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Well, I was totally bummed because, (a) I had already booked my hotel and flight, and (b) my surprise, and my entire birthday, for that matter, were ruined. But as it turned out, I had bigger fish to fry. My girlfriend at the time, Lizzie, was a stewardess — I think the politically correct term is “flight attendant”, but I’m not sure. At any rate, she lived with her mom about 20 minutes outside of New Orleans in a very 1 densely wooded area. Her mother wasn’t in the best of health, so the airline wanted to relocate her to New Jersey, and she decided to drive there. So I went over to help her load up 2 the car and get 2 the house ready to be empty for God knows how long. Depending on the severity of the storm, it could be a matter of weeks or maybe even months. So we spent the entire day securing the house, loading up 2 the car and preparing her mom for the long drive. But when it was time to go, her dog Rocky was nowhere to be found.
1 densely wooded area | a part of a city or state that has a lot of forest with trees very close together (dense).
2 the car…the house | We often use the definite article the instead of a possessive adjective like my, your, etc., to refer to things people normally have or are assumed to have. Here, for instance, I could’ve said her car, but it seemed more natural to refer to it as the car since we assume everyone has one. Similarly, we say the kids, the dog, the cat, the house, the apartment, etc. and sometimes you even hear men say the wife instead of my wife.
bummed (out) The phrasal verb to bum someone out means to make someone sad or depressed — especially by giving them bad or sad news. In this case, the mayor’s news of an approaching major hurricane totally depressed me. But it can also refer to anything depressing:"That's probably my favorite movie this year, but the storyline bummed me out a little."Also note that something (or someone!) that bums you out is a bummer. In other words, having my.
birthday ruined by Hurricane Katrina was a real bummer.
birthday ruined by Hurricane Katrina was a real bummer.
to have bigger fish to fry This cute phrase means that you have more important matters to attend to than the matter at hand. If someone comes to you with a problem that seems silly compared to more serious things you're dealing with, this is the phrase to throw at them.
to secure the house When we prepare to leave the house unattended for any amount of time, we turn off the water and the gas, lock all the doors and windows, close all the shades, and generally take precautions against flooding, break-ins, etc. This is considered securing the house.
(to be) nowhere to be found We use the phrase (to be) nowhere to be found when we look everywhere for something or someone and just can’t find them."What happened to my sunglasses? I put them here not ten minutes ago and now they're nowhere to be found!"
for that matter
This handy phrase is used when you’ve mentioned one thing, and then thinking about it, decide to broaden the scope to be more inclusive. In this example, the speaker asks to be paid tonight, but then thinks better of it and extends it to tomorrow, broadening the payback time by one more day. "There's no hurry — you can pay me back tonight... or even tomorrow, for that matter."In the story, I first say that the hurricane ruined the surprise I had planned for my family, and then, upon second thought, I broaden the scope of what the hurricane ruined to include my entire birthday. for that matter
to go/come over The phrase go/come over means to go to someone’s house — usually for a somewhat prolonged visit. When it’s a short visit, we use stop by or pop over: "I made some cookies this morning. Pop over after work and pick some up for the kids.”You can add the phrase to [someone's] house, but it's not necessary, and we normally leave it off. For instance, in this example, it's totally unnecessary and even unnatural to say come over to my house:"Hey, everyone went to see my grandmother, but I stayed home because I have a headache. Why don't you come over? We'll order some food and watch a movie or something."
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