Makes less sense for more

I am up in Atlanta for a week interning at a camera rental house. I am also somewhat sleep-deprived.

Hurricane Ivan

I survived the wrath of hurricane Ivan. This was definately the worst storm I've ever experienced. We didn't really expect it to hit us this bad. Northwest Florida took the brunt of the storm. Fort walton beach faired better than our neighbors in Navarre and Pensacola but there were still trees down everywhere, flooding, etc... I went out on my front porch during the climax of the storm at about 3:30am and I thought I was in a tornado. Some of the trees were bowing to the ground almost. The wind felt like it would blow me right off the porch. I was pretty nonchalant until that point but I guess I realized, wow this is pretty serious, and ran back into the house. I really couldn't sleep from all the noise and I kept waiting for a tree to come crashing through the roof on me. I heard the cracking and falling of tress in the distance through out the night. I think I finally fell asleep about 5am. When I woke up at 7am, me and my little brother ventured out. The tail end of the storm was still passing through but it seemed safe enough. We didn't get too far before we discovered our path was blocked by trees. Eventually we wound through enough back roads and made our way to highway 98 by liza jackson park. Highway 98 was underwater. Waves were breaking on the road. We looked out at where the sound normally is and it looked like the gulf. We couldn't see the island. I suppose it was still underwater at that time. On the way home a police officer pulled us over and yelled at us, telling us to go home. This was the part that sucked. They imposed what turned out to be a 36 hour cufew on the whole county. So we just had to sit at home not really knowing what was going on or what had happened for what seemed like an eternity. We had lost electricity early on the night before. It was unbearably hot with no A/C. I cooked bacon and chili on the grill for breakfast and we all sat around contemplating the extent of the storm damage. Day two was really unbearable so in an act of desparation, we jumped in the car and drove 1 and 1/2 hours east to marianna and checked into a hotel that had electricity. I think we got the last room in town actually. We ate out at a resturant and watched the news about the hurricane on TV. I felt like I was in a different world. We started to learn how bad the hurricane really was at that point. I was surprised that the remnants were causing so much flooding and trouble up north. They were saying there had been 27 deaths in the U.S. with still about 14 or so people missing. The next day we drove back through panama city to get supplies and head home. We ran into the national guard and they gave us three boxes of MRE's(military rations) and some ice. They are actually pretty cool cause they have theses chemical heating units in them and it will heat the meal for you. When we got back in town there were more places with electricity starting to open for business. The were lines of up 200 cars waiting for gas at the gas station. I brought some of our MRE's over to a friends and turned out him and his brother were actually pretty hungry as they did not have any cash or gas to barter for food. I helped a few people clean their yards and carry tree limbs, etc... Our electricity came back on last night after 4 days of no power. The crisis feels over here but there are still alot of people without houses or a tree in their living room. I read in the paper some 8 year old girl died when a tree fell on her families trailer home. Someone told me some bodies have washed up on Navarre beach. My family was really lucky. All around out neighborhood their are fallen trees. There were numerous tornados spawned from the hurricane also. But the only damage we recieved was part of our wooden fence broke off. It's really quite insane to get a taste of the infrastructure breakdown and panic about not having power or the possibility or running out of food, etc... it felt like the end of the world or civilaztion in a way and then we went an hour and a half down the road to marianna and I'm watching MTV and eating at Ruby Tuesdays, and the disaster is just a another news bit on CNN. You all the suffering of different people in the world on the news all the time and it's easy to dismiss cause you don't have to live with it. I'll appreciate all the modcons and comfortss of life more now but...and yeah, I know it sounds melodramtic, but I guess not having all that stuff made me realize that none of it really matters. People live without electricity and cars and burger king all over the world. Most of them all probably happier for it for all I know. Anyway, check out the gallery to which I'll continue to upload. Or just scroll down for a preview of some of the pics I took around town.

Pictures from the hurricane

Here are some pics I took around town of the aftermath of the hurricane. Might take a while to load. UPDATE: check out the pics in the gallery.

I am alive...

The storm was pretty devestating.

We just got power back at my house. It's been four long days without my friend, electicity. I will post more on the experience in a few days.

In anticipation of the storm

Hurricane System, the third

Well, there is another hurricane system heading into Florida in the next week. Unlike the other two this one might pose a more imminent threat to my locale. The buzz around town is in full effect as everyone rushes to board up their windows and buy food and the such. I'll continue with updates as Ivan continues on it's path.

Misc. tune

Have a listen to a short tune I just recorded on my computer: superconducter

Forgotten August

I seemed to have been slack and forgotten to have posted anything during August. I filmed a short movie with my friend Tony this past weekend. It was insanity as expected and I'm editing it now. Meanwhile, I turn the A/C on ultra cold in denial of of the lingering summer season. I can't wait till fall takes effect. Also, I'm planning on re-locating again soon...but aren't I always these days?