#(it probably won't be necessary but for some reason the posts I spend three seconds on and are incorrect in some way)

[atlantic-riona]

hi, welcome to medieval Irish literature, where everybody dies

[etraytin]

Emergency Preparedness On A Budget

Hey all, just a reminder that even though many of us are looking at a warmer-than-average winter this year, warm on average does not mean we won't see winter storms! In fact, warm winters can produce some really unusual weather patterns that are even more likely to produce severe storms. The best time to prepare for a winter storm, or any other natural disaster, is well before it happens, ie, right now.

"But wait," you might say, "the economy is stupid and everything is expensive! I'm afraid my survival bunker is just going to have to wait until my lottery numbers come up, which will take awhile because I also can't afford to play the lottery." First off, good job not playing the lottery, and second, preparing for a disaster does not have to be expensive. In fact, if you start early enough, disaster preparedness can be done a few dollars at a time without much of anything in the way of special supplies.

In order to not make a single post that is a billion lines long, I am dividing my advice into a few different posts and will link them together when I am done. The links will be right here:

Food and Water Preparedness

FIrst and most important: food and water. The motto of disaster preparedness is "The first 72 is on you." In a major disaster situation, if the situation has not resolved itself within three days, that's about the amount of time it takes for outside help to get itself organized and start arriving in a meaningful way to a disaster area. Objectively three days is a pretty short period of time, subjectively it is a small eternity if you are not prepared.

Preppers (people who do disaster preparedness as a hobby, to greater and lesser levels of unhingedness) spend a lot of time discussing the best types of food and water prep for long-term storage and/or end of the world scenarios. We are not going to do that. We want cheap, easy, effective preparations that we can ideally do while grocery shopping in a Walmart. The easiest, simplest and cheapest way to do your food prep is this: Buy one or two canned, jarred or tetrapacked (that waxed cardboard box pack) meal items every time you can afford it, then set them aside. Find a little space in a closet, a cupboard, a shelf, whatever, and just keep those foods there until you have three days worth for everyone in your household, including the pets.

"Fine," you might say as you look skeptically at the back of your cupboards, "but that doesn't seem very specific. There are a lot of canned goods out there!" And that is fair! The basic rule of thumb is "Buy something you will eat, ideally without heating it up if necessary, that doesn't require much prep or cleaning." For example, my family is two adults and one adolescent, none of us with major food allergens or aversions. If I were trying for a 72-hour food prep for us on the cheap with no cooking available I'd probably go with six cans of chunky soup, which I get for a dollar each on sale, three small jars of applesauce (smaller jars are better if you have no way to cool food), a box of saltine crackers, three cans of tuna, and a big box of granola bars if I could keep them out of reach of the kiddo long enough.

It's not fancy and it may not provide great long-term nutrition, but it's enough food to keep us alive for three days in a form that will hold in storage for 1-2 years without needing to rotate. Even on a very tight budget you can probably accumulate this much food in a pretty reasonable amount of time (and a lot of it is the sort of thing you might get from a food bank anyway!) For pet food, pack up three days worth of your pet's food, ideally in a glass jar but any sealed container will do, and add any cans of wet food they'd get as well.

Water is another big prepping topic that we're going to go easy-peasy on. You need, at minimum, a gallon of clean water per person per day, plus extra for cleaning and washing. Water is annoying to store and takes a lot of room, so for a quickie 3-day prep, minimizing water use is ideal. If you can scare up enough paper plates, cups and utensils to last you three days, you save ever having to wash dishes. If you can get hold of a pack of wet wipes, you reduce the amount of water for washing your body. If you can bring yourself to pee in the woods or at the very least let urine sit in the toilet unflushed, you save a HUGE amount of water on flushing.

For your water prep, you can use the bit-at-a-time strategy again. Every time you get groceries, try to bring home a gallon or two of purified drinking water. They should be very cheap, usually around 1.25 in my neck of the woods, and they last for awhile. If you have a few extra dollars, buy a flat of bottled water until you have at least three gallon containers and one 12-pack for each human member of your household Tuck them away somewhere out of direct sunlight, and rotate them regularly, taking out an old gallon and flat and replacing them with new every couple of months.

Once you have your basic setup, you can start thinking about getting fancier. There are ways to find things like camp stoves and water filters fairly cheaply, usually by hitting up garage sales or looking in the clearance sporting goods section when camping season is over, but that's basically gravy when compared to just having something to eat.

Next Time: Light, Heat and Medicine

[tentacle-stylograph]

Mon. 24 Oct. '22

what i’m doing: is this what i want to be doing: if no, what would i rather be doing: if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place:

4.42 pm what i’m doing: scrolling Tiktok qith a stomachache 'cause i haven't eaten well for a couple days is this what i want to be doing: nah. ...-sigh- the stomachache isn't even that bad. i could figure out some food stuff for tomorrow so this doesn't keep going and then work on homework for a bit if no, what would i rather be doing: 👆 if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place: my brain's a bit fogged over and for some reason that's leading to low grade self-hatred that's making doing anything difficult. there's also some unenergetic panic because i'm still not seeing how it's possible for me to do all the necessary schoolwork for the semester nor how future semesters will be possible, where i'll need to take four classes instead of three. altho, i did make mac and cheese, so that's good --> what i need to be doing: message friend to see if we can do work calls this week, (probably put on some music so can get up,) charge phone, bathroom, dressed, character sheet 1 hr probably in StudyTogether

5.05 pm what i’m doing: rewatching a Mr. 2 Bon Clay cosplay Tiktok is this what i want to be doing:

if no, what would i rather be doing: my reminder alarm prompted me to turn on some music and get up and do what i want to do. i am now in the bathroom, sitting on the counter to type this and will shortly use the toilet you needed this TMI if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place:

5.46 pm (spent at least part of the time between this entry and last cleaning cinnamon i'd sprinkled around the house to repel ants the last couple months) what i’m doing: letting the last 40 seconds of Candle Queen play as i watch the video for that last bit, hopefully before checking my to-do list then maybe taking a nap then getting dressed then working on hw is this what i want to be doing: yeh, good enough if no, what would i rather be doing: if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place:

7.51 pm what i’m doing: making a journal entry about some thoughts i just had, basically surrounding "i'm so often so defensive and scared" is this what i want to be doing: long as i don't spend more than ten minutes on it, sure if no, what would i rather be doing: want to send a friend a message after that then work on homework for an hour if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place:

~8.30 pm what i’m doing: watching a collection of vine memes for Dracula is this what i want to be doing: ...ehno if no, what would i rather be doing: well, i'm actually making this addition at 9.03 pm, after sending my friend a message i'd wanted to and uh doing something else that i forget, i think, but um anyway need to post some feedback to classmates if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place:

9.31 pm what i’m doing: uh. well. another belated addition. but uh. i was looking at voting rights and stuff on tumblr (not an advised source) until a minute ago. then i put on music to help me get into "changing tasks" mode is this what i want to be doing: no. not at all. if no, what would i rather be doing: responding to classmates' posts if struggling to do the above, why, and why do i want to do the above in the first place: -> music already going to help me do that. now to log into Canvas. ...aw dang it i'm gonna have to do that two-step verification probably. ...and dang it i don't want to spend until 10 doing that, so i won't get even a half hour of schoolwork in for the day. but i gotta do this. so let's at least do 15 minutes. (if i finish the classmate feedback, then move onto character reference sheet)

-> okay, this week's gotten weird already 'cause midterm for illustration coming up + not feeling well for much of the day. so, goal for tomorrow and Wednesday morning and hopefully Wednesday evening too ('cause i almost never seem to get much or anything done on Thursday with my class schedule):

• respond to classmates' posts as necessary • build subtools in Zbrush such as eyes, spines, claws • finish drawing character reference, at the very least the outlines • block out body (can check notes i took on "anatomical indications"); we’ll focus on head on Wednesday • brainstorm character design to add a "hard" item to character's hat (pin? souvenir? memorabilia? reminder, like a pen or piece of paper?) • add "hard item" to hat reference

• illustration midterm

just... gonna ignore my typography class for now even though i don't like doing that...

so, tonight: give classmates feedback.

tomorrow:

character reference outlines, make Zbrush tools (claws, spikes [will need both thinner and wider; for 'frill' and for other spikes), eyes), block out body

at least one hour illustration midterm even if painful to do because might not get everything i want finished for 3D modeling