Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@hystericempress Yeah, that was really just a "one more damn thing," honestly.

Actually... we are bailing, and we're gonna end up in your hometown as it turns out! It's basically the only place we could get a ticket to...

Yup, it's looking pretty bad down here. Power is already flickering a bit. We've got a tornado warning on top of everything else. Looks like this thing might pass right next to us.

Roads are probably a bit too deep to make that last-minute grocery run I was hoping for. We already have 8-12 days of food bars—I was just hoping to get something more interesting.

Local Reddit is dealing with this through gallows humor and I... I kinda wanna punch them? Lots of people saying "we're all doomed!" but nobody's exactly rushing to evacuate—I haven't seen a single person say they're gonna try.

Calmer heads are saying something more like "as long as the levies don't actually *breach* and the pumps hold up, we should be fine, even if there's some spillover."

The local meteorologists and government agencies are basically still saying "stay the fuck indoors, make your preparations, and don't panic." I'm going with that for now—in fact, I'm probably going back to bed in a couple of hours.

Have already told my boss I'm probably taking PTO for the rest of the week, so at least that's one less thing to worry about.

Wish us luck. FWIW, I consulted Dawn (i.e. Peg's tarot deck) about this, and her basic opinion was "yeah, I probably scared you with that last reading*, but you're smart and you're paying attention, so you've probably got this."

(*Death, a 99 of Swords, and a 7 of Swords, plus an unnerving amount of water imagery... The funny thing is, this is BEFORE Invest 92L started forming. I had just asked her about the comic's future. :O )

Also, been looking at historical precedent. Even in Katrina, there was like a 0.4% chance of dying—and the last time the levies were breached before that, in May 1849, only Uptown and the Central Business District got flooded. (We're in Mid-City. Too close for comfort, but...) And that was before there were such things as drainage pumps.

Anyhow. We'll try not to do anything stupid, and hopefully I'll still be around on Monday to make your lives bitier for years to come. :)

@hystericempress Hope you feel better soon, sis. Keep us posted. This sounds like a rough one. DON'T YOU DARE PULL A FUCKING HENSON ON US. You start to get super-weak, you see a doctor, okay?

@hystericempress Unfortunately, this is an unusual situation: this is the first time they've ever had to deal with a tropical storm AND a Mississippi River that was already at 16 feet... It's not the rain they're worried about down here, so much as the possibility the levies will overflow because we're *already* so close to the limit. The levies are 20' at their lowest point... and the forecast says the storm surges will take the river as high as 19'. That's... a scary low amount of leeway. :|

FWIW, though, even the worst doomsayers on r/NewOrleans haven't made a peep about actually putting their money where their mouths are and leaving town. And Peg asked her local friends—and even the one who works for the local zoo, and personally knows the guy who handles storm prep for it, says he's not leaving unless the forecast gets distinctly worse...

It's scaring the shit outta Peg, though, who's ALWAYS lost everyone in one of these once before. :< Weirdly... I am not feeling any great stress from it. I'm worried, most definitely, but there's been very little mental or physical impact.

@mmsword Yeah, but we have another issue. The river is at 16 feet going *into* this storm. The levies are 20 feet tall. The storm surges are expected to add another 3 feet. We're gonna be about 12 inches away from doom...

@001zlnv DON'T TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE! :D

Tropical depression brewing. They're predicting storm surges of 19 feet, which is real interesting, given the levies are about 20 feet high.

I'm not real into doomsaying these days, and it does at least look like the locals screaming "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE" on Reddit is mostly in jest... but I'm not gonna pretend I'm not a little scared. It's my first tropical storm, FFS. I've lived all my life in places that were polite enough to only try to kill me during the winter, like god intended.

We've got food for a week or two, and some bottled water stashed away. And luckily, our house is up on struts unlike many of our less fortunate neighbors. I'm a little worried about the fact we don't have storm windows, shutters, or even flood insurance—and getting them in time for the storm hitting circa Friday is quite impossible.

Right now, I expect the most we're gonna get is some frustration, power loss (which is gonna be super-fun in 90-degree weather), and property damage. The biggest threat to my life, presuming this doesn't stir up into a Cat 5 and flatten us all, is probably from Peg getting sick of my whining and finally, deservedly, up and eating me.

But juuuust in case, it's been a blast, and thank you all for being here. 🎵​Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention...🎵

(Since I know it's easy to commit acts of friendly fire around here... believe me, if you're the person I'm talking about, you know it in no uncertain terms, because I just sent you a DM telling you straight up: "Leave. Now.")

If a tigress comes up to you in the jungle, puts her face right up in yours, and purrs, "Leave. Now," that is an act of compassion—especially if you have already shot at her in the past.

If you received such a message from a tigress recently, I _strongly_ advise you to accept that compassion before it is revoked. It is dumbfounding that you would show your face around here, after everything you've done to me and my friends, and presume you will retain said face.

@001zlnv Both of those imply a degree of emotional commitment to his life and deed [sic] that I'm just not ready for. ;)

@001zlnv Are you kidding? That's the best part. Besides, that way nobody blames the 3-meter freakin' tiger for all the broken furniture.

"Huh."

Finished the first season. Nope. I don't care. Doubling down on that Entrapta crush anyhow.

I mean, yeah, morally, I'm totally with the rebellion. But for a night on the town drinking? It's Entrapta-Catra-Scorpia 10, Adora-Glimmer-Bow 0. No contest. Mmmaybe I'd give 'em a 2 if Swift Wind tagged along.

In fact, come to think of it, there isn't a single non-pony member of the rebellion I'd actually want to hang out with socially except maybe Bow. I think this show might have a tiny bit of Batman Syndrome...

@Trouffee@mastodon.social I mean, it's a good schtick for manipulating people. :)

@Balinares I mean, you've SEEN the comic. :) I am totally on board for this plan...

@Leucrotta Yeah, I'm totally open to the likelihood that such people require more of a Sweetums approach.

I did a quick thought experiment with the set of Fred Rogers's techniques for communication, while pondering the pointless (but fun) head-butting argument I just had about climate change. Hmm. Yeah, I think there's some value here.

I'm wondering if this summary of Fred Rogers's speech habits for addressing preschoolers might not also be applicable to certain adults... (*coughcoworkerscough*)

@Austin_Dern I'm working so hard to not make a Poochie joke. >:D

@Balina Twin head bayonets AND built-in hard-toed boots? Cripes, the Martian Ministry of Recreational Warfare might have some contract work for you... How fast could you get to Phobos?