#73 Sandy, One Year Later

Before I go any further, I always wanted to say this...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!

Yes, ladies and germs, we're now read in Vietnam, and now that we're all friends here, I hope you enjoy the best blog America has to offer. Well, THIS particular American anyways.

One year ago Monday, Superstorm Sandy made her presence felt across the entire Eastern Seaboard, and this was definitely one of those "Where-were-you-when...?" moments. I thought the whole thing was another Halloween hoax concocted by the lamestream media (Back in 1938, Orson Welles and his  Mercury Theatre troupe devoted the Halloween edition of their weekly radio program to a contemporary adaptation of H.G. Wells' science-fiction classic "The War Of The Worlds," and that brought the entire USA to a standstill, despite Mr. Welles' assurance that it was just their way of "putting on a sheet, jumping out of a bush, and saying Boo.") and this alleged "Frankenstorm" (Seriously?) was, as my friends in Texas are wont to say, "All hat and no cattle."

Everybody was closing up,even McDonald's and movie theatres, two places you can always count on for solace during a crisis. I vowed to stay in my palatious,  spacious, but never ostentatious estate in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan and tough it out,but I caved in to my mom's wishes and took an overnight kit over to her place (my old place)in the Gramercy Park section. We had a good home made dinner, and I went over to what was left of my old apartment to listen to the radio, but I kept hearing about Con Ed,LIPA,and PSE&G turning the power off in residences all over the Tri-State Area, even MY temporary residence. I was confident that come the dawn, the power would come back on and I  could resume a normal life. I attempted to listen to Monday Night Football, but as the evening became morning, I kept pacing  the floor and I even cried once or twice. After the game, local sports talker Steve Somers told us to thank God that we had our life even if we didn't have our power. I wanted to share his attitude of gratitude, but I kept thinking I was right in the middle of a real life horror movie.  The news made anything Hollywood could create seem benign by comparison: The mayor ordered citizens to stay inside, there was no power south of the 40's, this storm sent us back to the Stone Age. I  knew, orders are orders, but I still had to get back to the apartment and retrieve the stuff I had left there. It was a long trek on the stairs to my apartment, my home phone was dead, I didn't know how, or IF, I was going to make it through the next few days. The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and ING New York City Marathon were both cancelled, subway service was limited,  I was praying and praying for things to get back to normal. The following Friday, the lights came back on downtown and I was all too happy to return home, sour milk, elevator delays and all.

Unfortunately, the suburbs were still powerless for a few more weeks, and LIPA customers wanted their supplier to cough up the power they were holding hostage. But, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was provided by Madison Square Garden and its Radio City Productions and  Fuse Networks divisions,  who teamed with relief organizations throughout the Tri-State to produce the 121212 Concert For Sandy Relief which featured such A-listers  as the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney,  Susan Sarandon, and even Billy Crystal and Adam Sandler for comic relief. Aired on TV and radio networks worldwide, it raked in a sizable amount of dough to provide food, medicine and temporary housing to those who needed it. Since then, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others have sought to protect our area from the next big storm.

So,come  on,  Mother Nature, do your worst. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may have been the first to say it, but this whole area, and America, are STRONGER THAN THE STORM.

Steve

P.S.: There may be only one horror movie in theatres this Halloween, but there are TONS of Halloween specials and movies all over TV. My fave so far is ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars," starring Shay Mitchell and Ashley Benson. This ep, "Grave New World," brings the girls to a Founders' Day party in...of all places....a GRAVEYARD, and, needless to say, they are NOT in a party mood! Go to abcfamily.com for 411  on repeat airings.