Thursday, September 22, 2005
“I’m obsessed; thank you very much.”
A line from a movie I can't recall right now. I think it was St. Elmo's Fire. Yes, it was. Kirby (Emilio Estevez) to xxxx (Andie Mcdowell).
Not important. But, I am obsessed once again watching a hurricane. Hurricanes fell into the top 5 reasons I left the Virgin Islands. All through hurricane season; the suspense would just kill me. We would start watching the storm as soon as it developed off of Cape Verde (S. Africa) where all good hurricanes develop. "Will it turn north when it hits the Antilles?". And when it passed over the Antilles, "Will we get a direct hit or just the Tropical Storm portion?". It was always months of packing & unpacking. Not to leave. Because you really couldn't leave every time there was the threat of a hurricane. They happened to often. Leaving involved taking a plane to the states or to one of the down islands. St. Croix is 22 miles long & 7 miles wide. It wasn't like you could just drive to the other side and be safe.
If you weren't keeping track of the date; you knew it was hurricane season because one day the "Hurricane Tracking Sheet" would conveniently appear on the counters of all the convenience stores. Free for the taking. It was very convenient.
You would take it home and put it up on your refridgerator with those cute veggie magnets & mark the progress of the storm presently brewing whenever the Weather Station had an update. Which was at 8, 11, 2, and 5 around the clock. It would always be the first thing you would make note of when you went to someone's house. "Is their map more updated than mine?" And if so: "Damn! I missed the last update!" Seriously. Our lives revolved around hurricane updates 4 months out of the year.
It took me a year after having two category 3 hurricanes within a week of each other for me to get a clue. I just couldn't do it anymore. Sure, the sun & fun and being able to SCUBA on a whim was all that; but the bad out-weighed the good.
And it's amazing what you find yourself doing during a storm. I have a really funny (in retrospect) picture I took during Hurricane Marilyn. We had lost a quarter of the roof. The picture shows:
* Three of my friends trying to hold the front door shut. What are they trying to do? KEEP OUT THE RAIN? Part of the roof was gone. The house was already flooded.
* My boyfriend standing watching them with his arms crossed. I have a little theory about this. He was the Assistant Editor & Photographer for the island paper. I think he wasn't trying to help because he was hoping for things to get worse. Photo-Op; don't cha know. He flew out the next day on a Press plane to Puerto Rico and some of the shots he took there went AP. I went on to date (for almost 4 years) this guy:
* Chris standing behind our friends holding the door with a case of beer. Holding it up out of the water. (It was almost to our knees.) Don't anyone ever tell me I don't know how to pick my men.
______________
When I get my pics out of storage; I will post it. That one and the one of me mixing up a round of kamikazes during the Eye. Soaking wet with a white T-shirt turned brown from the flying debris.
______________
Celebrate whenever you can. The opportunities are too few and far between.
peace
Not important. But, I am obsessed once again watching a hurricane. Hurricanes fell into the top 5 reasons I left the Virgin Islands. All through hurricane season; the suspense would just kill me. We would start watching the storm as soon as it developed off of Cape Verde (S. Africa) where all good hurricanes develop. "Will it turn north when it hits the Antilles?". And when it passed over the Antilles, "Will we get a direct hit or just the Tropical Storm portion?". It was always months of packing & unpacking. Not to leave. Because you really couldn't leave every time there was the threat of a hurricane. They happened to often. Leaving involved taking a plane to the states or to one of the down islands. St. Croix is 22 miles long & 7 miles wide. It wasn't like you could just drive to the other side and be safe.
If you weren't keeping track of the date; you knew it was hurricane season because one day the "Hurricane Tracking Sheet" would conveniently appear on the counters of all the convenience stores. Free for the taking. It was very convenient.
You would take it home and put it up on your refridgerator with those cute veggie magnets & mark the progress of the storm presently brewing whenever the Weather Station had an update. Which was at 8, 11, 2, and 5 around the clock. It would always be the first thing you would make note of when you went to someone's house. "Is their map more updated than mine?" And if so: "Damn! I missed the last update!" Seriously. Our lives revolved around hurricane updates 4 months out of the year.
It took me a year after having two category 3 hurricanes within a week of each other for me to get a clue. I just couldn't do it anymore. Sure, the sun & fun and being able to SCUBA on a whim was all that; but the bad out-weighed the good.
And it's amazing what you find yourself doing during a storm. I have a really funny (in retrospect) picture I took during Hurricane Marilyn. We had lost a quarter of the roof. The picture shows:
* Three of my friends trying to hold the front door shut. What are they trying to do? KEEP OUT THE RAIN? Part of the roof was gone. The house was already flooded.
* My boyfriend standing watching them with his arms crossed. I have a little theory about this. He was the Assistant Editor & Photographer for the island paper. I think he wasn't trying to help because he was hoping for things to get worse. Photo-Op; don't cha know. He flew out the next day on a Press plane to Puerto Rico and some of the shots he took there went AP. I went on to date (for almost 4 years) this guy:
* Chris standing behind our friends holding the door with a case of beer. Holding it up out of the water. (It was almost to our knees.) Don't anyone ever tell me I don't know how to pick my men.
______________
When I get my pics out of storage; I will post it. That one and the one of me mixing up a round of kamikazes during the Eye. Soaking wet with a white T-shirt turned brown from the flying debris.
______________
Celebrate whenever you can. The opportunities are too few and far between.
peace
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I´m realy sorry about catastrophy of katrina and the probably destruction of the other hurrocan Rita... The world is waching you and the only thing than i can say is go on, the country is not alone... By
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