Writing Checklist...

I currently have four commissions hanging fire, plus two WLP web comics to script, a third to edit script, and a personal fun project to try to get back to regular updates on.

Right now I'm too damn tired to do anything about any of 'em. I just barely updated Chocolate Milkmaid and Stellar. It's been a long day, and it was a longer night before that.

I had a deep philosophical idea for a post today, but that was in Houston, while driving the grandmom to and from a hospital for a brief visit with her husband. It was long gone by the time I got home.

I think this place, or anyway this desk, is less than conducive for actually getting ideas to "paper"...

Writing Checklist...

I currently have four commissions hanging fire, plus two WLP web comics to script, a third to edit script, and a personal fun project to try to get back to regular updates on.

Right now I'm too damn tired to do anything about any of 'em. I just barely updated Chocolate Milkmaid and Stellar. It's been a long day, and it was a longer night before that.

I had a deep philosophical idea for a post today, but that was in Houston, while driving the grandmom to and from a hospital for a brief visit with her husband. It was long gone by the time I got home.

I think this place, or anyway this desk, is less than conducive for actually getting ideas to "paper"...

New Orleans is Destroyed...

... to all intents and purposes, anyway. The Big Easy is currently being filled by Lake Pontchartrain due to broken levees. By sunrise virtually the entire city will be not merely flooded but submerged, the flood waters rising up to 3 ft. above sea level in a city almost entirely below sea level. It will take months to bring the city back to a minimally inhabitable state; for many survivors, there will be no returning, nothing left but (if they were fortunate and foresighted) a flood insurance payout.

I have two worries about this, one entirely selfish, one less so. The selfish reason is this: just as I am in the most desperate need to raise money for Bootleg #13, not only will charitable money go to those who need it more than I do, but attendance at and spending at conventions is going to nose-dive. Already airlines are massively cutting back their flights. Already gas prices are spiking, as the heart of America's pipeline network and virtually the entire Gulf offshore oil fields have been taken out of action. Monday was sunshiny all day here in the piny woods of east Texas- I have a roof over my head in no danger of flooding out, well, ever- but Katrina has hurt me severely... and I'm still going to have to beg and plead, no matter how selfish and petty my needs are compared to hundreds of thousands of refugees who have lost homes, jobs, possessions, EVERYTHING.

In short, Katrina's going to cost me money, and I'm pissed.

The less selfish reason is concern for my favorite band, the Consortium of Genius. I know doctorpinkerton is out and safe, secondhand from peganthyrus. His home, and the COG lab, are located in Harahan, west of New Orleans proper and somewhere between 2 and 7 feet above sea level depending on sources. Quite possibly he will have a home to get back to... but I know nothing of the other band members, past and present, who also live in the greater NO area.

Furthermore, the Consortium of Genius were supposed to have a gig Thursday at DragonCon- this coming Thursday, two days from now. I don't know if the insane psychotic good Doctor got the COG's show gear out in his evacuation- I hope so. I don't know if the other two band members got out with him- I hope so. Unfortunately, I worry that, just as the CoG was about to get a local cable TV show, just as the CoG was to get a significant fandom boost in their careers, just as Dr. Pinkerton's long labors were beginning to pay off, as I've always hoped they would...

... Katrina comes along and smashes his dreams.

Pinkerton might be able to get home in a week or two, if his home is above sea level and if power is restored and martial law in Jefferson Parish lifted. It is even remotely possible, although doubtful, that Pinkerton's secret identity will have a day job to return to. The odds aren't bad that he's one of the lucky ones in the fallout of the Big One.

But it looks like, musically speaking, he'll have to start all over from scratch, with most or all of his old venues gone forever, with the heart of New Orleans ripped out for months or even years.

And that just is NOT fair.

And that pisses me off even more than the likely loss of revenues over the next few months for WLP.

Doctor, if you're reading this, anything I can do to help you, including relocation, I am at your disposal.

Everyone else, donate to relief efforts for New Orleans' new homeless... but please remember WLP too. We're all going to be hurting the next year or so, whether or not we saw raindrop one from Katarina.

(Oh- to those who compare New Orleans' flooding with Houston during Allison, there is no comparison. Houston is entirely above sea level. Allison's floods came after she was no longer even a tropical storm, merely a buttload of rain. Houston lost no bridges or roadways to storm surge or wind. Houston lost a lot of money in damages, but recovery was easy and quick. If New Orleans recovers, it deserves to be called a miracle, regardless of how long it takes.)

New Orleans is Destroyed...

... to all intents and purposes, anyway. The Big Easy is currently being filled by Lake Pontchartrain due to broken levees. By sunrise virtually the entire city will be not merely flooded but submerged, the flood waters rising up to 3 ft. above sea level in a city almost entirely below sea level. It will take months to bring the city back to a minimally inhabitable state; for many survivors, there will be no returning, nothing left but (if they were fortunate and foresighted) a flood insurance payout.

I have two worries about this, one entirely selfish, one less so. The selfish reason is this: just as I am in the most desperate need to raise money for Bootleg #13, not only will charitable money go to those who need it more than I do, but attendance at and spending at conventions is going to nose-dive. Already airlines are massively cutting back their flights. Already gas prices are spiking, as the heart of America's pipeline network and virtually the entire Gulf offshore oil fields have been taken out of action. Monday was sunshiny all day here in the piny woods of east Texas- I have a roof over my head in no danger of flooding out, well, ever- but Katrina has hurt me severely... and I'm still going to have to beg and plead, no matter how selfish and petty my needs are compared to hundreds of thousands of refugees who have lost homes, jobs, possessions, EVERYTHING.

In short, Katrina's going to cost me money, and I'm pissed.

The less selfish reason is concern for my favorite band, the Consortium of Genius. I know doctorpinkerton is out and safe, secondhand from peganthyrus. His home, and the COG lab, are located in Harahan, west of New Orleans proper and somewhere between 2 and 7 feet above sea level depending on sources. Quite possibly he will have a home to get back to... but I know nothing of the other band members, past and present, who also live in the greater NO area.

Furthermore, the Consortium of Genius were supposed to have a gig Thursday at DragonCon- this coming Thursday, two days from now. I don't know if the insane psychotic good Doctor got the COG's show gear out in his evacuation- I hope so. I don't know if the other two band members got out with him- I hope so. Unfortunately, I worry that, just as the CoG was about to get a local cable TV show, just as the CoG was to get a significant fandom boost in their careers, just as Dr. Pinkerton's long labors were beginning to pay off, as I've always hoped they would...

... Katrina comes along and smashes his dreams.

Pinkerton might be able to get home in a week or two, if his home is above sea level and if power is restored and martial law in Jefferson Parish lifted. It is even remotely possible, although doubtful, that Pinkerton's secret identity will have a day job to return to. The odds aren't bad that he's one of the lucky ones in the fallout of the Big One.

But it looks like, musically speaking, he'll have to start all over from scratch, with most or all of his old venues gone forever, with the heart of New Orleans ripped out for months or even years.

And that just is NOT fair.

And that pisses me off even more than the likely loss of revenues over the next few months for WLP.

Doctor, if you're reading this, anything I can do to help you, including relocation, I am at your disposal.

Everyone else, donate to relief efforts for New Orleans' new homeless... but please remember WLP too. We're all going to be hurting the next year or so, whether or not we saw raindrop one from Katarina.

(Oh- to those who compare New Orleans' flooding with Houston during Allison, there is no comparison. Houston is entirely above sea level. Allison's floods came after she was no longer even a tropical storm, merely a buttload of rain. Houston lost no bridges or roadways to storm surge or wind. Houston lost a lot of money in damages, but recovery was easy and quick. If New Orleans recovers, it deserves to be called a miracle, regardless of how long it takes.)