Saturday, August 27, 2011

August 27th, 2011 - Nervous Anticipation


Photo Source: NY Times

I just finished writing a piece on Y!CN about the here and now, waiting for the Hurricane Irene to arrive. (You can check it out here.) It’s taken me all day to get into the writing mode and at the moment I feel as if I could go on for hours and hours, piece after piece, but who knows how long the power will last?

Nervous Anticipation

Truth be told, I’m starting to get a little scared. Everything’s eerily quiet outside and I’m here all alone. For the past couple of days I’ve been making fun of some of the people who’ve been proclaiming doomsday with Irene, and now that it’s close I feel a little foolish for not taking them too seriously before.

I’ve experienced two hurricanes in my life, Belle in 1977 and Gloria in 1985. That was a long time ago and back then I lived at home with my parents and my five siblings. I guess you kind of forget what it’s like after so long. Now I’m alone, and I’ve got a lot at stake. Out of all my friends who also sit at home alone right now, I’ve got the most potential for disaster. I have so many trees on my property and at least three or four of them hover over my house. I think I’ll be speaking with the Man Upstairs tonight!


Photo Source: Facebook

Don’t Believe the Hype

I need to make a little rant, just a little one…it’s about “Hype”…I can’t stand it!!!! Every time there’s a weather story to report, they’ve got coverage of every angle, wall to wall, 24/7. It happens everytime we get a snowstorm and now that Irene’s a coming, it’s all over the place, scaring people to death.

Yes, I realize that a hurricane is a serious weather and coverage is warranted, but I’ve seen the craziness all this hype does to people. They use words like “ferocious” and “menacing,” terrorizing” and “vicious.” How do they expect people to react? Especially old people! I mean, c’mon!

I know it will never change, but I just needed to get that off my chest.


Photo Source: Huffington PostIt’s Definitely Approaching

Well, since the time I started writing this the rains have gotten heavier and the wind is starting to pick up. I’m not going to lie….my stomach has lots of butterflies a fluttering and I’m scared. I’ll never forget Belle, that hurricane in 77’. It was a Category 1, I believe, but it came in during the dead of night. Those howling winds and the sounds of things blowing around and the lights going off send chills up my spine just thinking about it. Gloria came in the middle of the day, and although it was a bad one, it wasn’t nearly as frightening because of its arrival time.

They say that Irene will be here around 8 in the morning. If that’s the eye, or the center of the storm, that means some howling and such will come during the dark hours. I don’t think I’m going to get much sleep tonight and neither are many of my fellow Long Islanders and New Yorkers…

Oh, and my friend Nancy Lou just informed me that there’s also a tornado watch in effect for Suffolk County, my county, until 5AM. Great! Just great!!!

To any of you in the path of Irene, please stay safe!

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