fox: my left eye.  "ceci n'est pas une fox." (Default)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2010-02-08 05:55 pm

okay, i need to focus on perspective.

My power has been out since Saturday morning and may not be back until Friday night, and what with how we're about to get ANOTHER TEN TO TWENTY INCHES OF GODDAMN SNOW it might be even longer than that. I like snow, okay. I come from Cleveland. We have winter there. But where I grew up we knew how to do snow removal (hint: sometimes you have to pick it up and take it somewhere else instead of plowing it into great heaps behind the cars in the parking lot so instead of digging out from two feet of snow the owners now have to dig out from two feet of snow and also seven feet of compacted snow and ice and gravel), and on the rare occasions when we lost power, we didn't lose it for six days at a time.

I've hardly ever fled storm conditions before. There was one time in grad school when a hurricane was going to come and land right on my head, and I skipped town and went to my parents'. (By the time the hurricane got to central Virginia it'd have been extremely heavy wind and rain but not really the kind of thing that really hits the coastal hurricane areas - still, knocked power out for a bit. Back on by the time I returned two days later.) That's it! But today [personal profile] wordplay and I hiked back to my place - because her street has still not been plowed AND MAY NOT BE UNTIL THURSDAY - to fetch back more clothes so I can basically move into her basement for the week. I don't feel like there is any excuse for this, you guys.

So I need to focus on what is good about right now, because it's just not the case that I am actually a refugee from the blizzard. Right then.

My home is still standing. I can reach it safely. My belongings are intact and sheltered. I don't even think I've got anything in the refrigerator or freezer that can't survive a few days at a slightly-chilly room temperature before being re-chilled. I have friends close by with light and heat who are happy to take me in until I can go back again. I can work from home, or in this case from "home", and probably will, because my odds of getting to work while I am here in unplowed-street-land and my car is back in the land of the big blocks of ice (dug out, but still, back there) are pretty slim, especially if we get another TEN TO TWENTY INCHES tomorrow ... sorry. Positive. I can work from home and not have to spend vacation time doing it. I am not injured, beyond some aches from lots of shoveling out and hiking through hip-deep snow-piles, and a bruise on the heel of my hand also from the shoveling. And, right now, a splitting headache. I am not in danger. I am not sick. I am not starving or particularly dehydrated. I am not fretting about people I love who are in worse situations than I am in. (Of the people I love, I'm among those who have it the worst right now. Positive!) In fact, beyond a few days' peace of mind and freedom of movement, whatever does wind up being a loss in my kitchen, a pair of inexpensive gloves ruined in the shoveling, and (hey) probably fifteen or twenty bucks off my electric bill, when this is all over --

I will have lost nothing.
ellen_fremedon: overlapping pages from Beowulf manuscript, one with a large rubric, on a maroon ground (Default)

[personal profile] ellen_fremedon 2010-02-09 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
*hugs you*

You really are going to be fine, but that still doesn't mean it doesn't suck right now.

I keep refreshing the Metro and university home pages every half hour, waiting for some word on whether I'm burning my vacation time tomorrow, since I can't work from home. Grar.
neotoma: Neotoma albigula, the white-throated woodrat! [default icon] (Default)

FML

[personal profile] neotoma 2010-02-09 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
I just checked WMATA.com -- Takoma and Silver Spring stations are *still* closed tomorrow.

There's a good possibility I will burn my vacation this week, just because I can't get to work by rail or bus because they're not *running*. :P
ellen_fremedon: overlapping pages from Beowulf manuscript, one with a large rubric, on a maroon ground (Default)

Re: FML

[personal profile] ellen_fremedon 2010-02-09 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Bleah. Good luck-- I wish I could help.

The university is closed again tomorrow. We may end up getting snow days most of this week.
kass: winter landscape, tree, "zen fen" (winter zen fen)

[personal profile] kass 2010-02-09 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
I am so sorry, honey.
neotoma: Neotoma albigula, the white-throated woodrat! [default icon] (Default)

[personal profile] neotoma 2010-02-09 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
I kind of want to go into work, just so that I can actually talk to real live human beings with real live voices who will *respond* to what I say.

The radio is only acceptable substitute for so long. :P
aerye: (Default)

[personal profile] aerye 2010-02-09 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
I am so sorry you have to deal with this!
cinco: Spock looking doubtful: "O RLY?" (Default)

[personal profile] cinco 2010-02-09 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
I am in the same boat minus access to my stuff--it's a mile walk and I am tired, so tomorrow I will have to do laundry since I couldn't carry much. Le sigh. Thank goodness the govt is closed again tomorrow!
abka: painting of daffodils and pear (Default)

[personal profile] abka 2010-02-09 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Glad to hear you are doing okay despite the *hugely stressful* situation. Hugs to you.