rhediix (formerly lenixsocial)

I lived in Florida so …. no. But there was a hurricane day once. Actually I was asleep when the announcements were made and woke my parents later in a panic. They were letting me and my brother sleep in. Anyways the hurricane was Andrew.

With a unique caveat: typically it'd be on the TV. On a few occasions they called it on account of the weather while I was en route to school (I was in Latchkey in grade school and got to the school around 6:55am), in Junior and Senior High our day began at 7:15, so we were all there by 6:45 typically. Anyhow, I can recall multiple times in grade school where the snow day was called prior to 8:00am (grade school started at 9:00) and they called our parents back to get us. My parents worked downtown and really couldn't get back to get me, so they'd have my half brother come get me instead. In HS we had the day called while on a bus headed towards the school. The bus driver would stop, say school was cancelled, and rerun the route in reverse from where he was currently. Once you left the house the radio was your only indication of closure. And 90% of the time our district was open even when our neighboring districts were off.

Seriously: you all should head on over to my wife's poll tumblr. It's fast and fun (and eventually I'm sure we'll figure out a way to make it into a podcast). 😁

Hey I won $4.70 off of a $1 on a horse today at Santa Anita. So I mean...there's that!

Most likely.

Ohio, Florida, and Nevada.

22. Now if the question was how many do I know what they sound like? Would be a vastly different answer.

23. Ludacris, Papa Roach, AJR, Busta Rhymes, Chaka Khan, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bush, Kool and the Gang, Børns, Men At Work, Natasha Bedingfield, Tom Morello, Rev Run, Better Than Ezra, California Honeydrops, Chevy Metal, Paris Jackson, Foo Fighters, BSB, Lorde, LCD Soundsystem, Lil Wayne, Zedd.

Both parents gone (mom in 2000 and dad in 2023), my mom's parents both died within six months of my birth. Cancer in both cases. My dad's parents died in 87 (grandma) and 94 (grandpa). Diabetes with her, and choking on a hospital steak post-leg amputation with him.

I remember coming home from school; I want to say 4th grade (perhaps 5th)? Talking to my mom, just general chitchat and it wasn't even Christmas time (maybe autumn) and it suddenly just dawned on me Santa wasn't real and I asked. Simple as that. I wasn't teased. No one spilled or spoiled the secret. Nor did they take pity on me and finally tell me the truth. Leaning towards 5th now for a few reasons. I remember feeling embarrassed and foolish it took me so long to figure it out.

Sometime around when I was 9, my dad took me aside and just point blank rip-off-the-bandage style told me. It wasn't even near Christmas, either. It was hot and sunny and the smack dab middle of summer vacation. I have no idea what instigated it, but I do recall me being absolutely inconsolable for the rest of the day and in hysterics afraid I'd never get another present again (you see he neglected to mention that he and my mom were actually Santa and so in my 9-year old mind I believed he basically said "Santa isn't real, no more presents!"). My mother had to pick up the shattered remnants and explain the next day that they were Santa this whole time and they'd be the ones giving me the presents now, not "Santa".

Around 9 or 10 years old playing at a friend of a friend's backyard (looking back I think we were frenemies) I started itching really bad and got a serve rash and a clear reaction. The mom immediately drove me to my house; just a few streets over; rang the doorbell and my mom took one look at me yelled at my dad we were leaving and rushed me to clinic and I remember the receptionist immediately took me in to see the doctor without sitting in the waiting room. I was given a shot and everything went away. Now was this severe/life threatening? I suppose not but it was unknown and I broke out into hives, etc and if I didn't act quickly it may have become deadly.

Sixth Grade. So I was about 13. Went to music class. We had an instrument day. Basically the teacher would wheel out a bin of cheap plastic instruments: recorders, drums, harmonicas, slide whistles, etc and we'd learn a short piece of music. I began playing with a slide whistle and blowing into it, and then began to feel strange. Almost like I was sleepy/feverish. I walked up to the teacher and asked to go to the nurse. She looked concerned and said yes. I began walking and a big blank area appeared in my field of vision. I couldn't see through it. It was pure white. Like a hole had just been punched dead center of my visual field. I stopped dead. Unable to see my way, I asked for help and the nurse came and got me. 20 minutes later my lips began to get hives on them, and this concerned the nurse, she called my parents. Despite there being a hospital five minutes from the front door of my elementary school they took me 20 minutes away to my pediatrician who saw my BP was elevated, and sent me to Children’s Hospital. Once there the doctors gave me a shot, some antibiotics, and took blood samples. I left there a few hours later, and could see fine. Never was explained to me what happened.