I don’t know the difference between the word altitude and elevation when Edison Township’s relation to the sea level is concerned. Probably altitude is too big a word for Edison, which poses only 39 feet above, about the height of a three story building, not enough to defend itself against an angry sea, but probably enough to stay safe from a sea that’s a little upset. So elevation 39′ is shown on his new car, but my friend said he doesn’t know how to switch the dashboard from feet to meters. He is more hopeless than I am when it comes to conversions. His cell phone shows all the temperature in Celsius not Fahrenheit, and he has no idea about ounce or quart after more than ten years of living here. I have to say I feel a little superior whenever he’s confused about things of this kind. I usually make silent calculations in my mind and come to a conclusion, though I am nowhere near some people I know who can do the conversion with lighting speed. I used to know this girl in Philadelphia who’s our go to person in our group for all the number related issues. “What’s W’s phone number”, “What is 85F today’s temperature in Celsius”. She could give you instant reply. Her real specialty is in price comparison in stores. I don’t know how she does it, but she can instantly tell you which one is the most economical among milk, soy or rice noodle of different sizes and prices. How our mind differs.
Now back to Edison’s elevation, which is really not much. I hope it can withstand the rising sea level. Well it withstood the fury of Hurricane Sandy–my goodness, that’s eight years ago. How time flies away even if one is having a boring life. I used to think that people having a boring life at least have the advantage of feeling that time is not flying so fast, in comparison with those people who are having a non-boring time, whatever that means and whoever they are. I guess I was wrong. Even if the sea seems quite inept right now, the rain has been more frequent. What’s more troubling is that the rain pattern has changed in the past several years. We have rain almost every day except those three days when the temperature reaches above 98. Then today it is not only cloudy, but rather the rain drops first came as separate showers during the night. I couldn’t know for sure how many since I was asleep but every big thunder woke me up. After the daybreak, it falls for a short while, then take a rest, then shed a few drops, then cease, then come back again in a more intense bout. It feels like the subtropical rain I used to experience across the Pacific, but that’s the norm there and it has never been like that in here before.
Haoyan Do 