2010.09.06.
Remaining Days: 267

1. We had extraordinarily forceful rains on Friday from the passage of Hurricane Earl. The rain fell so hard that (since I'm on the top floor of my apartment building) it sounded like thousands of tiny, angry drumbeats striking the concrete ceiling. The rain, despite its force, didn't last through the entire day, and by sunset (around 730pm at the latest) the sky was clearing up significantly. The weather that remained throughout the weekend was wind, huge streams of fast-moving air breaking into rapids as they plunged through the buildings and trees of the apartment complex. Things are generally still so far today, and it's actually a bit strange to not hear constant rustling and whooshing outside of my balcony doors. The skies have been clear and sunny (as they are still today), but wind was nearly constant.

2. My apartment only has a small window and a sliding glass door (which opens onto the balcony) on one wall, and otherwise is completely enclosed and inward-facing. The air conditioning unit has a "fan" function, but it's loaded into the same wall as the window and balcony, so air flow is not a strong feature of this location. The winds this weekend were all the more welcome because they pulled the air in my apartment outwards in their wake as they blew past the building, or thrust themselves inside and brought the smell of leaves, and life, into this little space.

3. I've discovered, thanks to a map placed conspicuously on the wall of the Post Office downtown, that my apartment complex is within 2 miles of the local seashore park (complete with a carousel, water slides, etc. I walked down on Saturday morning to see 1) how far it is and 2) if the hurricane had done any interesting damage. The result was 1) not far at all and 2) no. In fact, the park is lovely, with a small boardwalk, a swimming pool (rather unnecessary if you ask me, given that the ocean is right there). Even better, there is a mixed fresh/salt water estuarine cove with a very short nature walk laid out among the dunes and along the water's edge. The coast here is regularly sprinkled with rock formations, augmented by variously decayed breakwaters, jetties, pilings, etc. For the past 3 mornings I've walked down to the beach at 7am (despite this being the holiday weekend, I've avoided what I gather can be fairly large crowds), moving through the dunes, back into the neighborhoods next to the beach, up along the coast, and then back uphill and inland to my apartment complex. As near as I can figure, it's about 4 miles, round trip, but I'm unsure of the exact distance because of the time spent in the park proper, as the paths are not on the map.

4. Since I moved here I've not been able to sleep past 8am at the very latest; in fact I've woken up on my own around 630 or 645am most mornings. I set my alarm clock for 645am on Thursday for the first day of school, and then didn't need it anyway. My dad has teased me several times this summer about my repeated claims that I'd like to wake up early, which are almost always followed by not waking up early at all. It's very easy for me to be a night owl, or at least it is in some circumstances. Here, though, so far I am not. I've been in bed by 11pm most nights, and even if I'm up later, I wake up before 7am the next morning. This is entirely fine with me, as I prefer to be up with the sun, but I'm now wondering a lot about why my circadian rhythms would shift so decisively and without apparent provocation. I've traveled and lived in a range of different places over the past four years, and have not had such a definite reset as this one. The night owl tendency started when I lived in Philadelphia before I got married, so it was not simply a response to any of the life changes that involved. Maybe it's the inflatable bed I'm sleeping on, though I don't seem to be having any particular difficulties with that, and I've slept on inflatable mattresses before without appreciable changes in my sleep patterns.


5. So those are the thoughts and events of the past few days.