multiple failed attempts to contact neighbor living in occupied half of building artie keeps getting stuck in

the first of these was <20 minutes after seeing him out on his porch with the door open and saying hi, which he ignored

so yeah, i'm pretty much ready to write him off as a potential ally here, it's POSSIBLE he just... i dunno, really likes loud headphones or has had to pee every single time we've knocked on his door, or whatever...

i just really hope he's just generally a recluse and not quietly mad at us for being the "crazy cat people"-- my big fear right now is that he's gonna try to call the cops on us or something for bumbling around inside the abandoned apartment

granted as peg has very reassuringly pointed out, new orleans is (a) in the middle of its biggest police staffing crisis ever (b) dealing with a spate of carjackings (c) in the middle of mardi gras so the odds are not bad that he would be literally laughed at if he tried

sometimes it's nice living in what is effectively an anarchy, anyhow no resolution in sight, no plan except for longer and longer periods of leaving artie up there (with a little food and water), currently dealing with it with bad chardonnay and good weed 🤷‍♀️​

i can leave you, my truest friends who made it this far, with only one piece of wisdom: i believe deep down in my heart that all tragedy shall someday inevitably transmute into comedy