Can I tell you a secret?

Can I tell you a secret?

First, the only leftovers I'll really eat are Chinese food leftovers. Those are the leftovers I'll definitely always eat. Yeah, the rice is kind of hard to reheat properly, but most everything else gets better with time. I'll most of the time eat leftover pizza (depending on the kind), and leftover Italian (depending on its origins), but Chinese leftovers are always a yes.

Secondly, I still get scared at rainstorms. Driving in them, sitting at home while they're going on, doesn't matter. If there's rain, thunder, and lightning, I'm scared. Not hiding under my bed scared, or non-functioning scared, but curled up and cowering on the couch scared. I hold on to my bear and hate every crash of thunder, every bolt of lightning, and every gust of wind. My irrational fear of disaster striking is I'm sure the root of this. And its strange, I only became fearful of them when I started to live alone; as a child, I was never scared.

The first time I remember hating thunder storms as an adult was about two years ago. Amanda was up in DC for the weekend, but had gone to David's for the evening. She was supposed to come back around midnight, but had been delayed by absolutely insane rain. Around 2, I went to bed, and at 2:30, the storm started. I'd barely fallen asleep when the thunder and lightning made their appearance. The thunder was louder than I had ever remembered, and the lightning was so bright it lit up my bedroom. I laid in bed, completely terrified. The complex was old, and the wind was pretty strong -- irrational fear started to take over, and I started to worry that something might happen to the building. (Coincidentally, several months later in August of '06, the second smaller building of our apartment complex would catch fire and necessitate a late night evacuation of all residents of all the buildings.) Amanda called around 3, saying that the 45 min. trip from David's to my place had unexpectedly taken longer -- they'd left right as the storm started, and things were so bad that they pulled over in a parking lot in Northern Virginia (the land of parking lots). The storm wouldn't quit until around 4, and Amanda didn't make it back until 5 or 6 -- I'm unclear on the time, as I had finally fallen asleep when my phone rang and Amanda's voice told me that she was outside and needed to be let in.

So, why am I telling anyone about these secrets at 12:30 am? I happened to order Chinese tonight, which will supply at least two nights of leftovers for me, and I also made it through ANOTHER Connecticut thunderstorm. I distracted myself by watching the Goodbye Girl, and putting together one of these nifty Swurl things: lizzie.swurl.com. I know, no pictures. Yet. My new phone is totally awesome, and I'm going to be using it to take pictures of the places I go this month. Tomorrow, Boston. Next weekend, Penn State. Following that, New York City. And finally, Foxwoods and the Mets game.

I think it's time to celebrate the end of the storm by snacking on some late night cold Chinese leftovers.