The lightning scared the cat

Dear Friend,
We had a thunderstorm last night. It seemed to pass directly over the house. I was looking out of my window at one in the morning, seeing the yard lit up like daylight. Only it wasn't the warm light of day, it was the cold, bluish light you only get from a storm. Just then I heard a scratch at my bedroom door. Apparently the thunder scared Zoe.
Which, frankly, scared the **** out of me!
I am very used to the idea of a pet being frightened by a storm. We had a dog who was afraid of thunder, in addition to hot-air balloons, trash bags and fly swatters. He hid during each storm that came within earshot. I also had a hamster that once gathered up every single piece of food in her cage and carried it in her cheeks until the rain had passed. So, I'm aware that animals can be concerned about the weather.
However, I've never had a cat freak out at some thunder. I've had house cats nearly my entire life. House cats don't worry about weather. They don't worry about anything. They're cats. Their job is to be fed, pet and loved. They've never been rained on, or felt strong wind. The environment is always kept at a comfortable temperature for them. So what would they care about a storm outside their oh so comfortable house?
I'm sure you've heard of those stories with animals acting strangely before disasters? Well, so have I, and coming up to my room at one in the morning is strange behavior for this little cat. Therefore, I was half convinced that we were going to have a tornado rip through the house or something. I spent the duration of the storm sitting up, reading and trying to take my mind off of my impending doom.

Turns out, the cat is a chicken who's freaked out by loud noises. And yes, the thunder was loud. There was very little delay between the flash and the boom. But still, I had a very short night's sleep for no real reason.

Grumbling ahead

Dear Friend,
Have I complained about problems from my laptop enough yet? I thought so, but the darned thing just keeps giving me new things to gripe over. Something is wrong either with the power cord (not too expensive to fix) or the DC port (likely really expensive). As such, I'm using my parent's desktop today. I don't want to risk damaging the port even more if it is damaged.
I don't want to go into details, too much, but lately I feel like if something can go wrong, it will. That's a terrible way to feel; it's frustrating and scary and sad.
I'm the sort who will put on a brave front, but I'm getting tired of it. I want to talk to someone, I want to have somebody to confide in and get sympathy from for once. I know that if I didn't keep everything to myself all the time some people would willingly try to help or at least listen to me, but I don't like to burden others with my problems. See, right now, instead of finding someone to go talk to, I'm typing into a computer. I may even delete this paragraph before I publish. (I'm trying not to, though)
The most open and emotional post I've made lately was about LOST, and that's because I typed it up before I thought. I finished watching an episode and got online. Even the unsent letters post was spontaneous. I refused to name names or specify any of that, too, but it was emotional.

Gah, now I feel like I'm rambling. Another problem I have with being open.

I just... I don't know. It'll all be OK. No matter how self-pitying I get, I always know deep down it'll be OK. I just wish I felt OK right now.