Well, what a week it's been in the ways of the world! Shall we recap?
EARTHQUAKE. That was fun. I live on the third floor of five story walk up. There's been quite a bit of construction going on so when all of a sudden I noticed the clothes in my closet starting to move, I thought maybe someone dropped something upstairs, where they had been working. Then I realized I wasn't standing very steadily - felt like I was swaying. Was I really dehydrated? I texted my roommate at work to tell her I thought our building was swaying and it was such a strange thing. I started to hear things outside so I looked out my window and saw people coming out of the buildings into the street. They were looking down the street and I thought maybe there had been a strong car accident and a vehicle hit the buildings. My phone buzzed and it was my roommate saying "That's weird - a guy just asked me if the floor was moving and I said no!" Phone buzzed again and it was my sister down in Virginia texting "We just had an earthquake!" Whoa. That meant what I was feeling was probably from that! I went out on the fire escape and the people below me were yelling to other people in the street asking if anyone had cell phone service. I checked my phone - like everyone else, my answer was no. The girl downstairs asked what was going on and I told her about the text from my sister. She couldn't believe it! Then she pointed out the smashed bricks on the sidewalk. Turns out some bricks fell off the building next door. No one got hurt though. Weird day. I've only been in one other earthquake: I was five and we lived in Vermont. My mom thought I was jumping on my bed.
HURRICANE. Friday morning I got a call from my mom asking what evacuation zone I was in. What? What was an evacuation zone? She sent me a link and said something about Hurricane Irene, turn on the weather channel. Hm, that was a curious looking path it was taking - straight for the city. I clicked the link and put in my address and found out I was half a block away from Zone A, the highest risk. My mom said since I didn't have anything to do on Monday I should just head down to Virginia and miss the storm. I wasn't so sure - it couldn't be that bad. Then my sister sent me a concerned text. Then my dad said something. Then my friends started calling and texting. I really didn't want to leave, especially because Spike Lee had just said they were still going to hold Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson and I had made plans with some friends to go. Finally I gave in and booked a 7:05pm Amtrak to DC. When I heard Mayor Bloomberg was going to address the city, I decided to give it a watch. He ordered mandatory evacuations of Zone A. Hm, and half a block away I was supposed to be fine? Ok, I felt a little better about leaving the city. Another announcement came saying mass transit was going to shut down on Saturday at noon. Guess it was more serious than I thought. Finally, Spike Lee sent out a message saying he was going to postpone the celebration so I felt completely fine leaving. Made my way to Penn Station and found out my train was almost half an hour late. Bugger. Eventually it came, I boarded and settled in for the ride to DC. Not too bad! Took the Metro from DC out to Vienna where my sister and her husband met me. Got some food and got to my parents house about 1:15am. Woke up this morning to a big hug from my parents saying they were so happy I got out of the city. How sweet! I've also had soooo many texts, calls and emails from concerned family and friends - thank you so much for thinking of me! I'm all safe. My roommates are both out of our apartment too, one back to her parents and one staying with friends.
Stay safe and dry, all you still in the city!!
No comments:
Post a Comment