I have off of work today due to the hurricane (and probably tomorrow). Luckily, Long Island isn’t in the direct path when they show the projection of the storm on TV, but still it’s supposed to be pretty bad. We’ve had strong winds and they’re getting stronger. We haven’t had all that much rain yet. I really don’t even mind this storm as long as we don’t lose power, but since it’s likely that we will then that sucks. They think it’ll take 7-10 days to come back. And of course I’m worried about all types of shallow things rather than safety (only because I’m pretty sure that I’m safe; otherwise I’d be worried about safety too!). 

In case of power loss, I have a lantern thing nearby (um…where is it? oh, found it in the hallway! Not quite as nearby as I thought, but still close enough!). I also brought an extra blanket into my room because if there’s no power then there’s no heat! We have extra food and water and all that stuff too. And I have a book to read, a charged iPad and phone, work to do, studying to do, and closets to switch to fall/winter clothes. 

My silly fears are more along the lines of: 

What about my primetime TV shows? Even if we do have power, the TV stations have news like 24/7 right now. Okay, I’ll watch On Demand or on my iPad when power is back. But how will I catch up in one weekend? What if power isn’t even back by next weekend? How long will it take to come back? 

Alright, I’ll catch up on the shows, I can breathe again. But what about GMA?! If I can’t watch GMA, how will I know what’s going on in the world and/or with the storm?! Yes, I have a battery-powered radio, but I need to see and hear this stuff from Josh, Lara, and Sam! 

What about my midterm on Thursday? I’ve barely started studying so I’m panicked enough about it, but what if the LIRR and subways aren’t running yet? How will I even get there? I can’t miss a midterm! 

(Crap, we just had a second power surge! Not liking this.)

How about work? When do we go back? Will I have enough lessons planned and the materials ready? 

What about the kids’ Halloween celebration?! 

How can I write my paper for school if I can’t get on the Internet? I know I have time before it’s due, but I’ve been overwhelmed and now this hurricane will back things up and make me even more overwhelmed. 

What am I going to eat that actually tastes good? 

I think the fact that most of the country is just going on with life because things are fine there is what kinda bothers me. I wish I was in LA or something! I do feel more comfortable having the TV on and seeing other parts of NY, NJ, CT, etc. But once the power is gone then that option is gone too! 

I was enjoying the storm yesterday when I was at the beach taking pictures!  I don’t even know what I was freaking out about earlier. Mostly the “unknown,” I think. I don’t like uncertainty! Anyway, I guess I’ll go do something productive with my time rather than sounding crazy on tumblr! 

I’ve been looking for a Halloween costume that looks cute, but I can also wear to work. I’m a teacher so it has to be appropriate, aka forget all those super sexy costumes (not that I would’ve picked one of those anyway, but maybe I would’ve gone for something slightly less conservative). I used to hate Halloween, but now I like it. And I love dressing up. I bought a cute bumble bee costume a few years ago, but then I wore that for like 2-3 years so I wanted something different. My first thought was to use one of my old dance recital costumes, meaning my choices would be things like ballerina, race car driver, flapper, sugar plum fairy, etc. I decided that I didn’t want to ruin one of those costumes and at work you never know who is going to be eating what food and suddenly feel the need to grab your leg or something and voila, there’s a stain! So I was thinking that since I’ve done the bumble bee, maybe I’ll do a ladybug because I like ladybugs! But all the ladybug costumes were fairly sexy. Have you ever seen a sexy ladybug?! I haven’t so they should make a non-sexy costume! Then I thought I might be Tinkerbell. The unofficial ones were mostly too sexy-ish. The official Disney one is cute, but more expensive than I wanted and also the sizes are kinda weird. Like, has Disney never heard of petite? It comes in medium and large. Looking at the measurements, medium might not be huge, just slightly big, but then I’d have to get a green shirt to go underneath it and it wouldn’t look that good so I gave up on that. Then I thought about Minnie Mouse because a few of my students love Mickey and Minnie (and I was trying to do something they’d recognize). However, that was also expensive and mostly sold out so I gave up on that one. Now I’m thinking a witch. we have witch hats in the attic and I want a witch’s dress that has a poofy skirt and has purple in it. Also is less than $30. Not specific at all, right?! haha. Not surprisingly, I haven’t found one that has met that criteria! Now I’m thinking that maybe I’ll be a black cat and just wear a black shirt and pants and get ears and a tail. But then I’d wanna draw whiskers on my face and the kids aren’t allowed to have face paint so if I do then that wouldn’t really be fair. Maybe I’ll just wear the bee costume after all. I’m gonna go to the mall and look around on Saturday so we’ll see if I find something there that I can piece together! 

I started thinking about what I would’ve dressed up as if Halloween were on a weekend (although, I might not have dressed up at all then because I don’t have a party or anything to go to) and, inspired by the “TV and Movie Themed Costumes” section I saw on websites (although they didn’t have anything I loved aside from the beautiful Disney princess costumes that are way too much money!), I probably would have been Maura Isles! No one would have understood the costume, but it would be cute and easy! I could wear a nice top with my pencil skirt and put a lab coat over it (we have one from when my mom was a mad scientist and when I was Meredith Grey!). Maybe I could have even put my hair in that fancy ponytail again too! Too bad no one at work would understand it because so far that seems like the easiest costume! 

I travel to Manhattan one afternoon a week to take classes. I usually get dinner in Penn Station on my way home because by then it’s around 8pm and I’m hungry. I’ve been going to Chickpea a lot recently because they have good “make your own” salads and pretty good prices and stuff. This week the cashier (male, probably around my age but not my type) said, “Do you work around here?” I thought he was trying to be friendly so I said, “No. I go to school, um..” and he cut me off with a shrug and “No, just if you work around here you get a discount.” Oh okay, thanks anyway. The guy the week before that was friendlier, letting me know that my salad came with a free water (after I had already paid for my Dr. Pepper, but whatever it was still nice of him!). If life were a romcom, one or both of them would have asked me for my number or at least tried to flirt or something! 

If you know me pretty well, then you know politics totally aren’t my thing. I don’t know why. I’ll watch segments on GMA about the violence in Syria or Libya and be completely interested, but as soon as they go to the “and here’s what each of the candidates are saying/doing about this situation” I’m like, “Okay, time to fast forward!” I don’t want it to sound like I don’t care about the country or that I’m completely oblivious to things; I do pay just enough attention to know who I want to vote for and stuff like that. I don’t want to say I’m totally clueless about politics; I’m just disinterested, I guess.

Anyway, the other day I was thinking about something that happened when I was young and apparently I was just as clueless about politics back then! In second grade we learned that Bill Clinton was the president and Al Gore was the vice president (I think this may have been just after the election). The teacher told us that we should go home and tell our parents at dinner who the president and vice president are and they’ll be impressed with us. So, I remember talking about my day at school and remembering what she told us. Before I said it I wanted to make sure I remembered the information so I thought about it. “Okay, Bill Clinton is the president and who’s the vice president again? It was Al something. Hm…Al, Al, Al What? Al Roker? That sounds like a name I’ve heard before. That must’ve been what she said!” Then I excitedly announced to my parents that I knew who the president and vice president were. They asked me who and I was like, “Bill Clinton is the president and the vice president is Al Roker!” My parents tried not to laugh. My mom said, “Maybe Al Roker wishes he were the vice president!” I didn’t like to be wrong, so I was insistent that this was what the teacher told me. Then my dad said the vice president was Al Gore and I was kinda like, “Oh, yeah, maybe that’s what she said. I’m not sure.” I guess, in my mind, morning TV shows have always been more important than politics!