that nor'easter was a BIG BAD NEWS FOR ME. no, it's not that i don't have good raingear: it's because of this:

i went off by amtrak to rochester on that saturday to attend my friend's baby shower. saturday in rochester, while nothing going on, was a blissfully peaceful day. i tinkered with their new steinway grand and it was good. sunday was the baby shower AND the storm hit (NYC, that is, not rochester). my jetblue flight was (OF COURSE) cancelled and i ended up renting an SUV to drive down. my coworker was out on vacation on monday and that meant only my boss would be alone in the office on monday.

so i started to drive in rochester, which was fine...then within 1 hour of driving on I-90, i got pulled over.

have you ever been pulled over? it's like COPS show LIVE - you feel like a criminal and there are sirens and lights & tapping on the windows with their flashlights saying "ma'am, license & registration please."

that's what happened. i had no idea why i was pulled over, so i was very (already) prickly and not at all nice. i was very impatient to get this LONG DRIVE out of the way. this was our convo with the state police:

"do you know why i pulled you over?"
"no. why?"
"you were going 90 on a 65 mph road"
"WHAT? no way."
"didn't you see the speedometer?"
"it's so dark out here, i can't see anything."
"you couldn't see anything? where are you going?"
"there was a storm in NYC so my flight got cancelled so i've rented a car and going down"
"do you have the license & registration?"
"i have a license but no registration. i have a car rental agreement"
"i'll be right back"

10 minutes goes by and i'm getting more antsy & prickly. like...I WANNA GET OUTTA HERE AND START DRIVING AND GO HOME!!!

"okay ma'am, here's the summon."
"...what do you mean, a summon?"
"it's a speeding summon and you have two choices: either plead guilty and pay the fine or plead not guilty & show up at the court listed below."
"how much is the fine?"
"it depends on the judge who reads your summon."
"...."
"have a nice day, ma'am"

that was it. and i got a print-out of a 2 pager that said i was speeding at 80 mph. at least he reduced it!

then later i found out that speeding is REALLY BAD, not because i get a ticket but because it affects your insurance - which i don't really have to worry about, since I don't own a car.

that was the beginning of my bad luck: it started to snow, like there was no tomorrow. not just snow, but SIDEWAYS and it was sticking. I barely made to Albany in 4 hours (should've been 3 hours from Rochester), checked into a Marriott there, which of course, they charged me an arm & a leg, and slept fitfully for 4 hours. Got up at 4 AM, started off again, but it was STILL snowing in Albany, and then started to hailing & sleeting. It was as if the Mother Nature was telling me "DO NOT GO TO NYC!"

on NY state Thruway, i drove from Albany to NYC in 7 hours. YES SEVEN HOURS. It should've been a 3 hour drive on a normal day, so i thought maybe 5 hours. No 7, because twice, I was crawling like with other cars, because this stupid TOLL WAY was FLOODED!!! good thing i had an SUV. and yes, it was STILL POURING.

by the time i got to my apartment, i was majorly fatigued & hungry AND it was already 11 AM on Monday morning. Needless to say, I've already communicated with my boss who told me to take it easy and come in when possible.

i was in the office at 12:30 PM, after showering & lunching.

that was the end.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

this past friday, i got a call from my storage: in the entire building, 4 storage units have been affected by the nor'easter and 1 of them is mine. please come & check if anything's ruined.

i go in and 75% stuff are WET. my keyboard is there, all wrapped in bubble wrap and miraculously, it's not wet. but all my spring & summer jackets & blazers are COMPLETELY wet. i am told to go home & get camera, take pictures and file a phone claim. i go home & get camera. i do the claim. then it's time to move everything to a new unit. which i do. then all the boxes are wet. so i have to come back, as the storage is closing soon. this weekend, the weather was gorgeous on saturday. i did not see much of it. i was inside, moving things around, throwing out things, etc. i ended up taking all my jackets, about 20 of them, to the cleaners, threw out 3 due to the rust water marks on the white jackets. it was pathetic.

the good news is that i have insurance. the other 3 ruined units DID NOT.

so. there's some sun on my nor'eastered life, after all.