Nature's wrath just may be universal

Having spent the majority of my adult life in disaster-prone locales, I have become somewhat numb to idea of the possibility of an earthquake or a hurricane ripping through (or underneath) my backyard. The east coasters warn me of "The Big One" tearing California apart while the Angelenos- well the Angelenos don't really talk too much about the outside world but since the Katrina disaster I have to wonder if there's a place free of natural destruction.

Here is a surprisingly clear photo I took on my phone in South Beach. If I remember correctly, this was a medical center just after Hurricane Wilma:



The disaster did, however, produce the hilarity pictured below. It's from a local South Florida paper called The New Times.


The damage to the building above looks minuscule compared to the kind of earthquake damage that everyone I've ever met on the east coast seems to predict will happen any day now in California.

Disastrous weather seems to follow me even in the strangest of places. I don't usually think of Texas as being dangerous for much more than the heat and the Bushes but after being caught in a flash flood in Beaumont and a blizzard in Amarillo (pictured below- sorry about the horrible quality) I'm not so sure.



I would post a picture of the tornado storm (storm= multiple tornadoes) in Oklahoma I was caught in but I was too busy crapping myself to take a picture. There's something about dodging funnel clouds in a retrofitted ice cream truck with chrome pipes and flames painted on the side (I loved that job) that forces you to quickly prioritize your actions.

There have been a few minor quakes here in the City of Angels recently that were noticeable but nothing that has forced me to sit in my bathtub with a case of beer with wood nailed over the windows like Wilma... not that I need a reason for that.

I still remember when the Cat 2 Katrina hit us. There was hardly any damage but everyone in South Florida was on the phone to everyone they knew in New Orleans telling them to get the f*ck out before the Cat 5 rating was even announced. I can't even imagine what that was like.

I suppose since tomorrow is the anniversary of the greatest UNnatural disaster in United States history it has me reflecting on the concepts of safety and paranoia.

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy serenity while its here: