Give It a Rest, Mother Nature
It’s now fall, which means a couple of things in Washington. First, it means that the rain is coming back. What I forgot about until recently was the second thing: brutal November wind storms. Now I know what you’re all thinking…how bad can one wind storm really be? At least it’s not a blizzard? And I generally agree, except it’s not just one windstorm.
Over the past week, we have experienced three severe wind events, with a fourth, albeit less severe one on the way tomorrow afternoon. I don’t mind a wind storm here and there, but this is just getting out of hand. The first one knocked out power to the campus, causing class to be postponed until noon on Monday. This was nice, as it gave me an excuse to dawdle on my way to school, but it also presented some issues. Because everyone was trying to get to campus at noon instead of at various times throughout the morning, the bus system was completely overloaded. Personally, I rode my bus contently as we simply drove past multiple stops with 20-30 students waiting to be picked up. Their expressions as we drove by were priceless, but there wasn’t much to be done as the bus was already standing room only and packed to the brim.
Once that fiasco was a thing of the past, another storm rolled in. Everyone hoped for another power failure at the school, especially me, because I had an 8 AM lab I wasn’t looking forward to not sleeping through. But, as a result of my sometimes poor luck, the campus never lost power. So I had to go stand outside in the brutal wind that easily permeates any amount of clothing you layer on in an attempt to stay warm early in the morning to wait for my bus. A lackluster lab and a day later, the third storm rolled in. It currently rages outside my window as I sit here and type this article.
So far, I haven’t been negatively affected by this wind. I almost lost power a few times, but the lights persisted despite a few episodes of worrying dimness. With my luck with the weather thus far, I’d be less than surprised if the power cut out now, somehow frying my computer and corrupting the contents of both this article and the paper I’ve been writing for the last 4 hours.
Apparently there’s supposed to be one more storm tomorrow night, but with winds slightly less than 60 MPH. That’ll be a welcome relief, because I’m tired of expending extra energy to walk places against a headwind of that magnitude. On a positive note, the wind is doing a nice job at blowing away the clouds of cigarette smoke that must usually be walked through as I pass through campus.
But really Mother Nature, give it a rest. I’m not sure what you’re so pissed off about, but we’re tired of hearing about it. Do something constructive with your anger. Heck, we’re still looking for another writer.