#laundry needs to get put up; gotta vacuum; gotta hit up a couple more stores for things we couldn't get grocerying yesterday

[cappurrccino]

WELL. now that i've put my mood and general outlook on my future directly in the toilet by dealing with student loans, what should i do with my day

[soap-brain]

gonna take a sec here and talk about my life in some detail bc things are happening

so like. life is fucking great atm. technically.  because there are finally people who are ... idk, interested in me and like me for me and where i don’t have to hide and who are willing to talk with me and who are here for ravenna, and not just bits and pieces of her. and ... that’s really fucking great and i’m hanging out with people who geniunely like me. and ... that’s never happened to me before (lol i am so happy i’m away from my dearest lea i hope you get fuckin’ rekt or smth you toxic bitch) (seriously though i am super happy to be rid of her, i’m feeling ... so good honestly, it’s such a relief). i’m going to a poetry slam tomorrow, we went out for dinner and drinks yesterday and sometime next week me and a couple others are going to see the new thor. so that’s awesome.

but ... i also feel like i don’t have enough time. not because i’m having such an active social life (i’m not, i’m just hanging out a normal amount), and not in the “oh my god my life is almost over i’m going to die soon i’m so old” kinda way, but just ... twenty-four hours in a day is fucking nothing. i’m currently trying to plan out my days in a bit more detail, because my general plan isn’t working too well for me, and ... there is so fucking little time. like ... tomorrow, for example. i know i’ll be fucking useless before 9am. i’m aiming for 8am but idk how well that’s gonna go. so say i start at 8. i go over my flash cards until ten, which is two hours. you’d think it’s a lot but i have a LOT of flash cards to learn. after that i’ll take a half hour break. then i’ll get ready for my presentation on monday until noon. then i’ll take another half hour break, and then i’ll take half an hour to get ready for anatomy class aka look over my topic and do research for that. then i’ll take an hour off, have lunch, write a little maybe (even tho idk what to have for lunch unless i go get bread before starting my day). then from two to three i’ll go over my flash cards again. from three to five i’ll do extra work on my presentation, maybe on my topic too if i need to, or i’ll continue working my way through the textbook. then i’ll  have an hour off and we’ll go to the poetry slam at six, and that is on until nine. i’ll get home, wash up and hopefully hit the bed at ten, which i need because otherwise i will have world’s worst time getting up the next morning. and ... the tally is seven hours of work (including smaller breaks and stuff), and ... that’s just not enough time. i don’t know whether seven hours of work is even enough, but in that time i also didn’t hit the gym at all, i didn’t vacuum, i didn’t do my laundry, i didn’t shower (which i absolutely need to do tomorrow), i didn’t clean up my desktop, i didn’t make a meal plan for next week etc etc.  and i still didn’t watch any of the sectio chirurgica eps, didn’t watch any more tas or voy, didn’t write, didn’t read ...  there just isn’t enough time and that’s so frustrating. because i’m so excited to go to the poetry slam tomorrow and i’m so excited to learn all this (even if it is a bit of a drag sometimes lmao), and i am still kinda excited about anatomy class, and i am excited about working out, and i am excited about writing, but ... there is no time, you feel? and on monday i’ll get up to be at the store at 8, so i can get breakfast items and generally do my shopping, and then i still have an hour before class so i can go over my presentation again, and then i’ll spend five hours at uni if i do go get lunch with the others (and i do want to, so), and then i’ll probably manage to squeeze two hours doing flash cards into the afternoon, but i also want to go the gym, which’ll take 90 mins approx, and then when i come back it’ll be shortly before eight, so i gotta eat by then, and then i can maybe squeeze in another hour or so of studying, either going through the textbook or preparing for the next class on tuesday, and then it’ll be nine thirty pm, and then i gotta get ready for bed, but i didn’t yet watch the new disco ep, but if i don’t go to bed at ten, then i know i won’t be able to get up early the next morning. there just isn’t enough time to do everything i need to do and want to do.  and then i’ll have pretty much the same day on tuesday, and then i’ll have wednesday off, so that’s where i might sleep an hour longer usually, but this week i have an appointment at 8:15, and then i’ll try to put in five hours of studying plus two hours of going to the voluntary seminar which i probably should do, and then i’d like to go to the gym as well, so boom, eight hours+ done for. and then the week after next it’s my little sister’s birthday on tuesday, so i should her present sent before the weekend so it arrives on time, but i don’t know when to even shop for the present, so i’ll have to do that on friday or so, and then two days after her birthday i’ve got an exam, so i also gotta study a lot for that, and then two weeks after that december is going to start, and ideally i’d have all the presents ready in the first week of december so i can relax the rest of december and don’t have to worry about that and can instead focus on starting to study for chemistry so i pass that at the end of the semester, but there’s also another exam on the organs very shortly before christmas, and then at the end of january there’s the third exam which i think is neuroanatomy, and then two days after that there’s the final on anatomy class, and sometime around that time i’ll have to do the chem exam, and then i’ll likely visit my parents again so i’m there for my mom’s birthday, and then i’m going to come back because a) i have some more uni (in my holidays, i know) and b) a great friend of mine is visiting so close to me, and then i’ll get to see them which i usually don’t (bc they come all the way from america so like ...), and then the new semester will start already and i just hope i’ll have had time to already pre-study for that. oh yeah and on one of the first days of december another really great friend of mine has their birthday, and i wanna do something for that, and i already know what, but it’ll take a lot of time.

just ... time. i don’t have nearly enough. i need 48 hrs every day, honestly.

anyways. i am super happy though. life is finally going really great. i still have a lot of work to do with my personality and who i am vs who i want to be, but ... seriously, while moving seemed so bad because i would lose my “one true friend” (who then freaked out about me “destroying the friendship” and “not taking her feelings into consideration”), and i’d have to start completely anew and i’d be all on my lonesome, it turned out to be so good for me. i’m so incredibly happy. i just seriously need more fucking time :D

anyways, i’ll go now, i’ll do some planning. if you read all the way until here, you get a free ... a free ... a free emoji. reply to this post with anything and you shall receive your free emoji for all your troubles :DDD

[suketchilt]

Hey all. Hurricane Irma’s either going to hit Florida directly, or give us a lot of terrible weather. You can check it out on the NOAA site: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?cone

Non-Floridians, I know it’s scary to hear a giant storm is heading towards some of your friends, but they should be okay. Just so you know:

-You should try to establish a way to check up on your friend. Maybe ask them to take a couple minutes to send you a message using their phone or an app when things calm down to let you know that the storm has passed and that they are okay.

-Your friend might become unreachable before the storm hits. They may be trying to preserve batteries or preparing some last-minute precautions. They may even be evacuating. If you know your friend lives near the water or an area that commonly has flooding, they may be encouraged to go to a shelter.

-Your friend might stay unreachable for hours, days, or even more than a week after the hurricane. This is normal, especially if the hurricane is serious. Storms have a tendency to knock out our power. People near hospitals, police stations, schools, or ‘rich’ neighborhoods usually get their power back faster. Some people have generators they may use for a few hours at a time or that might be able to run constantly. These take gas, though, and a lot of gas stations are running out too quickly for everyone to get what they need. Older neighborhoods might lose power sooner. If you know your friend isn’t in the best neighborhood, they might not come back at the same time as someone on the other side of town.

-Keep an eye out for other Floridians as we start to come back. If you know the city or county where your friend lives, others might be able to tell you what they’ve heard. The news will have information, but they might make it sound worse than it is. Take everything with a grain of salt. Our power company is Florida Power & Light (FPL), and they should know who has power. They actually have a map that should show outages: http://www.fplmaps.com/

Floridians, you have had almost a week to prepare and you are probably as good as you are going to get, but I’ve been hearing good tips on the radio, from talking to neighbors and family, and I’ve already seen some dumb stuff, so I’ve included a bunch of info under the cut just in case.

-PUT EMERGENCY NUMBERS YOU MIGHT NEED TO USE IN YOUR PHONE NOW. PUT IN ICE (In Case of Emergency) NUMBERS SO IF SOMEONE FINDS YOU OR YOUR PHONE, THEY HAVE SOMEONE TO CONTACT. TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACTS AND SET IT AS YOUR BACKGROUND SO IT CAN BE SEEN EVEN IF YOUR PHONE IS LOCKED. MAKE SURE FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW WHERE YOU WILL BE SO THEY KNOW WHERE TO START LOOKING IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS. CALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AFTER THE STORM TO CHECK ON THEM.

-It’s too late for this bit now, but try to stock up at the beginning of hurricane season. Always have a couple cases of water and a week’s worth of canned goods on hand. ALWAYS. You can buy batteries in bulk online, but be aware that carriers will stop making deliveries before the storm.

-For Irma, do not count on express online orders until Tuesday or later. I work at a warehouse in the lower half of the state. UPS and USPS might be doing some deliveries on Friday morning, but they will be avoiding pick-ups and will not be going to their business routes. This means that if you order something tonight, no one’s going to pick it up, and it won’t be delivered until after they come back to work on Tuesday or later, depending on how bad the storm is and where you are located. A lot of their workers have been calling out to prepare their families for the storm. My area should start getting bad wind by Saturday afternoon, so I already know all of our usual drivers have called out.

-Try stores you don’t normally go to. The popular stores might be out, but there’s a good chance someone has what you want. Our supermarkets ran out of water, but my sister found packs of water at a liquor store. Watch out for ‘price gouging.’ A lot of places are raising prices due to shortages and panic, and some are raising them to obviously high amounts. If it is normally $2 and it is suddenly $10, something is wrong. We are in a ‘state of emergency,’ so sudden big changes like this are actually illegal. They can be reported for steep price jumps like this at the Attorney General’s Price Gouging Hotline 1-866-966-7226

-If you need water and can’t find/afford bottled water, fill plastic containers and Ziploc bags with tap water. Maybe buy one of those water filter pitchers if you’re worried about cleanliness. Buy bottles of juice and sports drinks. Please don’t try to survive on alcoholic drinks. 

-If you need food and the canned aisle is empty, buy bagged and dried foods. Chips, pretzels, cereal, beef jerky, vacuum-packed stuff that isn’t in the refrigerators, fruit cups, applesauce… I mean, you could live on cookies, but you’ll probably get a tummy ache. (Don’t forget to get a manual can opener or one that takes batteries.)

-It doesn’t have to be sliced bread. You can also put peanut butter on bagels, pita bread, hot dog buns, crackers, English muffins... I can’t tell you how many times I have gone into the brad aisle and seen all the bread gone, a small group of sad people, and TOO MANY BAGELS. Eat the bagels.

-Store important papers in water-tight containers and put them in your safe room. Heck, roll them up like scrolls and seal them in plastic bags and Tupperware. Some people have been suggesting storing things in the dish washer. (I won’t be doing that. I’ll forget they’re there and bad things will happen…)

-Do not stand near windows during the storm, especially if you can feel them bending slightly or vibrating or anything like that. Stay far from windows and preferably in a room with no windows at all.

-Taping windows doesn’t do anything. Please use hurricane shutters (no one will install them now until after the storm passes), sheets of wood, metal... I’ve heard of special hurricane netting, but I don’t know much about it. If you can afford it, I highly recommend ‘hurricane-proof’/impact-resistant windows and sliding doors. You don’t have to prepare them- they’re always ready, and harder for robbers to break.

-Bring EVERYTHING inside. If it isn’t bolted down or something equally sturdy, it is a potential projectile. Even if you don’t care about the item, you don’t want it in your pool, your neighbor’s screened in porch, or your neighbor’s window.

-Cut off loose plant parts. Branches that look ready to fall, dead palm fronds, coconuts… If garbage pick-up won’t be coming around again, stash these things in your garage so they don’t fly around. You don’t want a coconut in your windshield. It’s too late now, but before storms you can call lawn and tree companies to trim dangerous parts off your plants.

-Keep mops, towels, and buckets on hand. Leaks might happen. Keep an eye out for bubbling paint- that could mean the water’s getting somewhere inside the wall. Be prepared to pull up and prop up carpet if it gets wet- you do NOT want that mold.

-Do your laundry before the storm weather hits. If you lose power, you won’t be able to run your washing machine. If your power stays out for two weeks (like mine did in my old house), you will have some very gross clothes.

-Keep some cash on you. ATM’s don’t work without power, and even if people can’t scan your credit card, everyone likes money.

-Buy a battery-operated light. Flashlights are fine, but they also sell electric lanterns that you can set on a counter while you do whatever you gotta do. Like take a shower. A very cold shower. Also, your smart phone should have a flashlight option. On an iPhone you swipe up and it shows that quick menu with a flashlight on the left. I’m not familiar with other phones, but I know my work HTC has a flashlight app that I moved to my home screen. Don’t forget to turn the light out when you aren’t using it to preserve battery.

-If you have a gas stove, you can still use it if your power is out. Be VERY careful. You can turn on the stove normally to release the gas, then light it with a lighter. I suggest using the long ones people use for barbecues, because the sudden flames can be a bit of a surprise, and you might not want your hand that close with a cigarette lighter.

-Fill a bathtub or kiddy pool with water for the toilet. If it won’t flush without power, you can help it out by dumping water in. Put a bunch of water in at once to simulate the water that goes in when it flushes normally. (This doesn’t work with clogs- that’s a plunger’s job.)

-Take photos and video of damage, especially if you might need to report it or make a claim- if possible, do it with a clock or watch in the photo/video.

-Stay out of the water! I’d better not see any of you kayaking out in the road rivers. They’re dirty and there could be all sorts of junk, like broken shards of plastic or glass, or maybe even a downed powerline.

-Do not go to the beach during the storm. 

-Don’t drive during the hurricane, and avoid flooded areas after the weather calms down. Cars can get stuck in deep water.

-Park your car inside or in a covered area, if you can.

-The eye of the storm might not last as long as you think. Please do not stay out for long or leave pets outside.

-Some of the street lights might be out after the storm knocks them around. If they are flashing red, you have to stop like at a stop sign. If they are flashing yellow, you need to watch out, because someone with a flashing red might try to zip out in front of you. If the lights are out completely, you should avoid that area if possible and treat it as though it’s all stop signs.

-If a pole or tree is leaning, don’t go near it. Report it. Put up a sign or some colored tape around the area to mark it so others know to avoid it.

-FPL says to report outages. You can go to their website on your phone https://www.fpl.com/storm.html , download their app, or call them at 1-800-4OUTAGE (800-468-8243).