Well, I went to sleep last night around 11pm and thought I might
not even wake up when Ike came through. Boy, was I wrong! I woke up
around 5am with no power and the sound of cyclonic winds hitting my
apartment. I've never been through a tornado but the winds were so
strong and so loud that I quickly got all of my stuff like
flashlights, radio, and batteries into the bathroom. I called my
brother and mother and learned that this had been going on since
around 2am, so it was nothing new to them. So when I figured out I
wasn't going to die right at that moment I felt a little relief.
But not much. I laid down on the floor away from the window (which
I had barricaded with boxes of books) and tried to get some rest.
But it's kinda hard when you're listening to a radio which is
declaring that your city hasn't even seen the worst of the storm
yet.
It was pretty harrowing to sit in the dark and hear just all kinds
of weird and unsettling noises like trees splitting, windows
shattering, and then you hear the weird ghost sound of something
rolling back and forth on top of your roof. And this wasn't a flat
roof either. It was sloped and something kept rolling back and
forth, back and forth. Who the hell knows what it was. I don't
really say "I'm scared" but early this morning I have to admit I
was. The last hurricane that hit Houston full blast occurred back
in 1983 and I was here for it, but I was a kid and I didn't
remember much about it. The really scary thing is that Ike was only
a Category 2 storm. I can't even comprehend the damage it would
have done if it was a Category 5.
With the sunrise, you could really get a sense of the devastation
of the storm. My apartment was fine (I had a little water drip from
the ceiling), except no power and no running water. But some of the
other apartments in my complex suffered a lot of damage. Chimneys
had fallen over, entire walls had been ripped off, windows had been
shattered. The worst damage was to the roofs. The parking lots and
walkways are covered with shingles that blew off during the night.
I think the last estimate was something like 3 or 4 million people
had no power in the Houston area. Cities closer to the coast
suffered even more severe damage.
Now I'm at my mom's place. She's the only one among my friends and
family that has power and running water. And I've talked to many
people in different areas of the city. My workplace has been closed
since Friday and is also going to be shut down on Monday. Who knows
when I'll get power and water back. But you know what? I count
myself lucky. Because a lot of people have lost houses, cars,
valuables, and sometimes even their lives. What is my minor
inconvenience compared to that?
I did manage to read a little manga today on my patio. It kinda
helped my get my mind off things. So hopefully, I'll be posting a
review later on tonight. Text only, mind you. I didn't bring my
microphone.
About the Podcast
My main focus is reviewing manga and anime, but I also review Japanese literature, movies, and videogames. Basically, if it has anything to do with Japan, I'll talk about it, along with a dash of Korea and China.