That Catastrophic Aesthetic

Photo by Adam Wallacavage, taken shameless and without asking from his instagram page

I really tried hard to figure out what beers to buy on my way home today. I planned to write a review of some comic, and having suffered through the eight hour first world problem that is a busy tuesday at work, I needed something to slow my thoughts down enough to grab them. I wasn't keeping track of the weather. I didn't take note of the massive wall of doom in the sky over Philadelphia.

I made it to Beer Heaven, yes that's what the beer store is called, in time to make getting out of the car a small act of bravery. I drove from sunshine New Jersey to hell-sky Pennsylvania in 30 minutes, and by the time I was at the last stretch to Heaven I saw the air turn grey and evil, the leaves lift from the ground and spin in clouds across everything, and heard the wind roar. Then the torrents of rain started. Huge globs of rain. Since I'm so brave I parked and ran in and out of Beer Heaven as the Gods pissed down upon me, knowing now that I would need at least one bottle of Victory Storm King.

Deptford, New Jersey, where car-flipping hell broke loose

I've had a couple apocalyptic dreams the past couple weeks and I'm on this weird end of the world kick. All I could think was: this is it. This is where I begin to hate myself for not stocking up on guns and canned beans and survival tactics. I'm dumb and I'm also an asshole, because apparently half a million people are without power because of this storm. Trees were downed, shingles were torn. A fucking car was flipped over at a mall I used to go to as a kid, all because of the gusts from this freak 30 minute storm. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up tomorrow and it was more devastating than is now apparent. Hoping for the best.

Somehow I didn't notice this on the ride home

At one point, around sunset, I get a text suggesting I look out the window, and I do. The whole city had turned orange from the moisture in the air catching the sunset and spreading it all over. I rushed to put my pants back on so I could go see what the world looks like after the apocalypse. I was not disappointed. Never has golden hour been so gold.

I saved a bunch of pictures I found of this massive orange sunset from a group I'm in on Facebook. The last two are my own, taken while roaming the street, belly full of Storm King, feeling orange and astonished.