Life is a VERB

Everything is cool

Monday, August 29, 2011

lol just kidding, I messed with that picture, it didnt look like that when the storm came in. Cause it was night time.

The eye made direct landfall over NYC and then Lady Liberty held up her hand, said ‘I don’t think so, bitch’ and the rest of the storm, from the eye down, disappeared into thin air.

The only things I got to clean up were tree branches, trash and signage, but here are some pictures of Brooklyn and NYC after the storm.

Brooklyn Hurricane Preparedness

across the street

I made Jen stand in front of stuff to show scale. This is her superhero trout pout stance.

Wall of tree

Hopefully we will be able to get to Manhattan soon as well as AC.

NYC is fine, time to focus on Jersey, VA, NC, VT, MA, etc. Im trying to get a gaggle of New Yorkers to head out to Jersey asap to help with cleanup over there.

Im adventure ready.

Im not evacuating NYC.

This is my 20th hurricane, including the one I was born during.

Im grabbing my camera, staying at the second highest point in Brooklyn.

And Im gonna shoot this monster.

- #nyc
- #brooklyn
- #photography
- #disaster
- #hurricane
- #irene
- #irenageddon
- #storm
- #sunset park
- #dSLR
- #gotham
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The Bright Side / Come On Irene

Friday, August 26, 2011

Living on the edge of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, also Mississippi, Florida and Georgia…Im no stranger to hurricanes. I’ve been in the thick of many of them.

Andrew
Katrina
Rita
Gustav
Opal
Charley
Frances
Ike
Lili, when I last worked at a hurricane shelter
Gilbert
Georges
the first Irene which was also a Cat 2
Allison
Isidore
Ivan
Jeanne
Dennis
Humberto and probably a couple more. And this doesnt include tropical storms.

And I was born during David, with no power in a dark maternity ward. I was made for this. Literally.

However, through all these storms which are a trial of your patience and your guts, there has been this one badass dude on the Weather Channel. This dude has unfailingly chosen a spot, to park his brave little booty to broadcast live for each Major Hurricane, that has turned out to be the spot where the monsters make landfall. Everytime he picks a spot, two or three days before landfall is expected, and 2 or 3 days later, Jim Cantore is on a beach or on a street in the middle of the night, in a signature black or blue plastic pancho, getting blown sideways while risking his life to holler the news to those who are next in its path. We call him the hurricane whisperer.

Wednesday, I jokingly tweeted that I wasn’t going to worry about this storm at all unless Jim Cantore showed up within two hours of Brooklyn.

Within 24 hours, Im watching the weather channel and who pops up broadcasting from the Bowling Green by the bull in the Financial District….

Yep.

They have started the mandatory evacuations of hospitals and nursing care facilities in Zone A already, which includes Battery Park in the Financial District, Coney Island, Brighton and Manhattan Beach (3.5 miles south of me) and much more of Brooklyn and Staten Island. They are shutting down transportation tomorrow.

Crossing the Verrazano this morning and seeing the skyline covered in a haze so thick you almost couldnt see all the ships, barges and cruiseliners leaving the harbor, I realised I was scared for my city.

They have gotten surprisingly specific now with their predictions, going so far as to say they expect landfall on the border of Queens and Nassau Counties. That’s pretty darn specific.

Anyway, because my flight is cancelled and Im stuck here, though everyone I work with is fleeing to PA, I’m going to grab my camera and document this monster.

With no transit and guaranteed loss of power and the possibility of losing water utilities as well, the flooded days after the storm are what worry my the most. But…

I can run a half marathon and walk 20 miles (with breaks), so I can walk from my house all the way to Central Park if need be.
Im extra smart about water, cause yall know I constantly berate everyone about getting enough.
I’ve worked hard on getting strong, so I will be able to help move fallen branches and debris without feeling as though I am in the way.
I can climb and crawl and pull myself up and push my way through and keep myself surefooted thanks to all the hard work I have put in over the last couple years.

Its like one of my imaginative runs from zombies/james bond/russian mobsters except more post-apocalyptic. Even if we just lose power, I will imagine myself in a disaster movie.

A lot of people believe this is just going to be a bad thunderstorm. They laugh and say hurricanes always pass by them.

I lived in New Orleans, once upon a time, and they used to sing the same tune. Irene is scheduled to hit the area ON the anniversary of Katrina.

I just know this time feels different, and although we may not have Cat 3 winds or a 40 ft storm surge… I know that the ground and trees have been staturated to the point of being swollen for two weeks now. I know we just had a flood in our basement about a week and a half ago. I know that of the one hundred and thirty something thousand water catch basins in the city, most have not even been serviced in up to three years. I know they are shutting down transit and sealing us up like its Raccoon City. I know its the WATER that’s gonna land here that is the real problem.

But Im ready! Ready for her to get here. Read for her to do her damage and ready for her to leave so I can put my body to use in the clean up and cross the city sans electricity with my camera and a gallon of water.

I was born for this.
I trained for this. ;)

and I had a sexy breakfast.

Limbo. Also… advice?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I hate being in limbo… unable to act until I receive the information I am waiting for, which cannot possibly be sped up. Just waiting between two options or more, knowing the decision but not being allowed to make it.

IN the meantime, yesterday was pretty messed up for NYC. What with the 10 year anniversary of the Fall of the WTC on 9/11/11, the rumbles that shook up the city had all my neighbors sitting on their stoops with tears in their eyes, in shock, silent, staring at the skyline. It wasnt that the earthquake was severe and we couldnt handle it and we’re a bunch of pansies, its that when a violent shake hits the city, people naturally assume terrorist attack, because earthquakes just dont happen up here. Goodness knows I have never felt that before.

NYC isnt built to withstand quakes like other places and having one happen here is like swimming around in the Ozarks and getting bitten by a shark.

So its sad and my city’s nerves are frayed. Speaking of which, anyone that doubts that NYC understands having haters, just ask them their thoughts on the sweethearts that live in LA and their recent behavior.

Plus the high probability of having a hurricane hit NYC on Sunday night may prevent me from going to PA this weekend like I was supposed to. Which bums me out far more than I can let on. However, I cannot make that decision until I know what is happening with this stupid Irene bitch of storm so in the meantime, I’m in Limbo.

NY hasnt hd a direct hit snce the 1800s and hasnt been affected by one since like… 1985? What with the flooding we still havent recovered from from last week, the fact that we are at sealevel, that I live right ON the water and ON an island coneycombed by train tunnels ripe to fill with water… the storm surge is what terrifies me. Im from Louisana, I know which parts to fear, which parts to prepare for, when to leave and when to laugh and when to know that all you have left is hope.

If this thing hits Gotham as a Cat 1, we are up sht creek.

Also, my birthday is completely fkd. (Labor Day Weekend, when everyone will be spending time with their families)

Everything was either cancelled, became impossible or was dismissed without warning. SO unless I feel like spending all this limbo time trying to happy myself into making all new plans, I wont be doing a damn thing more than reading in the livingroom.

My friends are all at war and the ones that arent fighting refuse to hang out unless they can all hang out and that leaves me in the middle banging my head against the wall.

I dont have a clue what to do on my birthday now. Its just going to be Joshua and myself and I gotta come up with some fun city field trip but I cant think of anything cause my creativity has gone down the pooper with all the rest of my zest for fun after 3 months of getting pounded by drama after drama after crisis after crisis after injury after sickness after betrayal after battle after heartbreak…. so Im scared the pressure to think of something fun enough to distract us both from current Hell we are dealing with will make me crack and cancel every single thing, so I can just go into a granny panty hermitage.

Also pics came back from this weekend and I remembered again that Im 2X the size of all my friends, no matter how much I whittle down my waist, my titties or my weight… Im still the gigantic one in the gaggle.

PS thats not a cigarette in my hand, for all the haters with their fingers on speed-dial, its a marshmallow skewer and I only ate 3 so put the receiver down.

So naturally, after all this beat-down, I decided to go for a run this morning and practice doing handstands. I could breathe, I could feel better, I could FLYYYY!!!!

Then I was doing this…

See that weird angle on my foot? Guess who pulled the adductor muscle thingie that runs from groin to kneecap?

THIS GIRL! SO freedom and therapy turned into me limping home two miles crying and feeling worse than when I left.

Im so disheartened and stuck. I feel like, if dont come up with something to keep him/us entertained, im going to end up literally AND figuratively alone on my birthday. I feel as though, with most of the crap we’ve been dealt this summer, we are lucky to BE friends, still. I’d like to celebrate that a bit more than my 32nd birthday.

So, if you were turning 32 and you wanted to spend time feeling like a kid, laughing and playing and being loud and silly, having an entire weekend for innocent, uplifting fun that doesnt require you to have to be quiet or act like a grownup (ie ANY MUSEUM OR GALLERY OR FISH HOUSE, or anything that cant keep two ADD people from staring at each other in complete boredom and/or disappoinment) with only your amazing awesome best friend (and nobody else), who has been in hell right along side you since April… and you have full access to NYC…

but on crutches… (and you already live on Coney Island and each ride is $18 so that’s no bueno lol)

What on earth are you supposed to do?

Why arent boyfriends rentable yet?