The Middle of the Dark

Sunday an F4 tornado destroyed most of Parkersburg, a small town about 10 miles north of Waterloo. It killed seven people, destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, and made a war zone out of several towns. The same tornado persisted for nearly an hour, blazing a path across several counties into Waterloo along Dunkerton road, where it destroyed several homes a previous tornado did in 2000. My house is roughly 3 miles from the path the twister took through the city, and we didn't get a single drop of rain. There was never any thunder, only the sound of an avalanche, sustained, for nearly fifteen minutes; when I was a kid, my mom said tornadoes sounded like trains, and living less than a mile from the train yards, I can finally say, yes they do. They sound like trains from hell. Several people at work were affected by the tornado as well. A lot of people say, that's life in Iowa. One minute, it's blue skies and sunshine, the next it's snow. Rain. Tornadoes. A

Right out in front of the library in broad daylight, ripping it out of its lock and chain and no doubt damaging it - a brand new bike I worked my ass off for - I hope there is a big giant city bus in your future.

Thank God it's Friday because: There is a new issue of Buffy: Season 8 (I got the last one! Jesus!) There is a new episode of Battlestar. There is a new Star Wars movie coming. This one is animated and now Anakin looks like he escaped from the set of the Thunderbirds . There are only 8 more chapters to go in my revised draft of the novel. There is no cure for dibilitating headaches or unrequited romances except the new Radiohead record is pretty fucking sweet.