Jon's doing last-minute hurricane prep outside. The sky is already starting to look angry.

I've been living in this city for half my life, and we've only had two hurricanes of note in that time: Bonnie and Isabel. IIRC, both were Category 2s when they made landfall, and they caused quite a bit of chaos and destruction. One of my coworkers says he thinks that Irene will do more damage than Isabel; another colleague says she thinks it'll make landfall closer to the NC/SC border and lose all its steam before it hits us. Actually, that's what most storms do - wear themselves out before they make it to Hampton Roads, which is why I'm freaking out a little about us being right in Irene's path.

During Isabel, my ex and I didn't even lose power, whereas some folks were without lights and A/C and coffee (modern essentials) for WEEKS. Several of my friends had trees end up in their bedrooms because of Bonnie, and I'm pretty sure the worst that happened to my parents' house was a few shingles blew off. So maybe I don't have to worry since I have such a great track record with hurricanes... OR maybe I should worry because I've used up all my good luck already.

*sigh* The frustrating thing about natural disasters is that they're not predictable. So I'm going to prepare for the storm the best way I know how: by watching TV and internetting like crazy until the power goes out and I'm forced to read by candlelight.

Everyone else on the East Coast, stay safe - I'll see you on the other side :-D

Of the good: Garrett and I drove up to Baltimore this weekend to see bunnika and mafteechr.

Of the bad: We had less than two days to enjoy the awesomeness of two of my favorite LJ peeps. So not cool.

Of the badder: I got a call from my hubby Saturday night to inform me of some pretty serious family drama that went down this weekend. Poor Jon had to deal with my crazy family all by himself, and it was pretty traumatic for him, and for me as well, even though I only heard about it secondhand. I can't really get into details (it would take forever, and I actually think there might be some legal repercussions to sharing the story on a social networking site) but I will say that it's nothing that directly affects me and Jon and Garrett, thankfully, but I am REALLY disappointed in my parents right now. This is one of those situations that makes you lose faith in the people you really think you ought to be able to trust to do the right thing.

Of the good: to counteract my anger and disappointment in the human race in general and my family in particular, I plan on visiting Olive Garden for lunch today and doing some general artsy-fartsy-crafty-home-decorate-y stuff after work this week, and (of course) cuddling my increasingly adorable child about every five seconds. Whenever I think the world is a bad, bad place, I am reminded by cute babies, furry animals, and pretty pictures that no, it's really not that bad, not all of the time.

In May 2006 I flew out to San Diego and drove back to Virginia Beach with my then-boyfriend, who was moving from the West Coast to live with me. We stayed in a hilariously outdated dive in Las Vegas, saw the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, drove through some freaky weather in Texas and Oklahoma, and were charmed by the hills of West Virginia. He did most of the driving, and I read Memoirs of a Geisha, but the best way to pass the time was just enjoying the landscape we traveled through. I'm so glad I got to make the trip with him, because we had so much fun, and I got to see places I'd only ever read about. I was amazed by how varied and beautiful my country is.

No hard feelings?

Soooooooo, I had this LJ friend who did something I thought was pretty shady, which may or may not have affected a great many more people than just me. I don't know how far the effects spread, because in the interest of avoiding drama I just unfriended this person and didn't take a poll to see how many other people had been similarly shady-fied. And I figured in the grand scheme of things who cared if someone I didn't "really" know screwed me over in a small way, ya know? Well, since this person is pretty well-known on LJ and the general blogosphere I see their name occasionally and every single time I think, "I cannot take this person seriously because they did something that I think was unkind and dishonest and I have no desire to hear anything they have to say." Not a gut reaction I like having toward another human being, especially someone who's probably not really a bad person, and most especially someone whose opinions on blog-worthy matters I truly respect.

So what would you do? Would you "confront" someone after several years of not talking to them (after basically dropping off their LJ radar without so much as a "good bye")? Or would you just let it go? I feel odd trying to clear up a conflict with someone who probably had NO IDEA there was a conflict - someone who was just an acquaintance. But every couple of months it bothers me so I wonder if I should go ahead and do something about it.

Thoughts?

What was supposed to be just a long weekend in Pennsylvania with Jon's family, to celebrate Christmas, became a week-and-a-day in Pennsylvania doing little more than sitting around like a bump on a log. Oh, it felt good to be completely unproductive for a good long while.

But now I am home, and I can get online again (Jon's grandmother doesn't have a computer, so I only had about 45 minutes online last week at the public library) and I'm catching up on all sorts of important friends list info, some happy, some sad.

Happy New Year, everyone :-D

It is amazing to me how many decisions I make based on FEAR. And how much it sucks when every single choice I have scares me.

Boo. I really wish this was not the case.

My long weekend in sunny Florida is almost over; I flew down on Friday morning with Garrett to spend some time with my mom, my brother and his family and I return to Virginia Beach tomorrow. It's been simultaneously refreshing and exhausting, as I'm sure most of you can understand. For Garrett, I think it's mostly been just exhausting - I had a terrible time getting him to sleep last night and tonight.

I missed this weekend's deadline for LJ Idol, thereby eliminating myself from the competition. On the one hand I'm a little disappointed by my lack of motivation, but on the other hand I realize that my heart obviously wasn't in it. There are other things, good and important things, that are consuming most of my time and energy, and that's okay. I will find something else to jumpstart my creativity.

One of the best things I've done with my time here is gobble up a few chapters in a book I'm reading by Philip Yancey about historical and contemporary figures who have inspired his faith. The chapter on Gandhi was particularly enlightening and convicting. The issue of "stuff" is at the forefront of my mind all the time right now, and there is an ugly tug-of-war going on inside me about shiny things. Part of me salivates after the comfort of material possessions, and part of me is frothy with hate about the lie that anything material can provide us with lasting comfort. I find this internal battle petty and annoying and unavoidable, but it's obviously important or else it wouldn't keep coming up.

Well, I just wanted to check in with my lovely LJ friends and now the checking has been done. I will try to respond to unresponded-to comments when I get home. Now is the time for a little more reading and a little more wine and then a lot of sleep. Have a lovely night, all.