Flood, famine, and pestulance
Oct 6, 2006
Well, it has been quite a week for Wheaton campus!
The very first night I got back from Joel's wedding in Seattle, only two hours after I reached campus, the skies opened up and poured! It was the most incredible storm! The power went out pretty early on, and I went out from my safe, dry room to the wet outdoors (just for fun). I was drenched almost instantly - the rain was coming with such a force that I could hardly see. The sidewalks were like rivers, and out in the Quad a lake was formed over a foot deep! The lightening was at a strobe-light frequency, and as I walked east, I saw a blinding streak tear from the top of the heavens all the way to right behind Mac-Evans, one of our central dorms. The intensity of that lightening and the resulting thunder I have never seen the like, and I wonder if I ever will. It turns out that it struck and split on of the trees behind the building. Before that, people were playing in Lake Quad and elsewhere, but after that, everyone yelled to one another "Get out of the water before the lightening strikes again!"
I went walking at the height of the storm, but that 'height' lasted for a good 45 minutes, and the total storm (none too shabby at its low points) lasted over three hours. Our newspaper reported 5 inches in three hours, if that's any indication. Our lower-level floor in Mac-Evans flooded, displacing 30 guys, the Beamer Center (Stupe, Kitchen, CPO, study areas) flooded up to 18 inches in places, a parking lot flooded (totalling my friend Becki's car, among others), and today I learned the Co-op flooded. I included 'famine' in the list of our calamities because the Beamer Center's flooding has affected the food life on campus. The morning after, the food was a bit questionable, and the Stupe's being closed has affected us all - "Hey, let's go get ice cre.., oh never mind" or "We'll meet at the Stupe to study, and .. oh, scratch that." To top it off, this weekend is Homecoming, so there's extra pressure to look beautiful.
So that was Monday. My life in other respects was moving along normally. But today comes another bombshell. The mumps statistics have continued to rise - as of the newspaper this morning, we have 71 confirmed cases. I know for a fact that that number is now outdated, however, for my dear friend Liz has been diagnosised and put in 'the slammer' (that is, isolation in the apartments) this afternoon! It actually should have been done sooner, but the Health Center was being stupid. Wednesday she went in because she was feeling awful and she had all the symptoms but one. But the nurse sent her away, saying the one missing symptom was the critical one. Liz continued to encounter problems, such as abnormal sleeping needs and tiredness, and went in a second time yesterday. Apparently the nurse was short with her, and so Liz had to go about life. She was still in World Music today, sitting next to me, and I can tell you that things were not as they should be. This afternoon, with encouragment from friends and family, she returned to the Health Center and finally has been diaganoised.
So perhaps I'm up next, seeing as I'm best of pals with Liz. Also Beckee, Liz's and my friend, had similar health (and Health Center) problems as Liz. I still haven't heard if she got in isolation this afternoon, but I wouldn't be surprised. And I sit in class, eat with, etc. Beckee. But I really do feel fine right now. I guess we'll just wait and see.
That's the news from Lake Wheat-be-gone, where all the men are flooded, the women are Stupe-less, and all the children have the mumps.
Adelle
Well, it has been quite a week for Wheaton campus!
The very first night I got back from Joel's wedding in Seattle, only two hours after I reached campus, the skies opened up and poured! It was the most incredible storm! The power went out pretty early on, and I went out from my safe, dry room to the wet outdoors (just for fun). I was drenched almost instantly - the rain was coming with such a force that I could hardly see. The sidewalks were like rivers, and out in the Quad a lake was formed over a foot deep! The lightening was at a strobe-light frequency, and as I walked east, I saw a blinding streak tear from the top of the heavens all the way to right behind Mac-Evans, one of our central dorms. The intensity of that lightening and the resulting thunder I have never seen the like, and I wonder if I ever will. It turns out that it struck and split on of the trees behind the building. Before that, people were playing in Lake Quad and elsewhere, but after that, everyone yelled to one another "Get out of the water before the lightening strikes again!"
I went walking at the height of the storm, but that 'height' lasted for a good 45 minutes, and the total storm (none too shabby at its low points) lasted over three hours. Our newspaper reported 5 inches in three hours, if that's any indication. Our lower-level floor in Mac-Evans flooded, displacing 30 guys, the Beamer Center (Stupe, Kitchen, CPO, study areas) flooded up to 18 inches in places, a parking lot flooded (totalling my friend Becki's car, among others), and today I learned the Co-op flooded. I included 'famine' in the list of our calamities because the Beamer Center's flooding has affected the food life on campus. The morning after, the food was a bit questionable, and the Stupe's being closed has affected us all - "Hey, let's go get ice cre.., oh never mind" or "We'll meet at the Stupe to study, and .. oh, scratch that." To top it off, this weekend is Homecoming, so there's extra pressure to look beautiful.
So that was Monday. My life in other respects was moving along normally. But today comes another bombshell. The mumps statistics have continued to rise - as of the newspaper this morning, we have 71 confirmed cases. I know for a fact that that number is now outdated, however, for my dear friend Liz has been diagnosised and put in 'the slammer' (that is, isolation in the apartments) this afternoon! It actually should have been done sooner, but the Health Center was being stupid. Wednesday she went in because she was feeling awful and she had all the symptoms but one. But the nurse sent her away, saying the one missing symptom was the critical one. Liz continued to encounter problems, such as abnormal sleeping needs and tiredness, and went in a second time yesterday. Apparently the nurse was short with her, and so Liz had to go about life. She was still in World Music today, sitting next to me, and I can tell you that things were not as they should be. This afternoon, with encouragment from friends and family, she returned to the Health Center and finally has been diaganoised.
So perhaps I'm up next, seeing as I'm best of pals with Liz. Also Beckee, Liz's and my friend, had similar health (and Health Center) problems as Liz. I still haven't heard if she got in isolation this afternoon, but I wouldn't be surprised. And I sit in class, eat with, etc. Beckee. But I really do feel fine right now. I guess we'll just wait and see.
That's the news from Lake Wheat-be-gone, where all the men are flooded, the women are Stupe-less, and all the children have the mumps.
Adelle
posted by Adelle at
8:39 PM
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