Welcome to the Dollhouse

The hurricane was over when I awoke today, and after doing some work from home in the morning (for the record, our office has been open this whole time), I took a quick walk in a bit of drizzle to survey the damage.  There were no trees down on our street (even the rose bush in front of our apt remained in tact with its few buds still in place), and people were out and about.  We went back to Trade Fair, and they were fully restocked with milk, bread, etc. which was quite impressive. Overall, we were extremely lucky that the only thing that happened was the morning's loss of cable and wifi which has since been restored.

We also saw our super cleaning up the leaves out front, and sorting/putting the garbage out for pick up (though knowing him, he probably didn't even know that there was a hurricane.)

This evening, after most of the light drizzling had stopped, we took a longer walk.  We went down Broadway (Astoria Broadway that is) for about ten blocks, and looking left and right down the side streets, we only saw one tree down on a car, and one restaurant's awning on the sidewalk, yet they were still open.

We got a drink at the Ravenshead which was also more crowded than it typically is on a weekend, and almost every business on Broadway, from the nail salons to the dry cleaners, were open as if nothing had happened, or was happening so nearby.

Other than that, I worked throughout the day, vacuumed, sorted through papers, played Limbo, made dinner, watched a Walking Dead (rather appropriate in this eery atmosphere) and baked a cake (vanilla, soon to be frosted with chocolate in case you were wondering.)

My friends' current statuses are generally as follows:
Long Islanders: have no power and have either gone to others' houses, or are suffering through the dark with cold showers
Downtowners: Have no power but have made it farther uptown to charge their phones
Hobokeners: Have no power and are stuck as the streets are flooded, I believe the curfew is over though
Uptowners: Out at the bars which are apparently packed

My parents' cars are in their driveway, and two trees are down in the street trapping them in.  My brother parked on the avenue though so they have an emergency ride if needed.

FYI - if anyone needs to stay with us, we have a pull-out couch and you're more than welcome.

One of the craziest photos, which most people have seen by now, is of the building in Chelsea that's facade was completely ripped off, exposing the apartments like a dollhouse.  This is completely captivating and absolutely terrifying.

The subways may be down for 4-5 days which is so bizarre, so I'll be working from home again tomorrow.  I think I only have one more drawer left to organize, plus under the bed.  After that, it looks like I may start taking up the piano.  Also, I did receive notification that my electronic copy of Fifty Shades of Grey is finally available from the Queens Digital Library (sorry, but it has to be read.)

Hope everyone is doing okay!