This is copied and pasted from the board:

After spending a stressful but pretty pleasant day with long-estranged family members for Memorial Day, my family came home to two messages from my dad (the storm watcher freak guy) about all the tornado warnings that were going on. Since my sister's house doesn't have a phone yet, and half the family was over there, we had to run back into the car, drive over there like a bat out of hell, tell them a storm was set to come in a matter of minutes, and fly back before the storm hit at our house.

When we got home, we thought things would be ok, but then the phone rang - one sister had not been at the other house, and had actually left for her own house before we got there. She entered her TRAILER to find more frantic messages from my dad, telling her to leave immediately to come back to my mom's nice safe house with a basement. After she left for here, the TV announced that the path of the storm had unexpectedly shifted right for our town, meaning that my sister was literally driving racing the storm to get here. On the way, she saw wall clouds, and then a funnel drop. She got here minutes before the storm did, with her pets, and we all crowded down into the basement. The storm brought hail, downed trees, and over 1500 lightning strikes in one hour.

It's now five hours later. The rain has finally settled down, and the tornado watch is set to finish soon. However, due to the night's events, I am absolutely wired and cannot sleep. Remember, tornados are a huge fear of mine (I've had recurring dreams about them for years, and the unpredictability is terrifying to me). I wonder how Pixie Wolfe is doing. That storm chain was long enough that it spanned from Kentucky to Alabama, right through Huntsville.

I'm exhausted, but I feel like my eyelids are pasted open, and my brain can't settle.

Also, thanks go to Greg for putting up with my frantic hyped calling all night to give updates on the storm. I was really freaking. Not freaking too much, though, of course, because...

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So.

Both Stacey and Krista went to the emergency room today. Krista went because of complications from her gallbladder surgery, Stacey went hours later because she was having chest pains. Luckily, Krista is not badly infected (though things are green, yuck) and Stacey most likely has a pinched nerve, and not a heart attack or even a panic attack. However, in the four hours my mother was gone I had increasingly morbid thoughts. At one point I was sure I heard the basement door close, and I sat, terrified, wondering what I would do to defend myself, and then even more morbid stuff. I almost reached for the phone at that point, but told myself it was too late to call. I do not have the best nerves in the world.

How exactly does one improve one's self esteem? I'd like to, but it seems impossible. I began thinking about this earlier today. You see, occasionally if I think of it I'll google someone from high school, if they've come up in conversation or something, to see if they've done anything supercool since high school. It occurred to me that what I want is to be wildly successful, such that if someone goggled me, they'd see all this wildly successful stuff, like going to an Ivy League school, or doing something really cool, etc. All that comes up now are these lame rantings and a few things connected to college. Then I wondered if people from high school google me. Or if they even remember me. Well, aside from Ryan Burke, who randomly IM'ed me yesterday with, "I know whose screen name this is, but I just can't remember your name..." Sigh. I wonder if I'll be this neurotic when it comes to my ten-year reunion. Probably. I'll probably still be trying to prove I was smarter than people thought. Unless, of course, I can raise my self-esteem! Then I'll be occupied with other thoughts, and actually doing these cool things that will show up when I get googled! Etc, etc. Yep, I wonder how I can bring this magical self-esteem about.

Bed time calls...I was up til almost four last night. Can't let it happen again tonight.

So as if everyone wasn't freaking out enough over the nin.com website updates lately, there's now a webcam. It's at times like this that I really realize I am a fangirl.

I've been cleaning allllll day. Yuck.

Getting a three-year-old to go to sleep is HARD. I'd forgotten. Julian is still damn cute, though.

I was seemingly doing well on my diet - til we made brownies yesterday. Still, two brownies a day is way under my usual quota. And I should be able to hold out til Friday - that's Melissa's birthday, and there will be another cake. Ah, the birthday season. This sucks. I'm still working out every day, though.

Been watching home videos lately, ascertaining what we have before I go buy VHS tapes to transfer. We have way more stuff from my senior year than I thought. Perhaps I shall make a copy of some stuff for myself, and then I can show people like Alexandra and Michelle what the whole brood is like, complete with DJ and babies. Oh, and Heather and Emily. If Heather's around. I should email her and see what the plan is now.

I should really get some sleep in my few moments of peace from the kid. Off I go.

I haven't been able to be online for more than ten minutes at a time. But soon I WILL respond to Anjali's lovely assessment of me, and I WILL respond to Michelle's email. I haven't gotten to work on my paper, though the proposal was sent out, and I am now quite nervous about whether I will be chosen. I just watched the Two Towers extended edition with my mother. Any idea how VERY long that is? Especially when you start after nine at night?

I am seriously dropping off to sleep as I sit here. Off to find my detective story and head for bed.

We had to break into my house today, my mom, sister, and I. It was a family effort. Thank God Marie is still so small.

I saw a car today at the gas station. The bumper sticker on the back read: "31337 Hax0r." Sigh.

Saw this on Holly's LJ. I *think* it could be fun. Or depressing. At any rate, intruiging.

who are you?
are we friends?
when and how did we meet?
how have i affected you?
what do you think of me?
what's the fondest memory you have of me?
how long do you think we will be friends?
do you love me?
do you have a crush on me?
would you kiss me?
would you hug me?
physically, what stands out?
emotionally, what stands out?
do you wish i was cooler?
on a scale of 1-10, how hot am i?
give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
am i loveable?
how long have you known me?
describe me in one word.
what was your first impression?
do you still think that way about me now?
what do you think my weakness is?
do you think i'll get married?
if so, who?
what makes me happy?
what makes me sad?
what reminds you of me?
if you could give me anything what would it be?
how well do you know me?
when's the last time you saw me?
ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
do you think i could kill someone?
are you going to put this on your livejournal and see what i say about you?

Am in Tennessee. Saw Cursive four times. Was awesome. Will email Michelle soon. Disney was fun - Marie liked Fantasmic. Got five ticks on self due to wilderness at Krista's. Went to a drive-in movie. Slept on 21st floor of hotel. Met lots of cool people who also just happen to be in bands. Dinner with Mike and Anjali was fun. Ear plugs are my friend. Spaghetti was eaten. Sauce on my nose. NIN.com updated. First on the list. Am mopey already.

Well, let's see. I've taken my physics final. I've written my abstract, though Doc has yet to read it. Tomorrow I do my show and finish packing up, run around trying to do stuff for my independent studies next semester, and I should be good. However, this packing up thing is really sucking. Greg came by earlier to take some of my stuff - namely, some stuffed animals and squishy things, and my refrigerator. It took a sizable chunk out of the room, but I'm still overwhelmed.

I think I did pretty well on my physics final. I know I have an A or an A- in that class; I'm just not sure which one. I'm rather glad I didn't overstudy like I did last time, as I am sure I would have overstudied on the wrong things.

Oooh, tomorrow I get to see Katie! And Jen! That should be good.