divine angst

I totally just realized that I have only 20 days of work left. (Not 20 days till I quit, but 20 days in the office. 20 working days.)

Now, this may seem like a large amount compared to Stag, who has only five days of work left, but I think she starts school before I do, so that makes sense. And I know CM has only fifteen days left, but she’s taking all of August off.

Basically, my point is that this is VERY EXCITING. And everyone should be excited with me and for me.

Oh, and they’ve hired my replacement. She was hired here at the same time I was but left after a few months because she wanted to freelance. She’s coming back, though. We’ll have a week of overlap and then I’m OUTIE.

Update: Gah! My boss just told me he wants me to finish three projects before I go. I was counting on only two. I guess I have to lay off the slacking off.

As always, brought to you by Fitz-Hume and Milbarge.

1. Tropical Storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis are causing trouble in the Southeast this week. Share a natural disaster story.

I grew up on the Gulf Coast, but my hometown hasn’t had a significant hurricane in over 20 years. Still, we always evacuated. I remember the year we took off for my aunt and uncle’s house, seven hours away, and my grandfather bitched about having to leave. For a while, we thought he’d just refuse to get in the car. He insisted he’d be fine just moving his armchair into his bedroom closet. At any rate, we left, had a lovely weekend away, and when the hurricane didn’t actually hit our town, we drove back—through county after county under tornado warnings (result of the hurricane, of course).

There was also the summer I was a camp counselor and it started to rain the day before the end of the session. It rained for 48 hours straight, and I don’t mean drizzle. When we got up on that last morning, when the kids were all supposed to go home, we could see the river from the dining hall. (The riverbank was a good 50 yards from the dining hall and the water level was usually 20 feet below the edge of the bank. That morning, though, the water was right up on ground level.) On the other side of the river…oh, who am I kidding? We couldn’t see the other side of the river for the LAKE that had appeared overnight.

So we had kids who didn’t get home till somewhat late that night because their parents couldn’t get to them because of numerous low water crossings. We had some parents who got as far as the nearby town and got stuck at the last low water crossing before camp. Luckily, one dad had his ENORMOUS truck that was more than capable of making that crossing, so, for a few hours, he ferried kids over to their folks.

2. What is your favorite work of art?

The work that is probably most moving for me is Guernica. I don’t know if that makes it a favorite or not.

3. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube from the middle or the bottom?

From the top when it’s full, the middle when it’s less full, and the bottom when it’s getting empty.

4. What is your favorite “cult” film?

I HATE these “favorites” questions because when you ask, I can’t think of any. Besides, what counts as a cult film? (Besides Evil Dead, but that’s not a favorite of mine. I mean, it’s OK, but not something I want to watch every month or so.) So my answer is I don’t know.

5. Would you go into space if given the chance? Where would you go?

Eh. Maybe. I think I’d probably like to just orbit. If I went into space it would be for the perspective rather than the adventure of it. If we could ever get humans out to where we could look at nebulae and the like, I’d enjoy that.

The heat finally broke last night, right about when I was throwing Mr. Angst in Aikido class (and there’s a satisfaction in that, what with me being MY size and him being HIS size). We could hear the rain pelting the roof and see the lightning through the glass door. By the time we walked out of class, sweaty and tired, the temperature had dropped a good 15 degrees and the streets were shiny.

The air this morning retained just a touch of the coolness of last night’s thunderstorms, enough to make my drive a little more bearable. And even though I know we are only at the beginning (or, at least, the beginning of the middle) of the long stretch of heat-ridden weeks, somehow this little pause from 100-plus-degree temperatures makes July a little more enjoyable.