I'm out. Not the bestest verdict, but it could be oh so much worse. Lost my license, but I can pay 100 dollars within 72 hours to request a reinstatement form, and then in two weeks go back to the DMV to get a new license. Oddly, it was the prosecutor who saved my bacon by changing the charges to a bullshit one that said I didn't have a valid license, which carried a lesser penalty.

What I'm kicking myself is that I took the train in, and therefore have to take the train back --but apparently I could have gotten a waiver to allow me to drive home! I am so sweaty and gross.

The only thing that is truly inconvenient is that I I hate shopping with other people and bumming a ride seems the less annoying route to get a ride to the stores to get a dress for our gala. And the fact that I'll have to beg a ride home after the gala because I am not looking forward to the 40 minute walk home at two in the morning.

I have relatives in OK who are all safe. I think my aunt who used to live there had a safe room built and I think safe rooms are more popular and easier to build, but they don't hold a lot of people. And you have to have the money and space to do it.

I am sorry Juliebird, but I guess it could have been worse. This verdict seems a little like death by paper cats.

Does anyone else get earwormed from rhythms of things? I have Joni Mitchell's song "Ray's Dad's Cadillac" (which I hate, incidentally)stuck in my head, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that someone called the fluffy bird I linked to above the Kwisatz Haderach, and the rhythm of that is the same as Ray's Dad's Cadillac in my head. So now I am stuck with this annoying song!

Now that the shopping bug has hit, Jilli, what was the name of that online store you linked to a while back that had great coats and stuff?

What Sophia said, Juliebird! I'm not surprised they went with a lesser charge, as it was a first offense and all. A couple weeks of inconvenience, yes, but you'll be able to put it behind you before you know it.

I just had an extensive conversation with a woman on the subway who told me that the weather has been crazy since Sputnik! That's what did it -- all the going to space.

Okay, then.

Yeah, what I heard last night was that wind speeds were the highest ever recorded, and it was something in the neighborhood of a mile wide. I don't know that that's fact, but it suggests that it may have just been beyond what shelters could handle.

I'm pretty sure it was the one in '99 with those wind speeds. It was a mile wide at points though. Storm cellars were probably okay even if the door blew off, but basements have the risk of upper structure caving into them. I haven't watched any news today, but it sounds like that's what happened at the school.

Sorry, Juliebird. Do you feel a sense of relief that this is mostly over?

ION, Monica arrives Saturday and will be staying with me for a week. I've done a shitload of cleaning and got some posters framed and put up.

I seem to be alternating between anxiety and excitement. But trending more towards excitement.

Does anyone else get earwormed from rhythms of things?

Constantly! And trying to figure out why I am humming that song (whatever it is) is usually the part that makes me crazy.

Absolutely, tommy. Now I'm just wondering if my two weeks is up in two Tuesdays or the Wednesday after, because Tuesday is the only late day at the DMV.

Now that the shopping bug has hit, Jilli, what was the name of that online store you linked to a while back that had great coats and stuff?

Chic Star? That's where I've been getting a lot of things from, lately.