On May 4th, 2003, the sky shot from gray and blah to green and eerie in a matter of minutes (that kind of change you only see in the Midwest.) My mom was at work; Will, Dad, and I had just been lying around the house, being lazy. We knew we were under a tornado watch, as we had been for the past few days. Once we noticed the sudden change in the sky, we headed down to our walkout basement (the storm shelter was in the back, away from the backyard/walkout part.) My dad flipped on the TV, as that’s always been his main method of news-gathering… at least, ever since TVs became popular and we stopped relying on the weather radio with the creepy jazz music. (Sometime after our entire basement flooded up to the first floor in 1998, WHILE WE WERE UNDER A TORNADO WARNING. Yeah, we had to choose between drowning and being sucked up by a tornado.) So, my dad, being my dad, has the TV on SO FUCKING LOUD that Will and I can barely hear ourselves talk. We’re still in the walkout part of the basement at this point, right next to the floor-to-ceiling windows, because it’s just a watch, not a warning. I’m still staring at the sky thinking… hmm… here’s the wind… here’s the hail… here’s the rain… uhhh… a tornado is going to appear any minute… and all the sudden, I think, hmm… I hear the faint shrill of the tornado sirens.

So, I’m like, “DAD, TURN THE TV DOWN, THE TORNADO SIRENS ARE GOING OFF!” And he’s like, “nah, they are not, it would be on the news if we were now in a warning, and besides, there’s one right next to us… it’s loud.” And once again, I’m like, “DAD, JUST LOOK OUTSIDE. THEY’RE GOING OFF. AND YOU HAVE THE TV UP SO LOUD YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO HEAR IT ANYWAY.” And he STILL doesn’t believe me, at least not until the newscasters and meteorologists say, “alright, we’re going off-air and into shelter, there’s a tornado right next to us.” At which point, my dad JUMPS up, and starts FREAKING out, and is like, “RUN GUYS OMG RUN WE HAVE TO GET INTO THE STORM SHELTER OMG THE TORNADO IS COMING OMG!” like this is the first tornado warning he’s ever been in. Me being the caring, unselfish one, goes, “WAIT, we have to go get the cats so they don’t get sucked up and thrown around and die!” My dad is like, “YOU GO, YOU GO GET THE CATS! THE TORNADO IS COMING! YOU AND WILL GO FIND ALL FOUR OF THEM AND BRING THEM DOWN! GO!”

Hahahaha. We found the cats and didn’t die. In fact, contrary to my memory, apparently the May 4th tornado warning wasn’t even the one that spawned the tornado that destroyed part of Lawrence… it was the May 8th one that did. Both our junior high and the montessori school got ripped apart (for the third time in like, three years… someone hates education!), as well as some houses and the apartment complex that seems to be a magnet for natural disasters. (It’s been hit a few times by tornadoes as well as burned down by being struck by lightning.) I don’t remember the May 8th one being that big of a deal, even though it should’ve been since that one got closer to our house than the May 4th one… I only for certain remember the May 4th one because of my dad missing the sirens and almost killing us and because May 4th, 2003 was my friend’s 12th birthday.

Here’s some snazzy pictures from our newspaper from the May 8th tornado…

(the tornado about to touch down next to our junior high)

(the magnet apartments, plus some homes)

(our governor at the time, now US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, in front of the apartment complex)

Prayers to the Tennesseans as they battle this flooding. We’re lucky in that most of our flooding only affects downtown Lawrence (where our old house in 1998 was) and don’t have to worry too much about the majority of our businesses having to shut down for months on end. Kansans are pros at dealing with tornadoes and all the cleaning up after… but I doubt dealing with being underwater was on anyone’s radar in Tennessee.

I’m SO RELIEVED. Obviously, I had no idea the depression was this bad; otherwise, I would have gotten help long, long ago. Apparently, it’s kind of amazing I’ve survived without serious acts of rebellion or an eating disorder or something. I haven’t had a stable life, what with moving and switching schools and parents being AWOL and all. I focused on music, skating, volunteering, working, etc to keep from going crazy. And it worked- but I still had these cycles of unhappiness to depression and back and forth. I used to be able to pull myself out of the depression part alone, now though I guess my neurotransmitters are whacked out (hence the Zoloft.)

Life is looking up. I hope to pull my grades back up this semester; it’ll take a lot of work to actually fix my GPA, but that’s not my huge concern. I just want to get the grades I know I’m capable of getting and prove something to myself. I also opened a second savings account at the bank last month to begin my moving fund. The current plan is to leave in August for coastal North Carolina, where I’ll probably get a job and finish another semester or two at community college to build my GPA back up. After that… well, I’ll have to transfer to a 4-year university, and I haven’t really decided where; there aren’t any within a 2 hour radius of where I hope to live. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Till then, here’s to keep on keeping on… hopefully happily.

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I password-protected a post I wrote about two weeks ago. There are no juicy secrets in it, sorry, I just don’t want that information about me available to the general public. Future protected posts will more than likely be coming, and the password will be the same for all. If you want the password, comment on this post or send me an email.

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The House passed the healthcare reform bill tonight. Remember when I wrote this, about my friend who freaks the fuck out at anyone who could be remotely liberal? Yeah, guess who wrote a Facebook status almost immediately, sparking debate (not bad) and namecalling (bad.) WHICH PISSES ME OFF ALL OVER AGAIN. Shit, I don’t care if you hate the bill. Honestly, I’m not quite fond of it myself. But to write “FOR ALL YOU IGNORANT LIBERALS….I’M SURE THIS IS ALL GEORGE BUSH’S FAULT.”? Really? Do you really need the “for all you ignorant liberals” part? As I recall, there were plenty of conservatives blaming Bush 24/7. So shut the fuck up. *P.S. Just for you, one-who-wrote-Facebook-status, I’m not-so-secretly glad that someone poked a hole in your credibility and commended a liberal for taking the high road. HA!*

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To the surprise of no one, I’m pretty sure I’m failing approximately half my classes.

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My mom hit a deer last week, driving my dad’s car. We took it to the dealer, along with my car (scheduled maintenance), to make sure nothing was technically wrong with it and to order new parts. The service technician propped the hood open to check the engine, stuck his hand in there, and pulled out… OUR HOUSE PHONE. From the engine. All my mom said was, “THAT’S where that went!”

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I bought a new LCD HDTV. It is gorgeous and the most grown-up thing I have ever bought myself. I’ll be living off Ramen and water for the next thirty years, but who cares? I HAVE A FUCKING SWEET TV! Also on the home-y note, I’m painting my rooms dark blue and dark green, a definite upgrade from the current dingy, contractor-painted colors.

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Get ready for tomorrow… where I detail everything that I’ve been feeling toward MFH for the past, oh, ever! (Oh, and in case anyone noticed, I didn’t do a first of the month post for November. Because absolutely nothing is happening in November.)

I’ve decided that from now on, I’m celebrating each year with my cousins. Normally our birthdays in my immediate family are so blah and eh whatever, but with all the kids it’s like YIPPIE YEAHHHH!!!

Before everyone asks… my main present was a new iPhone (upgrading my 3G 8gig to 3GS 32gig… which I have yet to get since everywhere is sold out), and then my dad is buying yet another MacBook so I get his other newest silver one. I love my poor old white baby MacBook, but the processor is soooo slow and I ran out of memory a long time ago.

My momma bought me some real black opal earrings, and my cousins gave me a picture frame with all of them together in it to put in my apartment. =)

Nothing else has been happening in my life that’s remotely interesting that I can publicly blog about.

Eliesa’s friend has a Siamese cat who was having kittens. Loving Siamese cats and being lonely when I take my pets home for the weekend, Eliesa had planned on taking one of the kittens if the cat gave birth to a Siamese one. Well, apparently they all took after their dad, so Eliesa headed down to one of our local animal shelters while I was at the rink to find the perfect kitten.

I got a call pretty soon after I got off the ice that day:
Eliesa: “Sooo… I’m at Animal Haven…”
Me: “Yeah…”
Eliesa: “Weeelll, how would you feel if I got a husky?”
*note my shock here*
Me: “A husky? As in the DOG BREED husky??”
Eliesa: “Ya, I totally just fell in love with her.”
Me: “A husky, a puppy and a cat in an 800 square foot apartment. LET’S DO IT.”

The shelter knew I had Arabella, and they wanted to see how she reacted with the husky (whose name I can’t remember now.) Right off the bat, the husky’s prey drive went NUTS. Arabella only weighs three pounds, so that’s understandable- but we obviously couldn’t adopt her when we have both Arabella and Trixie.

Eliesa and I (and Arabella) went through the shelter looking for a new dog, since Eliesa had basically decided at this point that she wanted a dog that she could take running. One of the adoption counselors pointed us to a dog named… Esme. That was the name they had given her. She’s a black lab mix, about a year of age. The only thing she wanted to do to Arabella was to play with her. No issues there, so Eliesa filled out some paperwork and brought her home.

Oh yeah, and renamed her Breckyn.

I used to watch the sky before I finally fell asleep each night. At least once a week I’d see a shooting star, which is totally cool given that people complain all the time about never having seen a shooting star. But this meteor shower? Those meteors left big, long streaks of light after them.

It was tight.

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Will officially started high school yesterday. He says it’s just school, lame, sucks, whatever (that scarily sounds like me), but he’s finding the fact that he can leave campus for lunch quite liberating. They only have 25 minutes for lunch, and the only places near the school are fast food, so I’m fully expecting him to gain 24,290 pounds by the end of the year.

Anyway, I’m the one that gets to pick him up after school until my mother hires someone else to, and the two times I’ve gone remind me just how much I loathed seeing that school every day. I can’t believe kids deal with that for three years. Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like if I had stayed, and then these haha-yeah-right moments come along where I laugh at myself for even contemplating that possibility. I really am happy with the choice I made.

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My two best friends moved into the dorms today, a full two days ahead of the normal incoming freshmen due to rush. I haven’t seen either; I figure they need time to settle and get adjusted. I feel weird that I’m not sharing this time with them, not getting used to freedom and flexibility and living on your own (well, with another person), since I already went through all that.

However, I am ECSTATIC that my (term used loosely) graduating class is finally in college. And I could not be happier that both Len and Erin decided on KU, even if it will take some adjusting to have all three of us together permanently again.

I snap Google’d emergency vets in the Louisville area, and we rushed her to the only one open seven days a week, 365 days a year. They immediately took her, put in an IV catheter, took bloodwork, and set her up in a heated cage as her body temperature was low. The bloodwork was relatively fine, blood sugar a little high, electrolytes a little low, but in general, no cause for concern. The vet then ran an antifreeze test, given that we’ve been traveling, and that was negative.

Although I don’t see how this is possible, the vet believes she has toxin(s) in her body. Maybe she snatched up a pill someone left behind in our hotel room?? We really don’t know.

Bella is now residing in the ICU unit at the ER vet in Louisville for at least the next 24 hours. I have no idea when my mom and I will get home. We may be able to leave later tomorrow afternoon, but there’s a chance we’ll be here for the next day or two.

Please keep her in your thoughts. Arabella turns six months old tomorrow, whilst in the hospital.

I can hardly believe you turn fifteen years old today.

I have fleeting memories of your birth. I was six weeks shy of turning four years old. Mom and Dad left me at Nana & Pop-Pop’s off Lawrence Avenue with Aunt RoRo, who french-braided my hair before taking me to the hospital to see you. I got to sit on the bed next to Mom and hold you. I was so excited to be your big sister.

For years, you were my constant companion and partner-in-crime.
When we lived in England in 1996, I got angry with Mom and decided to run away. Obviously I couldn’t leave you with The Enemy, so I took you with me. We ran away to our backyard. Mom laughed and took pictures.
You made fun of the annoying kids in daycare with me and had my back when I fought (both verbally and physically) with them.
We ‘spied’ on Mom and Dad when we lived in Topeka by sneaking out to the living room, where we watched Mom read and Dad type on his laptop. Sometimes I miss that, the thrill of getting yelled at and then trying to smother our giggles when we got back into our room.
Neither of us wanted to move to Virginia. After two years, you were okay with staying there, but you didn’t put up a fight when I lobbied for coming back to Kansas.

I taught you manners and how to chew with your mouth closed. I taught you how to ride a bike. I taught you how to deal with switching schools. I taught you to argue for what you believe in, and how to keep fighting, no matter what.

You start high school, tenth grade, in two weeks. Guess who gets to teach you how to drive!

I have many pseudo-brothers and pseudo-sisters who I’m sincerely concerned for as they enter high school, but I’m not worried about you. You have a good head on your shoulders, and I know you aren’t going to be one of the trashy high school students walking around town. Yeah, you’ll make mistakes. You’re smart, though, and you’re going to be fine.

I love you, baby bro.

-Your Sister

Lawrence KS, Halloween 1995

Cambridge England, 1996… running away

Cambridge England, 1996

Cambridge England, December 1996

Maine??, 1998

Disney World… the first year they started doing Leave a Legacys, 1999

France, summer 2004

Williamsburg VA, 2005

Lawrence KS, Christmas 2005, with Jack the Dog

Sugarloaf ME, February 2006

Disney World, Spring Break 2006, with Brigid

Princeton NJ, October 2006, with Mom

Faribault MN, January 2007

Emerald Isle NC, Spring Break 2007

San Francisco CA, October 2007

Dulles Airport-Washington DC, April 2008

Lawrence KS, Thanksgiving 2008

Lawrence KS, May 2009, with cousin Logan

Old Orchard Beach ME, June 2009, with cousin Jason

and the family portrait…

(Princeton NJ, October 2006)