graceland's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pushing Back at Mother Nature Seriously, I don't know what the F happened here in NYC after work tonight, but I had to walk home 3 miles in this and it was not pleasant. The subways appeared to be shut down at Grand Central and I walked two blocks down to First Avenue to try to catch a bus home - no luck. Traffic was at a standstill at First, as it was on Second and Third Avenues. Buses occasionally trudged pass with digital signs reading "No Service" or "No Stops" - packed with people. Nothing was moving, except for pedestrian traffic, which moved very slowly on thickly iced sidewalks. I was able to stop for a moment under the 59th Street bridge for shelter from the whipping winds and called my family to find out if we were under attack or something again. It just didn't make sense and I smelt something strange in the air - almost like a gas main leak. For a moment I thought that perhaps the tabloid fabricated NYC tsunami was finally building and realized that I was standing in a death trap - a cement underpass. I saw myself breaking bones smashing against the underside of the bridge when the big waves crashed inland and I started to move again, briefly considering that I could at least take refuge at nearby Scores and finish my life with a roomful of cracked out strippers. It seemed the appropriate end for my sordid life. I finally reached home and climbed the 9 flights of stairs up to my apartment since my elevator is also out of commission for the week. It's being replaced. I changed out of my clothes and saw that for the first time in years, I was starting to develop hives. I had a cold allergy as a child that I grew out of in college but sure enough, apparently -4 degree weather is enough to almost bring it back. I had to rub my thighs to kickstart my circulation. Now I'm just tired, thinking about getting up tomorrow, still tired and potentionally walking to work in this Ice Age. My mother said to me tonight, after hearing that I was walking against this brutal push of Mother Nature with $2 until Friday, to my elevator-less residence, "Well, you're tough, Grace. No one can ever say you weren't tough. You'll make it. You always do." I am tough, but it would be nice to not have to prove that to the world time and time again. 10:29 p.m. - 2005-03-08 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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