You know what's necessary to stay through a hurricane: a lot of balls, a lot of peace, or a lot of denial. Well, we know that I'm not the most courageous of people; I can hardly stand to be tickled. I'm also pretty good at avoiding denial. I've been looking around my town thinking that it may be the last time I'll see it undamaged. I've looked around my room thinking about what I need to move in case the tree falls through the ceiling or even if the window is blown out and my room is soaked. And I guess I just have a lot of peace that, if you asked, yes I could die tomorrow if it were God's will. I don't think it will be, but I'm not going to be frantically scrabbling at the edges of life or flailing against the waters of death. Not that I mean to say that we'll be flooded to any fatal degree. I'm just...not afraid of death, even though there are lots of things I still want to do. [laughs and shrugs]

Update on the storm: it looks as though it will pass east of us, meaning we'll have lots of wind and rain but less chance of tornadoes and we won't be taking the full brunt of the storm. However, the storm is expected to turn left somewhere in north texas and flood all the texas rivers while it rages around and dies. Heh, the fish will have a good time of it, I expect. Me, I'm just going to put away some of my favorite books in a box and try and keep it safe, along with my cello and my computer. All the rest, I'm going to get off the floor, so if there is rising water but not gusting water, they should stay dry enough. I'm thinking of rearranging some furniture so that it's less likely to be knocked down if wind breaks through the window near it. I know that there is enough foliage around us that a good mess will be made. I'm not sure if looting will be a serious problem or not, but I'm not going to worry about that until later.