Saturday, August 27, 2011

I miss predictable Midwestern weather patterns. Not to say that tornados are predictable, because they're not, which is what can make them so devastating, but at least I was comfortable with Missouri's weather. I know what to do when the tornado sirens go off (if you're a true Missourian, that means going outside to look at the sky before maybe going down to the basement). This whole Hurricane Irene deal is not okay. 

My anxiety manifests itself in a excessive preoccupation with natural disasters (and also the ability to convince myself that I have all sorts of rare medical conditions), mainly because my brain is hard-wired to go directly to the worst-cast scenario for everything. So weather phenomena are like a field day for my nerves. 

When I was little, I used to be deathly afraid of tsunamis whenever it would rain. Yes, I lived in Missouri, possibly the most land-locked state in the US. Completely logical, I know. So whenever it rained my dad would make me go get the mail from the mailbox at the end of the driveway. I'm going to pretend that he was doing it for my own good, helping me get over my completely irrational fear, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly just entertaining to watch me work up the nerve to leave the porch and then race down the driveway and back before the 20 foot tidal waves got me. Thanks, Dad. 

I've spent most of the day checking the Weather Channel's website for updates on the impending doom. New Jersey is officially in a state of emergency. They're preparing to evacuate prisons. When they start evacuating the criminals, that's when you know it's serious. The problem with all of this is I don't know what to do in event of a hurricane. The Weather Channel is offering helpful advice like:
    
        Please begin to think about and act on your hurricane preparations. Now is the time.

Thanks for that. Real helpful, there. 

I went to the store Friday after work to buy supplies because I figured bottled water and a flashlight might save me the Hurricane. So I went to Walmart...and now I'm going to need therapy. There were so many people there that the police were directing traffic in and out of its parking lot. Although they really should have been inside because there were so many people you could hardly move. I figured that most people would be there buying the basics like canned food, water, bread, etc, but the people of Northern Jersey seem to be approaching a possible future without electricity and running water like it's a 4th of July BBQ. Every cart seems to be full of chips and cookies and hamburgers, sandwich meat, cheese...most of which require the electricity to still work in order for it to stay edible. Or maybe it's just they haven't worked out this whole electricity concept yet. 

I passed more than one person who decided that the threat of extensive flooding made this weekend the perfect time to buy that new flat screen, HD tv they'd been eyeing. 

I went straight back to the bottled water section, hoping that there'd be some left. 

Not so much


By 4pm on Friday there wasn't a bottle of water, a battery, a flashlight, or a generator to be had in New Jersey. So instead I just bought some non-perishable food, like pretzel M&Ms, you know, the essentials.
The storm isn't supposed to hit until late Saturday night, so last night I went out with a bunch of other med students to celebrate the end of our rotations.

I got an email from our program director about the Hurricane yesterday, telling us to "use your best judgement" on whether to go to work on Monday. I start my Pediatrics rotation, where apparently the attending doesn't actually let you talk to the mini-humans. What do you think the chances are that I can use my "best judgement" to claim emotional distress from the Hurricane and not go in?

1 comment:

  1. love your post ... same thing here ... no water, batteries, etc. so bought wine and pistachios (already had the M&Ms)
    Stay safe K ~~ Linda P

    ReplyDelete