Life news this week:
- Saturday Jeaux and I woke up in our New York hotel room and had our breakfast out on the terrace. We wandered around at bookstores and I happened to check the weather page on my phone and we found out that there was a storm approaching Florida, forecast to be a Category 2 hurricane named Milton. We got a little anxious about it and went down the street to eat pizza and talk about what we were planning to do to prepare when we got back to Florida. We decided the storm looked too dangerous to stay--Jeaux lives in a flood evacuation zone so would be definitely facing evacuation, and I live under really big trees that I don't trust during hurricanes above Category 1. We decided we'd plan to evacuate when we got home. And then we changed into nice clothes and went out to see the early showing of the Broadway musical Six, which we super enjoyed! We then went back to the hotel, changed again, and ventured out to a place called Swingers for mini golf and food. Unfortunately it was much more geared toward drinking than we really wanted, so we decided it was something worth trying once but that we didn't love it.
- Sunday we ate breakfast on the terrace again and then I spent some time catching up at work. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History and had a great time looking at dinosaurs and birds and human history. We took a break halfway through to eat some good Asian food (so we wouldn't have to pay museum cafeteria prices) and went back to look at more stuff. Friends were beginning to text me asking what my hurricane plans were. We had decided by that point that we would evacuate to somewhere in Georgia. After our museum visit, we went back to the hotel and got ready for our reservation at the Peak restaurant (with included observation deck visit). Our food there was not as good as the last time we went but it was still worth doing, and we enjoyed the Edge. Then we bought some less expensive dessert on our way back to the hotel at a trendy sweets shop. We got our bags packed for the morning and went to sleep.
- Monday we grabbed very early breakfast and didn't eat it on the terrace because it's cold out there before 7 in the morning. We got to the airport super early and had lots of time to kill! I got some work done. Then I slept on the plane most of the time. Jeaux and I parted ways at the airport and I got a cab back to my place. I immediately (and I mean immediately, didn't even stop for a drink) began hurricane preparation. I spent an hour bringing all my outdoor stuff inside my garage and plants into my back room. Then finally I got some lunch and began doing laundry, unpacking, and re-packing my stuff to leave the state. I communicated with my friend Yasmin about the storm and they were not going to leave the area but they were in a mandatory evacuation zone so I told them they could use my house as backup even though I myself did not want to stay. They came over and got a key from me in case they couldn't go with their first choice of place to ride out the storm, which made them feel better I hope! I did some packing and sending a Polo to Meghan. The path of the hurricane and its strength kept getting scarier looking. Some were estimating it could be a Category 4 hitting Tampa dead on. I tried to get some sleep but was planning to leave at 1 AM with Jeaux to drive to Georgia so I didn't get much success with that.
- Barely Tuesday, 1 AM, Jeaux came over and we loaded up the car. We left in his lovely car (which is named Toothpaste). We initially just drove for hours until we crossed the state line at 6 AM and ended up in Valdosta at an IHOP. The restaurant was short-staffed and overwhelmed with people trickling in evacuating. I had a very short nap in the booth. (I did not want to sleep in the car because if Jeaux had to be awake, so did I.) Jeaux did some research while in the restaurant trying to find the best place to get a hotel, but we had to go pretty far away to find anyone with any availability and they were saying the closest open hotel was 3 hours away. We booked it anyway and ended up in Columbus, Georgia. Jeaux thought we'd be able to check in but I thought we'd have to wait for the usual check-in time, and I was right--we couldn't check in until 3 PM and here we were around noon. So we holed up in a library and I tried to sleep there and that also didn't work very well. We finally got to get into our hotel (but there was a huge pile-up at the counter because of some check-in issue by the person at the front of the line and technical difficulties), and I took a shower and hit the lovely, lovely bed. We really liked our hotel room! It was actually better than the one we had in New York. Which was good because we'd be living in it for a few days. After our nap, we went out wandering, found a Taco Bell and ordered food, and brought it back to our room to eat while watching Colbert. I usually don't go to Taco Bell because out of the three times I've gone there, they've given me meat instead of bean burritos two of the three times. This was my fourth time. They gave me meat again. Jeaux got to have an extra burrito because of that. Sigh. We also got some staple food at Walgreens to just keep in the room. I do like peanut butter sandwiches.
- Wednesday I did a great job sleeping in. We were a little late to the continental breakfast so we had to eat in a crowded dining room but that was okay. After we got back to the room and started working from the hotel room, I checked my interior cameras I left on in my house and was surprised to see my friends walking into my house! (They had not told me they would be using my house for a backup after all.) So I texted them like "hey guys!" and told them about the camera, which had been set up to help me determine whether there was any damage while I was gone. They finally got back to me and updated me on their situation. Yasmin and Arthur and their cat would be staying there for the storm. Through the day Jeaux and I ate sandwiches and took walks and stuff. We watched hurricane news. It was pouring rain in Tampa. Power finally went out there at my house at 8:40 PM, leaving my friends in the dark and confirming I would lose all the food in my fridge and freezer. Sigh. Jeaux and I went out for sushi and came back. Jeaux wanted to go to bed early in case we might be able to start driving back at like 1 AM again. I was pretty sure that wasn't going to work because, like, the hurricane was actively beating the shit out of our city right then. But he believed it would be over fast and we wanted to beat the rush. It did not work out that way; when we woke up and Jeaux was still thinking leaving for Florida would be a good idea, I talked him out of it because the hurricane was still literally over my house until like 3 AM and we didn't know what the flooding and downed trees would be like. We decided to extend our stay another day and Jeaux took care of it. I know he was disappointed but that was safest in my opinion. I went back to sleep.
- Thursday I took a fast shower and we went down to breakfast. We both went to work (I worked a lot actually) and Jeaux took one of his walks without me because I was so busy. I got sparse updates from my friends who were still kinda trapped at my house with no power because of impassable roads. After work we walked to a bowl place and got bowls. Yum! Then we decided we had enough proof that there wasn't too much flooding in his area and his power was on. (My area had tons of downed trees and flooding and no power.) I bought a book light so I could draw my damn comic in the car on the ridiculous ride back. I got it done in under two hours. Go me. We stopped at the same IHOP in Valdosta! Then ended up at Jeaux's house and there was a lot of tree damage and crap but it was safe. He got me up to his place and we went to bed at about 5 AM.
- Friday there was still no power at my house and my friends were still squatting there. They did some cleanup on my yard which was very nice of them! Jeaux and I went to the grocery store to get me some staple food and instant coffee. Then we both went to work. Later we took a walk to a copy shop and I got them to scan my art so I could do my comic. I was not able to see the scan because there was no screen, so I was disappointed when I got back to Jeaux's that the scanning had been crooked and some of my art just wasn't even picked up by the scan. Had to make do with that and templates that didn't render right on my laptop, but guess what, I still got my webcomic up even while displaced by the hurricane. Took a shower, did laundry, ate a sandwich. Went to bed early and my friends were still squatting at my house with no water and no power. Apparently the mayor showed up on the golf course across the street and started giving away food. Hoping I'm not stuck at Jeaux's apartment too much longer, but that's where things stand.
Health Plan Update:
- Weight stuff: I didn't take any readings while on vacation and haven't been able to visit the scale while marooned after the hurricane, so I have one reading from when I was home super briefly and that will constitute my high and my low: 114.9.
- Nutrition stuff: What's really weird is how I'm managing to still get fruits and veggies in while traveling--it isn't as hard as I thought! It's only more difficult if you stick to really traditional restaurants. I was able to get a decent nutritional balance some of the week, but eating in restaurants does seem to lead to a lot of higher fat meals. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
- Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,561 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 22,890 steps.
- Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
- Currently Reading: This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis. I'm on page 112.
New singing performances:
No opportunities to record a song this week.
My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:
#1013: adele #249: blending in.
Videos Made:
None.
New photos:
Social media counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,456 for swankivy (1 new), 678 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 65 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 833 for swankivy (no change), 3,903 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 295 friends for swankivy (lost 1, no idea who), 640 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 253 followers for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (lost 1). Tumblr followers: 2,431 (no change). Instagram followers: 277 (no change). Threads followers: 74 (lost 1).
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