Hurricane Sandy-- You Stupid Slut

So like I was saying, it turns out that the storm was a bigger deal than I thought. I was expecting a free day from work and going drinking in the rain. What I got was much different. It started out uneventful--Atl and I were stuck in the neighborhood since the subways and buses weren't running, but to our surprise not much was open. We went to brunch on that Monday and spent the rest of the day lazing around the apartment. Shortly after brunch it had started to rain and it had been pretty windy since the day before. That evening it was getting progressively worse and this is when we both started receiving calls from our parents checking in. SA made her over since she lived in the neighborhood and her roommates were gone. After eating most of the perishable items in our fridge, we settled in to watch late 90's teen movies on netflix. At this point, the rain was pounding against our windows and the wind was gusting so hard that the powder from our brick walls was blowing into the apartment. We sat nervously through Drive Me Crazy and at the start of She's All That, the lights started to flicker. Shit,we were actually going to lose power. I sent out a few last minute texts and kept my fingers crossed that maybe it wouldn't happen. We didn't get halfway through the movie when there was a loud, hollow noise outside and everything went black with a sick buzz. We lit some candles and the three of us sat there in the dark, not knowing what to do. There was not a light on for as far as we could see and the wind was still blowing the rain around in massive gusts. We hoped the power would be back after an hour or two and when that didn't happen we went to bed.

It still wasn't back on in the morning. We were all stir crazy by then so we decided to walk to a bar or restaurant with a generator. We put on our rain gear (I wore sneakers) and headed out. Walking north on Avenue C, there was debris and wet leaves everywhere and a woman was on the corner crying. People were pumping water from the basements of the buildings and there was soaked food littering the floor of the supermarket. Cars were being cleaned out--the flooding was so bad that many of them were completely submerged. We are live on the southern end of Ave C, which miraculously received almost no flooding. But up further it was obviously not so good and I was glad to walk on. We cut west at 14th st and there was still not a place with lights. We overheard conversations that there was no power until 40th st and that we wouldn't have it back for 2 or 3 more days.

This was getting bleak but we didn't know what else to do, so we walked. We followed the masses of people doing the same as us. It was a mass exodus towards the lights. We walked through the East Village, into Gramercy, through Murray Hill, and into Midtown. The rumors had been correct--it wasn't until the 40's that we started seeing lights. Every single establishment was packed. People were crowding bank lobbies to charge their phones. The shelves at every store were completely empty. We went into at least 10 bars and restaurants looking for a table, where we could just sit and be warm, but every place was completely full. So we kept walking north. It was finally around 55th st that we were able to push our way into a Johnny Rockets. We sat dejectedly for a couple of hours while our phones charged and we ate soggy french fries. We then walked over to GA's apartment for hot showers then trudged back down 60 blocks before it got too dark out.

Atl and I were going to try and stick it out in our apartment but after one more night in the darkness and cold, we couldn't take it anymore. We packed our bags for the morning and starting asking around within our various friends who didn't lose power. Pubs had offered up his apartment in Astoria more than once but I wasn't sure if it would look to desperate to accept. But it made the most sense, since we  both had to work the next day and I could then have a partner in crime to fight for a cab, since subways still weren't running. So I ended up accepting, even though I had yet to go to his place. I hoped it wouldn't be too awkward. I had a surprisingly easy commute the next morning--only 2 buses. About 4 people showed up at my office, including Pubs, who had to walk across the Queensboro bridge into Midtown. After work we paid a gypsy cab $50 to take us to Queens, where it actually was not awkward despite him having 2 friends staying in the living room for a night. I ended up staying 4 nights, since his subway line resumed service the next day. Plus he had a new adorable orange kitten named Franklin that I loved playing with.

During my stay Pubs was extremely welcoming and I was really glad to be hanging out with him. I ended up returning to Ave C Saturday evening when our power was back. I had left Wednesday morning and our power had been out since Monday--almost 5 days. Obviously many people had it way worse than I did but still legit. Once we were reunited back on C, how did we celebrate? By going out of course. Most of the bars and restaurants were open again, though not all. We had dinner then I met Guy Work Friend and his friends at DBA. We spent most of the night freaking out over a candle on the bar which had a religious skeleton that we nicknamed "Zombie Jesus" and then one of the friends accidentally spilled candle wax all over my leg.

And we were back, ladies and gentlemen. Sandy can't hold us down!