Feeling refreshed

There’s a thunderstorm outside my window right now.  I’m sitting on a recliner near the window in my bedroom and I’ve been watching the rain come down in torrents and watching the lightening flash.  It’s been an impressive storm.  Cars driving past my house are going very slowly because the storm drain is blocked up and the street is flooded.  The thunder has been pretty constant for the last fifteen minutes or so.  It’s a perfect example of a southern summer storm.  Torrential rain, violent lightening, crashing thunder.  It’s beautiful!

About twenty minutes ago, just after the rain started, a cement truck drove up in front of my neighbor’s house.  I noticed yesterday that he’d framed out a spot outside his back door to put in a larger patio.  I had to laugh when I saw the truck because there was no way that they’re going to lay cement with this storm.  Plus, nobody was even home!  I believe his wife just got home, but it’s still pouring down rain, so I really don’t know what that truck plans to do.  The storm might pass within the next hour or so, but the ground is still going to be soaked.

In other news, I’m so thankful that I work for a place that lets me take time off and pays me to do it!  I took a vacation day yesterday and the half-day I would have worked today and I stayed home.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I’ve gone out places both days, and it’s been wonderful.

Yesterday, we went to the beach at Hunting Island.  We enjoy the beach there.  There’s long stretches of sand and because it’s a pay-to-enter state park, the crowds aren’t as busy as other beaches, nor are they the same type of people.  It’s really an enjoyable place to be.  Plus, before money got tight, we bought a year-long pass and we can get in for free.  Unfortunately, we’re in the middle of summer, which means the water is perfect for jellyfish.  We saw a lot of them the last time we went out, and I freaked out because I don’t like jellyfish.  And then we learned that what we saw were cannonball jellyfish and they’re not terribly dangerous.

So when we got back there yesterday, we were prepared to see the little purple jellyfish that probably wouldn’t hurt us and I tried to be okay with swimming with those jellies, even through it’s really counter to what I’m used to thinking about those creatures..  And even though the water was really calm, it felt good to be in the water.  Until I saw a jellyfish that wasn’t a cannonball and that had the classic long tendrils of PAIN.  Okay, so it was probably only about 3 inches across, but the tendrils trailed down for about 8 inches and I really, really don’t want to get stung.  Besides, when we got back onto the beach, we found one that was stuck in the sand that that sucker was a good 12 inches across.  That thing was huge!

So much for enjoying the water.  We did stay at the beach, walking along the water line and looking at the things left by the tide.  We hit just a little after low tide, so the sand went for ages before running into the water.  We looked at shells and the poor cannonball fish washed up on shore and enjoyed the wind blowing.  The sun was crazy hot, so we didn’t stay terribly long.  It was the type of day where even though we were wearing 85 SPF sunscreen, because we’re so pale, we’d probably still get burned.  We stopped at a nearby surf shop so I could admire some of the clothes, treated ourselves to Zaxby’s for lunch, and went home.

Today, we went to the library to return books and get Justin a library card.  And we stopped at a comic book shop nearby.  It was a lot less geeky than we expected, even though that sounds not possible.  There were comics and figurines and t-shirts.  But it felt more like a boutique than a place for geeks.  We’ve been trying to find out where that community hides – it’s really hard to find the geeks around town because we tend to stay in our homes.  But when you’re new to the area and trying to find friends with similar interests?  It’s really complicated.  And frustrating.  And we’ve been trying to figure out how to work around that.

Anyway.  It’s been a wonderful couple days.  I’m feeling much more relaxed than I have been.  I’ve gotten a good amount of sleep and done things that I enjoy.  And I’ve not done anything that requires me to proof-read a document for hours on end.  I’ll have to get back to that on Monday, but until then, I’ve still got two more days of relaxing.  I have really needed this break from work.  It feels so good!