Yesterday, we were jolted awake just after 5 a.m. by tornado sirens blaring through our apartment. It was still dark out, I could hear a storm brewing through our cracked window, and the ominous noise is something I still haven’t gotten used to yet despite enduring a few years of weekly tests. The vibe was spooky!
My husband, my dog, and I groggily hunkered down on the bathroom floor with a blanket — the safest plan, I’d determined when this happened last year, to wait out the storm given that we don’t have a basement or even ground level access in our second-floor unit. I refreshed Twitter and the weather radar over and over again for updates of where the storm had been spotted, and for a while, it looked like something could’ve been headed right toward us.
It was not fun! As someone who grew up in the Appalachian hills on the eastern Ohio border, the closest I came to experiencing a tornado warning before moving to Columbus was watching the opening scenes of The Wizard of Oz in absolute horror, and I would have preferred it to remain that way.
Thankfully I wasn’t home alone like I was last time we had a tornado warning, and while some buildings in other nearby towns were damaged by whatever managed to touch down, I don’t believe I’ve heard of any injuries or mass destruction. Luckily, instances of severe weather will only decrease in my lifetime. 🥰
A fitting end to a whirlwind of a month, I guess! My job hunt continues to consume my life and I am officially as tired of talking about it as I’m sure everyone else is of hearing about it. Things are both maddening and mostly OK right now.
As a very welcome salve, I got to see so many of my friends this month. One of my best friends from college and I met up for lunch halfway between our two cities, I had a great night with my book club at a brewery I’d never been to before, I celebrated two wonderful friends getting engaged, I attended a bridal shower, we saw a musical with my brother- and sister-in-law, and had another friend from college stay in our guest room for a night. My cup runneth over, I feel so energized by all of it, and I got out of the house as much as I could.
Recommendations
I have been obsessed with the Out Alive podcast from Backpacker, which sadly doesn’t seem to be publishing anymore but mercifully has a decent backlog to go through.
Adeem the Artist! My husband and I saw them perform live last week and it was such a wonderful show.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is the first book on the actual craft of writing that I think I’ve read outside of textbooks in school? It is completely rewiring my brain in a very good way.
I kind of can’t believe there isn’t more conversation about the fact that Annette Bening is Oscar-nominated this year for portraying a woman who is allegedly… a prolific liar? This article from Defector is wild.
- from Olivia Muenter is truly one of my favorite things to receive in my inbox — always just a really joyful and fun and thoughtful read that often really hits home.
Writing
I was over at Apartment Therapy this month evangelizing about my beloved tiny clear plastic bins with a slightly deranged amount of passion.
ICYMI, I wrote about West Virginia State Parks’ DarkSky certification for the latest issue of Wonderful WV Magazine. Available now online and in print!
Odds & Ends
I changed the name of this newsletter to Almost the Weekend. It’s an inside joke mostly to myself — when my husband is tired, struggling to summon the motivation to rise from bed and face the workday, I always say to him “It’s not so bad, it’s almost the weekend!” I say this regardless of what day it actually is, which is hilarious to me and me alone. Maybe it’s a charming sentiment about seeing the ✨Friday energy✨ in every single day, or maybe it is just one of the many gleefully dumb things I say on a regular basis. Either way, that’s what this is called now.
I’ve been posting on TikTok more because I have fun making cute little slideshows! Much like with this newsletter, I am trying to indulge any tiny instincts of fun/creative energy I muster without worrying about being seen as cringe. It’s a harrowing journey. You can follow me there!
Thank you so much for reading my Substack! And sharing. So kind! Also I had no idea about the Diana Nyad stuff!! Wild! Looking forward to reading that article you linked.