WAG - When the Bizarre Becomes the Norm
Over the last 40 hours, we've had 3 tornado warnings that forced everyone into the Hatch basement.
Well, not everyone. Not the people who weren't here when the sirens went off and not the ones who decided to leave the building or stick around in their rooms despite the warnings.
The 200-odd people who have consistently made the trek downstairs are beginning to become pretty blasé about the whole process.
People who were worried and a bit nervous the first time are becoming as stoic as the regular Mid-Westerners who have years of experience sitting on the east end of Tornado Alley.
Lots of people are like, "Yeah, I've seen a tornado. So?"
Some of us have debated tornados versus hurricanes, but it still comes down to the basic lesser of two evils question - and it always remains unresolved becomes some people just prefer different evils.
Anyway, people have gotten to the point where they know to grab a pack or card or a book before marching down to the basement.
We know to stop the dryers - which make it even hotter, as well as bring change for the soda machine - which hasn't gotten this much use all year (I especially liked my Coke with a Purple March Madness bottle cap).
We keep hearing this is a record number of tornado warnings and that this is an once-in-a-lifetime event, but it doesn't affect most of us. Most of the major storms have gone around Columbia - or in the case of the last wave when a twister was spotted - didn't touch down.
Green tinted skies and evacuations are becoming typical.
Note: The radar channel just went into "Zoom-in" mode. That means another wave is about to break on us.
I've been in so many situations involving tornados, I'm pretty passive about it. After you've huddled in the basement with a cat, or sat bunched up against a load desks on the war side of the classroom, or sat in a traffic jam as a funnel cloud crossed the overpass a quarter mile ahead of you, you become - not apathetic, but readjusted to the situation.
Yep, another storm is about to break - so?
Looking at the extreme close-up on the screen, it looks like the front has a small gap in it, and that most of it is going to pass right around Columbia.
Some people want to go storm chasing and others are ready to pull out of town, but those are the extremes.
Most of us, are like me: simply waiting to ride out the storm.
I wonder what's on TV...
'dont_know_why_theres_no_sun_up_in_the_sky'
