Monday, Sept. 22, 2003
Here I Am, Rock Me Like a Hurricane, posted at 5:07 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Finally, I'm back.Hurricane Isabel rumbled into town on Thursday, and I have definitely felt its effects. I still don't have power, which completely and totally sucks (more on that later), and school was cancelled both Thursday and Friday. Today, the media reported that our school was cancelled, but I received a phone call in the morning from my department head saying that teachers were still to report. This was fine with me, as I'd been a little sick of my powerless routine of reading by candlelight and trying to clean when I can never really get it clean because I can't vaccuum.
On Thursday, Bill and I celebrated the day off of school and the oncoming hurricane by attending the Orioles/Yankees game. Major League Baseball moved the game up from 7:05 to 12:35 to accomondate Isabel, and we decided to go. It was surreal seeing a baseball game with only 700 fans or so, and we got a great spot on the first base line and watched an exciting 1-1 pitchers' duel. Alas, the rains become too torrential, and the game was suspended after the 6th inning.
At that point, I was pretty much stranded in the Federal Hill area, which was fine because I had planned it that way. We got together with a bunch of people and partied hard that night, up and down most of the bars on Cross Street. We spent a lot of time in this dive called Nevin's, which had a karaoke machine. I sang Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and some other song that I can't remember, though I do remember that a smoking, drinking pregnant woman came up and danced with me as I sang. After the song, she informed me that my microphone was turned off during the whole song.
We sat and drank and watched the hurricane come. I was surprised that it didn't seem like that much. Yes, it was windy, and yes, it rained. But I've definitely seen more rain, and the wind didn't seem that bad. Then again, maybe I was just drunk. It was the kind of night that I had to be reminded the next morning that we had devoured a whole pizza at Thirsty Dog at around 1am. I also remember taking shots of some 190-proof alcohol whose name I can't remember, but it sort of reminded me of the word "Rumsfeld," so I called them Rumsfelds all night.
Randy kindly lent me his futon for the evening, as Felicity was out of town. When we woke up the next morning, I gathered my belongings and tried to go home. Not so easy. The Inner Harbor was closed off because of extensive flooding, and the entrance to 95 was closed as well. I returned to Ryan and watched the news for the rest of the morning, then figured out that Charles Street was open and I took that home. The trip, which normally takes 10-15 minutes, took about two hours because of traffic. I spent the time calling folks in Michigan, telling them I had made it through the storm safely.
At home, I discovered that we - along with a million other people in Maryland - didn't have any power. I expected it to be turned on shortly, but it's still out. I never imagined how much I rely on electricty and power. The food in my refrigerator and freezer is all ruined, because the dropoff points for the dry ice have all been out. I drive through the city at night, and there still seems to be tons and tons of people without power. It's four days later. It seems with the ridiculous rates that BGE charges for energy, they would do a better job of turning on the power in an emergency, especially since they had a four day warning on the storm. I guess they're turning things on piecemeal, but I feel so disconnected from TV news or the radio that I can't be sure. I took the trip out here to Towson to the library, because the Internet seems such a luxury right now that I needed. I haven't been on in almost a week. If I can ever afford Internet access at home again, I will never take it for granted. Hell, I'll never take electricity for granted again.
I know I should be thankful that my car is not ruined, that my basement didn't flood, and that I am safe. And I am. But not having power for now four days is becoming difficult to bear. I have lost upwards of $100 of food, and have to eat out nearly every meal. What was a minor inconvenience is turning into a major one and it's pissing me off.
Friday was pretty cool. I was very worried about my house concert, with James O'Brien from Boston. I didn't see many of my friends on Thursday or Friday with school being cancelled, and didn't have James' contact information anywhere but my hotmail account. I didn't know if he could even get into town for the hurricane. Then, without having any power, I didn't even know if I could host it. Luckily, everyone sort of came together and brought candles. I had a nice crowd, with a lot of new faces, and the candles changed the atmosphere and made it quite nice. At that point, I didn't mind the power outage. People seemed to really come together and support the house concert series because of it. Now, of course, I would do anything for power. By the way, I have a beard because I only use electric razors (have never used anything else) and haven't been able to shave in five days.
I worked two 14-hour shifts at the restaurant this weekend, and made more than $200. I think if all goes well, I'll be able to catch up on car payments by early next month and maybe even car insurance. My insurance is still current, but I'm behind in payments. The restaurant is still pretty fun. It's not stressful work, and having cash on hand is great. I'm lucky to be in a friendly restaurant with nice people running it. Yesterday, when I left my second straight 14-hour shift - in both cases, agreeing to do the second shift on the day of because somebody quit - they shook my hand and told me I was doing a great job. Hopefully they won't find out any time soon that I still don't know my wines at all and my knowledge of the menu is pretty shaky.
Yesterday, a customer told me I looked just like Woody Harrelson.
On that note, wish me well on getting my power restored. I'm off to the gym.