Is at Writeminded!

Needing a break from the doom and gloom today, so I'm not writing anything about my crab-infested house, FEMA, or general hurricane stuff (though I do have some issues regarding information given out by the media that is untrue or misleading, but I'll discuss that tomorrow.)

Today, since it's opening day of Serenity, I have to share the note I got from Joss Whedon:

Well boys and girls and boys dressed as girls and girls dressed as Kaylee, the time is almost upon us. This Friday we take that old rust-bucket out of the shipyard and see if she can breach atmo. It's been a long (to paraphrase a band I like) strange trip, and it'll be nice finally to show everybody what it is we've been tinkering with all this time. You already know you have my thanks, from the hardcore fans to the softcore… fans…. let me try that again. From the people manning the booths, buying DVD sets for their friends, getting banners seen everywhere on Australian TV, raffling artwork for ticketholders (Adam Hughes, take a bow), to the most casual fan who just wants to see the flick and won't ever even read this. You guys are the fuel in the engine, the Fire in the Fly, the weird green stuff coming out of Serenity's butt. (Hmmm. Forget that last one. I'm a little bit out of control here.)

Everyone needs something to keep them going. Mal has his ship. Zoe has her integrity. Jayne has Vera. And I've got you guys.

So what now? There have been so many posts about seeing it, seeing it again, the first weekend, the second weekend, being enthusiastic without being obnoxious (and yes, it IS hard to see over the pom-pom of a Jayne hat), buying tickets in advance, making a noise… I honestly wouldn't know what to add. I can tell you this: the movie will play in about 2200 hundred theaters, which is a good number. Too many, and you get empty theaters with no energy — not enough, and you get, well, not enough. It may be hard to find in some areas but it'll be out there. Leave no multiplex unturned! This is going to be a ground war, peeps — we have to hold the valley for a long while. However it opens, it needs to HOLD. Instead of the Alliance we'll be fighting viewer apathy, fear of something new, the urge to wait for DVD, and Jessica Alba in a bikini. (Although I have it on good authority that she spends 90% of the film in a huge wooly parka. Make sure that gets out.)

The day this puppy opens, I'll be seeing it with my family (don't worry, there's a lot of them, and they're all paying) and then I'm off to Europe to learn the word 'Browncoats' in nine different languages — 'cause like I said, it's all about holding. I'll never be far from a computer, though, so I can check in with y'all. Thanks for every damn thing.

And remember, amidst all the urgency to make this an event, all the work and the worry, to take two hours and just enjoy yourself. That is, after all, what all this fighting's about.

-joss.

Note how he's very careful to make it seem like he's talking to lots of people. For obvious reasons, he can't come right out and say "Larissa, I love you and you can come live with me instead of your mom." But the message is there. Gotta love that subtext.

Oh, and the other message…GO SEE SERENITY! :P

/happy mode off/ (Tomorrow back to doom and gloom, with pics.)

Well, we made it. We're at my mom's house, and I just got full internet and email capabilities, and I almost feel normal again.

The trip was long–six days straight of 12 hours in the car. We normally plan out our trips, but this time we didn't have time, so we just drove until we were too tired to drive anymore, and stayed where we could find a hotel. We had to stay in some scary ones a couple of times, but we made it here just fine. I wish we'd have been able to stay with everyone who generously offered us a room in at their home, but since we were pretty much playing our route by ear, we didn't get a chance. But I do want to thank everyone who offered. People have been so amazing.

And if you ever get a chance, eat at the Mackenzie River Pizza Co., at various locations in Montana. We stop there every time we drive through Missoula, and the food is fantastic. And this time through, they paid for our meal and gave Brennan a big bag of warm, fresh cookies.

So now we're here, and I'm watching Rita with a sick stomach. We already know that water is pouring through our damaged roof, and that everything that was still in the garage (some of the few things we salvaged) is gone. We'd killed the mold, but now it'll be back with a vengeance. But really, Rita can't do much more to us than has already been done. In fact, at this point, damage can only help as far as insurance claims go, since this time any damage won't be flood damage, but wind and rain.

What makes me nauseous with a deja vu feeling is watching the preparations everyone else is going through for Rita. I feel for everyone in its path, and for everyone stuck in evacuation traffic. It's kind of interesting how the evacuation is getting so much attention; I've done the exact same thing three times, and I'll bet you never saw my car stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 15 hours, or saw all the cars I passed that had run out of gas. It's scary to travel with your kid and pets and not know if you are going to get where you're going because gas is low. And forget stopping to eat–if you didn't bring food and water and something to pee in…you are screwed.

I'm praying for everyone on the road right now. It's a horrible experience, and honestly, I'm glad it's getting so much attention.

Anyway, now that we're settling in, we're trying to get things taken care of. Brennan just started school, and we're working up an itemized list of everything we lost so we can present it to the insurance company–not that it'll help much. They are still insisting that storm surge isn't covered. We're hoping Rita will spawn a tornado that'll take out the rest of our house, because at least that would be covered.

We've also learned that we'll get no help from FEMA. Since we'd just paid off all of our debts except the house and Bryan's car, they think we can afford a loan to rebuild our house. So the only help we'll get from them is a 5.5% loan, which won't help at all. Sure, we'll have money to fix the house, but even if we can sell it, we'll then have a 50k loan to pay off, and no place to live.

But the bigger problem is getting the house repaired at all. There simply aren't enough contractors and builders. People in Florida STILL haven't gotten their houses repaired after Ivan a year ago. In fact, only about 20k houses were damaged in Florida hurricanes last year…and most aren't fixed. In Mississippi alone, there were 200,000 destroyed or damaged. It could be YEARS before we can get someone to fix our house. In the meantime, we'll be paying a mortgage, rent, a car payment, and for a FEMA loan.

Now, let's say we CAN get the house fixed in a reasonable amount of time. We still won't be able to sell it. Not only will no one want to buy a house that had been flooded, but there won't be anyone to sell to. There is no work in southern Mississippi to bring people. The casino and fishing industries have been destroyed. So has the shipping industry. The military has all but left since Keesler is unusable, and the navy base will be closing. So there will be no one moving to the area to buy houses. Even if people do move to the area, our neighborhood was completely destroyed. Who would want to buy a house where all there is nearby is damaged houses and no people?

But…

It's not all bad. Because of the auction, we have money available to get started on paying for inspections and performing our own repairs (crash course in installing drywall and fixing roofs, anyone?) I've been trying to put our thanks into words, but honestly, it's beyond my capabilities. I'm going to have to try, though, because as things settle down here, I'm going to start writing out thank you cards. I'm going to have several days of grateful tears ahead of me.

For now, please know that my family is grateful for all the help, offers of help, donations, and encouraging messages we've received. You have all made a huge difference in our lives. We feel so blessed and lucky, despite how rough things have been.

We'll have pictures soon to show you just how rough things got around our house, but I do have a few now of the area near our house.

{{popup IMGP0450.JPG IMGP0450 1560×920}}This is one is of a gas station nearby. {{popup IMGP0474.JPG IMGP0474 1560×920}}This one is of a house at the beach where we used to go. And {{popup IMGP0471.JPG IMGP0471 1560×920}}this one is self-explanatory. :)

Take care, all.

Hey All – Steph here for Larissa. I got a quick email from her late last night. She's leaving Mississippi early this morning with Bryan. her son, the mice and the cats. (Not sure about her friend's lizard.)

She's pretty well exhuasted. It sounds like they've ripped everything out of the house, down to the drywall and insulation. They couldn't save much at all – too much seawater and too much mold. She did say that the town's under total military control and that there's a huge police presence there as well. However, there was no sign of FEMA. She's having a tough time getting in touch with them.

Anyway, she's hoping to be in Washington by Friday, (mentioned something about sleeping for a week once she got there) and she'll call me from the road to check in. And I'll make sure I check in here with you.

Wishing them a safe trip.

Steph T.

I'm getting ready to evacuate. Katrina is now a strong cat. 5, and it has the potential to be the strongest hurricane in history. It will wipe whatever it touches off the face of the map. Mississippi is in its sight, and no matter where in Mississippi or eastern Louisiana it lands, it will likely destroy my house.

I'll probably be gone for a while. Please pray for us, and for my cat I have to leave behind at the vet's because he's too sick to move.

I'm scared.

This morning I was making breakfast for my son, and I turned on TV to check out the latest on Katrina. Of course, Katrina won't come get me because my husband is home. As soon as his ship leaves in September, we're going to get flattened by a category 5 hurricane. You watch.

Anyway, a commercial comes on. There's an adorable lop-eared white rabbit hopping through the grass, coming toward the camera. I say to my son, "Oh, look! A bunny!" We both watch the sweet little thing sit up, its ears flopping, its nose wriggling…and then it opens it's mouth and growl/hiss/roars with huge, scary-ass fangs and pointy teeth. My son and I recoiled with sounds I can only describe as "gyahaheeeeiiiiih." I'm surprised Brennan didn't cry. Scary rabbits at six o'clock in the morning…not cool. :crazy:

UPDATE:

I lied. Katrina wants to come get us. Hubby's ship is evacuating tonight. Which means there isn't enough time for him to get the windows boarded up and the house hurricane proofed. I get to do it all by myself again.

I'm not happy.

I had a great writing day yesterday. Yay! Steph and I decided that we needed to take drastic measures, so we've entered into an evil pact. We…oh, I shudder to even say this…TURN OFF OUR EMAIL and write for 1/2 hour. If things are going good, we go for another 1/2 hour. We've survived the panic attacks that come with turning off your email only because we hold hands via instant messenger.

So we've got the email off, but we still have an online lifeline. And at the end of our writing time, we have to share our best sentence we wrote during our writing spree. It's actually kinda fun.

Oh, and speaking of fun, check out Dee's latest installment in her Seven Deadly Writing Sins series. This week's topic is vanity. My favorite part: "Second in line is the Beginning Writer. Few people are as cock sure that they know what they are doing as people who do not."

Too funny.

Also, Beth Ciotta just signed a 3 book deal with HQN! Congrats, Beth!

You military people totally get the heading. You non-military people probably think I've lost my mind…

A man is rowing a boat on a small lake. The sun is shining, birds are singing, fish are biting, and he's singing the Air Force's song, "Off we go, into the wild blue yon-der…" God looks down and thinks, "Hmm, here is obviously an intelligent guy. I wonder what would happen if I took away half his brain?"

So POOF! Half the dude's brain is gone. He's still rowing, still singing, "Off we go, into the wild blue yon-der…"

God's impressed. He thinks, "Still smart. Let's take away 3/4ths of his brain."

POOF! The man is operating on 1/4 of his brain. He's still singing "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder…"

God is seriously impressed. Clearly, the guy is a genius. So God decides to take away the man's entire brain. Leave him with nothing but air.

POOF! The guy, now a moron, keeps rowing. And singing, "Be. All that you can be…"

Okay, you probably have to be military to completely appreciate the joke. And clearly, it's funniest if you were/are Air Force. Not so funny if you are Army. :P

Anyway, I love a good military hero. There's just something about a man in uniform, be it military, police, paramedic…I adore the confidence and competence that seems to go hand-in-hand with the wearing of a uniform. But the extra special feature that makes the military hero something appeals to the deepest, most primitive female instincts is the ability to protect and defend, and provide for his mate.

Granted, today's women aren't likely to be stuck in a jungle and in need of protection and food. But if you were, who better to care for you than a SEAL or PJ?

But not all women are as appreciative of the military hero. One woman says in the comments of Lynn M's post on the subject, "But soldiers or ex-soldiers aren't my preferred hero, whatever the premise or situation. It's just something about the military mindset which bothers me (and you may remember having had this conversation with me in another context ;) ). Even having had a good friend who was a former soldier and coming to respect him for what he stood for, I still hated the fact that he'd been trained to kill other human beings and had in fact killed."

And "I know my dislike of military backgrounds is more pronounced because I'm not North American; in some other countries, the military tends to be viewed somewhat differently, less revered. Attitudes vary from respect to my own perception, which is that the armed forces are a necessary evil and can occasionally attract the sort of person who is really just on a power trip. :( And therefore, to me, military heroes, almost whatever the context, are really a total turn-off."

Now, I understand that not everyone likes a military hero. Tastes in men are personal and diverse. I don't see the appeal of sheiks, but they are well-loved by others. To each her own.

I also realize that there are natural biases that can lead a dislike of military heroes. The media has portrayed American soldiers as thugs, as dumb, sometimes cruel, killing machines with no redeeming qualities. Also, in many countries, the military force is nothing of which to be proud.

What people don't realize is that military heroes don't have to be gun-toting badasses. In real life, 85% of our military men and women are not employed in fighting jobs. Most work in areas of support. If there is a civilian equivalent, the military probably has it. Cooks, electricians, plumbers, meteorologists, pest exterminators, doctors, mechanics, veterinarians. These are not people who are "trained to kill." In fact, everyone who joins the military is taught how to SAVE lives. Does that mean they can't use a gun if they need to? Nope. They were all taught how to use a weapon. They were taught methods to survive if captured by enemy forces or lost in the desert. But trained killers? Hardly.

Even the combat forces are rarely called upon to take up arms. In peacetime, soldiers build houses, fight forest fires, rebuild disaster zones after hurricanes and floods. They hold fund-raisers for charities and collect toys for Toys for Tots.

Sure, there are bad apples, just as there are in any job. And no group of people is perfect. I know I certainly have some beefs with the military after serving myself. But I also have a lot of respect for the training, and for the abilities one must possess in order to complete some of the training.

In fact, the very qualities needed to complete SEAL, PJ, and Ranger training (among others) are what makes military heroes attractive to women like me. Even as independent and self-sufficient as I am, a man who appeals to my primitive side, the side that wants a man to make me feel safe whether in the jungle or in my own backyard, is a man I want in the pages of a book.

Hoo-rah, baby! :D

I'd planned to blog about military heroes today, but this is more important (marginally :P ) so the boys in uniform will have to wait until tomorrow.

Have y'all heard of ICE?

ICE stands for "in case of emergency," and is a campaign started by British paramedics to encourage people to store emergency contact numbers in your cell phone. I've actually been doing this for years, but didn't think to use the acronymn "ICE" in place of "emergency contact" –but I suppose if I had, no one would have known what it meant, anyway.

But now this campaign has come to the U.S., and medical personnel will be paying attention to "ICE" numbers in your cell phone.

Of course, ICE numbers won't help if you keep your phone locked or if your phone is destroyed in a car accident, but it's still better than nothing. In the U.S., paramedics and EMTs are probably not likely to use the numbers to make calls, but the stored numbers would be of great use to emergency room personnel.

So anyway, go program two or three ICE numbers into your cell phone to help out rescue workers, police, and medical personnel during emergencies.

*This public service announcement has been brought to you by your local procrastinating writer.

Yesterday was just horrible. I went shopping with a friend (that was nice,) but on the way home had to stop because the car in front of me had stopped, and a man was dragging a flopping cat off the road. I pulled over, jumped out of my vehicle to help, but as me and my friend approached, the guy broke the cat's neck. Just….broke it. Then he said, "It's okay, I broke it's neck." And he picked it up and tossed it into a ditch. It was horrible. Yes, he thought he was putting the poor thing out of its misery, but geez–how did he know the cat was that badly hurt? It had one visible injury to it's jaw. Worse, the woman who owned it came running up after he'd killed the cat and tossed it aside. She collapsed on the sidewalk in sobs.

Apparently, the cat had climbed up into her engine and had either been hurt by the motor or had been hurt when it fell out onto the street. I felt so bad for her. And I'm still wondering just how someone gets that proficient at breaking cats' necks…

So then I get home in the middle of a raging thunderstorm, and my internet is out. All night.

Things yesterday really sucked. Hoping today will be better.

Oh, and just FYI…Romancing The Blog is down today for maintenence!