Hurricane

I wasn't worried too much about this one, I mean slightly, but nothing to panic about. Well, now the damn thing, Gustav, which was a mere Tropical Storm though nearly a Category 1 Hurricane, is a Category 3!! (For those of you who don't know 5 is the highest, and while Katrina started out as a 4 or 5, when it made landfall it was a 3). I am personally no where near the storm, being on the opposite side of the country, but my family is there.

According to the weather channel the storm hit a patch of very warm water near Cuba, and went through a period of rapid intensification - i.e. the pressure drops, it gets more organized, and the wind speed goes up. All in the last 24 hrs. Right now, they don't think that New Orleans will be in the direct path, but these storms are so hard to predict, and besides even if N.O doesn't get a direct hit, all the rain and tornadoes spawned by hurricanes can still cause damage to the city and surrounding areas.

Incidentally, yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. People are so nervy though. Ray Nagin, the mayor of N.O., has already ordered all the tourists out of the city by noon. When I talked to my parents last week, they said people were already buying up all the water, canned goods, and generators. This was before Gustave was even a serious threat.

The city is definitely on the ball though. No mass shelters in the city (remember the Super Dome), and they are trying to bus as many people out as posssible, although really the public transportation down there sucks. Also, the evacuation of special needs patients started this morning, along with some other people who would have no other way out. Right now it is not a mandatory evacuation, but that will go into effect probably tomorrow. However, in St. Charles Parish and St. Bernard, very near Orleans Parish, a mandatory evacuation will go into effect this afternoon.

updated to add: that now its a Category 4 hurricane. Over the past 3 hours the pressure has dropped by 20 mb, and the wind speed is 145mph. It is expected to increase after passing over (and no doubt destroying) Cuba. Once it hits the Gulf the meteorologists expect it will slow down, to make landfall around Tuesday. Currently they are still expecting it to go more West of New Orleans, but that still puts the city (and my family) on the bad side of the storm - the side with the most rain, and the highest possibility of tornadoes. Talked to my family, they are not evacuating, and have no intentions of doing so, but do report that the major highways are nearly impassable right now b/c of the number of people that have decided to leave the area.

Success

I made it through another meeting for school. Hurray! Seriously though towards the end I wanted to bang my head against the wall - honestly! It was already scheduled to be 4 hours long - and then the speaker went over. Not good. And 90% of the talks I had heard before.

However, even more importantly, I finished my skirt. Its a bit short, but that has more to do with the overall unalterable width of the fabric, rather than any mistake on my part. Of course, its definitely not perfect and I totally messed up the top, but I figure if I wear a longer shirt then no one will notice that part. Its white though, and presently a bit see through so I have to make an underskirt, or buy a slip - probably the later.

Next project: probably a bag of some sort, so that I have an excuse to buy crazy fabrics. This is unlikely actually to happen any time soon though b/c school starts next week, and I will be super busy.

One last note, I have talked some of my friends into taking Zumba with me! Belly dance isn't offered anymore as an excercise class (though I can still join the club at my university, which I might do b/c I love the music and it gives me a break from anthropology), so the only other one that I might slightly like is Zumba (not taking hip-hop, tried it once, and was totally lost). I think this one is Latin based, and the web site makes it sound fun - but that might just be due to a successful marketing campaign.

Food and Friends

The past few days have been busy, but super fun. A couple of my friends that I met this summer came to visit. It was a bit weird seeing them here at first; in part b/c I never really thought it would happen, and also b/c it was just out of context.

I have eaten entirely too much food with them since Monday though. The first night I had amazing samosa, and then a couple of good (half priced) martinis. The next day we wandered about town a bit, had some beers, and later a mutual friend grilled all sorts of tasty food for us (steak, chicken, mushrooms, peppers, eggplant), and we spent about 8 hours eating and drinking Ukrainian vodka (cranberry-amazing-delicious-vodka). We played Ukrainian Scrabble, which I suck at, but it was fun (or funny, not sure which). Then we made a random decision to go to this dive bar (after midnight) where they have Euro-techno night on Tuesday's. It was hilarious, and a bit scary at the same time.

Today we had lunch at a restaurant that is apparently run by a cult. The people there were friendly though, so I don't think its a bad cult, but sort of a Christian/communal/miracle-faith based cult (or New Religious Movement to be non-biased). Then for dinner I wasn't really hungry, but we went to an Indian/Tibetan place. The fried vegetable fritters came with some sort of tomato sauce that was seriously heavenly, but I couldn't finish all of them. The waitress was nice enough to provide me with a huge to-go bowl full of the sauce.
I don't think I can eat anything else for at least 2 days.

Oh, the weekend

I have for several months now, very much wanted a white skirt, but a long flowy one. Unfortunately just b/c I desire it so much, there is no store anywhere that carries the kind I want. My friend's suggestion - lets make skirts! Ok, sure sounds like a great idea, but first off she doesn't know how to sew (no offense to her, its just what she insists on pointing out all the time), and second I can sew, but only simple things, and def. not using patterns - I am map and pattern illiterate. When sewing I just tend to kinda stumble around until I figure out something that works for me. Making a skirt however, of the kind I want, requires some semblance of a pattern. So I looked online, find some ideas, mostly for a type called a "circle skirt", but really liked the variation called "pixie skirt" b/c the hem hangs unevenly. Well I had some fabric lying around with which I was going to make curtains, but didn't, and decided to practice before I went out and bought nice white fabric (a task for tomorrow). I couldn't finish it just yet, b/c the instructions online say due to something called "bias" I have to let it hang a bit before I hem it. Basically, now it isn't finished, and I don't know if I will wear b/c the color is a bit bright, but here is a picture.
anyway, its not perfect, but once I hem it I think it will be pretty decent figuring its the first one I ever made.
Also this weekend, I went to a festival, but that is chronicled on the other blog, I had brunch with some friends b/c it was and is their birthdays, and now I have been talked into planning a joint birthday celebration for the friend whose b-day was today. Which is fun in a way b/c its at her house, not mine, so I won't be doing the clean up (just kidding, I promise to help out). On the other hand, while we have an overlapping circle of friends, there are some people she might want there that I don't know, and people I might know, but she doesn't. I'm thinking of making up a nice word doc., some sort of pretty invitation (you know b/c it really isn't necessary to clean one's apt. or study a foreign language, or apply for grant money...I just have soo much free time!), but not sure yet.

So, Monday I go shopping for fabric, Tuesday I have a meeting, and then hurray my friends I met in Ukraine will be here, and after that all is downhill b/c I have more meeting and then school. Egg-citing!