Vacation is officially over ~ hence the blaring alarm @ the ungodly hour of 5:15am. It began to rain as I pulled away from the house but I didn’t give it much thought.
We met at campus for breakfast, a few inspiring (?) words from FL and proceeded to board a yellow school bus to the convocation center. It was raining but I left my umbrella behind since it wasn’t the collapsible kind and I didn’t want to have it in the way. I would live to rue that decision. We were herded into the arena and sat in the bleachers with our campus. Please don’t ask me the point of this activity ~ the old adage of ‘the brain will only absorb what the butt will endure’ comes to mind. The seats are concrete and no back rests for support. You get the picture. The torture session ended BUT everyone tried to leave the arena at once to get on their respective buses. While we were inside, tropical storm Erin had blessed us with a visit and it wasn’t pleasant. Imagine a mass exodus of people trying to leave the building and suddenly being told to GO BACK IN. A colleague had been calling me ‘cuz she thought the bus left without her and as I was trying to reassure her, here comes FL to lead us to the Promised Land (a.k.a. bus). Mind you the bus is across the street from the arena and there is about a foot of rushing water separating us from our goal. Off came my shoes and I went splashing in the water to board the bus. BTW, I neglected to tell you that the new super told us we had to be professionally dressed for this shindig, i.e. no jeans, flip flops, etc. Thank Zeus I didn’t wear khaki! After all bodies were accounted for, we went on to lunch where the food was mediocre and high $$. Case in point ~ I ordered a bowl of soup to warm myself and it arrived lukewarm. What’s the point?? FL told us that the afternoon session would be cut short as it was late and the weather was growing more ominous.
I left campus at 3:20 (with the umbrella) and proceeded to head to the expressway. There was water everywhere, even the entrance ramp to US 90 was under a good 4-5 inches of water. Once I entered 90, I assumed I had a straight shot home. Ha! Traffic was diverted off of 90 as it was too hazardous. No problem, I know the back streets. Yeah, and so did everyone else. It took me two hours to complete what is usually a 15 minute commute. Detour after detour but I made it to the complex. I was ecstatic to finally be out of traffic as I was in dire need of the restroom. Mother Nature wasn’t done with me. I live in a mobile home and because of the quirky weather we have had, the trailer shifts or settles. Usually I can adjust but I couldn’t unlock the deadbolt on the house. Wasn’t happening no matter what I tried. It took a couple of neighbors 10 minutes to get that sucker to budge. Relief was in sight ~ my legs really didn’t appreciated being cramped for 2 hours.
The havoc that Erin wreaked on our city is horrible. At least I am alive to tell my tale. Some unfortunate folks got caught in the rushing floodwaters and met their untimely demise. The weather forecasters are keeping a close eye on hurricane Dean as that could cause some major problems for the Texas Gulf coast and the Alamo City since we are only 180 miles from the seashore.
The next three days we will be away from campus to have specialized sessions for our specific content. I will update you on the sessions as time permits.
The first day back is always eventful but this one tops them all!
~ a very soggy ba~
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