After-Effects of a Hurricane

An insight to my life before, during and after sheltering at home from Hurricane.

Oh this got to be an interesting post. What can one do while sheltering at home and how do one conquer fear during the storm? The peak of the storm actually lasted only for around 5 hours. However the effects on me can be noticed from 5 hours before the storm all the way till today.

About 5 hours before the storm -
This is the time when fear starts to creep in. Before this, I was still taking it lightly. Feeling smug that I've got some kind of supplies with me and I'm not staying in a mandatory evacuation zone. In fact, I'm kind of ignorant on where the mandatory evacuation zones are. Fear overcame me when I was surfing the net and came across the zip codes as well as maps of the mandatory evacuation zones. It was just like two zip codes away! That means it's just 10 - 15 minutes drive away!

After that enlightening moment, I was stuck to Channel 009 (it's the channel giving 24hrs non-stop coverage on the Hurricane). Listening to every morsel of information given out by the media, watching every move of the Hurricane and observing with fear and excitement the rising waters, high wave breaks and strong winds through live broadcast from the coastal areas. All the while thinking of the impending doom as it is impossible to evacuate now that the storm is so near. Back then, I wrote my first post on the Hurricane and set it to publish somewhat after the storm, mostly to calm my nerves as well as to notify my friends and family that I should still be ok even if I could not be contacted.

During the storm -
Initially the wind was just enough to ruffle leaves and I was lulled to sleep by the sound of it. The wind starts to pick up at about 2a.m. I was roughly awoken by the rattling sound of the window. The scene was almost like that of a horror movie. Howling winds, branches shaken violently, the rattling of the window panes due to the gusting wind and ... you won't believe this ... flickering lights! But ... no worries ... instead of ghosts, I'm actually more afraid of power outage.

After the storm -
Ok, ok ... I know the title said something about after-effects. So fast forward, 2 days after the storm, everything seemed well with my place. There's power, water, supplies and 4 subsequent days of holiday!!! I do not need to ration my food to sustain for extended period as the grocery stores are back in business. What to do, what to do?

*HUGE GRIN* Well... me being myself; I cooked, eat, drink, sleep, watch movies, series, anime and simply partied at home for 4 whole days! To the point that I'm actually bored of this. Then comes the after-effects ... ... my expanded waistline!!! Not that it's anything to be proud of to begin with ... but it's something that no one wants to grow. My horror was confirmed when a colleague commented that I looked ... my, my this is sad ... BIGGER! After which he coyly reasoned that it might be the t-shirt, but still ...

This is why it took me so long to update the blog, I was busy doing sit-ups after work instead.