subject | oh.my.god. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ date | [23 Aug 2007|11:45pm]

[ mood | weary ]
[ music | Tegan & Sara "Knife Going In" ]

today, thursday, i brought naomi to move into NIU. i went into work early yesterday and today so i could leave 2 hours early so we could get their for check in, and took tomorrow off, thank god.

i got up at 5 am today...bleh. and then we got over to NIU in DeKalb around 2pm...took 45 minutes to find the right unloading lot for her dorm.

the first lot was to unload your stuff into these golf carts to get to the lobby, so naomi went with her stuff and i moved the car further to the actual parking lot. it was now about 3pm and the storm was overhead. It had begun to rain lightly already but as soon as I parked my car several things began to happen.

1. it started to downpour and lightning

2. i realized i had naomi's purse with her cell phone and NIU one card/I.D.

Naomi gave me a call just then from a lobby phone to make sure i know she was in the lobby for Grant A/B, then we hung up.

3. I waited for like 7 minutes to see if it let up any or the lightning let up, cuz it scares the hell outta me

4. the tornado alarm went off...

***please note that though i hate lightning, naomi is HORRIFIED of storms in general and her worst fear was a tornado striking. I'm not gonna lie, of all things to happen that had to be the worst we imagined.

5. i began to panic.

6. With the alarm going, and my panic attack really flaring up, i shove naomi's purse into my purse and my keys and all. i opened the door, locked them, and began to ran. Directly north, maybe one half to 3/4 of a block away was a lobby to Grant towers. I ran straight for it...

7. Hit the grass and skidded

8. Saw a mini lake thing straight ahead and had to stop, slid worse, and completely fell backwards. soaked head to toe and sprained my ankle. Tornado alarm still going, and now i hurt, i was panicking worse and as i ran my asthma was starting to kick in. I got to the sidewalk and headed for the building.

9. Inside i limped, trying not to slip as we headed downstairs to the basement and Naomi nowhere in sight...

10. I finally got down and sat, hyperventilating and unable to get the phone calls coming in cuz i had no reception. I was really afraid of a full blown asthma attack cuz my inhaler was in my school bag at home which i had unthinkingly taken out to fit all Naomi's stuff in to move...

11. Side note, a guy sitting next to me asked if i was alright and chatted with me for a while which helped me stop crying, yes i cried because panic attacks do that especially when you can't breath and have just sprained your ankle and are soaked head to toe and can't find your sister.

12. It turned out I was in Grant C/D and Naomi was over at A/B of course...our room, about 25 minutes later, was told it was clear so we all went up...but the alarm was still going and there was no all clear...but at this point i went over with a group to Grant A/B since they're all attached anyway and you go through the basement level to connect...

13. So i got to the basement of A/B but Naomi was no where down there....i limped and slipped my way all over the place...finally i explained to one of the NIU personnel that i had to go up to the lobby (via a voicemail from naomi that she was up there with her stuff cuz some of them had had an all clear too...) and i finally got to her.

Grand total me and naomi were lost from eachother for over an hour...and then had to wait another 30 minutes for everything to get up an running for check in around 3:30. Overall, we finally got all her stuff upstairs, after 4-5 trips to the 8th floor and back, and it was then about 5:30.

All this time it was also air conditioned, and while being a pleasant surprise because it turns out of the dorms on campus Grant Towers are the only ones besides Neptune with a cooling system, but i was soaked so i was freezing...

Then we got a PA announcement that all roads in DeKalb were closed due to flooding so i couldn't go anywhere and we couldn't order food...about 6 Naomi and her room mate (Kalimah, a very nice and agreeable girl) went down to dinner which they pay for with their school ID/One card...then Naomi called me and said Dinner was free since no one could leave...so i went down which was great since all i'd had all day was an energy drink about 6:30am and a small smoothie from jamba juice around noon.

after we ate we came back up, like 7ish, and watched Elizabeth Town...At ten me and Naomi decided she could come home with me, as the roads were clear then, and we left. Just got home just before midnight...

Overall...we thought the worst bit of the day would be that it was really hot earlier...but then our worst case scenarios happened so...probably the worst move-in day ever (and older NIU people said this like never happened...at least not on move in day)

I'm going to sleep now...Good night ya'll!!!