At about 3:45 yesterday, Mike and I had just returned to campus. I was standing in the kitchen, putting a pot of water to boil, making cheese tortelini for lunch. In a span of about four minutes, a thick wall of gray clouds blotted out the sunny sky, and the heavens opened a torrent of hail upon the parking lot right in front of me. After about three minutes, the sky was bright and clear once more.

My mother called shortly after four 'o clock. When that mini-storm hit the water, it became a micro-burst, moving about ten times the speed it had on land. This 'freak storm,' as witnesses called it, capsized a water taxi that had just left Fort McHenry, spilling its 25 passengers into the water. Fort McHenry isn't an active military base, but it is used for triage in less peaceable times. Yesterday, it was being used for some reserve naval training exercizes. Quick response led to 18 people being immediately picked up. Two more were found some time later.

As of right now, there are three missing, presumed dead, and two confirmed dead. One 60 year old woman who had been rescued died overnight after going into cardiac arrest. My heart goes out to my city.

My computer has been dropped off at Best Buy. Most likely, I'll be able to pick it back up next week, because as of Saturday, I'll be home on Spring Break. But oh, I miss my computer. There are so many lovely things I have to do-- layouts, novel planning, icons. I now have Photoshop7, and I am jazzed beyond belief with inspiration. And payday is Wednesday. I'm going to buy a few new calligraphy nibs and some bright peacock-blue ink. I can use my week at home to write long-overdue letters.

I hope that this optimism means that I'm coming out of the funk I was in. I've been very self-isolated lately, my own little island. Stress has been weighing hard, and the cheerful mask on my face was growing threadbare, my irritation and impatience showing through. I don't really know where my puzzle piece fits anymore, I feel a bit adrift, not really belonging to any particular group, to any familiar cluster. I finally went to talk to a counselor, about some personal/familial issues and also some confidential ones, as a major component of my stress has been job-related. I however forgot that shrinks are of very little use, and I really was no better off than before I went. She only told me things I already knew, and opening up didn't particularly help much. This is something I have to do on my own, but I do think that the coming spring will help.

But yes, my fingers are itching to play with color palates and swirl maddening melanges of words upon the page. Two weeks. I can deal. And I also get to see my Anna and my Timmy next week. I missed you both so much. Anna, I just want to curl up on the sofa with you and put my head on your soft shoulder and watch bad movies until I fall asleep. I miss you, I miss you. I miss the me that you bring out.