Postby JeanryChandler » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:26 pm
Hey guys!
I wanted to say I am touched by all the words of support and friendly good will, like a sharp pointy longsword right in my heart. Seriously, I was really moved when Jake first told me, before I was able to see the group. WMA is a big part of my life and y'all have been very welcoming to me here at ARMA in particularly ever since I hosted Southern Knights where I met some of y'all in person (even if I don't know half the German terms the rest of y'all do). Thanks for being there trite as that sounds. Its nice to hear from people you know in times like this.
Things are sort of looking a bit better for us now, at least until this next Hurricane hits. I dont' even want to think about that, but like Dave I wont ignore it either.
We just got power back on today here where I have been staying in Abita Springs Louisiana, meaning the return of glorious air conditiionging and with it, sleep.
Thanks to the kindness of a friend in the law enforcement community Marjorie and I were able to check out our home in New Orleans two days ago, and it's pretty much a total loss inside. A tree fell on it and about 4' of water got in. I lost all my books except a few which were on very high shelves, all our furniture and everything. Amazing how it throws everything around, the fridge was tossed (probably floated) about 5 feet and slammed up against the kitchen sink. The dining room table floated off it's base and was slumped onto the chairs surounding it. Mold and slime cover everything. I have photos if anyone wants to see them, it's surreal.
Now begins the hassle with the insurance companies who seem to have layers they hide behind like a bad Bourbon st. game of three card monte. We waited in line 4 hours today at one place only to be redirected to another. But we have fairly good coverage so we will eventually rebuild (or buy another house on higher ground) even if it takes years to resolve everything.
I lost a lot of property and even a couple of friends, but Marjorie and I are alive and my family and most of my close circle of friends got out and are trying to move on with their lives. Some of the guys from our informal fencing group are now settled in various parts of Texas and might eventually be looking for fencing training partners if welcome.
In that last minute scramble after we finally boarded up the windows and left New Orleans at 4:00 AM the night before the storm, I somewhat ridiculously did bring along some of my sparring gear and swords (taking space that should have been used for other more important stuff... but we really had no idea this would be the worst Hurricane in the history of the city). I also with similar selective foresight threw some other swords and stuff into the attic which I may yet get to before that toxic mold gets up there and eats it all up. So hopefully one day we'll get our amateurish 'blind leading the blind' training sessions going down here again as well, maybe some time around November when the Gulf waters finally cool off and Hurricanes settle down for another year.
So thanks again for everybody who was asking about me. I had a rather uncomfortable three weeks here in the country but all that farm living was good for me, I lost thirty pounds. And only a small amount of what little sanity I had left (hopefully.)
Take care guys,
Jeanry
P.S. buy flood insurance if you don't have it. (In fact, get a kit ready for whatver emergency you might face, copies of all important papers in a binder, flashlights, radio, cash, cellphone with text messaging, etc.... I could go on and on... I was a quasi survivialist type before all this, I've learned a lot from the experiences of the last 3 weeks!)
"We can't all be saints"
John Dillinger
