consequences

Hurricane Gustav really shook up Baton Rouge. In the days after things were pretty dang rough. There were trees and power lines down everywhere, all of the stores were out of everything, and a curfew was instated. I heard this is the hardest Baton Rouge has been hit in over 50 years. Yeah, things were pretty rough, but I think our boy wonder Governor Bobby Jindal did a great job. It really ticked me off when after the worst of the storm was gone, the news media (except the local of course) just about completely stopped covering it. Just because we did things right this time and nobody in New Orleans died, they don't care about it. As you know Hurricane Ike hit Texas pretty hard and they got coverage for a couple of weeks afterwards. Our governor told everyone, "If you are in an area that has a mandatory evacuation and you don't leave, we're not coming to rescue you afterwards." Galveston had a mandatory evacuation but about 100,000 people stayed and they are still being rescued, therefore they get all of the media attention. I'm not trying to hate on Texas or be insensitive to those who have to be rescued, but that just really irks me. It reminds me of repentance - you can repent up until that last minute before the end but once it comes you're out of luck, buddy. But I don't want to be one of those people who keeps on harping about the storm way after it's over. I don't regret one bit staying and I learned a lot and definitely became more appreciative of what I have.

Anyways of course the Church aided greatly in the clean-up efforts. The first Sunday after the storm we had Priesthood from other parts of Louisiana as well as Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. We asked (Erica and Brittany and me) if girls were allowed to help they said, "Sure!". So we went home and changed and then helped chop up a HUGE pecan tree across the street from the stake center. I got to work the chainsaw for a little bit because all of the other guys with us were missionaries and they weren't allowed to use it. That was fun. When we were about halfway done these four guys in a truck pulled up and asked if they could help - they had four chainsaws - and we had that sucker chopped up in no time. They were good Southern boys and had been driving around cutting up trees for pay. Apparently they weren't having much luck today since all the Mormons were out working for free so they stopped by and helped us out. And they were cute! Brittany and I 'rested' on the grass and enjoyed the show :). Afterwards we helped with filing and organizing stuff at the command center in the stake building. It felt weird to work on the Sabbath but it was such a testimony builder to me that first of all the church is so organized and then that so many people just want to help for nothing in return (like those frat guys....I should have given them a pass-along card with my number on it....). I love this picture that JJ took:

LSU started back up Monday the 8th, and we were informed that since we missed a week of classes our fall break would be cancelled and we would have classes on a few Saturdays. I don't care so much about missing fall break because I have to work that weekend anyways but I am not going to class on a Saturday. Fortunately all of my teachers feel the same way. :) The curfew of 10 pm stayed in place until Thursday the 11th. I usually don't get off of work until around midnight so I was a little worried about being pulled over. Sure enough, Wednesday night the cops stopped me. Three of them came up to the car and I showed them my work ID and said timidly, "I work for the state, I just got off." The one at the window was kind of taken aback and said, "You work for the Department of Adminstration?" in a surprised tone, because the DOA is kind of high up. I told him I was a student worker and he made me explain my job and then they let me go. Whew! I knew they couldn't give me a ticket or citation but I'd never been pulled over before so it was a little scary. Another result of the storm is that I have 'been on poverty' for the past few weeks. Because I missed work my paycheck was a lot smaller and because the power was out for five days I had to throw all my food in the fridge away. So, I don't if I should tell y'all this but oh well, I think it's kind of funny - Erica and I went and applied for food stamps last week. She was denied because she has too much money in her bank accounts, but I got a 'Diaster Assistance' card worth 162 bucks! I've never been one to support welfare but it was either this or asking Mom and Dad, which I've certainly done enough of. I can't wait to go shopping tomorrow, as I've been eating crackers and pop-tarts for the past few weeks. Well, I guess that about wraps up my hurricane story. Now I can move on with my life! Hope you enjoyed it.

finally!

After our midnight jaunt to the Red Stick (literal translation of Baton Rouge in case you didn't know), we all slept in pretty late Friday morning. We didn't eat breakfast until about noon! I made biscuits, Adam made bacon, Erica made eggs, and Ms. Cindy made grits, and we ate good! Erica and Adam and I finally finished the movie we had started a few days before, and then I did homework while they cleaned up outside. Poor Ms. Cindy's fridge broke (a day after she had just restocked it) so Erica and I went out hunting for ice. We were able to find some at Winn-Dixie, our second stop. The lines weren't too bad and there were National Guardsmen at the door. Fortunately the neighbors let Ms. Cindy put most of her stuff in their fridge so she was able to salvage everything. Erica and Adam and I played cribbage and then we had grilled hamburgers for supper. We finally got that blessed phone call from JJ telling us our power was back on for real this time. So we packed everything up and headed home. I spent the next few hours cleaning, doing laundry, vacuuming, scrubbing everything, and spraying air freshener all over the place. You have no idea how amazing it was to sleep in my own bed, with the fan going and the a/c on........ Here are the last of my 'video diary entries'. The first are two are when I was waiting for Adam and Erica to finish packing so we could go home and the last is a wrap-up.

false alarms

At one point while I was sleeping Thursday morning, I felt something scratching my feet. I remember thinking, "Why is Erica tickling my feet?". Later on I felt something crawl onto my shoulder and then jump off. When I woke up I realized Adam's devil cat Olivia had been biting my toes and using me as a launch pad whilst I slept on the kitchen floor. And people wonder why I hate cats. We decided to head to Erica's parents' in Destrehan to escape the heat so we packed up and hit the road. We had to bring Adam's other cat, Hercules, with us because Adam had to give him medicine twice a day. So of course I had to sit in the back of the car with 'Hurricane Herc' and pray that he wouldn't poop on me. I think this cat's mother ate crack when she was pregnant with him because he has some serious mental problems. He is deathly afraid of people, he's constantly twitching, and sometimes he's cross-eyed. Adam sure knows how to pick 'em! He is kinda cute though (he's a mix between a Siamese and a tabby).
Anyways we made it to Ms. Cindy's and we all took showers and then basked in the a/c. After supper we played card games and Blokus. After Mr. Rick went to bed we got a few calls from people who thought they had seen Pebbles so Ms. Cindy decided to drive up to Baton Rouge and look for her. At first she just wanted to go by herself but then she was kind of scared to so Erica said she would go, too. I was fine with staying there and watching a movie with Eli but Adam really wanted to go. They kept telling him no, because Pebbles wouldn't come to him anyways but he pulled the 'I'm a Marine, I can protect y'all' card so they conceded. Ms. Cindy told me that Mr. Rick would probably wake up around one and be really mad, and I was like, "Heck, I don't want to stay here, can I come with y'all, too?!" So I tagged along as well. Unfortunately, we looked for an hour and had no luck, so we headed back to D-han. While I was searching, I made a few more 'video diary entries'. Enjoy.

fliers and floors

Adam, Erica, and I spent Wednesday making 'Lost Cat' fliers and taping them up everywhere. Remember we still didn't have power so we had to write out each flier by hand. I don't care for cats and Pebbles has no significance to me but I helped out because I would hope that Erica would do the same for me. And then there was the minor detail that I had absolutely nothing else to do. In the afternoon we went to Adam's and played Mexican Train from 12 to 0. It took us about 3 hours to finish the game, but it was fun and the best part was that we moved his kitchen table and laid on the cold tile floor. Now that felt good! We got a few calls about Pebbles so we looked for her for a while around our complex. Turns out there are two or three other cats that look very similar to her so it was just a big waste of time. When dusk came and the mosquitoes started coming out I headed inside to our apartment, where I had the brilliant idea to start a 'video diary', like what they have on reality shows. I've decided to post a few of my entries for y'all's viewing pleasure. Keep in mind that I'm kind of being silly but for real at the same time.

When Erica and Adam finally gave up looking for the cat Erica helped me clean out the fridge and freezer. It was kind of depressing to fill up three garbage bags with food. It smelled a little funky so we wiped everything down and left the doors open before we headed to Adam's. We decided to sleep on his floor because it was much cooler than sleeping in our second story apartment. JJ had charged the laptops at a friend's so we put on a movie - 'The Brothers Grimm'. Right at the most crucial, exciting moment, the laptop completely died. It was so dead we couldn't even get the DVD out to put it in another computer and finish it - so that was kind of lame. Fortunately Adam found a battery operated mini-fan in his other roommates truck (who had evacuated with his girlfriend and neglected to tell us it was there) so with that and the cold tile floors, we almost slept comfortably, temperature-wise. Just in case you didn't know, sleeping on a tile floor is not very comfortable, comfort-wise, so oh well. You win some, you lose some.

aftermath pt. 2

The morning after Gustav hit Adam and JJ drove around town and took a few pictures. These first few are of our institute building that barely missed some serious damage....Beautiful Highland Dr. was just devastated. There were trees down across the road and tangled up in powerlines everywhere. These poor people parked their car in the wrong place.....Burbank and Nicholson had lots of flooding and downed power lines.Here's a view of the river close to where I work:
This is Adam's brother's store - Terrace Grocery. Since Adam and his family are from Palestine we call it Terrorist Grocery.....hehe.

the aftermath

The next morning we had bacon and eggs thanks to Adam and his grill and cast-iron skillet. A little bit after breakfast Ms. Cindy realized that one of her cats was missing.....and so began the search for Pebbles. I went out and helped call for her for a little while, but I knew she probably wouldn't come to me anyways so I went over to Tim's. He was on campus and had only lost power for about six hours. It was really weird driving over to campus. There were downed trees and powerlines everywhere and Gustav's rain bands were still hanging over us so it was pouring and the roads started flooding. It was nice to hang out in Tim's a/c for a while but eventually I was fuh-reezing! I checked my email and then we watched Charlie Chaplin's 'The Great Dictator'. I headed back home around 5 to find the apartment cleaned up and empty of inhabitants. Erica's parents found out that their house had power so Mr. Rick had headed home, Ms. Cindy was still out lookind for the cat, and everyone else had gone to Adam's to hang out. Eventually Ms. Cindy and Eli headed back to their home and the rest of us went to Adam's for dinner. His house was a lot cooler because it's only one floor and people hadn't been triapsing in and out for the past few days. We ate like kings for dinner! Adam cooked green beans, then dirty rice, then chicken wings and legs, and then a chicken stuffed with rice and crawfish on his grill. It felt really good outside so Adam and Erica and I brought some chairs out and ate in the middle of the street and looked at the stars. Brittany and JJ started up her car and ate in there, in the a/c. City folk! Erica and I headed back home for bed and Adam came to protect us. He slept on our living room floor with a knife at his side (he's an ex-Marine as well, so needless to say we felt pretty safe).

Here are a few pictures of our apartment complex Tuesday morning as well as a video of Eli's domino experiment:JJ is standing on our patio - notice the damage to the roof.These people's little privacy fence blew right over!Portions of the back fence blew away.This poor tree basically broke in half.Leaves and branches everywhere!
This poor little crape myrtle right below my room couldn't withstand the winds.

the real party begins....

Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, so the power went out around 11:30 am Monday. We spent the day watching the storm from our glass doors and playing lots of games. My favorite was Mexican Train, a dominoes game. I spent some time in my room talking on the phone and it was kind of freaky when I could feel the wall pushing against me because the wind was so strong. The wind and rain finally stopped around 5 or 6 and we walked around outside, surveying the damage. A lot of our shingles and siding came off and quite a few trees were down.We planned to have hot dogs for dinner and since the nice people downstairs already had their grill fired up, they cooked them for us. It was starting to get dark and hot so we lit all of our candles and opened our doors. Adam had brought his laptop (which still had some juice) so we turned on some jams. First we were listening to the classics, and the best part was when all eight of us were singing Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' at the top of our lungs (yes, I know every word to that song thanks to Ben - he gave me my first burned CD ever when I was like 13 and it was on there and I listened to over and over until I had it memorized). Then we decided to have a dance party out in the breezeway - I'm sure you can imagine how restless we were after being cooped up inside all day. It was so fun to *release our wiggles* and act a fool! Even Ms. Cindy joined in for a few songs! See if you can guess some of the songs we were dancing to.....We danced until the computer battery died, and by then we were all pretty worn out, too. It was so HOT!!! But fortunately I was so tired I fell right asleep and got in a full eight hours.

curses and blessings

It's been a week.......and nothing......sorry guys!! I don't know when I'll ever finish my hurricane story, it's quite a tale. The main problem is that I'm a perfectionist and if I don't do it just right I don't want to do it at all.....so I'll try my best folks! Anyways I have been really busy and my internet has been messed up at home. I had to come in to work every night this week because the other girl got in a car accident (fortunately nothing's broken, she's just really bruised up). And I was supposed to have a test tomorrow but it was postponed because my teacher's husband was bucked off a filly he was trying to break and he separated his pelvis and he has to have surgery tomorrow morning. So I have really benefitted from the mishaps of others this week....strange. I am really truly honestly LOVING all of my classes so life is pretty good, just a little stressful sometimes. And I am really hungry because *we've got no food, we've got no jobs, our pets' heads are falling off*.......no really I have been living off of Froot Loops, cheese crackers, popcorn, poptarts, and toaster strudels this past week. Yikes!

Anyways, tomorrow is almost here and that makes me very happy! I get to see half of my family, including Danny, who I don't think I've seen since December 2005 if I remember correctly. AND I get to eat some real food!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to eat Momma's home cookin' and some Shipley's donuts. I'll try to post for reals soon!

where were you when the world stopped turning?

So today is September 11th. I'm sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard what happened. I was in my eighth-grade English class and Dr. Moore asked our teacher, Mrs. Smith, to go out into the hall with him. When she came back into our classroom, she was bawling and we could barely understand what she was saying. She told us that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center, and we all just kind of looked at her like, "And...?". I don't think any of us even knew what the WTC was. In our next class, Pre-Algebra (ha - yeah right), our teacher turned on CNN and we just watched that for the whole period. I don't think any of us really understood the gravity of what happened, and we were just glad to not have class (like we ever really did!). I'm kind of ashamed to admit this now, but I remember they kept showing the front of a hospital and there was an older overweight shirtless gentleman sitting in a wheelchair and me and my friends thought that was really funny. We were immature and self-centered middle-schoolers, so I guess that can count for some kind of excuse. I didn't really start to understand the seriousness until that evening, when I found out that the grandma of one of my classmates had seen what happened on the news and committed suicide because she thought the world was going to end. So that upset me because it hit a little closer to home and I started to think about all the people who had lost their loved ones. The surge of patriotism afterwards was commendable, but it's died down considerably since and I think it's sad that it takes a terrorist attack or something crazy like that to make people appreciate all of the blessings we have as citizens of the United States. It also makes me sad that September 11th gets less and less recognition every year, but I guess it is important to move on. But we shouldn't forget this tragic event, the "Pearl Harbor" of our generation.

In remembrance, I decided to donate blood today. I was kind of excited because they gave me a medium shirt that looks normal, because they usually give you an XL with some ugly design on it. Anyways I'm not trying to sound like a redneck (although I personally don't think there's anything wrong with being one) but I am proud to be an American. I found a video for one of my favorite songs ever for your viewing pleasure - "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?" by Alan Jackson. You might want a Kleenex nearby......

pre-party

The hurricane pre-party officially began on Sunday (8/31) afternoon. Loren and Jiffy had gone home to Natchitoches and Erica's mom (Ms. Cindy), stepdad (Mr. Rick), and little brother (Eli, age 13) 'evacuated' from Destrehan, a suburb of New Orleans, to our apartment. They brought their two cats, Pebbles and Bam-Bam (pictured below), as well. I've never been a fan of cats so I kept my bedroom door shut at all times to keep them out. But somehow, I would go in my room and hear Pebbles meowing from under my bed - what the heck! So I would throw her out and she would sit at my door for ten minutes meowing. Talk about annoying!Anyways we had a big supper thanks to Ms. Cindy and we were joined by Adam, his roommate JJ, and Brittany, JJ's girlfriend. I tried to teach everyone how to play Mao, but Adam thought it was funny to continually break some of the main rules and it just got really frustrating so we quit. Then Erica taught us how to play Mexican Train, a dominoes game, which was really fun. We were all pretty goofy by then so we started watching 'Spaceballs', quite possibly the most retarded movie ever made. I think we all fell asleep about halfway through. I was the first one up at about 8 the next morning. Right after I finished cooking some breakfast our power went out and everyone else got up. I felt kind of bad that I was the only one with hot breakfast, but oh well, the early bird gets the worm. Fortunately the power came back on about an hour later, so we started playing Guitar Hero. If you've lived under a rock for the past couple of years, Guitar Hero is a video game where you play rock songs on a guitar hooked up to your gaming console. You hold down the colored keys on the neck while you strum whatever notes the game tells you to. This is probably the only video game I have ever really liked. You can play by yourself or if you have two guitars (Eli does) you can duel each other and see who gets the most points. My favorite songs to play are Guns'N'Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" and Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son".Pictured above is the guitar you use for the game, JJ and Eli finishing up a song, and my idea of 'stocking up' for the storm - all of my favorite snacks! Anyways, it started storming outside and then the power went out again around 11:30 am....and the real party began......

the great gustav adventure begins....

When I first learned about Hurricane Gustav and that it was headed my way, I must admit I was kind of excited (no, I'm not crazy, just hear me out!). My Labor Day weekend could be extended, we could have a hurricane party, our awesome governor Bobby Jindal would have the chance to redeem our state after the total mess that happened with Katrina three years ago (I can't believe it's been that long!), and I could have bragging rights if I survived. The only thing I wasn't excited about was the fact that the game was moved up to 10 am. Anyways, I decided to stay in Baton Rouge and prove my courage and hardiness as a 'true Louisianian' instead of making the normally 3 but now 8 hour drive home to Natchitoches. I don't know why I felt like I had something to prove, but I just did. Now that it's been a week since Gus initially hit, my views have changed a little bit, but I honestly don't regret the experience one bit. My 'extended Labor Day weekend' turned into a hot and sweaty week-long test of faith, friendship, patience, and ingenuity. Stay tuned for a detailed account, pictures, and videos of my past week.........

Here is cool picture I found of our planet this past week. Tropical Storm Josephine is near the African coast, Hurricane Ike is in the mid-Atlantic, Tropical Storm Hanna is approaching the eastern coast of North America and the remains of Hurricane Gustav are scattering over Arkansas. Stay away IKE!

dehydrated in death valley

Going back to school at LSU also means going back to Death Valley for football games! It's been about eight months since I'd seen our Tigers play, when they beat the poop out of the Ohio State Buckeyes for the National Championship game at the SuperDome in New Orleans (yes, I was at the game, and yes, it was amazing!). So of course I was excited to see my boys play the no-name Appalachian St. for the season opener (I know now that they have been Division I FCS (I-AA) champs for the past three years, but come on, that's just double the letters with half of the talent!). I wasn't too excited, however, when they decided to move the kickoff time to 10 am because of stinkin Hurricane Gustav, especially because I didn't get off of work until 2 am Saturday morning and we had to get to the stadium by 8 am to get our seats. Even though it was hot as Hades it felt great to be back in Tiger Stadium! The best part about being at a Tigers' football game is all of the songs and traditions. My favorite is probably when they bring in Mike and pull him around the stadium in a cage and then park him right in front of where the opposing team runs in. They weren't able to do this last year because we had just got Mike VI and they had to make sure he was a keeper and get him used to everything and all that jazz. So it was cool to see him at his first game. This game was also particularly special because they were able to add a third national championship flag (1958, 2003, and now 2007) at the north end of the stadium. They had some difficulties untangling the 2007 so they were a little behind schedule. While we were waiting, there was this huge loud rushing sound that scared me so bad my heart jumped up into my throat! I thought we were being attacked by terrorists! Fortunately I looked up in time to see two fighter jets zooming past. Apparently they were supposed to fly over after the 2007 flag had been raised but since it was all tangled and took longer than expected they missed their mark. Oh well, they were successful in scaring the crap out of everyone! So the game finally started and it was cool to see Andrew Hatch as our starting quarterback. He is Mormon and is a member of our singles' ward. Our offensive coordinator and new quarterback coach are members as well. If only we could convert Les Miles! Anyways he did a pretty good job from what I saw but he is no Matt Mauck or Matt Flynn (our previous quarterbacks who have led us to national championships) and he has a lot to learn. Well by the end of the first quarter it was getting HOT. I had bought a bottle of water and some frozen lemonade, but they didn't really help in cooling me down. Usually everyone stands up during the game, but I was really tired a) from so little sleep and b) from the heat that I had to sit down. Some guys asked me if I was okay and I said I was fine and I just needed to sit down for a little bit. One of them left and I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes later he came back with an EMT and they made me go to the first aid station, even though I didn't want to go and I kept telling them I was fine. So they take me into this little room full of EMTs and sick people. At least they had a fan going. They gave me some water and I just sat and watched the game on the little TV they had. To my right, a girl was shaking and vomiting into a trash can and to my left another girl was so pale and weak she could not hold herself up. Then across from me was a girl who kept falling asleep and falling over, but I'm pretty sure she was suffering from a bout of drunkenness, not heatstroke. So surrounded by all of this nastiness I knew I wasn't that bad off, but they wouldn't let me leave for like twenty minutes. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, because it was very nice to get free water and sit by a fan, but just being in there made me feel even worse because it was so dag-um gross! Needless to say, Adam and Erica and I decided to leave after the third quarter ended, because there was NO way we were going to lose this one. The final score was 41-13 - whoopty do da. So unfortunately it wasn't really the best experience but I still love me some LSU Tigers football! Below is a picture of the Tiger Girls: Jamie, me, Erica, and Lisa and then the other one is Adam....the heat was really getting to everyone. And the videos are not very exciting and kind of loud, but little Matthew might enjoy them.