One of the most memorable, exciting events in my life was the arrival of hurricane Hugo, or at least that's how my reflections on the faded images of a seven year old have solidified in my mind. Since I was so young, I had no responsibilities. I got two weeks off from school to play in a giant playground that had once been my neighborhood.

The other kids in my neighborhood and I roamed around examining dead seagulls tangled in trees that had been brought down in the middle of the street, slipping and sliding in the pluff mud that covered the streets, building forts out of debris that lined the streets, marveling at houses that had tree trunks poking out of their attacks like messy hatchet wounds, and so on.

It was a seven year old's dream. I even got to bring the hose into the house to spray the mud off the floors and walls of the first floor of our house. At night, it was like camping out in our own house. We had no power and no hot water. We cooked dinner in the fireplace.

Going with a friend out to Sullivan's Island, I saw entire houses that had their stilts kicked out from under them and were prostrate in the middle of the road.

Whenever I mention how much fun it was, my parents glare at me. They obviously didn't find it terribly exciting. They always mention something about responsibility and money.

I don't think my sister liked it too much either. My only memory from that time is the night that the storm actually hit, and my sister screamed repeatedly, "We're going to die!" from under the sofa bed at my aunt's house, where most of my family went for the storm.

Some things never change. I still love big storms, and I'm fascinated by thunder and lightning, but today I'm a little nervous. Since late last night, the winds outside have been howling, and we still have about two hours until the eye is actually supposed to pass over Taipei.

I'm talking, of course, about Typhoon Krosa, the slow-moving storm that is howling outside.

Yesterday, we were all joking in the office that it's nice to get a day off for just a little wind, being that the last typhoon that passed through produced only occasional -- far less than we were told it would. Well, the story isn't the same today. The wind is absolutely howling outside. The rain is being blown so hard by the wind that I can see it hitting the side of buildings and actually going up and over five, ten story buildings.

I tried to take a video, without getting wet, but my crappy camera doesn't give much perspective.

(If there are any problems with this video, please tell me. I'm trying out Blogger's new video upload button)

You will notice that cutting corners in construction -- one of my biggest pet-peeves about Taiwan -- is going to bite a lot of people in the ass, like our neighbor whose roof is being pulled up because it consisted of some corrugated plastic material held down by bricks.

I'm quite surprised that up to now, we still have power and internet (though the lights do flicker occasionally), but I'm not really counting on it much longer.

I'll probably be practicing Chinese by candle-light tonight.

I'll see if I can get some better videos as the night goes by though. To pass the time.