September 29, 2011

Way Past Perpendicular - Hurricane Irere

**This blog entry is sooper late - but bear with me..I thought I was quitting!
Behold the horror and misspelling of IRERE! (IRENE'S hood cousin!)

While chatting with Hench today - it occurred to me that I may want to recap the mysticism of Hurricane Irene for posterity and capture the logic of my alter ego..the birthday princess.

To understand Tidewater residents especially Norfolk people, you must understand a few things.

1. Norfolk floods like you see on TV all the time. Especially downtown.  If you live in an area that floods like that ..odds are you should permanently evacuate that housing situation.  My last job on Hampton Boulevard found me constantly finding new and innovative ways to skirt, ski, skate, slide, or slip past ponding rivers and instant lakes.  So now anytime rain falls from the sky the navigational system in my brain kicks into "rerouting" mode. (I literally hear the Magellan girl saying.. reroute to blah blah blah.)

2.  Local news vs. National news forecasts were different.  Please please don't misinterpret this - thank heavens we have someone to tell us "shits about to get crazy".  Some people were not fortunate. Local news said: similiar to Isobel, power loss, tidal flooding (if you live in area that floods), risk of tornado - no lightning due to the speed of the storm..winds have caused downgrade from Cat 2 to Cat 1.  Although A. Fox is a madman and gave us the magical fingers in door demonstration of geometry.
And the new Norfolk catch phrase "past perpendicular."
National news said:  EVACUATE! STORM BIG AS ASIA! 60 MILLION PEOPLE! SKY IS FALLING! And Virginia Beach residents took advantage of what we actually seen outside and responded like this.

3. The actuality of the day(s) preceding and the event itself was again very different HERE than what the TV was cooking up. All through my birthday (celebrated with unicorn horns and a feast of sorts from my good friend G), my family was texting to GET OUT. And I was like "what in the world!, PFF! I'm in heaven why would I leave??" Crazy talk. That and I had about 8 dollars to my name - no money for friggin gas (I think this is why poor people fair worst in these things..it's not like I (we) have a horse and wagon out back or a hotel fund...scoff.)  That and I just furnished my house - my selfish side said "we will float away on top of the sofa, tv and the Apple."

4. The fact that the 25th was my birthday - somehow overruled the logic of mother nature.  This is very stupid, but when "the fever" and a natural disaster hits at the same time: then you can tell me how you bravely forgot about yourself and drove off into the middle of nowhere.


In the days following - the water dried up probably faster than ever before. My neighborhood lost two trees and one beloved member of my flower bed met it's doom (my favorite f*n flower).  I learned that Norfolk's power/electrical grid has a priority list and apparently people that live near Cogans, Doumars, and No Frill Grill are not on that priority last.  I also learned that people that live near hospitals are not spared either - it's just usually the case that those locations have some sorta back up power implementation in place.

The next hurricane I may drive home..or start working out more for my own showing on the weather channel - especially if it's on my birthday. 
580 pixels - check dimensions tomorrow.