caerula's Diaryland Diary

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Where were you when the lights went out?

Well, that was interesting. Except not really; mostly it was dark. And hot. And tasted like peanut butter.

What? The power was out, people. Get your minds out of the gutter.

As the world knows, the power went out at 4:15 Thursday, while I was sitting in a Wendy�s restaurant, killing time before a doctor appointment. It wasn�t until I got to the doctor�s office, 45 minutes later (in what should have been a ten minute drive) that I realized how widespread the outage was, since I don�t listen to the radio in the car unless I have to.

But other than my two-hour drive home Thursday night, and an icky cleaning-out-the-fridge this morning, it really didn�t affect us that much. Huddled at mom�s Thursday night with Minnie and EngineerBoy, since my parents have a generator, and tried to call people with her on-again-off-again phone service. The generator had enough juice to run the freezer in the garage, a radio or a tv, and a couple of fans, so it wasn�t like real power, but it was enough to keep us from being terribly miserable. We had ice, and The Amazing Race, so we were hot and cranky but informed.

Yesterday I caught up a lot on my reading and listened to the governor tell us to boil water and even if your power does come back on, don�t run anything unless you have to, so don�t get excited. And we listened to reports of all the places that were getting their power back, unlike us. Of course this happens during the hottest spell we�ve had this year, and we couldn�t take showers because of the whole conserving-water thing, so that was kind of yucky. But really, considering how the newspeople were wetting themselves with excitement over the whole thing, there really wasn�t that much to it. I mean, really. There�s no power. It�s not like a developing story; either it�s on, or it�s not. We don't have subways here for people to get stuck in and Detroiters didn't oblige the country with rioting and looting (left that to the Canadians, heh), so really, there wasn't much to tell.

It was entertaining watching mom�s little tv when most of the area couldn�t watch. Because the newspeople kept showing the same clip over and over of a Meijers that stayed open so people could buy bottled water and flashlights, and kept giving the same advice � boil water, fill up your bathtub, don�t leave candles lit � to a bunch of people who couldn�t hear them. They got a little whippy, too; the Detroit stations were running on generators, of course, and didn�t have air conditioning; all the hair was much less gelled and poofed than usual, and there were some shirt sleeves rolled up, but even more entertaining was them saying things like �well, for the four of you out there, my parents are fine.� Really. I kept expecting Guy Gordon to run naked and screaming through the background with his tie tied around his head clutching the immunity idol.

So we got power back sometime last night, and now it�s just clean up and catch up; we have to through out a bunch of the groceries we just bought, of course, and we still have to conserve water so all the flowers are wilting and I�m feeling a little stanky. I am taking a shower today; I don�t care what Jennifer Granholm says.

2:04 p.m. - August 16, 2003

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same old stuff

Blue has an interview next Wednesday. Positive vibes, people!

I�m feeing better, finally, just exhausted. Which is nothing new. One of the things that really sucks about having an auto-immune disorder is that when I get sick, I get reallllly sick. None of this 24-hour stuff for me, no take this Z-pack and feel better in 4 or 5 days. Oh no. One minor thing and I�m out of commission for at least a week, and it�s another week until I feel halfway normal again. My column was due this past Monday, with an unusually high number of books � October is a big month � so last week was not as restful as it should have been despite being home sick for three days. Lots of big SF & fantasy books out this October, and most of the ones I read quite good, for a change. And no, Geni, it�s not a Damar book � it�s an adult dark fantasy, as a matter of fact, quite a departure for McKinley. But quite good.

The good news is I am working some at home this week, so I don�t have to get up quite so early and I can take some time to recover from being so sick. I still wake up early, but it makes a huge difference when I can get ready slowly and sit down when I need to instead of rushing out the door. Pobby is coming around, I think. She was very nice to me last week and commented on how much she appreciates my dedication (heh) in making up hours and letting her know my schedule. So that�s encouraging.

Aside: Why is it that you never run into co-workers at Target until you have something in your basket that claims in large capital letters to treat �PAINFUL BURNING ITCH�? Hmmmm?

So I was wrong about Blue�s graduation weekend, it�s not this weekend but the following one. Good for two reasons � I have another weekend where I don�t have to travel, and also YMB will be home by then. Oh, and one more � it�s the same day as the company picnic, so I have a legitimate excuse for not going, not that anyone cares in our department about that stuff, and not that I was planning on going anyway. Still. Good to be legitimate.

And Friday my delightful young cousin Bubbles is coming to spend the night, which I am actually looking forward too. I don�t get to spend time with her without her parents and/or the Diva around, and she�s such a hoot. Apparently she was praying (literally � in her nighttime prayers) to come spend a �girls� night� with Caerula and Sophie and the cats. No boys allowed. And fingernail painting will be involved. Tee (her mom) called me the other day to share this and it cracked me up. �Please God, let me go spend the night with Caerula so I can sleep with her in her bed with Sophie and the kitties.� Notice it�s the dog that�s the big draw, but still. Everybody: awww.

12:01 a.m. - August 14, 2003

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TMI alert

TMI alert: I have a Urinary. Tract. Infection. These are Not. Fun. I'm home from work -- using vacation time, since I have no sick time left -- and moaning and groaning until Blue is sick of me. I think I've been away from home too much -- I used to get these all the time when I traveled, and I've certainly spent plenty of time doing that lately.

So Stratford was good; nothing exciting as our previous trips have been, but nice. We saw "The King and I" which of course was excellent, but it's not my favorite musical, so I wasn't as enthralled as I have been in past years. It was gorgeous, though, costumes and sets to die for, and excellent actors, of course. Had some really good fish and chips and bought pralines at the candy place, yummmmm.

Really I find myself with not much to say. Too uncomfortable to wax philosophical about anything, and trust me, you don't want to know about my last couple of days. Blah.

8:58 a.m. - August 07, 2003

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broke

I am doomed to spend no time at home this summer. For the second of three weekends in a row I�m leaving on a lengthy drive, this time for our annual Stratford trip. Sans Kitty this year, since she couldn�t or didn�t want to leave the baby, so Minnie�s friend Steph is accompanying us instead. We always have a great time and I�m looking forward to it, but I just wish it wasn�t this weekend. I�m tired, and I have no money. Blah. Next weekend is the big Lansing quilt show that we also do every year, and again I suspect I will be exhausted and broke.

Also, I have to go home and find my birth certificate for the Canadian border patrol, as of course I didn�t remember I�d need that until I was in the car on my way to work this morning. Because it�s not like I go to Canada several times a year, or anything. Bonk.

YMB left again last night for another three weeks with the Dementors. It�s really unnecessary, how much time they spend with him in the summer, and this time he�ll miss Blue�s graduation, which is in two weeks. Which is � crap � another weekend shot. Jeebus. When YMB gets home, he�ll have one weekend and then school starts up again. I can�t believe it�s August. I�m not done with summer! No!

Speaking of Blue and graduation, he�s in a major funk about it and I haven�t been able to drag him out. We owe mucho tuition still and have had to ask for an extension, because his parents� promises of financial help for school have not materialized and we can�t get a loan. He�s depressed about job hunting and I�m afraid he�s falling into that sabotaging-himself trap that he tends to get into whenever he�s close to succeeding at something. I could psychoanalyze it to death, of course, but simply put I think his family has tended to expect him to screw up ever since he was a teenager, so he�s internalized it and now he tries to screw himself up and get it over with. I don�t understand it, having the opposite problem of too-high expectations, but I can sympathize. At the same time, I want to tell him to get off his ass and prove them all wrong. Blue�s got so much going for him, and he can�t see it or do anything with it, and it�s driving me insane. Never mind that I�m really tired of being broke all the time and living paycheck to paycheck. We had a tidy little adoption fund going; it�s all gone now, towards tuition and house stuff that we�d been under the impression his parents were going to help with. I can�t even tell you how depressing that is. Tried to talk to Blue last night and he literally did not respond. Stared at the tv for a while, then went to bed; got up at 10 and went right to work. I�m really tired of being the one who has to try and fix everything. My mom is paying for my Stratford expenses because there�s no way I can do it right now, and I hate that.

Ok, I did not mean to get myself all worked up again. I�m going to go away this weekend and try to have a decent time, and when I get back Blue and I are going to sit down and figure out where we�re going. If I can figure out how to get him talking. Sigh.

1:20 p.m. - August 01, 2003

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