing that Kroger is rationing food so we need to go to the store in groups and split up to buy more. Maybe it was finally sobering up when we ran out of Malibu. Maybe it was all that and an impossible to find bag of tortilla chips, but it's hitting me.
Reality is that power is still out all over town. Some of our friends don't even have running water. We've got about 6 people staying here and many more stopping in to shower, charge cell phones, or use the internet via the highly resourceful hippies out back. We have no cable or phone (so no DSL) but we do have power, and now are aware how incredibly lucky we are. Some streets are still flooded, gas is hard to find and expensive, store shelves are getting empty, and trees are down all over the place. We all hunkered down and then prepared for a couple of days of inconvenience. Most of us had no clue we could potentially be facing days turning into weeks of living in bizarro world.
Don't get me wrong, we're making the best of it around here. This place is affectionately known as the compound, and it's definitely living up to its name right now. Everyone who stops in brings something along to share, or is here to help clean up and restore order in and around the party shack out back. By noon on Sunday, The Amazing Goodlings had already shown up looking freaking adorable in their matching gloves and rubber boots (who else can rock post-hurricane cleanup gear?) , chain saw and rake in hand. The treetops blocking the door to Club DubDub and covering the roof are already nothing but a good story. Allen and Jennifer are superheroes, and so are Kirk & April, Tim, Dana, and Jordan. I'm truly amazed that stuff is cleaned up already! The mood around here is sort of a cross between a slumber party and summer camp. We're all on a kind of forced vacation, oddly suspended in time and space. It's certainly not unfamiliar to be here in our house at all hours of the day or night with 10 of our closest friends, but the circumstances this time are a little different. And we're going on 3 days... but so far, so good. We have DVDs, books, and lots of music and so far, plenty of food and water. And air conditioning!
Jordan is Mad Maxing it with a posse of kids over at his girlfriend Neyana's house. They have power there too, and provisions like beef jerky, cases of Hungry Man Beef Soup and Chef Boyardee Ravioli. There is nothing about him being over there that I understand, but Tim assures me that I've done the right thing in not insisting he come home immediately and stay here because I said so. Thank goodness I have my friends here to make lunches, drinks and beds for (and rock with, of course!) or I might have lost it after all. Seriously.
A few pics. Early Saturday morning view out the window.... where are the rest of those trees?
We found them! This is looking from the beaded fig tree down the sidewalk at the doors of the lounge.
Here are a few shots of the cleanup in action -- you can see Allen and Jen kicking it their boots:
This is looking down the street at the limbs starting to pile up:
And here's us hanging out yesterday with our next door neighbor Robin (not the guys with the pool, the other side). We're in the top of a tree that used to tower above our houses. It took out his deck and is still on top of part of his house in addition to filling the back yard and covering the driveway between his house and his parent's house next door to him on the other side.
I've added more pics to this album and even got started on the captions:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=jcreil7.2q36ya57&x=0&h=1&y=r8fiog&localeid=en_US
9.13.2008
My name is peace this is my hour, can I have just a little bit of power?
YES! Just as things were starting to get ugly around here the power flickered back on and stayed this time.... right about 10:00pm. The A/C feels like heaven. Pictures, updates, and set list to come. Life is truly sweet: our power is on, but our cable is out. Rock on! :)
Meet you on the other side!
So first things first -- we're okay! Second, OMG hippies out back, you really DO rock harder than Bon Jovi! ;) Thanks ever so much for the wireless hookup, my friends. We are still without power so being online feels like magic.
Here's a little bit of a chronology (bold choice of words for a time-challenged girl!), then I'll try to add pictures if my laptop battery holds out.
Around 1:30-2:00am we lost power. Almost immediately, it blinked back on and off three times but then stayed out. The rain wasn't super heavy, not even steady. The wind was really strong, but less than we expected. Once we decided nobody was going to panic, we all went to bed. I think every one of us was fast asleep by 2:30. Oh, the excitement! HAHAHA but remember, there was Malibu involved... and the boys were drinking Jack. I had set an alarm so we could maybe catch the eye, and okay because I slept through the worst 6 hours of Rita in a lakehouse and I didn't want to miss this one. Busted.
4:30am I realize my alarm is going off for the second time so I must have snoozed in my sleep. Tim rolled over and made some noise. I sent out some "we're okay" text messages and listened to the wind rattle the carport and hum through the front (latched) screen door. I THINK that's what kept making the crazy humming noise. The weirdest part of going through the storm was the unidentifiable, completely unfamiliar noises. For most of the night I thought that was the attic vent thing but then it did it while I was peeking out the window this morning and I could tell it came from the back door but I'm still not sure exactly how.
4:45am I get a call from August & David, our friends in CO who lived here in the house before we moved here, and I think by then I was fairly coherent...maybe. I do remember talking about water in the lounge, which we had no idea about at that point, and I know I mentioned the Malibu (again!). It was fun to hear from them and swap storm stories. Literal ones, for once. Tim woke up for a bit and we sat in bed with the shutters open looking out the window and watched the storm for a while, listening to the freaky noises and thinking we'd been really lucky so far.
5:45am we're still in bed and I'm cranking the QVC flashlight that came with the lantern and the power blinks back on, off, on, off, and ON! It stayed on long enough for Tim and I to hop out of bed for a celebratory dance, and then boom...it was back out for the duration. Back to bed we went, he passed out again. I think I drifted in and out, slept an hour or so, then it started getting light so I got up again and roamed through the house peeking out the non-boarded windows. I was the only one awake several times during the night, texting updates and prowling around with a candle lantern taking pictures and checking on people and kitties. I did turn out to be brave. Who knew?
8:00ish I finally got myself settled down and asleep, then Tim's mom called to check on us and woke us up about 8:45. More texting and pictures, a granola bar, and a nap and then I woke up around 10:30 to find Tim awake (finally!) and sneaking outside without me! Wasn't having it, made him wait for me to sort of put clothes on and we went out to survey the damage out back.
About that: Almost all of the tall trees left above/behind the lounge/clubhouse lost their tops. Miraculously nothing fell on the apartments. April & Kirk had a whole tree go down right behind them but it fell parallell to and pretty much slid down their back wall but didn't break any windows at all. The deck in front of the lounge is totally blocked and covered with giant branches... thank goodness for the hippie door, it's the only way in right now! I climbed around in the tops of those trees in the rain and it was very surreal -- felt like being in a rainforest canopy but without the fear of heights thing. Bizarrely cool. Apparently the lounge took about 2 inches of water; no broken windows, no roof damage despite the giant branches that crashed around and even the one that is still on top. We're going to need some serious chainsaw action to get that stuff cleaned up! But the inside is fine and the show(s) will go on at Club DubDub! Viva la Jellyphish Lounge! Whew.
It's totally daylight now of course, but still completely cloudy out, with steady spattery rain, and windy with strong gusts. Nothing like during the night -- Ike is leaving now. There are leaves and branches down everywhere. We still don't have power but our water never went out. The park across the street from the Little Buddy (3 houses down from us where White Oak curves toward downtown) is a lake, and the bayou under the clubhouse is still full and almost touching the floor and deck. The banana trees all broke in half. Lots of the bamboo is down, and the very top of the giant magnolia next to the neighbors' pool is in the middle of the driveway. Jordan and Neyana are both passed out in the front room, I think they both slept through almost the entire storm. KC is back on her perch on J's bass amp, Fleck is crashed out in bed, and Jack, our most sensitive cat, is sleeping peacefully beside me now. The worst has passed and we weathered it well. Tim's bored with me blogging and is outside eating granola bars with April & Kirk. I'm expecting the banjo to start up any minute. ;)
Now about that power... I'm ready to rock!
Here's a little bit of a chronology (bold choice of words for a time-challenged girl!), then I'll try to add pictures if my laptop battery holds out.
Around 1:30-2:00am we lost power. Almost immediately, it blinked back on and off three times but then stayed out. The rain wasn't super heavy, not even steady. The wind was really strong, but less than we expected. Once we decided nobody was going to panic, we all went to bed. I think every one of us was fast asleep by 2:30. Oh, the excitement! HAHAHA but remember, there was Malibu involved... and the boys were drinking Jack. I had set an alarm so we could maybe catch the eye, and okay because I slept through the worst 6 hours of Rita in a lakehouse and I didn't want to miss this one. Busted.
4:30am I realize my alarm is going off for the second time so I must have snoozed in my sleep. Tim rolled over and made some noise. I sent out some "we're okay" text messages and listened to the wind rattle the carport and hum through the front (latched) screen door. I THINK that's what kept making the crazy humming noise. The weirdest part of going through the storm was the unidentifiable, completely unfamiliar noises. For most of the night I thought that was the attic vent thing but then it did it while I was peeking out the window this morning and I could tell it came from the back door but I'm still not sure exactly how.
4:45am I get a call from August & David, our friends in CO who lived here in the house before we moved here, and I think by then I was fairly coherent...maybe. I do remember talking about water in the lounge, which we had no idea about at that point, and I know I mentioned the Malibu (again!). It was fun to hear from them and swap storm stories. Literal ones, for once. Tim woke up for a bit and we sat in bed with the shutters open looking out the window and watched the storm for a while, listening to the freaky noises and thinking we'd been really lucky so far.
5:45am we're still in bed and I'm cranking the QVC flashlight that came with the lantern and the power blinks back on, off, on, off, and ON! It stayed on long enough for Tim and I to hop out of bed for a celebratory dance, and then boom...it was back out for the duration. Back to bed we went, he passed out again. I think I drifted in and out, slept an hour or so, then it started getting light so I got up again and roamed through the house peeking out the non-boarded windows. I was the only one awake several times during the night, texting updates and prowling around with a candle lantern taking pictures and checking on people and kitties. I did turn out to be brave. Who knew?
8:00ish I finally got myself settled down and asleep, then Tim's mom called to check on us and woke us up about 8:45. More texting and pictures, a granola bar, and a nap and then I woke up around 10:30 to find Tim awake (finally!) and sneaking outside without me! Wasn't having it, made him wait for me to sort of put clothes on and we went out to survey the damage out back.
About that: Almost all of the tall trees left above/behind the lounge/clubhouse lost their tops. Miraculously nothing fell on the apartments. April & Kirk had a whole tree go down right behind them but it fell parallell to and pretty much slid down their back wall but didn't break any windows at all. The deck in front of the lounge is totally blocked and covered with giant branches... thank goodness for the hippie door, it's the only way in right now! I climbed around in the tops of those trees in the rain and it was very surreal -- felt like being in a rainforest canopy but without the fear of heights thing. Bizarrely cool. Apparently the lounge took about 2 inches of water; no broken windows, no roof damage despite the giant branches that crashed around and even the one that is still on top. We're going to need some serious chainsaw action to get that stuff cleaned up! But the inside is fine and the show(s) will go on at Club DubDub! Viva la Jellyphish Lounge! Whew.
It's totally daylight now of course, but still completely cloudy out, with steady spattery rain, and windy with strong gusts. Nothing like during the night -- Ike is leaving now. There are leaves and branches down everywhere. We still don't have power but our water never went out. The park across the street from the Little Buddy (3 houses down from us where White Oak curves toward downtown) is a lake, and the bayou under the clubhouse is still full and almost touching the floor and deck. The banana trees all broke in half. Lots of the bamboo is down, and the very top of the giant magnolia next to the neighbors' pool is in the middle of the driveway. Jordan and Neyana are both passed out in the front room, I think they both slept through almost the entire storm. KC is back on her perch on J's bass amp, Fleck is crashed out in bed, and Jack, our most sensitive cat, is sleeping peacefully beside me now. The worst has passed and we weathered it well. Tim's bored with me blogging and is outside eating granola bars with April & Kirk. I'm expecting the banjo to start up any minute. ;)
Now about that power... I'm ready to rock!
9.12.2008
Burning down the highway skyline on the back of a hurricane...
Rock Band saves the day and provides a much needed news and stress break! Our Hurricane Ike band features Safety Tim on drums, Neyana on guitar, Whiteylocks on bass, and Sunny D on vocals. We rock pretty hard, I have to admit. Quickplaying (for obvious reasons) so we don't have a band name but feel free to comment some suggestions! ;)
Hurricane Ike Party Set 1
----------------------------
Simple Man
- channeling my inner southern rock goddess!
Closer to the Heart
- "You can be the captain, and I will draw the charts..." I love me some Rush.
When You Were Young
- the title of this blog post is a line from this song... it's the one that goes "he doesn't look a thing like Jeeeeeesus...."
Juke Box Hero
- one of those poke me with a pin to hit the high notes songs AND it reminds me of ninth grade, ouch!
Emminence Front
- look out, Jeff Miller! hehehe
I Need A Miracle
- ev-e-ry day... maybe this one especially though, huh?
But now we're back on Channel 2 (well, actually channel 312 so we have live hurricane coverage in HIGH DEF no less) and hearing a little bit of relatively good news. They're saying the winds are lower than predicted, it's stayed category 2, and the eye is almost on shore.
Hurricane Ike Party Set 1
----------------------------
Simple Man
- channeling my inner southern rock goddess!
Closer to the Heart
- "You can be the captain, and I will draw the charts..." I love me some Rush.
When You Were Young
- the title of this blog post is a line from this song... it's the one that goes "he doesn't look a thing like Jeeeeeesus...."
Juke Box Hero
- one of those poke me with a pin to hit the high notes songs AND it reminds me of ninth grade, ouch!
Emminence Front
- look out, Jeff Miller! hehehe
I Need A Miracle
- ev-e-ry day... maybe this one especially though, huh?
Sunny D showing Ike how she feels about things:
But now we're back on Channel 2 (well, actually channel 312 so we have live hurricane coverage in HIGH DEF no less) and hearing a little bit of relatively good news. They're saying the winds are lower than predicted, it's stayed category 2, and the eye is almost on shore.
As far as here, it's just windy...barely raining yet, but Tim (and Frank!) keeps saying it will start getting worse soon. I keep thinking I hear rain and realizing it's the disco ball's motor above my head. HAHAHAHA! More fun when rocking, but it does make watching the news a little less intense.
I added some more pics to the kodakgallery album too (link to it's in the last post). Obviously we're making the best of things. Thanks for all the positive support, phone calls, texts, and the love from all over. We're feeling it!
Lots of love and safety to everyone else going through this -- leave comments if you can so we know you're okay, and don't forget to call if you guys need anything, we're in the neighborhood! Come on everybody, here we goooooooooooooooooo!
(Seriously... the news peeps keep saying our electricity might go soon, don't worry if I stop posting abrubtly.)
Hold on for now...
News, news, news! Blech! Here's the channel we're watching:
http://www.click2houston.com/
"Channel 2, Houston. No hype, no scare tactics, just..." (by that time I'm always laughing too hard, so I'm not really sure how the tagline ends). That said, I do dig Frank. Seriously, love him.
Moonshine Summit (April & Kirk who live in the apartment behind us + Jordan) are out back playing Ike into town. No, really!
http://www.click2houston.com/
"Channel 2, Houston. No hype, no scare tactics, just..." (by that time I'm always laughing too hard, so I'm not really sure how the tagline ends). That said, I do dig Frank. Seriously, love him.
Moonshine Summit (April & Kirk who live in the apartment behind us + Jordan) are out back playing Ike into town. No, really!
We were out for a while but now we can hear them outside between howls of wind while Neyana plays computer games, Tim watches the news, and I blog away. Getting ready to open the bottle of Malibu, I think it's time! Tim just went out to gather up the Dready and get the house sealed up. The sky is that crazy color of yellow orange that scares me about tornadoes until I remember it's the city lights relecting on the clouds covering us. It always cracks me up that we have sky-high oak trees, magnolia trees, palm trees AND bamboo but it's even more interesting when all of them are dancing around like they're at a big Cheese show in the sky. We've got the disco ball fired up and we're getting ready to rock. Hurricane Party ON!
On a serious note, Tim's parents and his brother and family live in Richwood/Lake Jackson. They're all safe and sound in Austin, just like my Mom & Mario are in Dallas because they evacuated from Galveston. All of them are seeing some scary pictures of their towns neighborhoods on the news and are justifiably worried about their homes. Neyana's dad and grandmother are weathering the storm in evacuated Pasadena because grandma wouldn't leave. We have Neyana here for safekeeping as she weathers her very first hurricane and tries not to worry about her family. All of them can use your prayers and good vibes while you're thinking about us this weekend.
I'll try to keep updating this kodakgallery album too. The pics started Thursday night (we were rocking then too -- lots of shots of Jack trying to catch the birds that fly across the screen). Hurrying, so the pics are totally unedited, you've been warned.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=jcreil7.2q36ya57&x=0&h=1&y=r8fiog&localeid=en_US
And oh, the windy weather...
Hurricane Ike is officially on shore in Galveston. We're at home in Houston, as they keep telling us to do on the news, hunkering down. I've lived around the gulf coast for 34 of my 41 years and this is the first hurricane that I've stayed to ride out...voluntarily, anyway. We evcuated from Rita in 2005, a 19-hour journey through more than a couple of the circles of hell, and ended up smack in the middle of the storm in a lakehouse on Lake Livingston. Which is a trip that normally takes an hour and a half, but that's another story. Here's 1000 words of it:
Today we're sitting in our living room waiting for Ike to come visit. We just took a walk over to the park and checked out the wind and clouds. Nothing too spectacular yet, but it's starting to get windy and at this point we're pretty much inside for the duration. We've got me, Tim, Jordan, and his girlfriend Neyana.
Today we're sitting in our living room waiting for Ike to come visit. We just took a walk over to the park and checked out the wind and clouds. Nothing too spectacular yet, but it's starting to get windy and at this point we're pretty much inside for the duration. We've got me, Tim, Jordan, and his girlfriend Neyana.
Here's the whole compound crew this afternoon. Yes, everyone in a New Monsoon shirt. Monsoon trumps hurricane around THIS place for sure! Let's hope life imitates art.
I can't say I'm feeling incredibly brave, but I'm not too scared right now either. If Tim would turn off the news I'd be happier. We were rocking earlier (aka playing Rock Band on the PS3) and that's much more fun than seeing water rising alarmingly over the giant surfide beach bridge (right near where we got married), or pictures of the west end of Galveston underwater (right where Mom & Mario's house is). But I'm dealing. The wind is just picking up outside and the big trees over the lounge aka clubhouse are waving faster and faster. The eye is probably going to pass over us and that will be a first for me...I'm a little stoked. It's not every day you get to feel the eye of a hurricane. Thank goodness.
Public apology now to Tim, I did have a breakdown earlier today. And to be fair, yesterday too. But I'm saying I got that out of the way early! We're boarded up and have plenty of food, water, candles, ice, flashlights, batteries, even an awesome crank lantern Tim's mom got off of QVC. We're all set. He boarded up the windows and everything. They don't call my man Safety Tim for nothing!
The Queen of Everything's former fun closet is one of our safety rooms. If we have to huddle up in there, we'll weather the storm with the winter coats, Tim's suits, Jordan's hanging clothes, my wedding dress, the day-glo moon August painted for my 40th birthday party decorations, a giant pair of fairy wings, and a collection of sparkly hats. Still sounds like a pretty fun closet, no?
Speaking of my mom and Mario, they evacuated safely on Thursday to Dallas and are there safe with Amy, who was so resourceful she even got them the use of an empty apartment downstairs in her complex. Nicely done, Ames!
I started out this week in Fairfax, Virginia for work, and I was scheduled to fly home from Reagan to Bush (seriously! DCA -> IAH, my least favoritely named flight path) and arrive today at 4:19. About noon Wednesday I had my first (relatively minor) breakdown in my new new boss's office asking him if I could change my flight and get myself home. The afternoon of checking email, click2houston.com, and weather.com and calling Dana in travel ended with my friend Sheila racing out of our training class early with me to rush me to the hotel. I checked out in record time and her GPS got us to the Vienna Metro station in a flash, and the next thing I knew I was on a plane home and hugging my very relieved husband by 10:00pm. I couldn't have handled being away from Tim and Jordan for this, that's for sure, and I'm so thankful my boss and company were so understanding and let me come home.
Of course I was a basket case yesterday, did nothing but semi-effectively prepare for the storm. I kept bouncing from one task to another and texting Tim (who had to work, don't even get me started about how angry I am that HISD didn't close yesterday to let teachers get prepared for things like EVERYBODY ELSE DID.... sorry I digress) and calling Jordan ("put your check in the bank, get cash, get gas in your car, ...") and generally freaking out until I hit my head so hard on a cabinet that I saw stars, had to sit down, cried, and then caught my snap. Hmmm it's been a pattern... see it, name it, break it. I'm trying! He says I'm doing great now. Thanks, honey. :)
So, until the power goes out I'll try to post updates. I'll be texting updates to friends and fam too. Much love to everyone! Keep all of us in the path of Ike in your thoughts and prayers.
9.03.2008
All we have is time
I found a time capsule a couple of days ago.
I remember when I was a kid in the 70's that time capsules were all the rage, or at least it seemed that way to me. I would hear or read about a senior class or a brownie troop or a youth group gathering a cache to bury for posterity and it would send me into days of daydreaming about what I would bury in a box for future generations to unearth. Even more exciting to me was the idea of opening it years later. Time to me is the invisible dimension that expands and contracts in spite of being measurable and quantifiable, and that quality fascinates me. I think it's part of the reason that I've always been such a reader. Books are like little time capsules themselves, and also little examples of the expanding and contracting thing -- haven't you ever read a book in two hours and felt like you lived a lifetime with the main character, or is that just me?
At some point in childhood I started to write a "time capsule" journal. I would date it and describe myself and my world -- likes, dislikes, friends, crushes, true loves, favorite songs, books, tv shows, worries, fears -- and then bury it somewhere in a drawer or on a shelf or in a closet. I was a horribly messy kid so it was easy to lose it for a year or two in the dregs of my room. It would eventually turn up and I would laugh, cringe, read it over and over, and finally write in it and "bury" it again. I remember after I went off to college my mom told me that my sister Amy had found one of these little time bombs and was thrilled to read it, and I thought I might die of embarrassment and fear that she showed it to my mom too. Which, of COURSE she did! No worries Ames, I'm over it now, but that was indeed the last of my intentionally created time capsules.
However, anyone who is as unabashedly sentimental and lazy as I am creates time capsules inadvertantly too, and those are no less fun to find. I mentioned the messiness of my childhood, and I've mostly lost that finally but I do still stack, pile, and hide when I'm cleaning up. Anyone who's been in my office knows the secret to my neat house! So I still occasionally find a box, bag, or drawer that has become a time capsule. This most recent one is a little wooden box with two drawers from Ikea. I bought it three homes ago, when we lived in the awesome apartment in the 'trose, and painted it yellow and orange to sit on the bright red bookshelves we had in the dining room that acted like an office. We moved out of that place in a hurry when the owner sold the apartments and kicked everyone out, and then history repeated itself and we moved out of our last house in a hurry when the owner decided to sell and kicked us out. That yellow and orange box apparently moved from the Yoakum office to the Cranston office to the White Oak office without ever being unpacked until now.
When I opened the bottom drawer over the weekend, here is some of what I found:
Wow.
It's 2008 now and I'm already 41 (or 40-wonderful, thanks Terri). Tim is into his 12th year as a teacher and his 11th at Welch. All four of my sibs are now college grads, all grown up with jobs and lives of their own, and Jordan is the one in college. He turned 20 over the weekend and apparently managed to celebrate quite nicely without me (I'm trying to deal). I have two last names with a hyphen (who'd have thought?! not me!) and answer to two different nicknames given to me by friends I hadn't even met yet when I last opened that drawer. Justin and Kaye are expecting baby #2 to join big brother Ori in a couple of months, and Nick and Jana are not far behind with baby Concha coming in March. In those 11 years I have lost all of my grandparents. My mom is relatively well and close by, which is a blessing. My dad is gone, almost 10 years now. I miss him terribly almost daily, but he visits me in dreams sometimes and I can always see him in my sister's smile, my son's brown eyes, and my brother's wisdom and strength... and that is a blessing too.
I remember when I was a kid in the 70's that time capsules were all the rage, or at least it seemed that way to me. I would hear or read about a senior class or a brownie troop or a youth group gathering a cache to bury for posterity and it would send me into days of daydreaming about what I would bury in a box for future generations to unearth. Even more exciting to me was the idea of opening it years later. Time to me is the invisible dimension that expands and contracts in spite of being measurable and quantifiable, and that quality fascinates me. I think it's part of the reason that I've always been such a reader. Books are like little time capsules themselves, and also little examples of the expanding and contracting thing -- haven't you ever read a book in two hours and felt like you lived a lifetime with the main character, or is that just me?
At some point in childhood I started to write a "time capsule" journal. I would date it and describe myself and my world -- likes, dislikes, friends, crushes, true loves, favorite songs, books, tv shows, worries, fears -- and then bury it somewhere in a drawer or on a shelf or in a closet. I was a horribly messy kid so it was easy to lose it for a year or two in the dregs of my room. It would eventually turn up and I would laugh, cringe, read it over and over, and finally write in it and "bury" it again. I remember after I went off to college my mom told me that my sister Amy had found one of these little time bombs and was thrilled to read it, and I thought I might die of embarrassment and fear that she showed it to my mom too. Which, of COURSE she did! No worries Ames, I'm over it now, but that was indeed the last of my intentionally created time capsules.
However, anyone who is as unabashedly sentimental and lazy as I am creates time capsules inadvertantly too, and those are no less fun to find. I mentioned the messiness of my childhood, and I've mostly lost that finally but I do still stack, pile, and hide when I'm cleaning up. Anyone who's been in my office knows the secret to my neat house! So I still occasionally find a box, bag, or drawer that has become a time capsule. This most recent one is a little wooden box with two drawers from Ikea. I bought it three homes ago, when we lived in the awesome apartment in the 'trose, and painted it yellow and orange to sit on the bright red bookshelves we had in the dining room that acted like an office. We moved out of that place in a hurry when the owner sold the apartments and kicked everyone out, and then history repeated itself and we moved out of our last house in a hurry when the owner decided to sell and kicked us out. That yellow and orange box apparently moved from the Yoakum office to the Cranston office to the White Oak office without ever being unpacked until now.
When I opened the bottom drawer over the weekend, here is some of what I found:
- a plastic baggie full of... hahaha wait for it... temporary tattoos left over from my booth at the PTO carnival (I was even on the PTO board, my friends! And if anyone needs a temp tatt of a soccer ball, football, baseball, kissing goldfish, a zoo animal or a dinosaur, I'm your gal!)
- Jordan's cub scout bandana and a bag from the scout shop full of needles and thread that I used to sew the badges onto Jordan's (and cubmaster Tim's!) uniform shirts
- a Puerto Vallarta postcard from Dad & Becca dated May 14, 1997 ("This sort of lazy vacation is good for the soul" said my dad)
- an email dated 8/27/97 from my baby sister Amber @ USC that ends with "I start classes tomorrow. Yikes!!"
- a Woodrow Wilson Elementary school "Spring Fling Sr." program from April 1997 that lists a 4th grade Jordan Wright among the bells and chorus kids
- a pretty rainbow colored book I've had forever called "Faith is..." (inscribed "To April, Christmas '81, Love Aunt Maryola & Uncle Rex" and weird because they're my sister Amy's aunt and uncle still, but not mine anymore)
- "Your Guide to CallNotes" from Southwestern Bell (because I read AND SAVE directions)
- One of my sister Amy's Baylor addresses in Waco (the one on 4th Street)
- Tim's 1997 graduation announcement from UH-Downtown, complete with the note about our celebration lunch at El Meson
- an Allstate Motor Club brochure (Dad paid my membership every year, so that actally made me all warm and fuzzy)
- Amber's 1997 high school graduation announcement ("admission by ticket only"!)
- a well-meant but horribly offensive book my mom gave me/us once called "How To Be Your Little Man's Dad" (crammed in the drawer because I hid it from Tim to save him the hurt feelings it caused me at the time... too bad, because it's actually a sweet little book)
- the Golf K2 sticker that came with my awesome black 1997 VW Golf K2 (also came with a free snowboard and heated front seats... quite a useful package in H-town, no?)
- a blank Keith Haring post card with a picture that has always reminded me of how much love there is in my little family
- Half a package of Winnie-the-Pooh birthday stickers
- a Wright family crest post card a work friend brought me from a trip to England
- a mint julep recipe (??? I don't really drink them; maybe I was watching the Derby)
- a napkin where I wrote down the name of a book my dad suggested during one of our long philosophical phone conversations that I miss soooooo much ("The Illustrated Woody Allen Reader")
- a page full of return address labels with April Wright and our Yoakum address on them (post-marriage but pre-name change)
- a 3/4 full Subway SubClub card with stamps (the kind you lick and stick, not ink stamps)
- a cassette tape J-card from a live Billy Bragg show in Houston 2/23/92 (sure wish the tape was in there too!)
- three of Tim's old sports watches
- random phone cords, leftover pencils, erasers, and one blue crayon
and.... - PISSER! The squirty monkey we bought on Olvera street during that day from hell in 1998 when we did not make it up to the Hollywood sign after all.
Wow.
It's 2008 now and I'm already 41 (or 40-wonderful, thanks Terri). Tim is into his 12th year as a teacher and his 11th at Welch. All four of my sibs are now college grads, all grown up with jobs and lives of their own, and Jordan is the one in college. He turned 20 over the weekend and apparently managed to celebrate quite nicely without me (I'm trying to deal). I have two last names with a hyphen (who'd have thought?! not me!) and answer to two different nicknames given to me by friends I hadn't even met yet when I last opened that drawer. Justin and Kaye are expecting baby #2 to join big brother Ori in a couple of months, and Nick and Jana are not far behind with baby Concha coming in March. In those 11 years I have lost all of my grandparents. My mom is relatively well and close by, which is a blessing. My dad is gone, almost 10 years now. I miss him terribly almost daily, but he visits me in dreams sometimes and I can always see him in my sister's smile, my son's brown eyes, and my brother's wisdom and strength... and that is a blessing too.
I love time capsules, planned or otherwise. They remind me where I've been and make me reassess where I'm going, and illustrate just how lucky I am to have my family and friends in my life.
And you can't beat the justification for being a packrat.
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