Conflagration

The weather has always held a certain fascination for me. I get it from my dad. He used to videotape lightning storms off in the distance when he first got a VHS camcorder. He's always watching the Weather Channel. He can talk about fronts and pressure centers as if you knew what he's talking about.

You also get to see a lot of different kinds of weather growing up in Illinois. I've been in some tornado scares, blinding rain, and town-crippling snow. Power outages are normal in the spring seasons.

It's a fun kind of scare. You hole up for safety, but you are usually certain you will be ok. It's like a horror movie. It's all not real somehow. Well, until shit goes down. In 1993, a levee broke across the river from my hometown, effectively wiping out 1000's of acres of farmland, businesses, and major highways. Thankfully, we were safe at home.

I'm still kind of curious to see what happens in a major event. I was actually hoping for a blizzard this winter. New York is notorious for them, and yet we've only gotten two or three days of snowfall. I really wanted to see what it was like when the city needs to shut down.

I could have used the day off, too.