I’m writing this at 12.22 on Monday – not sure when I’ll be able to post it, but we’ll see. We have no cable at the moment (and thus no Internet), but our power hasn’t gone out – it’s been flickering, but it hasn’t gone completely out. I just talked to Mom and she says their power’s been out since 16.00 yesterday, that a tree fell on a power line up by my old elementary school and that the whole neighborhood is out. I guess we’ve been lucky. There’s still stuff blowing around, but there’s that atmosphere that’s unique to the aftermath of a hurricane – it’s light but not sunny, cool but not cold, water everywhere… hard to explain unless you’ve felt it yourself, but anyway, it means it’s almost over. Charlotte came in this morning full of news about the damage (she and the Germans went to Charleston after all) and we stepped outside and checked the courtyard. It’s not as flooded as it was yesterday, but the pool is full of leaves and the ground is covered in tree debris. And it’s still raining; I hear it tapping my window. But we all survived. (There was a man in the last hurricane who stepped outside to smoke and had a tree fall on him. Given my contempt for smoking, I could only laugh.)

Still haven’t finished that homework (“Can click have phonation?” Anybody know?), but I don’t think it matters right now, since Charlotte just told us that school’s canceled tomorrow, too. I would go to Jacksonville, but (a) they haven’t even got power, and (b) I don’t really want to waste the gas. So it looks like another day of sitting in the apartment… blah. I like school and I wish it were on. I want to go back to the health center and tell them that the antibiotics didn’t work, I want to get my fingerprint card filled out for work, I want to pick up my minor form, and I want to turn in my LIN 3460 assignment, which I worked long and hard on and finally finished (8 typed pages!). I can’t do any of those things unless school is open. The only good thing about it is that we’ll postpone the astronomy pop quiz (that we all already know about), but that’s no problem; I could do it with my eyes closed. (If it were a LIN 3201 quiz, now...)

Anyway, so since there’s no cable, there’s nothing on TV and no Internet. So Renate and I have been sitting downstairs watching movie after movie. We were just finishing Ice Age as Charlotte walked in. She and the Germans just went back out to return their rental car, and I came upstairs to call home and check the damage.

Also, I have to call work and see if they’re open tomorrow. Maybe they lost power too.

Closing note: can I please have my financial aid??????

(Update: It's almost 15.00 and the cable is back. Charlotte and Renate and I were watching Shrek, and when it was over, the cable was back on. Yay!)