It's 3 am, I must be lonely

In a little over two hours, we're going to hit the road. Theoretically I should be sleeping, because what's normally a 3-hour drive is going to take at least twice as long, if not longer, but I can't sleep. I know the drive is going to be tense and difficult, especially given the record temperatures expected for tomorrow, not to mention the obvious difficulties of 80 gazillion people clogging the freeways. I don't expect there to be any stores or restaurants open along the way since most people will probably be eager to get out of the city.

It's kind of weird to look around my apartment. It's as if I've packed the place up and I'm moving out tomorrow. And frankly, it's just weird to look at my bathtub all filled up with water. It reminds me of a piece one of the news stations did on Katrina, about a group of people hunkered down in some random person's apartment and how the owners had filled every sink and bathtub and at least a dozen pots and pans with water. I think I could give that person a run for the money. When I've been at a loss at getting ready for Rita, I've filled another water jar.

Part of me is fatalistic; if the hurricane continues on this current trajectory, no amount of anything is going to save my stuff. I don't have a lot of stuff, but what I have, I love. But stuff is stuff. It can be replaced.

The phones have already started to flake out, but probably due to panic or concern more than anything else. You can make an outbound call, but it'll take several tries to get either landline or cell connection. At one point, frustrated, I emailed my brother and had him call my parents for me. We'll see if this situation continues tomorrow. It's hard to imagine it won't.

What strikes me odd about this whole situation is just how much we don't know. I could be leaving just for the weekend, back on Sunday, or I could be gone for days or weeks. It's impossible to tell because it's still not clear where the storm is going to hit. Unfortunately, it's not looking good for us at this particular moment. We're still on the 'dirty' side of the storm, but it could just as easily shift to the east and then we get a nice, mild tropical storm. Right now though, it's at the worst possible place and if it keeps at that trajectory, well, Sweat Sock City, it's been nice knowin' ya.