as a wannabe storm chaser, there is a lot to take in from the past week. first, i survived an earthquake! i definitely felt the ground rumbling and the doors and windows shaking at work and to be honest, i thought something was about to blow up in the tech room. having not experienced any earthquakes in my adult life (except vicariously through elizabeth and jessica wakefield in sweet valley high's earthquake), i just wasn't really sure what was going. before i found out that it really was an earthquake, i was already telling people that i was going to fudge the story and say it was one. who knew i would be fudging the truth?! that's the best way to lie.
now we wait for irene. while hurricanes are terrible and this one seems to be set to do tremendous damage from north carolina all the way up the coast, they don't give me the feeling of panic that they may give other people. maybe that's because i also go outside in lightning storms in hopes to get cool pictures, but maybe it's also because they're something i've known ever since one of my family's trees smashed the roof of our neighbor's house during hurricane hugo back in '89. if you grow up dealing with these types of things, even if it's rare that they inflict catastrophic damage, it just doesn't seem to make the type of impact that maybe it should.
it's bound to be the same way northerners look at southerners when we get an inch of snow ... or even worse than that, even the prediction of snow in the forecast. our daily lives come to a crashing halt and we are virtually paralyzed with fear that there might be slush on the roads. and yes, in our defense, we don't have the trucks and equipment and things that might make life a little more manageable, but i still think it's absurd to clear the bread shelves when they're forecasting flurries.
anyways, as my 25th birthday (part of me just died inside) is approaching this fall, i'm making a bucket list of 30 things i need to do before i get old at age 30. and yes, you read that correctly. i don't necessarily want to do these things. i need to do them. and also, 30 is when i get old. end of story.
i've also decided that since i'm beginning to rack up quite a list of natural disasters, i'm going to see what others i might feasibly be able to experience without too much risk to my well-being.
and no, i'm not being insensitive to the terror these disasters cause or the pain and suffering felt by many. i'm just saying that i've experienced a handful of types and maybe there are more to come for me. take a deep breath. it's going to be okay. no need to get worked up.
and no, i'm not being insensitive to the terror these disasters cause or the pain and suffering felt by many. i'm just saying that i've experienced a handful of types and maybe there are more to come for me. take a deep breath. it's going to be okay. no need to get worked up.
here's what i've got so far from a list i found somewhere on the web. yes, i might have left some types of disasters off. but i either did it because it wasn't reasonable to think i could live through it or because i didn't want to bother with it. also, i'm thinking that i might count it on my list in the future if i help people who go through the disaster even if i wasn't there for the actual thing. my blog. my rules.
the disasters:
blizzard
communicable diseases - check (no, i haven't had measles or the plague, but the list said the flu counts so i'm crossing it off the list).
cyclones (hurricanes) - check
cyclones (hurricanes) - check
earthquakes - check
floods and landslides - kind of check, but i don't think it really counts so i'm holding off on that one
heat waves - check (are you kidding me? story of my life.)
storms (non-cyclone) - check
tornadoes - check
volcanic eruptions
wildfires
i'm thinking my move out west in the next year-ish will help me mark a few more of these off the list. i mean, isn't hawaii always having volcanic action? i'll have to stop by the main island as i thaw out from my winter full of blizzards.
until next time, be safe with the natural disasters, folks!
