Rock You Like a Hurricane

Sometimes when the Pickerings get together, we play a little game called “What would you be doing if you didn't get the Pickering?” The answers vary quite a bit. I’ve answered everything from investment banking to selling jewelry, from graduate school to writing greeting cards for Hallmark.

The next time I’m asked that question, I’ll know exactly what to say: If it wasn’t for the Pickering, I’d be a weatherman. The forecast? Severe weather everywhere I go.

Yesterday, Typhoon Fengshen hit the eastern islands of the Philippines. It turned north and swept toward Taiwan this morning. My aparment lost power sometime in the night. I woke up at 7:00 AM to torrential rain, a charcoal-gray sky, and winds thrashing the huge trees outside my window.

The power and wireless internet are back, and it appears that the worst of the storm is over. I ventured out to the grocery store this morning and made it back with mangos. The roads are pretty flooded and littered with tree branches. On one major road, a fence in the median had blown into traffic. Still, Manila missed the worst of it.

All these tornados, 500 year floods, and hurricanes in the past month have made me think more about the future and the need to be prepared for it. Therefore I, Tom Niblock, in sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath, upon my expiration, the following possessions:

To Liam, one Adidas Army Sports backpack (sorry Judy).
To Asher, one plastic chicken that lays gumballs.
To Benny, one old TV that might work and one fridge that probably worked before I moved it out of Lisa and Sarah’s room.
To Jonathon Kent, all my Iowa Hawkeye t-shirts and sweatshirts.
To Clare, Darren, Ed, and Scott, my copy of China: The Fragile Superpower.
And to Jack, this music video.

It's early morning/The sun comes out/Last night was shaking/And pretty loud
My cat is purring/And scratches my skin/So what is wrong/With another sin…
-Rock You Like a Hurricane, The Scorpions, 1984