"Get to an Interior Room"

There was a time when I would have been scared upon receiving a weather alert saying, "People in your area should get to an interior room with no windows immedicately and stay there until further notice." Today when I got that message, I just went back to what I was doing -- and it wasn't in an interior room with no windows. In fact, it was in my living room. The west wall of my house, including my living room, is made up almost entirely of windows. While I do have a healthy respect for our crazy coastal weather, I'm rarely frightened by it. I know the sound a tornado makes (I've probably mentioned that I've been in three, none in Florida) and I can get into the hallway closet pretty fast if necessary. As it turned out, today it wasn't necessary. We had some brutal lightning and thunder very close, but that was it. We didn't even have heavy rain.

When I had been at the grocery store earlier, the clerk had asked me what time it was supposed to start storming. I said 3:00, and I was pretty close. Fortunately, my paycheck from my scoring job was more than I had expected, so I was able to pay my mortgage and pick up a few groceries; I won't get my teaching paycheck until July 20, despite my long conversation yesterday with my boss. I did mention to her that I felt like I was in a bad spot -- not only because I didn't get paid, but also because as an adjunct I felt like I couldn't complain much -- and she said it cuts both ways; she was glad I wanted to talk with her about it. In her view, situations like these leave the college vulnerable to losing good adjuncts when they "get pissed and leave." She's usually reserved, so I was surprised she put it that way, but I was more surprised to discover that my position my not be as tenuous as I had previously thought.

I do have several amusing anecdotes to share, but I swear I've been a worn-out mess since returning from vacaton! If I hadn't had things to do, I would have gone to an "interior room with no windows" and just curled up and napped there all day. Instead, I worked half a day, took care of my mortgage and went to the grocery store, then graded papers and cleaned up the left-behind kid mess. My kitchen is definitely being ripped out next week, so I have to get the few remaining things out of the cabinet this weekend and find a place to stay for a few days. Supposedly, work is starting next Thursday. We'll see.