(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Feeling pretty good (I know, what are the odds of that?), and I feel kind of bad about that (okay, there we go), because New Orleans may go the way of Atlantis and, back here on the homefront, my stepfather was trying to hide that he was crying last night because they took Meko, our red pom, to the vet and it turns out that, in addition to her usual cheerful incontinence, she's also got diabetes and heart/lung congestion. I don't think any one thing would be a problem--it's that she's about twelve years old, and when the ailments start piling up, you know it's getting bad. The poms are his babies--stepdogs, really, although I feel like they're as much mine as his at this point, given how I'm the one who takes care of them during the day--and he gets very, very upset whenever one of them is sick. The weird thing is that Meko seems to be friskier than ever--she was a little heavy, but the heart medicine has made her even more incontinent than usual, with the side effect that she's actually lost a good bit of bloat and water weight, and is a lot happier (and lighter). The doctor was like, "It's the damnedest thing. You wouldn't even think there was anything wrong with her, just to look at her." So I'm hoping this just means that Meko's going to be a bit more high-maintenance, medically speaking, but that she's got a few more good years in her left.

And then there's New Orleans. (Wow, what an odd journal entry. "New Orleans may be wiped off the map but ohhhhh my dooooooooog!") Both people I know in New Orleans seem to have evacuated safely, and while it seems like the worst storm in 40 years for sure, the whole thing seems to have eased off the doomsday scenario we were looking at last night. ("Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and made a slight turn to the right before hitting land at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the bayou town of Buras. It passed just to the east of New Orleans as it moved inland, sparing this vulnerable city its full fury.") I'm sure the damage will be catastrophic, but it looks like New Orleans will at least still be there tomorrow. I guess we'll have to see how bad the environmental damage is then.

I still have class today--I say "still," because my mother is always convinced that the least turn of bad weather will cause class cancellation, which is ridiculous. But she always makes me check the website anyway. As far as I'm concerned, if my modem didn't even flicker, yeah: we have class. And it's a good class--low-impact, so far. The kind of class that's very small, so you really do have to do the reading, but if you put a good bit of thought into it and participate in discussion, that's pretty much all you have to do. Our papers are short, informal, and fairly well spaced out--

Okay, no sooner do I write that paragraph and my mother calls and says that schools are closing. My university? "[We] do not anticipate closing due to weather related to Hurricane Katrina." My mother's going to flip. Sigh.

Anyway. Watched Rome last night, except that I missed the first ten minutes due to another Excruciating Family Dinner. It schools Empire (dammit! I still need to finish those recaps!) in terms of nudity and production values, but... somehow I miss the giddy cheese. Even in terms of good television, it was a little slow. Maybe the second episode will be better.

Ah, Meko's home from another trip to the vet. She's a bit groggy, so I need to go get her settled in.

Comments

[some-kat.livejournal.com]

Okay, no sooner do I write that paragraph and my mother calls and says that schools are closing. My university? "[We] do not anticipate closing due to weather related to Hurricane Katrina." My mother's going to flip. Sigh.


Wait...Why didn't they do that here?! I know they closed one class (a german class) for the weather. I really think New Orleans needed to be cleaned up, and if this is the way to do it, then by God, let's let it. All my area's get, it seems, is rain and wind.

I hope your dog gets better. At 12 years old, it's a little natural to be more worried about her then weather at this point. I can't blame you.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Cleaned up?

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

He probably means that as in "Sodom and Gomorrah really needed to be cleaned up, and by god, if the fire of the lord's wrath is the way to do it, then that's what it takes.".

Even if he didn't mean that, those loonies *are* crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The reason I asked is that they're talking about NO turning into a cesspit of toxic chemicals and human waste due to the flooding, so... "cleaned up" is not really what's going to happen.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the casinos & strip clubs are closed and all the gays have left town, so clearly it's all much better now.

Bigots suck. Religious bigots suck hard.

[yuki-onna.livejournal.com]

What time and channel are Rome on? I'm TV challenged...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

HBO, which means it'll be on again tomorrow night (7 or 8? I can't remember) and will be on twenty other times if you have digital cable or multiple HBO channels as well.

[yuki-onna.livejournal.com]

Rat poop. And me without my intravenous television jack.

[draconifers.livejournal.com]

Oh, hope your dog gets better. I've never had a pet...

That hurricane is horribly scary. Do you live near New Orleans?

Pfft, our school won't close even if there's a blizzard here.

Ooh, i wanna see Rome.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Birmingham. We're just looking at wind and rain, but if things start getting flung around, they close schools.

[adoresixtyfour.livejournal.com]

My dad was from Birmingham. He never had any hurricane stories, though--at least none he shared with me.

Glad the storm isn't hitting you. Extra glad it's not slapping the Crescent City like the local weathercasters were saying last night. ("60-80% of homes will be destroyed, leaving about a million people homeless..." OMGWTF!)

[thunderphoenix.livejournal.com]

Well, it seems like all of our hurricane stories have only started occuring in the past few years, with Opal, Ivan, and Dennis. And weathercasters always make things seem worse than they are. Keeps the ratings up.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently coastal Alabama got smacked pretty hard--Birmingham's great because we get aftershock weather, but nothing really direct. I'm still sort of ill that I have to go to class, now that I'm looking out the window, but it's more "nasty" than "life-threatening."

[adoresixtyfour.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad you're (relatively) okay--wouldn't do to have Cleo washed out to sea.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm hearing now that it hasn't even hit us yet--it's supposed to get here within the next hour or so. Of course, I'm gonna have to be washed a hell of a long way before I get out to sea.

[adoresixtyfour.livejournal.com]

Well...crap. Hope you and the family get through okay.

[linz-lou.livejournal.com]

Give your dog a hug for me. :)

I had two classes this morning, but they cancelled classes for the rest of the day, and all classes are cancelled tomorrow. It's not even doing anything here yet, so I really don't know why classes were cancelled. Not that I'm complaining or anything - now I have a free day all to myself, and those are hard to come by. ;)

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Poor Meko. I hope she doesn't get any worse.

My school closes only when the snow goes over a foot or so in winter— it happens about once a winter on average. Last year, the students made a very large anatomically correct male snowperson on the lawn in the middle of campus. I kinda wish they'd put it in front of the LOVE sculpture (http://students.wharton.upenn.edu/~parkdani/images/pod/041905-3.jpg).

I'm glad New Orleans looks like it may survive being hurricaned without large loss of life. I was thinking it would go the way of Lyonesse (http://www.kingarthursknights.com/theland/lyonesse.asp).

[yarha.livejournal.com]

New Orleans will survive: it's hard to kill, kinda like a cockroach. Even if it floats away, chances are it'll hang around some other gulf city and make a general nuisance.

Yarha, Born in Louisiana

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

You know, people get all "oh, my pain is meaningless because at least there's not a hurracaine headed towards my house", and on the one hand, yes, it's important to have a sense of perspective. And when people are whining about things that you'd gladly trade your life in for, well, you kinda want to get nasty at them. But on the other hand, just because there are other people that bad things are happening to doesn't mean the bad things in your life aren't valid. And your dog being sick is something that affects you personally in a much different way than the French Quarter suddenly being an underwater attraction. And sometimes I think people (not you), want to make themselves important by pointing out how much they care about the suffering of others, and how in minimizes their own woe! which is still nevertheless substantial, of course, and could only minimized by such a massive catastrophe.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No, I totally know what you're talking about. It's the way some Americans were all like "We are ALL Londoners today! *sniff*" on July 7. I mean, solidarity is nice, but sometimes it feels like an excuse to be emo and experience someone else's tragedy vicariously--it's like, you get to feel important and traumatized without actually going through the trauma. It is hard to find a balance between that and blithely ignoring something altogether.

[greyduck.livejournal.com]

I went through a weird experience a few years back. My grandmother, who lived in Texas, passed away early on a September morning.

If you think about it for a second, I'll bet you can guess the exact date.

So here I was, working my radio job, dealing with an internal and external tragedy all at once, and having to reconcile to myself (and those few around me who knew) the different levels and layers of reactions. It was... surreal, really. Among other things.

Just my little anecdote. Take it how you will. *wry grin*

[hail-atlantis.livejournal.com]

Yes, what she said. Also, it doesn't do the people of New Orleans any good for you to throw your hands up and go, "OH! I'm not going to blog about my sick doggie or do ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD BUT WORRY ABOUT NEW ORLEANS!!"

And it sucks worse than anything when beloved pets start gettin' old. I hope li'l doggie feels better soon. :(

[bohotremere.livejournal.com]

Speaking as an insulin-dependent diabetic person, once Meko's insulin dosage gets balanced out at where it needs to be, she'll feel even better than she does now. It'll be an adjustment, but all the diabetic dogs I've met seem to do really well, despite having to get a shot at least once a day.

And yeah...I know what it's like to have a very old dog. My 13-year-old greyhound had to go to the vet a week or so ago for his arthritis. Dr. Borden shot him full of cortisone and put him on an NSAID. It's like the last five years have just...rolled off of him. He's got a spring in his step and the sparkle back in his eyes. He's eating like a pig again and sleeping through the night more often than not (thank Gods, as I was about to murder his insomniac butt).

It's funny about old dogs...there's times their idiosyncrasies are annoying as hell, but let the least little thing happen health-wise, and you realize how endearing they are...and how much a part of your life they are.

Anywho...hope ya don't wash away today. Hope Meko gets to feeling better quickly!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Aww, that's great to hear. I think my stepfather will feel better once he realizes that she's going to be okay and that this is basically a medical improvement, not the harbinger of doom.

[bohotremere.livejournal.com]

>>that this is basically a medical improvement, not the harbinger of doom.<<

LOL...it will mean, however, that if he's one of those who likes to give her tidbits or treats at the drop of a hat...that he'll have to find another way to give her lovin's. Blood sugar is a screwy kind of thing, so just do what the vet tells ya and she should be fine.

[adoresixtyfour.livejournal.com]

**Hugs to sick puppy Meko**

[pride4u2.livejournal.com]

Stay safe, Cleo! *hugs* ♥

[marcusisabadass.livejournal.com]

hi kid. i am so completely strung out right now as my entries indicate. can't get through to anybody. 504 area code is down. no word on my house right now, smack in the middle of uptown. doesn't flood much, and fortunately sounds like river did not breech levees uptown. major flooding in some places around town, some looting too, but all in all not as bad.

i cannot even begin to describe what it felt like going to bed last night hearing the line that there was "a 50/50 shot" of new orleans not being there right now.

pete and gia are safe. no clue about juan's flying burrito. 9th ward under 6 feet of water, windows and roofs blown off everywhere. kind of helpless. not sure how long i'll be here with a suit, 2 tshirts, a pair of jeans, and a pair of dress shoes.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

God, I know. I was worried about your stuff, since you were already out of town (and safe). Where are you now, AL?

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

Ha! Back in my school in Russia we just wore our coats and mittens and hats in class when heat would get turned off in December. We didn't stop going until the temperature went below -35 Celcius. I scoff in your mother's general directions =P

[state-champion.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the dogs.
This morning my cat Clay Aiken was barfing up all over the house. My mom comes into my room all teary, saying we need to take him to the vet. She's upset still because we recently had to put down our 18-year-old cat. So she's terrified of the other two kittie sbeing sick.
I dunno, I think he's just sick from the heat [he's a long-hair and it's been over 100 degrees the past few days.]

[dopaminergic.livejournal.com]

I evacuated up to Memphis from New Orleans no problem, but I've been in contact with two close friends (who happen to be brothers, eagle scouts, and one an EMT) who boarded up their house like a fortress and stayed put. They said that the water made it up to their first step up to their porch, which is about 2-3 feet from the street, slates from their roof were blowing away, one small window that they didn't secure fell out, wind was coming up through the floorboards, and that the house was shaking like a wooden roller coaster. They seem to be fine now, no major damage. Can't say the same for the rest of the city, though, the 9th Wards is under 6 feet of water and their are dead bodies floating around :'(

I still haven't had word as to how badly flooded my area of town (uptown, historic Carrollton at the Riverbend) is. I can't wait until they let us come back into the city.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Wow--are the bodies people who died in the storm, or from cemeteries...?

[arpeggiodreams.livejournal.com]

We were talking about Louisiana French in my Ethnic Studies class Friday (read: making fun of them at all times possible).

We came back to class today, and the professor's like. "Well, shit. We pick on New Orleans, and then Katrina decides to come beat the hell out of it. What are we going to do when we get to the Irish?"

So we talked about mayonaise instead.

[takarakanashi.livejournal.com]

I know this sounds crazy, cause you don't really KNOW me... but I'm from New Orleans. And we got out okay. And I'm a humongous Cleolinda fan (and have preordered my book.).

*sigh* I'm just so worried right now and it's actually quite confusingly worrying and relieving to read your entry. I'm just going to go ahead and watch the Superdome roof break for the 50 billionth time on television now. Thank you.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that's good to hear. Do you know how your house/apartment/stuff back in town is?

[takarakanashi.livejournal.com]

Here's the general rundown on everything that I've heard... stuff you may want to post in case you have anyone from the area reading your jounal (which since I'm reading, it's likely.).

Well... my apartment (in Hammond) should be okay. My best friend is going back tomorrow, and we may wait... so odds are things aren't messed up. We've had our windows taped since Ivan, lol.

My job, at Target in Covington, well... we have no clue. Covington is 20 minutes away from Hammond, and we are thinking that it's either under water, or close to being partially destroyed. Hurricane force winds ran through there.

My family lives in Slidell, they think that Slidell is destroyed. No definite news has come back on that.

The four worst flooded places in the city area are: Kenner, Uptown New Orleans, New Orleans East, and the Westbank. A building in Terrytown collapsed, no info on whether there was anyone in it. The aforementioned places above have water levels of at least 8 feet.

Any more info and I'll post it publicly on my personal journal (takarakanashi). I have a public post for information that ANYONE might be able to supply, so if YOU find out anything (because I know you're a serious news reader, lol) please let me know, because a huge part of my flist is in the area. Thank you, Cleo, I appreciate it.

As for me, I'm not really worried whether or not my stuff was destoryed, because my fiance' and I are safe, and that's all that matters. *worries about my friends and family*

Again, thank you for your concern, friend.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No problem--thanks. And good luck. : )

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

*scritches dog* I hope you're right and she's just going to be a high-maintenance little prima donna. :) Having a sick pet sucks.

[sualocin.livejournal.com]

Poor puppy! Well, luckily you can do stuff about diabetes. There is special food and all that. I'm sure you know that [seeing as how the vet probably told you].

And have fun at class.

Ps: I added you because you are neato. ♥

[edda.livejournal.com]

I'm sending both your dog and New Orleans good wishes.

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

It's so odd.. I'm so far inland, and yet whenever a hurricane comes up through the gulf, we get heavy wind and rain all the way up here (western Kentucky).
So far, a few schools are closed due to lots of flooding and the collapse of a roof. And some young teen girl got swept down some drainage hole from all of the flooding.

The whole thing about holing people up in the Superdome is just eerie to me. Something tells me it would make a really good made for TV movie, or at least an RP.
And the darker part of my mind says it would make a good base for a horror movie. Everyone's trapped there and suddenly someone goes on a murderous rampage. But that's kind of like Identity, isn't it?

[hail-atlantis.livejournal.com]

*icon lurve*

I'd forgotten all about the good ol' days of U2 in full drag. They looked strangely appealing at times.

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

It's totally takeable, as is this one:


And there's a banner too:
http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/371/drag0xs.png

**totally obsessed**

[hail-atlantis.livejournal.com]

That banner is just. Um. My brain just shut down and turned into Beavis. Eh heh heh heh heh.

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

**winks** My work here is done.

I think the last time my brain shut down like that, was when I opened my friends page to discover that my newest LJ friend had just posted a Bono/Larry slash fanfic on her LJ. I tried to resist, I really did. But I gave in and read it. I'm scarred for life, but I enjoyed every moment of it. It was hot.

[kiasopia.livejournal.com]

I wish you good luck with getting home and my god that sounds horific, best of luck to all that live in the south.