Quote of the Day

While reading some mind-numbingly stupefying news today, I had this epiphany:

It is much easier to be ridiculed as an idiot than it is to be regaled as a hero on the web.

It just goes to show that although humans have certainly evolved over time, humanity has not.

Severe Weather in Review

I drove through the 2011 Joplin Tornado storm. Funny thing is, I was on my way home from Oklahoma to examine my house for damage from baseball sized hail because of an entirely different storm. 

I guess it's a good thing I enjoy thunderstorms, and keep digital backups of important information. When I was in Nevada, I remember hearing, "I wouldn't want to live in Kansas. Too many tornadoes." My reply, "As if you don't have enough earthquakes?"

I challenge you, dear reader, to find a parcel of land on this wonderful planet that is not vulnerable to any form of natural disaster. I haven't found one. (And no, doomsday bunkers do not count! Stay in there long enough, and they're prone to famine. Also flooding if you don't inspect the plumbing.)

I never saw the funnel that struck Joplin itself. I was stuck in the creation of the monster.

A 30-40mph tailwind! I was absolutely thrilled to be leaving Oklahoma. Some clouds on the northern horizon, but no worry. I was going to get the best gas mileage ever! ...Until I crossed the Kansas border and ran into a 40-50mph headwind.

To make this tale stereotypical, I was driving by the original locale of "Little House on the Prairie". No joke. It's right off US 75 Highway.

I saw the clouds overhead growing darker and tumbling around like angry snakes in a bag. I know what this means.

I didn't know whether to stop and find a ditch or keep driving and try to escape.

The whole situation reminded me of another time had stopped a hotel in Nebraska during Tornado Season. My mother and I walked across the highway to local fast food joint. There was a thunderstorm. Big deal. When we came out, the massive American flag on the west side of the highway was blowing north. The equally big flag on the east side was blowing due south.

So, what did we do? Ducked our heads in the wind, walked back to the hotel and passed out. I have no idea if there was a tornado warning that night not.

I also had the flag thing happen to me again in the panhandle of Texas. My roommate and I had pulled into a rest stop because the wind was just too crazy and we wanted some information on this storm (this was before the proliferation of smartphones). Same thing, flag on the other side of the highway was going a totally different direction.

And then it hailed. Well, it looked like hail, but it was spreading out into little white shrapnel when it hit the ground. It was snow! It was snowing in huge chunks that splattered when they landed. I walked out in it.

And then there was that time on I-35 when I was driving 90 mph to escape the oncoming tornadic weather, and I was passed by a cop! I guess we both knew how badly we needed to be somewhere else at the moment. Plus, everyone else was driving that quickly too. My poor car still has scratches from pebbles and other little natural projectiles that day.

That car and I left the "Little House on the Prairie" sign to the mercy of the wind as we whizzed by.

But, Deb, I screamed at myself. This is no time to think of other stories! What are you going to do this time?! I was too busy trying to wrestle the car in a straight line to try to pull up radar on my phone.

There was no rain or hail, or even thunder unless I couldn't hear that over the roaring winds. There was just wind strong enough to shove my 3,000 lb car around with relative ease. I'd be off the road if a gust hit me just right.

I didn't know if I'd outrun a funnel by driving or race straight into one. Or maybe both because these storms often drop several twisters.

What did I do? I kept on trucking. After a white-knuckled twenty minutes, I was able to breathe easier. The storm had lumbered off to the east. Black and purple and bloated. I remember thinking, 'Someone is going to get creamed.' And I was right.

As I review 2011 from this NWS report, I wonder what 2012 willl hold.

I drove over 140 miles that day, and I could still see the clouds from that storm when I arrived home.

Sugar

I am addicted to sugar. There I said it. And I’m admitting it in the most public way possible, on the internet.

Yeah yeah, ill health effects blah blah. I know. I do my homework. I enjoy doing homework even though I’ve been out of college for awhile now. I guess I’m just weird like that. No, seriously, “study” is on my daily checklist. Doesn’t really matter what, as long as I learn something every day. Also, cleaning one main room of the house a day is also on that checklist, and ha! Unlikely! I’m currently in negotiations with the underpants gnomes to scrub the toilet, and you don’t want to know what they want to be paid with.

There are possible reasons why this addiction sneaked up on me. Bad self-esteem. Bad habits learned early in life. Evolutionary imperative to consume and hoard fatty foods because you don’t know when you’re next meal will be. Scientific experimentation through brain-wave manipulation on the population at large (cue 1950s horror music and random woman screaming)! However, the most likely culprit is simply stress.

I’ve been stressed. My spouse lost his job and was unemployed for two years because the company shut down here in town. He was denied unemployment benefits after the first two successful weeks because the state screwed up on his paperwork. And we tried, and tried to get them to correct it. They failed. We were on hold for hours on end to just have the system just hung up on us with a message to call back later. He went in person to the office, only to be told every single time that he can to call the center, and they wouldn’t help in person. I even contacted our state senator and nothing ever came of that either.

Meanwhile, we’re living on my crappy paycheck for a job that I still don’t enjoy. I was still paying for all my website and publishing costs because I’m too stupid/stubborn (pick one) to give on my dream. I made $20 a month too much to qualify for food stamps (which, apparently, are still same the dollar amount for qualification that they were in the 1990s). Sometimes, I hate Kansas. We had a mortgage, which got sold during the housing debacle. We had ever-increasing bills because the cost of gas and electricity etc doesn’t stop rising. We heated our house via a wood burning stove in the winter. I started riding my bicycle to work, even in thunderstorms, because we couldn’t afford car repairs. I had to bike to the donut shop for wifi on my really crappy laptop. I developed insomnia.

So, yeah, I was stressed. I’m pretty sure I rushed a lot of my writing, too. I admit that I turned to junk food for a crutch. It’s cheap. It releases the happy chemicals in your brain. When you’re living day to day, a “now” fix is all you can focus on.

Things are better now. MV is working again. I’m still at my crappy job, but I’m thankful to have a job. We still don’t have internet at the house, but the cars are in working condition. I haven’t given up on writing.

Now that I don’t need or want my crutch anymore, I’m finding it harder than I expected to let go.

Working out and meditation are also on that daily checklist. They help too. I need to check those off more often than I do. And perhaps a public admission will facilitate that.

Yes, I’m working on it. No, I will not write cake forever out of my life. I’m learning moderation. No, I don’t consider this a disease. If anything, for me (not necessarily other people) it’s a lack of self-discipline. And that, I’m learning, is a hell of a lot harder to impose on yourself versus having a trainer or drill sergeant yelling in your ear.

By the way, it was in this time I decided to start selling most of my writing. This dream is the only shot I’ve got.