the Great Flood of 2010

I don't care if it's not official yet--I'm declaring this one Great anyway. It's been raining for three days, and while I haven't yet heard any official totals, what can be seen with the naked eye is pretty darn impressive. Entire branches of the T system were unable to run, and buses were trying to shuttle people in to work. It's amazing that in a culture so accepting of snow days we can't call a "flood day" when things are so bad. The trains have just as much trouble in current conditions as in heavy snow, and yet everyone is expected to slog through and get to work. About half of my photo archives class was absent today because they either couldn't make it into town or they had to stay home to deal with flooded basements.

I didn't leave campus at all yesterday, so I missed some of the excitement, but the news this morning was ridiculous. The above ground stops of the Green Line weren't running for several hours, and the Fenway T stop was completely shut down. They even put up a dam of sandbags to keep the muddy river creek (which crested at 15' above it's usual level) from sending water down into the subway tunnels. Below is a photograph of the barricade from the MBTA Flickr account.


This next picture (also courtesy the MBTA) is of a section of track on the Green Line between Chestnut Hill and Newton Centre that completely lost its support when a sinkhole opened underneath it. Read the full details here.


This next one I took myself when Christina and I wandered over to the park after class. Our usual route to the Longwood T stop is completely underwater. The trains are running again now, as the train in the back of the photo shows, but you have to take a much longer route to get to the station. Going on this photo expedition, I learned my rain boots are no longer perfectly waterproof. Sad day. Oh, and apparently the Charles River is overflowing its banks as well.


And the worst part? Metro Boston got off easy compared to a lot of other towns in the area. Allan Parish was right, a little rain never hurt anybody "but a lot can kill you." Let's pray the rain really does stop tomorrow so we can start putting things back together.

-Kim

And just for the sake of irony, I have one more thing to share. As I was writing this my iTunes was on shuffle, and several water related songs came up. But the one that really made me laugh was "Flood" by Jars of Clay. In case you don't know the words, here they are. Now you can all share in the irony.

"Flood"

Rain, rain on my face
It hasn't stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud

Chorus:
But if I can't swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up - when I'm falling
Lift me up - I'm weak and I'm dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - Keep me from drowning again

Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, I'm losing control
Dark sky all around
I can't feel my feet touching the ground

[Chorus]

Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me

[Chorus]

Lift me up - when I'm falling
Lift me up - I'm weak and I'm dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - Keep me from drowning again

parade fail

March 14 is Pi Day. This year, it was also the date of the annual South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. Unfortunately, this weekend a Nor'easter blew through New England. The rain was pouring down all day, and the wind made it come horizontally. And yet the parade went on. Here's a picture from the boston.com website of what the conditions were like:


After much deliberation, my friends and I decided that rather than get soaked and risk getting sick at possibly the most inopportune time of the semester, we would stay in and watch it on TV. However, after much painstaking research and phone calls to both the Mayor's hotline (the guy who answered the phone was rather rude when he told me they had nothing to do with the parade, in spite of the fact that boston.com advertised that we could phone the hotline for news of the parade) and the official parade phone number, we learned that the only station that would be broadcasting the parade was New England Cable News (NECN), which is not included in the Simmons dorm cable package.

With that sad discovery, we decided to make the day as Irish as we could to make up for it. After much deliberation and searching through the available movies on Netflix instant download for any related to or filmed in Ireland, we decided on one that Sara owns, "The Secret of Roan Inish." It was a very fun movie full of adorable accents and beautiful music. Here we are getting ready to enjoy the show, still decked out in our very green finery:


I just hope that there will still be some Irish fun to be had on the holiday itself and that Boston did not expend all its fervor on one dreary, blustery parade day.

-Kim

I dream of teeth

On Wednesday night I dreamed I went to see my dentist and she wasn't there. Many strange events and circumstances had transpired to make me late, and when I arrived her area was empty. I was very sad, because this meant that I was never going to have my stitches removed and would have a mass of wet string in my mouth for the rest of my life. (Is it weird that I'm now dreaming about going to the dentist? Let's hope it was just because I really wanted my stitches out!)

Thankfully, this did not happen when I went in on Friday. I was a few minutes late thanks to the mass transit system being what it is, but it wasn't a problem. However, once Fatema had called me from the waiting room and brought me back to her chair she discovered that Dr. Chueng was nowhere to be found. Dr. Chueng is the one who has been taking the measurements in my mouth from the start, so we couldn't possibly take them without her.

Fatema called and left her a message and set about completing the portion of the appointment that she could do on her own--taking photographs of my progress and removing the stitches. She applied a topical numbing agent, so I couldn't feel much while she was cutting the thread and pulling it out, but I could see the pieces of thread as they came out, and it's amazing how long some of them were.

By the time we had finished that, Dr. Chueng had appeared and we were able to take the measurements. Afterward Fatema gave me a fancy new interdental brush to keep the spaces between my teeth clean. I won't be allowed to floss for many more weeks as the bone and soft tissue continue to grow, but the plaque still needs to be kept out. The same company also makes extra-soft toothbrushes which are better for my extra sensitive tissue post-surgery. Sadly, the only store in all of Massachusetts that sells them is about two hours away by car. Who would have thought I would end up buying my toothbrushes online? Still, it's a small price to pay for a healthy mouth. That's what I have to keep telling myself when I get frustrated by the pain and inconvenience of oral surgery. The pain is temporary, but the benefits are long-lasting. I may not be able to bite into an apple right now, but I'll be glad when I am an old woman and able to do so with my own teeth.

-Kim

whims, bangs and flops

Hello world! I know it's been a while, but I really am still here.

Now what was it I wanted to tell you all about? Oh yeah! So, I did a rather brave thing not too long ago. I decided that my bangs were getting too long, but since I'm trying to grow the rest of my hair out right now it clearly made no sense to go out and pay a professional stylist. So as I was waiting for the free skate of the Olympic women's figure skating competition, I sat down on the floor in front of my full length mirror with a trash can between my knees to catch the mess and cut my own bangs. I think I did pretty darn well, considering it was my first attempt. It was easier because the bangs were already a good shape, so I just tried to cut the same amount off all the way across to keep them even. Possibly they ended up a bit shorter than intended, but that just means I can wait even longer before attempting it again. So what do you think?


Oh yeah, and I just spent several days in Texas visiting Dianna. It was a blast and will be highlighted in a separate post soon, along with pictures. Right now I'm playing catch-up with my schoolwork because of spending most of my spring break in sunny Texas, so that comes first. Also, I'm going to the dentist today to get my stitches out: yay! I'm really tired of having this mass of wet string in my mouth.

-Kim

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - RGM version

I am absolutely in awe. Go. Watch. It.