Meltdown

It was inevitable.

Yesterday - home sick with migraine (a rare event, me taking a sick day).

Today - worked in spite of dull headache. New equipment training session sprung on me. Was miserable.

Bailed out as soon as I could, and went home to crash. High winds and a power outage woke me up abruptly. A thunderstorm soon followed. The power outage is widespread. I'm irritated because it is hot in the house, and dark. I had planned to have some down time this evening, but sitting around in a hot, dark house is not what I had in mind.

So now I'm at the pub (but not drinking - I cut way back because of studying). Had a hot meal and a club soda and feel marginally better. There is air conditioning, computer access, good eats, trivia and TVs, and a few of our friends are here. But I just sit here huddled over my laptop, not feeling very social. PDM keeps trying to make me feel better, and I keep disappointing him by being non-responsive. I'm stressed and crabby and tired. There is a huge weight on my shoulders and this is not going to change until after my test. I just want to be left alone. (And fed. I like it when he cooks me a nice dinner.) It doesn't help that we keep getting new stuff at work - a major software upgrade next week, plus lots of new hardware. I have to learn all that stuff during the day, then go home and study all of the test material. Some days it is too much.

And if I haven't driven all of my readers away with my pity party post, I promise to post about something other than my stupid test next time.

Golden skies and lightning bugs

Thunderstorms passed through just before sunset, resulting in an unusual color cast to the sky. It began as a golden yellow hue from the low clouds that made all of the wet trees and grass look greener. Then the thinning cloud cover took on a rosy orange hue before fading to twilight blue. The clouds were constantly in motion and bubbling into strange spherical masses as they broke up. The illumination from the sky made it feel like I was looking at the yard through colored filters. Everything took on the color of the clouds.

Once it was mostly dark, the lightning bugs started their show. They really outdid themselves tonight. Not sure why, but there seem to be many more of them this year than usual. Maybe I am just noticing more of them because I'm spending so much more time outside on the porch. Whatever the reason, I am grateful. I could spend hours watching them dance and glow.

Winter Storm Warning

Looks like it's for real this time. Our storm watch is now a warning. Rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain... you name it, we got it on tap in the overnight forecast. I know it isn't a big deal to many of you in the un-southern parts of this country, but this kind of dire prediction causes all hell to break loose down here, and that's before we see one speck of whatever-it-is that they're predicting. You couldn't pay me to go near a grocery store tonight. Pure pandemonium.

It won't bother me at all if we wake up tomorrow to an ice storm. In fact, as long as we don't have a tree fall on the house, I'd welcome the chance to turn the alarm off and go back to sleep.

Update (6:20am 2/1): Wrong again! Woke up this morning to 33 F and heavy rain (which is high on the list of my least favorite type of weather). The weather people aren't doing so great this winter. So far, they are 0-for-2 with the winter storm predictions. I guess I have to go get ready for work now.