Surviving a Flash Flood

On August 12, 2014, I was sitting at my computer doing my thing (Warcraft) when I heard thunder - a lot of thunder. I didn't think much of it other than to put up a small post on Facebook, then went about my business. I knew the place where I was living (a motel) was prone to flooding, but as of that moment the worst it got was a flooded parking lot. Still the girl at the front desk gave me her obligatory call to make sure my belongings were off the floor. I promptly ignored her.

An hour passed, and then I started seeing water seep under the door. That gave me a turn and I started getting my stuff off the floor, especially my computer charger. I wound up having to jump onto my bed along with my laptop as water began to spread over the floor. I snapped some poor-quality pictures with my phone camera:

As the water began to rise I noticed a few things: First is was the dirtiest-looking water I can remember seeing, second, it wasn't going down. It gurgled through the air conditioning unit.. I shot a poor-quality video of it that doesn't seem to have made it in.

All this time I had been using my computer, on its battery now and posting on Facebook. I didn't actually think about evacuating, though the water showed no signs of abating. I figured I'd be safe on the bed for the night. Then around 9pm I saw a Facebook posting from one of the local news stations that police were evacuating the area, and sure enough the area was crawling with police and rescue people. I packed my computer (my precious) and a few clothes in my backpack, threw on an old pair of sneakers and waded into about 5 inches water just as they knocked on the door. I was led, through about 10 inches of water, into the lobby of the motel and on the other side of the lobby, they had a rubber raft waiting for me:

The raft had water in it, and between my bad knees and shoulder, was not comfortable getting into or out of. But it did save me from wading through more water.

I rolled out of the raft at the end of that short journey and found maybe a dozen more victims of the flood gathered around, along with a couple of dozen law enforcement and rescue people,

And videos:

These are the shoes I wore. They were falling apart before the flood, which is why I wore them, but one shoe just disintegrated in the muddy water.

After we waited for a while, Rescue arranged for a bus to pick us up to take us to the shelter. There was a family of 5, me and one other woman who finally decided to take advantage of the Red Cross' offer of shelter. But before we left, the skies opened up briefly to let us know that the area still wasn't safe.

At the Red Cross building, they had water, snacks and blankets waiting for us.

This was about 10:45pm. It took the Red Cross another 2 hours to figure out what to do with us, process us, and arrange for transportation to a nearby motel, where they agreed to pay for 2 nights. They also provided a debit card with $50 on it to help with food and other necessities.

In talking to the other victims, including my next-door neighbor, I found out that snakes and spiders were not only in the water, but in the rooms as well. I didn't even think to look for them. I was lucky.

And so here I am at another motel, much drier than the previous one. I took the day off work, because I didn't get to bed until after 1am, and I wouldn't have gotten much sleep before slogging in. Also I have to do some follow-ups with both my original motel and with the Red Cross.

I am very grateful to RPD and the Red Cross for the help they provided.

The Future is Coming True - Sorta

Back when I was a kid I'd watch shows such as the Jetsons and 'Lost in Space' and I'd think, 'Wow, this is going to be my future someday.' And so I waited, and saw technology progress - slowly at first. Coming out of high school, I'd've bet that we would have flying cars by then. No such luck. 

But something was just around the corner. Back in 1969 we had just enough computing power 

to get to the moon and back, and knowing the size of computers from back then, that was an amazing feat.

I entered college thinking I'd be a translator for the United Nations someday, but I wasn't completely oblivious to the computers around me, and the geek in me was drawn to them, to the point where I changed my major to Computer Science, and got to program Assembly Language for a processor called an 8080. 

Lord, if I'd known what that would grow into, but at the time, it was more a toy and mainframe computers still ruled. My degree may have fizzled after getting my A.S., but my interest in computers did not. Professionally I stuck to mainframes and minis, but kept an eye on those microcomputers.

When the Micro-explosion hit, I turned to sales and building my own PC-compatible machines, keeping just in touch enough to make things work while I tried to eke out a living. I had the old-fashioned telephone modems, accounts at various BBS's and an AOL account where I got the software from a 3.5 inch diskette.

Yet as much of an impression computers made on me in the 80's and 90's, I couldn't help but think...'Where's my flying car?' I was lucky to have a working car at the time, and frequently did not have one at all. My future wasn't coming true. I took to dreaming about my own version of the future and how it would all come about. This was the origin of 'The Timmons Chronicles.'

In that 'future', actually set in the past, my hero had flying cars, hand-held communications and access to a wealth of information at his fingertips and voice command. 

This was a time when the Internet was just catching fire, but I was able to see what it would become.

Today, 18 years after the first draft of 'Theater Boy' was written, (has it been that long?), we are only just seeing a potential flying car hit the market. Yes, the Internet is proving to be a wealth of information and cat videos, and voice commands are common. 

Robots are becoming more lifelike, if you keep them in the lab, but I still don't feel that we're really 'in the future' yet. 

Where's the 'Foodarackacycle'? Where's Rosie the robot maid? Where are the super-high-rise

apartments you can fly into? 

They were in someone's imagination not that long ago, but one of the downsides to having such a vivid imagination of how the future should look is society takes a very long time to catch up to it.

My own imagination was fired by such programs, and slowly society is catching up with my imagination. Well, that's not true, because my imagination can take another look at how things are and imagine them even better. Maybe they're getting there for the predictions of 'Theater Boy', but the 'Soul Survivor' series is going a step further that that. And if society continues to progress and I keep living, my imagination will continue to be way ahead of it. And that, my friends, is good news for the future.​

The Middle of the Road Party: The Proposed Platform

With all the politics going on around me, I want to propose a new party to compete with the extremes we are facing from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Proposed Platform for the Middle of the Road Party

1. We acknowledge that there is a global problem with poverty, hunger, living conditions and homelessness, but we seek alternative methods of easing these conditions rather than relying on government or taxpayer money to cure the problem.

2. We acknowledge that there is a gun problem in the United States, but rather than exert more control over the existing guns, we will work to educate gun owners on proper use, to increase awareness and find cures for mental illness and to limit the manufacture of automatic weapons and the ammunition they use.

3. We acknowledge that in the United States there are many religions, each with their own set of rules, each with a right to exist, but we will strive for a government that is free of religious influence other than the moral guidelines they set.

4. We recognize that there are times when war is a necessity to maintain global peace, but the act of going to war should be thoroughly discussed and no military action should be engaged unless a valid exit plan is made before action is taken. We declare that we are not the world police and we will not interfere with local conflicts.

5. While we do not condone the use of recreational drugs, we will make no law to criminalize the possession of marajuana.

6. We recognize that businesses in the United States provide jobs and our unique way of life, but there is a need for regulation so that excessive greed does not leave a wake of human, economic and environmental victims.

7. We recognize that the United states has a place in the world's economy and that free trade should be maintained with all countries of the world.

8. We acknowledge that various forms of pollution has had an impact on the environment and world climate. We will work to limit the effects of that pollution.

9. We acknowledge that the world has never truly been safe from those with extremist and dangerous points of view, but we will not hold an entire religion, or an entire race responsible for the words and actions of a few.

10. We acknowledge that every resident of the United States has a right to privacy and no action will be taken by a government agency to usurp that right without due process.

11. We acknowledge that the United States was founded by those whose ancestors were not born here, and the process of immigration that built us into the melting pot we have become shall not be abridged. Instead we will work with the countries where illegal immigrants come from so that the issues that drive their population toward us are resolved. We resolve to embrace the existing immigrant population.

12. We acknowledge that a drug addiction problem exists and will work toward allieving the issue, not punishing those caught up in the practice.

13. We acknowledge that different sexual orientations exist.

14. We acknowledge that a woman has the burden of carrying a child from conception to the end of the pregnancy.

I Deserve To Be Treated Bad - I'm Poor

I rarely blog about politics, but that doesn't mean I don't take an interest in what goes

on nationally and locally in NC. Having been homeless, received Food Stamps, and attempted

to get subsidized housing, I've followed the antics of the NC legislature for some time

now.

Since the Republicans took over complete control of NC politics, law after law has been

passed whose only affect is to make it harder to be poor, jobless and/or homeless. In 2011

I followed the Occupy movement, not as a participant, but as an observer, taking videos of

protests that even now are on my youtube channel. I thought the protests were valid and

were a way to show how unhappy the protesters were with the status quo.

Sadly nothing major came out of that movement. Instead when the legislature began to churn

out anti-poor laws, the movement transformed into Moral Mondays: protests every Monday

while the legislature was in session. I never got a chance to participate in those

protests. I was jobless and living in the shelter, where if I wanted to get fed and have a

bed, I needed to be in the shelter by 6pm.

But those protests go on, and arrests come almost weekly. The legislature tried to change

the rules so that they couldn't be as vocal as they had been. The courts denied that rule,

and as such, arrests are still being made, in relatively small amounts.

I would not say I have ever been politically-active, but that doesn't mean I don't care

about the direction this state is going. I like living in NC. The weather is relatively

mild, the trees are beautiful, most of the people have a form of southern charm, and there

is the kind of technology here that I can sink my teeth into (well, if I still had

teeth!). I don't want to leave.

And yet the state is simply becoming too hostile to those of us who are dreamers; who care

less about money and power and more about art, writing and, you know, Liberal things, like

housing and feeding the poor, helping the sick and injured.

Even with a job that has become full-time, I find it hard to make ends meet without

turning to help. I'm so tempted to temporarily move back into the shelter to put together

enough money so I can find an apartment. But then I realized there are people much worse

off than me who need that bed more. People made that way by laws passed by Republicans,

either in NC or Federal, who seem to go out of their way to make the poor suffer even more

than they already do.

So my questions are: a) How can the poor help themselves if they keep getting pushed down

by Republicans and b) what are the rest of us going to do about it?

My stepfather has to be a Republican, because his philosophy even before my mother died

was that if I get into trouble, I need to work my way out of it. After she died and I

became homeless (entirely my fault, by the way), I asked him for help, and was turned

down, saying the gravy train was over. He'd rather his stepson live on the streets than

lend a hand, and this is symptomatic of the Republican attitude.

Because no one who works hard should ever be unemployed.

Because if you can't find a job you're not working hard enough.

Back in the late 80's I attended a series of courses that taught electronics at a local

'college'. I applied for a student loan to cover the $2500 tuition for a 4 month course.

When I was done it helped me land a job troubleshooting slot machines and video gaming

equipment. Unfortunately the education I received wasn't really adequate for the position

and that job fell away.

But the student loan remained.

Over the years since then, going from job to job, I have paid what I can afford on that

loan, defaulted when I could not pay, and have seen the loan sold at least twice. The

amount of interest charged on this loan far exceeds the original $2500 I took out. In fact

the current value of the loan is around $8,000, and I've probably paid $5,000 on it since

1989.

I bring this up in this blog to point out that I tried to do things the way the

Republicans want me to. I tried to get an education, and partially succeeded, but because

I never really completed a Bachelor's Degree (I have an Associate's), my ability to find a

well-paying job was hampered, and now I have to compete with students half my age with an

up-to-date education on paper (though my worldly knowledge is vast).

And to top it off, all my tax refunds, Federal and State, get confiscated to pay off that

loan. Worse yet, the interest exceeds my ability to pay it off, and I never will pay it

off unless something miraculous happens and I sell a script or a book.

But don't feel bad for me. I'm poor and I deserve the kind of treatment I'm getting. Just

ask the Republicans.

Free: Sung (badly) by Michael Harrison Fox

Excuse Me While I Polish My Armor

This morning, while waiting for a bus made late by a breakdown, a small crowd had gathered at Moore Square. While minding our own business, a black man came along, dressed in a tan hoodie, and suddenly laced into a vile, racially-charged, epithet-strewn diatribe against an elderly white lady. She had done nothing to provoke it, other than be white. Having lived in a shelter for as long as I did, I was accustomed to such actions, but this lady had done nothing to deserve the viciousness of the verbal attack.

She stood there, silently, and took it. After a minute, the man turned and started to walk away, then turned back, finger pointed at the woman and began anew. At this point I started to slowly make my way toward the woman and as he turned and walked away again, I knew he'd turn again and when he did, I placed myself between him and her.

His diatribe had a new target. He asked me questions, which I tried to answer with nods or shakes, but then he asked me where I was from, and then demanded I answer. I told him I was from here. I then lowered my glasses on my nose, so that I could see him eye to eye.

He was young, fit and loud, I'm middle-aged, flabby, injured and quiet. Yet I stood my ground. The Paladin in me got fired up and though I knew my actions could result in the crap getting beaten out of me, I wasn't going to let him verbally abuse that woman any more.

He tried to get me to say something that would justify such a beating, but my naturally quiet nature foiled him. He turned and started to walk away, not looking where he was going. I saw the bus coming, and him headed for the street. I called "Watch out for yourself." He thought I'd talked back to him, turned, which probably saved his life, and said: "What did you say?" "I said Watch out for yourself, or the bus will hit you." He turned, saw the bus, and started to walk away, saying "Get your bifocals out of town."

A few minutes later the bus came, and I did get out of town, to go to work. But I'll be back.

There was never any hesitation, and no regrets. There were no cops at that hour. I knew the chance of being hurt was there. Thankfully, I was not attacked other than verbally. The lady, after it was all over said I was very brave.

Excuse me while I polish my armor. Let's hope I don't need a sword.

On the Difference Between Being Empathic and Empathetic

A few days before writing this article, I came across an article about how to tell if you are empathic. http://themindunleashed.org/2013/10/30-traits-of-empath.html. As I read this article, I noticed that I share more than a few of the traits mentioned in it. I already know I'm a Highly Sensitive Person, and certainly some of the traits listed are concurrent with those of an HSP, but I did have some problems with the article.

First, there's a metaphysical side of it that leaves me uncomfortable. The article states that empaths can experience lower back pain, and I certainly do, but the article states the cause is that all the emotions and psychic energy that the empath receives comes through the lower back, and that causes the pain. I don't know about other empaths, but my lower back pain comes from having a big belly, from a bicycle accident years ago and from degeneration of the connecting tissues in my vertebrae.

Another issue is that some empaths can feel the pain of the animals they eat, some sort of psychic residue. I have never felt the pain of any meat that I have eaten, though if I took the time to research how animals are treated, I might feel different. The fact is, I like to eat meat and I don't want to know how the animal dies.

A third trait that I do not possess is that some empaths cannot watch TV or movies because of the suffering that goes on in TV programs. Being a writer, I can separate fact from fiction, so going to a movie with fake violence is not going to faze me. Though I must admit, when those commercials come on that show cats and dogs in distress, I look away or change the channel.

And this is one trait I do possess. I want to help people, but if something happens that overwhelms me, I will have a tendency to look away, walk away and otherwise get outta there with all due speed.

The article mentioned something about picking up on emotions from a distance. I can remember on the morning of September 11, 2001, I woke early, before the planes hit, which was unusual at the time because I worked second shift and frequently slept in. But something woke me, and I turned on the news. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I went back to bed. 3 hours later I woke again, but by then the towers had fallen. I missed seeing it live, and frankly, I'm glad. The horror would have made a huge impact on me. I likely would have called in sick at that point.

So I am in one sense empathic, but clearly not as sensitive as others. But I got to thinking afterward that while I am empathic to a degree, there's a difference between being empathic and being empathetic. Empaths can sense metaphysical aspects of other creatures, like an aura. I can't say that I've ever seen an aura, but certainly I'm better at sensing emotions than some.

But that isn't the same as knowing how to act around people. Being empathetic means being able to put yourself in someone's shoes so you know how they feel, and as such can know how to deal with them without offending them. One of the traits of an empath, according to that article, is 'mirroring' someone's emotions. And while that is a good thing when that person is calm and collected, it can be a very bad thing when the opposite is true. So while an empath gets angry at someone who is angry, someone who is empathetic will turn that around, soften their voice to someone who is angry and get them to calm down.

And that has taken me a long time to understand. I have worked customer service in one form or another since 1990, when I took a sales job at Radio Shack. I believe it comes from an empathic need to help people who are in need, but the traits of an empath, especially the mirroring, have gotten in the way of me being the best in customer service.

At the end of one of my last jobs, I worked in a call center that handled tech support for Apple computers. Already frazzled by the demands of management, My last call came from a woman who was frustrated because she could not connect to the internet. One of the troubleshooting steps was to remove the wifi connections from her list of connections, but as I instructed her to do that, she became frantic about how she was going to get those connections back. Before I could tell her that she needn't worried about it, she went off the deep end and called it a "Cat-astrophe!" over and over again. The empath in me picked up on her frantic vibes over the phone and unfortunately, I silently mirrored her, panicked and hung up. I was so emotionally damaged by the call that I walked off the job.

That said, for most of my career in customer service, I have been able to distinguish between the right kind of mirroring, where I mimic the talking style of the customer, and the wrong kind of mirroring where I go off the deep end with them. The wrong kind happens with less and less frequency as I gain control over the emotions that others project over me.

And this makes the difference between being empathic and empathetic. Most empaths would shun those that make them uncomfortable, while empathetic people learn how to manage how other people's emotions affect them.

In the end, one can be empathic but not empathetic, or, rather, not know how to be empathetic.