Thursday evening things

 *not a lot to say, my whole face hurts, probably because of the weather coming in (sinuses).

* I pulled the vest back out this evening and added a couple more rounds but didn't feel up to doing very much.

* I have been watching the 'local' news channel to see the scroll of school closures. So far, the two small universities closest to me are closed, we are still open as of this point. The local school district is open. Granted, the bad weather isn't supposed to arrive until noon, but I thought IF we did decide to close and I knew, I could just turn my alarm off.

 * I have got a few e-mails from students telling me they have longish commutes and aren't coming in and I get it; this storm is probably going to be dangerous.

* I've done what I can to prepare, the last two things will be filling buckets with water in the tub (in case we lose water; you still need to flush) and also going in my garage and unhooking the "manual override" for the door opener - so if there's no power, I could still get in there, I could AT LEAST charge my cell phone off the battery, and if we have  catastrophic power outage that still exists after all the ice and snow melt, I possibly could bug out somewhere where there would be heat.

I admit the main thing I am worried about is not being able to have heat; it's supposed to get down in the teens and my house seems to lose heat pretty rapidly, and I'm afraid of going hypothermic, especially overnight. I don't know if that's a possibility or not, indoors, with blankets, and my own body heat, but when it's 10 degrees or less outdoors I suspect my house won't stay over 60 F for long without electric power. 

* I keep reminding myself that it will be well enough above freezing by Tuesday that even if I have no power, IF I can drive, I could probably get SOMEWHERE that would be warm - whether they have the dorms powered, they might let me hang out there, or the public library if it has a generator, or, if I could get somewhere far enough away to have less of an effect of ice, I might be able to get a hotel room somewhere. 

It's also possible we won't get enough ice for major problems; they keep changing the forecast and reducing the amount of ice. I will get a little cabin feverish if it's just snow and sleet and I'm stuck in the house for three days, but three days of cold/dark/no water/no way to heat food would be bad.

But also a thing I have noticed in myself, something that seems to have developed in the pandemic - what I call the "forever now phenomenon" - that any bad situation is going to be forever, that it's always going to be cold and dark, or it's always going to be impossible to go out without risking getting a deadly virus, or there's always going to be things going on in government that are horrifying and things will never get better. I don't remember being like that when I was younger; I don't know if my brain has just shifted or it's a buildup of stuff I've experienced. 

*It was kind of a stressful day. The heating in part of the building went out and even with a few little space heaters Physical Plant brought, it was just cold, and I can tell I tensed up (my shoulders hurt). Also, the grad student who helps out with the lab prep (and teaches the one right after mine) told me he was running home for lunch and a quick nap before his lab (this was shortly after noon; his lab was at 3. He is an International student with an accent and darker skin. So when he didn't show up right before 3 (he is normally a few minutes early always), I started to worry, thinking "if he had car trouble he'd e-mail me" or "if he took sick but not too badly he might e-mail me" and while I've seen no evidence of DHS forces in town, I did worry.....what if he got confronted. So I prepared to launch into teaching his lab, and could tell I was concerned enough that I probably wouldn't have done well, when the undergrad who is the assistant said "oh, he just texted me, he overslept and is about five minutes away"

I think I visibly relaxed in front of the class when I heard that, and he ran in the door a couple minutes later. 

Later, he came and apologized to me and thanked me for being on hand and ready to teach if I had to. I didn't tell him I had been worried and why, but I suspect he knew. (And since it ended happily, I admit: if I had had wound up doing the pre-lab for him, I might have gently dunked on him about it, just because he is normally so prompt and isn't the type of person to take naps during the day, but I think this week was a lot of evening meetings for him and he was probably tired). At any rate: while I could have taught for him, I'm glad I didn't have to, especially not for the reason I was worrying about.