First an earthquake, now a hurricane

Today is the first day that I don't have to work. Well, technically, yesterday was, but it was spent trying to drive from my parent's house to my apartment on post-hurricane roads and some other surprises I'll get into later.
The big thing that happened over the weekend was, of course, Hurricane Irene. My mom called on Friday and said to pack up everything I cared about when I came over this weekend. We left my Deity statues on my altar to protect the apartment.
Originally, I had wanted to go to Hershey Park, but we figured it would be closed. I guess I'll go next weekend. Anyway, my boyfriend and I packed up our more precious things, at least things that could be carried, and headed to my parents' house. Friday night, we got there and set up the bunny in her cage, then watched the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. I love Doctor Who. I stayed up until 1 am watching it.
On Saturday, the skies started to darken, and Hershey Park wasn't going to happen, so my boyfriend and I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. When we came back, most of the rest of the day was spent watching the weather channel tracking the storm. I was sleepy most of the time because I can never really wake up if the sun is hiding. It started to get more interesting later in the afternoon when it started raining more heavily.
We made an offering to the storm Gods in the form of the smell of dinner (according to ancient Greek tradition, the Gods like the smell of cooking meat, but not the taste, so the people actually eat the meat). Apparently, it worked, because the power stayed on all the way through the season premiere of Doctor Who.
When we woke up, there was no power. My boyfriend and I accompanied my mom to church, mostly to see how everything had held up. I'm glad to say the church held up well. It is a beautiful neogothic building with gargoyles and huge arches and stained glass windows. The roof is a bit leaky and needs to be fixed (for more info on the church, go to stlukeslebanon.org). There was a grand total of ten people in the congregation who had decided to venture out.
After church, we picked up my dad and went to Mel's diner, a Sunday tradition for my family, and extremely popular today as it seems that the diners had retained power capabilities while most houses hadn't.
After brunch, we went to Lebanon Valley College and walked around. There were a few people from the community using the gym facilities for showers and such as the storm had knocked out theirs.
When the sky was clear, we let the bunny run around the back yard she was happy to jump and eat grass. She had been cooped up throughout the storm. Also, my mom got out her sewing machine and showed me how to use it so I can speed up my historical wardrobe project.
On Monday, my parents were at work, and my boyfriend and I went out for doughnuts. He had to see the thrift store one more time, and I went to Jo-Ann fabrics to get some nice Halloweeny fabric. We went back to the house to pack up, and just as we were pulling up to the house, there was a POP! SSSSsssssssss! And my boyfriend and I got out of the car to watch the front passenger side of the car sink as the air was released from the tire. He went to the tire place while I packed up. It took a few hours, but we were finally underway. There was traffic, and confusion, but finally we made it back to the apartment. Luckily, nothing had fallen or broken. My Gods and Goddesses had done their job well.

Creative Freedom

Last night, I turned in the last of my comprehensive exams. This means that I only have two more days of my internship and I need to turn in my papers regarding that, but then I'm done. Completely. I will have no more work to do toward my second Master's of Science.
It's strange not to have homework. I've been doing nothing but work from the minute I got home to the time I went to sleep so long that when I finished, I actually didn't know what to do with myself. Tonight, I think I'll go shopping and finally get that camera that I want so I can post pictures of things.
I know, of course, that now I have to start looking for a job and all that, which will not be pleasant, and will be a lot of work as well, but I don't intend to spend every waking moment on it. Even when I get a real job, I won't have homework, so I'll still have more time for me than I do now. I definitely plan to update this blog more, and to get in shape and enjoy my art.
I've been starving my creativity for a year now, with all this constant work. I did sewing and knitting, and I embroidered my friend's stole, but I also need to paint and draw and make jewelry. Maybe I should get a part-time job at a craft store. I know how to use nearly everything in the store, and I could probably teach a few of their classes. I really want to learn to draw comics better. I used to do that a lot early in high school. I really enjoyed it. I gave it up when my workload became too much and my parents made it clear that they would never pay for my education if I was an art major. I enjoy science, but I can't live without art. Actually, I did a painting of string theory, and I would like to do more "science-y" art. I've started making planet beads for a solar system necklace. Of course, I'm still working on my historical wardrobe project. That's slowed a lot with the work I've had, but it should pick up when my mom gives me her sewing machine.
I have many wonderful ideas. I can't wait to play with them!

Earthquake in Philadelphia

I was at work yesterday when the building started shaking. It was a little rumbly, then it swayed side-to-side. Everyone looked around at each other. We were all thinking more or less the same thing.
An earthquake? In Phillie? Seriously?
Honestly, it was more amusing than anything else. You know, something to break the monotony of the day. I wasn't terribly concerned, as it was very small, and nothing fell over, but there can be damage you can't see, especially in a place like Philadelphia where there are buildings over 200 years old, and even he newer buildings were never designed for an earthquake. I probably would have been less concerned had I been in California where the buildings have been built with earthquakes in mind.
I was done with everything I had to do for the day, so I decided to go home to see how my precious pet rabbit was taking it.
I kept trying to call people, but my cell wasn't working, probably because everyone was trying to call everyone else. I had to wait over an hour brother train, so it took a while to get home. I got through to my mom, who said she hadn't noticed until the news came on, but she's having work done on the house, so she's used to things shaking a bit. My dad noticed it at work. My brother is in Greece right now, but if he was home in NY, I know he'd be one of the guys on the stock exchange that just yelled "Keep trading!" I tried to call my boyfriend for over an hour, but he never picked up, and I was a bit worried because he works in yard work/construction and works with things weighing several thousand pounds, and I wanted to make sure none of them fell on him, but, as usual, he didn't take his phone, and I would just have to wait and see what happened when it was time for him to get home.
Finally, I got home to my apartment about two and a half hours after the actual quake and my poor little bunny was cowering in her cage with a "WTF WAS THAT?!?!" expression. Several little things had fallen, not big enough to hurt anything, but big enough to scare a miniature rabbit. I'm glad we had left her in her cage. Sometimes we leave her out so she can run around and play, but she has been chewing things, so she stays in her cage when we're not there. (It is a largish cage with toys and things, so the only thing she can't do is run.) It's a pretty strong cage, so it would have protected her had anything large fallen down, at least for a while. I opened the cage and gave her a little pet, and she slowly came out and tested the ground to see if it would shake again. I cuddled her and she relaxed.
I went to go work on my comprehensive exams, and she went to play with her beach ball. Later, she came into the bedroom with me and hid under the bed. She likes being under the bed. In a while, she started to explore the post-shaky apartment, and came across a bag of candy corn that had fallen down. I took it away, but she was still incredibly hyper for several hours.
Finally, my boyfriend got home and I yelled at him for not having his phone. His position was that as he does dangerous work requiring focus, he doesn't want people calling him all the time. My position was that he's perfectly capable of finishing the task at hand and calling me back at a free moment, and that I usually don't call him during the day, and hadn't have done so today if the earth hadn't literally shaken, and that having a cell phone in his jeans pocket during the day is not a major distraction from work, especially if he only checks it on breaks or when there is a major event, like an earthquake in Philadelphia. My position won.
Everything is fine, and it was a very interesting day.

Happy 100th Birthday, Aunt Bert!

Last weekend (August 12th-15th), I went toRacine, WI for my great aunt's 100th birthday party. It was incredibly fun. Her birthday is actually in October, but this was the only time the whole family could get together, and when you're talking about 100 years, what difference do a few months really make?
On Friday, my parents and my grandfather picked me up at my apartment and we drove to the airport. I had bought a shiny new skein of rainbow yarn to entertain myself with on the airplane. By the time we got to Racine, I had most of a bag done. I decided to finish it and give it to my aunt as a birthday present, along with the pompon I had made for her hat. (The pompon had been a request.) We made our way to the Ravine Radisson, where my mother, being the center of all activity, had requested the biggest room in the hotel. Everyone always hangs out in her room when we go anywhere, so it was really a good idea. It had its own kitchen, which was good because we had a place to put leftovers, and we got breakfast items and ate breakfast in the room instead of spending$10 for breakfast somewhere. Interestingly, the room also had a whirlpool bath, but it was not in the bathroom. It was next to the bed. There was a separate bathtub in the bathroom. This turned out to be useful as well as my cousin is still recovering from a badly broken leg, and he had his leg in the hot whirlpool when everyone was hanging out in the room.
On Friday evening, we were going to go to some fancy restaurant where one of my aunts had made reservations, but that fell through, so we decided to go to my Aunt Bertha and Aunt Mary's (the great aunts- it was Bertha's 100th that we were celebrating) favorite restaurant, The Corner House. It was delicious food and a nice place to be generally. Most of us had the walleyed pike, which had come from the lake only a few blocks away. The owner of the restaurant happened to be there that night, and he was walking around and talking to people. We told him the occasion for which we had come, and he was quite surprised. He asked Aunt Bert what her secret was, and she replied that it was because she ate at The Corner House regularly! He laughed and we all took pictures, and we told him that, according to our itinerary, we would be eating there on Sunday as well. He called over the waitress that would be serving us on Sunday and told her to take special care of us. He also made Aunt Bert a special birthday sundae with vanilla ice cream, brandy, cocoa, and nutmeg.
After dinner, the great aunts went home to sleep, and everyone else was hanging out in my mom's hotel room. I happened to be sharing the room with my mom. Everyone decided that they would go to the bar for drinks, but I elected not to go as I was tired and at the end of my endurance for socialization for the day.
On Saturday, we went to the Racine zoo. It was a small zoo, but nice, and the animals had many toys to play with, but the tiger seemed very sad. He was pacing around his enclosure, over and over again in the same path. The meerkats seemed happy, though, with their lookout on top of the mound, and the others tunneling away. The mountain goats were climbing their crag, and the penguins, whose scheduled feeding time was a mere fifteen minutes away, were staring expectantly at the area where the fish came out. The sky had been threatening for some time, and it started to open up. Most of the family took refuge under a large picnic tent, but my brother, my dad, and I decided to see if we could see the bear. The bear had taken shelter from the storm, as had the meerkats and the mountain goats. The penguins, however, hadn't moved, and were still staring expectantly at the food opening.
That night was the big birthday celebration in a big restaurant on the pier. We watched the boats out on the water and had another party. Aunt Heidi had made centerpieces out of antique bingo cards (one of Aunt Bert's favorite pastimes is bingo) with pictures of Aunt Bert and quotes from her. This was the biggest party as there were 5 people who came in on Saturday and had to leave during the day on Sunday. It was big and loud and I talked to Aunt Mary about crafts.
After dinner, there was hanging out in mom's hotel room.
Sunday was beach day. The lake was quite murky because the wind had stirred up the sand underneath, but at least you don't have to worry about sharks and things like you do in New Jersey. Also, it's fresh water, not salt water, so you don't get the salt taste in your mouth. There is, however, algae that comes in clumps that I'm still picking out of my hair. It's very nice, though. Aunt Heidi sat in her beach chair and enjoyed the sun while Aunt Gretchen and I walked the beach and swam in the waves.
That night, it was back to The Corner House for dinner, which was still wonderful. We were well taken care of by the waitress we had met on Friday.
After dinner, more hanging out in mom's room, but with less people than the night before.
On Monday morning, mom and I took a last walk down by the beach. After that, we packed and checked out of the hotel and went to Aunt Bert's house before going to the airport for the flight home.
All in all, a very fun weekend.

A belated Lammas post

I have not posted in a long time, mostly because I'm getting to the end of my accelerated degree, and everything in due in very short order. I have a major paper and several online exams left to go, as well as a presentation of said paper.
I'm taking some time to write between the incubation steps of my cell culture.
This past weekend, while I worked all Friday night after work and all day Sunday, on Saturday I took some time with my friends. We decided to celebrate Lammas together in Ocean Grove, NJ. We met up around noon and enjoyed the water on such a hot day. We caught up with each other and told about how our lives are going. Carri's ministry is starting to get off the ground. She's been doing several weddings, especially now that gay marriages are legal in New York. She told me about a couple of men that she married recently who had had a civil union for five years, but they'd been in a committed relationship for over twenty years. Can you imagine not being able to marry your true love for twenty years? Carri has also been doing baby blessings and services of remembrance. After we were done swimming, we went to a restaurant, Kaya's Kitchen, with delicious food and a fun ambiance. It being Lammas, or close enough to it, we asked Carri to say a blessing over the food, but she said it was already blessed as it came from the Earth. We considered the wisdom in this, and enjoyed our meal.
Generally, for Lammas, my standard celebration includes baking bread and drinking beer, sometimes making beer bread, to honor the God of the Grains that is cut down in this season's harvest (Lammas being the first of the harvest holidays), but this year I just enjoyed the Earth and the Sea and thanked them for what they had to offer me, and what they give me every day.
I was actually considering not going on Saturday, in light of the massive workload that I have, but as my friends pointed out, I would have just been spending my time upset that I wasn't at the beach celebrating the holiday, which is hardly productive. It's good to take some time, even at our busiest moments, or maybe especially then, to appreciate the blessings of the Earth.