My Hurricane Survival Guide

DISCLAIMER: This survival guide should in no way replace the hurricane safety tips that are available and should be followed as the East Coast prepares for a doozie of a storm.

The purpose of this survival guide is to provide you with some tips on how to occupy your time spent sequestered indoors, and hopefully how to take your mind off the apparent end of the world (KIDDING, folks, kidding).

In the hope that a loss of power does not occur for the entire weekend, or longer (or if you are one of the lucky devils in the neighborhood near my house with underground power lines), select a few movies that you have been meaning to watch.

  

Better yet, break out a few of the classics.

   

Or catch up on some television shows that you are behind on.

Then, when you do lose power, but there is still daylight available, pick up a good book or two that you, again, have not had the t*%$ to read.

  

Or tackle that project you have been putting off for awhile. Par exemple, I plan on copying recipes into my new recipe book (yes, I’m 22, and I have my own recipe book, and I am darn proud of it), and furthering my progression on this:

You mean your first thought about the hurricane wasn't "Oh! I can knit my owl sweater!"? Mine neither.

There are lots of things you can do: organize your closet or desk, clean out all the dust bunnies, etc. I still remember my mom spending the day putting photos in albums when we were snowed-in during the Blizzard of ’96. But this time she has big plans to clean out our pantry. She’s a wild one.

Then, when nighttime comes and you are left with just flashlights and lanterns, here’s a novel idea: have a good old-fashioned chat with your family, friend, roommate, significant other, or whomever (I am also not opposed to the idea of having a heart-to-heart with yourself…just ask my car). I would also suggest playing a board game or two, but none of my board game opponents live in the same state as me. Damn you, Adulthood.

And last, but certainly not least, since many people own iPods, and most iPods have pretty good battery lives, put together a Hurricane Playlist. Or steal mine:

1. Une Année Sans Lumière – Arcade Fire
2. New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down – LCD Soundsystem
3. Wheel in the Sky – Journey
4. Shelter from the Storm – Bob Dylan
5. I Feel the Earth Move – Carole King
6. Hurricane – Something Corporate
7. Chaos – MuteMath
8. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
9. Treading Water – Nada Surf
10. Octopuses’ Garden – The Beatles
11. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
12. Hurricane Drunk – Florence + The Machine
13. Buckets of Rain – Bob Dylan
14. Rainy Day – Coldplay
15. Baba O’Riley – The Who
16. A Lack of Color – Death Cab for Cutie
17. Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan
18. Stormy Weather – Ella Fitzgerald

Oh, and we’ll probably want to be in prime shape when the apocalyptic zombies attack to either run away and/or fight them off, so maybe we should try to do some kick-boxing this weekend too?

But in all seriousness, hope everyone stays safe this weekend.

See you on the other side.