A (Figurative) Calm Before the (Literal?) Storm

So now we wait. Like I told you, the freezer is pretty stocked with healthy meals, I'm slowly but surely washing and putting away all of the goodies from my "sprinkle" this past weekend, the hospital bag is packed for me and Hubs and Cuatro, Halloween candy is purchased for the like 3 trick-or-treaters we get a year, bills are paid in advance for the beginning of the month, and all is well in the universe. I'm as prepared as I'm getting, I think. As much as I'm enjoying this time with just Stenni, Hubs and I (and I'm using the term loosely; I'm enjoying it as much as a giant, uncomfortable 9-month pregnant woman can enjoy anything), I'm also dreading the time when it all hits the fan. Which, truth be told, could be any day now.
And while I'm kind of talking about labor and delivery and the aftermath, here's the thing that's really in the back of my mind: 2 years ago, we in Northwest NJ (and elsewhere across the Northeast) enjoyed a little something known as "Snowmageddon," which was basically a mammoth, freak snowstorm that took down huge tree limbs (because they were really heavy, you know, as there were still leaves on them, since it was fall and all that, so with the ice...they didn't stand a chance), iced up roadways for public works departments who were basically not at all prepared (they usually get their snow work departments together around November 1st), and altogether ruined Halloween for everyone. Last year? We had another lovely surprise known as Hurricane Sandy, and wasn't she just a peach. We couldn't get out of town because of all the tree limbs down, we lost power for about 2 weeks, there were gas lines that stretched for miles, the supermarkets in the area all shut down because the food went bad for lack of refrigeration (how do these places not have generators???), and all in all it was super-fun. Since we couldn't get out of town because most of the roads in the area were closed, damaged, flooded, had bridges out, etc., we couldn't get up to NY state to get our camping supplies, which were in the cabin up there (on the plus side, in a real-life emergency bug-out scenario, we now know that we wouldn't be able to get to the cabin if we tried, but it's still an ok option because it's in the middle of nowhere). So we had some candles, some charcoal, a bunch of blankets, and thankfully the woodstove to keep us warm and toasty. Honestly, if we had city water instead of well water (again, without a back-up...we should know better), it would have been pretty nice for me.I liked the complete lack of background noise, but I would also have liked to take a shower (not in a public park) and flush the toilet and wash the dishes and all that.
But I keep thinking that I'm glad that that was last year, because if I was having a kid this year we wouldn't have even made it out of town to get to the hospital. I would have had a baby at home on the floor without clean water. And that would have been that. I know that people did it that way for centuries, but I would have been totally unprepared for a thing like that. A friend's neighbor went into labor during the blackout, but was able to get to the hospital because of where she lived (out further towards the edge of town, closer to the highways). We probably wouldn't be able to do that. Hubs tells me not to worry about it, but I have to admit that it is there, in the back of my mind.
Now, as of this moment, there are no real storms predicted for the next week or so. But even the past few years when there were, people didn't really take them seriously. I wonder if everyone is bracing themselves for the inevitable this year, or it's just business as usual.
I'm just hoping my kid gets her first real Halloween and can go trick-or-treating. She's 3. Think I'm kidding? Then take a look at this. Yeah, she was exactly 2 months old on her first Halloween, so while I got to enjoy all of her candy because babies can't have butterfingers, everyone know that, it was a hollow victory considering that Halloween would be cancelled the next few years. All I can do is hold out hope for this year, and pray that I don't go into labor before then!

Back to School Week Day 4

Day 4 Tip:  Take a few minutes today to reassess and possibly re-organize your routine. Now you know what the first few days have been like so take a minute to look at your individual situation. Is everything working out? Do you need to adjust wake-up times, nap times, meal times or bedtimes? Were you missing some important school supplies? Have your meals been good and easy enough? Have you been having trouble keeping everything together with the new schedule? See what needs adjusting, and give yourself a little time at the end of the week to do just that. This might sound like common sense, but once we create schedules, it's sometimes hard to admit when they aren't working like we think they should. Just simply tweaking them, instead of throwing the whole thing out the window, is usually all that they need.
Case in point: We have had to make some minor changes this week. Due to road construction, we had to take the longer way to Stenni's preschool, and that takes a few more minutes than we had bargained for, so we adjusted our departure time just a little bit. Also, she's a really slow eater...like 45 minutes for a bowl of cereal slow, and forget real food, that takes forever. So in the future we will try to get up a few minutes earlier so no one feels super-rushed, and stick with less elaborate breakfasts.

Sorry that this post didn't actually make it up in time for the real Day 4 of Back to School Week. I was not feeling great and kind of dilly-dallying during the day. Then due to a crazy heavy rainstorm, we kept losing power at the house on and off. And when the power did come back? Sorry, I was following the story on the news about the Seaside Park boardwalk burning to the ground. My family vacations there every year, about half a block from the boardwalk. The news crews were actually filming from the parking lot next to the house we rent. It's so devastating to think that it's really all gone. Everything that was saved from the storm last year is now completely wiped out, and that includes so many landmarks from my childhood, and now Stenni's as well. It won't ever be the same. 8-9 blocks of boardwalk, as well as what was left of the pier, are just gone, taking over 50 businesses with them. Like Kupper's Fries. Like Berkeley Sweet Shop. Like Park Seafood. And saddest of all, like the carousel that my parents took me on, that Hubs and I take Stenni on, and that she had already planned to take Cuatro on. So just keep the people from Seaside Park and Seaside Heights in your thoughts and prayers. They've been through so much, and this is just adding insult to injury.

It might be a terrible-quality picture, but it's the last one I'll ever get of Stenni (and her Papa) on that carousel on the boardwalk in Seaside, and I'm so glad that I have it.

A Literary Aside...

I know I promised to share my own summer reading list today, and I still will...probably tomorrow. But something more important has come to my attention.

Are you familiar with the work of Richard Matheson? You can say no, but you actually mean yes. Sadly for all sci-fi lovers, he passed away on Sunday at the age of 87. Matheson wrote several sci-fi short stories and books, and many of them were adapted for TV and film. He also wrote several well-known episodes of The Twilight Zone (like "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," you know, the one with William Shatner and the monster on the wing of the plane). You may be familiar with I Am Legend (which spawned the dismal Will Smith movie of the same name a few years ago, and a better adaptation called The Omega Man, starring Charleton Heston, in the 70's, with a truly creepy version starring Vincent Price called Last Man on Earth made in the 60's), of maybe Hell House, What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, or the short story "Duel" about a terrifying chase of a motorist by a tractor trailer that was made into a movie in the 70's. His short story "Button, Button" inspired the movie The Box, released a few years ago starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. His "Steel," about a boxer who chooses to battle robots himself while the audience is unaware, recently inspired the Hugh Jackman vehicle Real Steel, which I've got to admit I haven't seen (the Twilight Zone episode was good enough for me). He has inspired countless authors, screenwriters, and directors. We wouldn't have the zombie genre if he hadn't inspired George A. Romero, who wrote and directed the original Night of the Living Dead.
So when you think about it, we as a society wouldn't have nearly as many fears and phobias without the persistent creepiness of Matheson's tales for the past half a century plus. He was a wonderful storyteller and he will be missed, though I'm sure that his influence will continue to live on for generations.

You cannot tell me that this does not seem like an episode of the Twilight Zone

78,000 to live on Mars: Have you signed up?

Sooooo this article pretty much speaks for itself but apparently several thousand people have signed up to potentially be picked to colonize Mars (which I believe is probably a good thing, as Stephen Hawking recently advised colonization of other planets so we've got somewhere to go when we ruin ours, and like, he's pretty smart). But how have they actually signed up for this noble and important scientific project? Through a non-profit which plans to film a reality show about the trip. And only 4 people will make it. And they won't be able to come back. And seriously, they have to be in a reality show.

I'm sorry, but this all sounds like the set-up to an episode of The Twilight Zone to me. I always think that in the 1960s they imagined that so much more was possible, especially in regards to space travel, than we've actually been able to actually manifest. It's a shame. Big portions of money that could be spent on scientific experiments and space exploration are wasted on the stupidest things, and no one seems to understand that these were the things that used to make America great. We wanted more than we could ever see, or even imagine. Now where is that adventurous spirit? We're lucky that we've got rich wackos like Rickard Branson and that dude from N'Sync to carry it on, at least in part. And you know what they say (at least they said it on Mad Men this week), "everybody loves an astronaut." But not so much anymore, I suppose. People would rather de-fund NASA cut defense spending even a tiny bit (the US does spend more than the next dozen or so countries combined on this one thing, which is obviously important but come on.) Science fiction writers used to be on the forefront of actual science, because they could imagine things that were later found to be possible (despite the "fictional" origins of their ideas). Now I don't know if fewer people have the imagination to dream these things up, or perhaps we're just less ambitious? Maybe our priorities are just out of whack. 

I just feel like we should be so much further than this, have discovered so much more by now, but it's almost as if we don't even have the chance anymore without some gimmick attached (often, unfortunately, for funding purposes). I know that there are people who don't believe in science. I think it's crazy, but I know that they exist. Climate change deniers, people who think the Earth was made like 4000 years ago and that dinosaurs and man existed together, people who say that there is no life in space despite clear evidence to the contrary, these are all people who actually walk among us, who are given voice in our society. Do I think that they are detrimental to society as a whole? Oh, most definitely. But honestly, we can't silence them. They have rights. They have the right to ignore science and factual information. But without them, we as a country would be a whole lot further, and we maybe wouldn't have to do it with the spectre of reality TV as a source of funding for a significant scientific event. And I shudder to think how this show will end.