Disaster Recovery

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs. 

...

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

I experienced my first earthquake yesterday.  Aside from lingering motion sickness, I was not all that impressed.  Now, there is much fervor about Hurricane Irene.  I am not rushing out to stockpile canned goods, bottled water and batteries.  I don't think anything major will happen.  Probably a lot of rain, which will put a damper in my weekend plans but I don't really anticipate evacuation.  I hope I didn't jinx us.

I like disaster films.  I love TWISTER, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Armageddon, and 2012 (although, 2012 was a little disappointing.  Not John Cusack's best work!)  I love the old 70s films like Earthquake, Towering Inferno,  and the Poseidon Adventure.  There's a new movie called Contagion coming out in a few weeks.  I'll be there with bells on.

I do not stress out over disasters.  I grew up in SW PA (which you already know if you have been taking notes and following along for the past 70 posts) where I was regularly exposed to the threat of tornadoes, floods (there was a creek in my back yard), and heavy snow storms.  

Then, when I lived in Marietta, OH, there was ice in the winter and flooding in the spring.  

Then, Columbus was smack dab in the center of the state.  More tornadoes and heavy snow.  Yeah, been there, done that.  Spent Christmas 2004 in a Knights Inn motel because we got a really bad snowstorm that knocked out power for 4 days.  

Since moving here, I've experienced remnants of Nor'easters and Tropical Storms.  We've had ice and snow and high winds.  But, nothing to make me quiver in my shoes (until yesterday's earthquake, of course.)  And that was a small quiver.  Like when a roller coaster comes to a stop.

Now, I'll probably stop by the store on Friday after work and pick up some fruit and other items I can nosh on if the power goes out, but I will not be building a survivalist camp in my living room.  

That said, I do have a freaky confession to make about something I do when I travel.

I make an "in case of death" list.  Yeah, yeah, most people have In Case of Emergency contacts in their phone or address book.  Not me.  I have an In Case of Death list.

It all started when I used to travel a lot as a child care consultant and my mom would freak out because I was always going some place and she worried that something would happen to me and no one would tell her.  Then, I made a lot of cyber friends and realized that if something DID happen to me, no one would know.  I'd just be gone from the bulletin boards, forums, message boards, etc. (This was mid-90s and before we all got super savvy with things like Facebook and MySpace.)

So, whenever I travel, I am overly-morbid.

Before I leave, I make sure that copies of my itinerary are in several locations - work, home and car.  I usually email one of my close friends, too.  Then, I print out this contact list I have that lists all of the names and phone numbers (and in some cases, email addresses) of the people I consider of high importance in my life and who should be notified immediately if anything happens to me. On this list, I also have important social networking website password information so that someone can access my Facebook page and post some sort of update that everyone can see.  I also have banking contacts and my medical contacts.  I always create a blanket "authorization" granting my top people access to my accounts on my behalf to make sure that Abby (it used to be Molly) is taken care of.

I then print these lists and put a copy in my purse, my suitcase and my home.

Lastly, I make a spare key or two for my apartment and place them in secured places so that my top people can have access to my home and car, as needed.

It's not that I'm scared of traveling.  I'm scared of having something happen to me while I'm traveling and not being able to tell people what happened or how I felt.   I've even written, in the past, letters to friends, love interests and family members (and this was pre PS I LOVE YOU) that could be given to them if something happened.

I know it's an oddity but it's just something that I do.  I've become superstitious about it and think that if I don't do it, then something will happen.

I was a girl scout when I was a little girl and I always believe in being prepared.

Unless it's a natural disaster.