First day of school, and a jumble of other thoughts

Note: I wrote this post yesterday when it WAS Wednesday but couldn’t put it up on the site.

It is the last Wednesday of August. Significance? Norwalk Public Schools open today. So we drove down to the school with our daughter. She is going into second grade this year. I took two hours off from work, my husband took one. We “bonded” with the teachers and other parents, and with the bus driver on our way to school :) We are sad that some of our daughter’s good friends are not with her this year (the school has a policy to reassign students to different classes each year) but we are glad that some other friends of hers are.

On my way out of the door to drop our daughter off, I remembered to grab the digital camera. And my husband did remember to recharge the battery after we returned from our Niagara trip. BUT he forgot to put it back in the camera!! So, for the second year in a row, we have no “first day of school” pictures :( Last year we forgot to take the camera. What a pair we make :D Oh well! At least we remembered the camera this year. Next year will be even better – we will remember to put the recharged battery back in the camera – I promise!! I have been wondering though – can I cheat? I mean, I can take pictures tomorrow and label them as “first day of school” pictures and no one would know – right?! Hmmmm!!!

Note: I added this today….

MY classes started too – on Monday. It was quite a last-minute thing for me. The class that I actually signed up for was cancelled. I decided I won’t sign up for any other class and will just take the semester off. Then, at the last moment I decided to look up the course catalog and found a course that might help me in my job. Talked to the professor who said I could attend the first class and register later. I like the instructor, like the course and already made a new friend in class!!

Work is slow today. I have a lot to do but am in the middle-of-the-week slump here. Hope to pick up after this post.

Just took a quick look at the news reports about the flood situation in New Orleans. My heart goes out to the people who have lost so much there, who are still stranded there, who are hoping that help will arrive soon. I worry about those who might need medical help but aren’t getting any, babies, mothers, mothers-to-be. There must be so many people who absolutely need to get out of there immediately. Imagine the helplessness they must be feeling!

I remember watching a documentary film at least 5 years ago – it was about New Orleans and how it was like a bowl sitting below sea level. At one point in the film, the commentator said that it is a city waiting for a flooding disaster to happen. And when (not if) such a disaster does happen, there will be little anyone will be able to do. How true that has turned out to be! I have caught myself wondering in the past few days – why didn’t the people who are stranded there listen to the evacuation warnings? Why did they still stick around? I know these questions are not going to help anyone now. I know that maybe they thought they could ride this one out too. My prayers are with them!

I read a few news stories about the looting going on there. Again, I have ambiguous opinion about it. There are some who really need the stuff – like food, water, baby supplies. Then there are the “real” looters – who had the foresight to loot guns before proceeding to loot other stores. They are doing this for the plasma TVs and the drugs. THAT is ugly! How do you stop the latter without stopping the former? It is interesting to observe how different people react under same circumstances.

I also read in a news article (and heard it on the radio too) that shots were fired on rescue helicopters. WHY? Why would someone do that? Did they do it just to have “fun” seeing everyone’s hopes of being rescued dashed to pieces? Or were “they” mad that they weren’t the ones being rescued first – so they shot at the helicopters with the twisted idea that no one will be rescued if they weren’t.

I am so overwhelmed with all my thoughts on the situation that I think I am getting incoherent. I am unable to express what I think clearly. So I’ll stop.