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I've recently settled into my appartment.

Yeah, you can tell where this is going, can't you?

Last night, I had finished setting up my lizard's vivarium. I was at my mother's, picking up a few things, including the lizard in question. I carefully bundle him up and put him in a box, get in the car with the box on my lap (he was pretty calm), and my mother drove me back to my area.

About two streets away, a police car had blocked us off and we had to take a detour. "Heh. The one time something happens in my area, I'm not there," I joke. We detour around another block and find that the street leading to my appartment, Ward, is blocked. In fact, my appartment's street, Gold, is lined with firetrucks, smoke, and a lot of people. I can't see my building from where we are, but I already know what's happening. "Martin... it's your building," my mother tells me. Oh motherfuc... See, I wasn't insured yet: my phone line had only recently come in so I couldn't phone anyone to get insurence until very recently.

We ask a police on a neighbouring street which address they're here for. "2211 Gold." Oh, crap... ohhhhh crap... "It's practically all burned down." Well, whoop-de-frickin-doo! I've just lost everything that I own but the cloths I'm wearing, my appartment, and so forth.

I hand my mother the box containing my lizard (poor lil' guy ) and rush out of the car to see the extent of the damages, already starting to think about how I'll recover from this financially (being a programmer and saving up left me with enough money to bounce back, but that's not the point!!) I hit Ward street and finally get to see the building. And that's when I knew, I'm screwed. Nothing's going to be left of what I own.

The entire side facing Ward is destroyed. The 4th floor is gone. The 3rd and 2nd floors are burned through. Flames as big as my mother's house are leaping through the ceilling (ex-celling?) of the 3rd floor. The situation DOES seem under control, however, but it may already be too late.

I manage to make it on Gold street, and that's when I noticed the REAL extent of the damages the fire had caused: only the half facing Ward was a total loss. My side looked untouched by the blaze. Dared I hope? No. Not until I see my appartment window with my own eyes. But the place is covered in police tape, and there's no way to get there.

To hell with them anyways, I tell myself, and sneak past the police tape behind my block. A man has to have his priorities straight, and my computer's in there! I mean, hey, y'know? :/

After standing under my balcony and looking up at the untouched half of the building, I returned to my mother (who was still waiting in the car with my lizard) and exclaimed, "And lo, sayeth the Lord: all shall be cleansed by fire! 'But wait!' sayeth a programmer, 'My shit's in there and I just moved in!' Oh, replied the Lord, my bad. And so, the flamed touched not the programmer's belongings."

Firemen said that the carpet in the far section of the 3rd floor wasn't even wet. But there might be some heavy smoke damage. At least I didn't lose everything, though chances are my PC suffered from the smoke. And my clothing? Well, I won't jump to conclusions. I'm going to try to get my stuff back in a few hours, and i'll know then.

If anything, I feel for the people down south who were caught by the hurricane. Frankly, I'm still a little under shock: it happened not even a day ago. My grandmother is moving into my old room at my mother's so I don't quite have anywhere to live, but at least I have a roof over my head. And I may not've lost everything either. But wow. That was quite a terrible experience.

How'd the fire start? Nobody knows exactly but one lady said as she was coming back home, someone burst out of their appartment and yelled "Get out! My oven's on fire!" or something to that end.

Dunno what's gonna happen now... :/ It was in the newspaper, though. Yay.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Wow. Hopefully, your stuff isn't completely trashed. At least you have some hope. Good luck.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Wow...that sucks, man. I hope everything turns out alright.

At least Fenris is safe.

This post has been edited by Caesar on 25th September 2005 18:33

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Is PJ

Quote (Caesar @ 25th September 2005 13:33)

At least Fenris is safe.

If I had brought him over an hour or two earlier, he would've died asphyxiated.

Dunno if my hack survived though. Same goes for Endless Saga, but I do have a backup of the source somewhere. Dated, but better than starting over.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Quote

Dunno if my hack survived though. sad.gif Same goes for Endless Saga, but I do have a backup of the source somewhere. Dated, but better than starting over.

We can only hope. I thought you sent a demo to me at one point, but I just checked and I don't have one. Sorry I can't really help you there.

I DO have some of your notes, though, if those were lost, too. Not sure what use they will be though since all it is is the animation notes and you've likely discovered hundreds more codes since then.

Keep us updated.

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Is PJ

yeeowch...you sure have your fair share of disasters, don't ya chief? My prayers towards you.

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"Fire and steel
follow me through the lands
you will burn hordes of hell
in the deadly raging flames of revenge"

Rhapsody - Flames of Revenge

My condolences.

But don't worry. You're alive, and you have a roof over your head, and your family and your lizard are safe, and ...well, basically, you're still in one piece, and the rest (or most of it) is probably replaceable in some way or another if you really need it.

But I think you just jolted me at my realization that I also live in a place with many other people whose actions I can't control/manage (it's a dorm).

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Seems like Tymora was smiling upon you. I hope Endless Saga was not too badly damaged. I checked out your site and it looked cool.

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What if he shot you first instead of your secretary?

I suppose I'd have to catch the bullet, wouldn't I

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about this. It's a terrible thing to happen, especially after having just moved into the place.

As GMH said, luckily you and your lizard are safe and you have a place to stay. I know it doesn't make the loss of your possessions any easier to bear, but it sounds like you have hope that they survived intact as well. I especially hope that is true of Endless Saga. I can only imagine what it's like to lose something you've put so much time and energy into.

Please let us know how things turn out.

Well, I'm back from the disaster area.

My appartment was intact. IN-TACT. Not even an ounce of smoke damage! Nothing! Well, thawed food in the freezer... there goes my bacon, my chicken wings, my eggs...

I'm writing from my PC. Everything survived. Unfortunately I don't know what's going to happen now. When the building will be inhabitable again, I don't know. They're not scrapping it, but the part that burned down is an absolute mess. So I'll see what's what and either wait it out or start looking for a new appartment.

Luckily, both Endless Saga and my ROM hack survived, and I managed to get the hack's website up and running. Yay.

Most of my stuff is still there. But miraculously nothing's damaged so everything's fine. I still remember how I felt yesterday when I saw the building burning and had come to terms with having lost everything. Then how I felt when we kicked in the door (jammed) and saw that everything was absolutely spotless. Granted, there was a slightly smoky smell, but I had my window opened when I left, which aired out the place and probably saved it from mucho smoke damage.

An interesting weekend, no less. Heh. And thankfully enough, nothing more than a hassle now. The landlord didn't seem too phased, but I could tell he was under a lot of stress and all dealing with this. Dunno what's gonna happen to everyone now, heh... Hopefully everyone else is dealing with this allright. The people who lost everything, I really feel for. :/

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 26th September 2005 03:49

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

That is awful that some people in your building lost everything, but it really is great that you personally managed to escape unscathed with all your stuff. Gotta look out for yourself first, right?

I hope all gets settled soon; it seems like as long as an inspector can rule the rest of the building inhabitable, you should be fine. But good luck.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

My -ex's apartment burned down. I was with her when she found out that everything she owned was gone.

Therefore, I'm glad to hear that your things have survived. It's not a fun experience

That's great news, RuneLancer! Glad to hear to all of your stuff is alright.

Still...you can't help but feel for those who lost everything. The house of one of my friends burned completely to the ground, and they lost absolutely everything. She lived just down the street, too. It was a pretty terrible thing to see.

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Is PJ

Wow, that's a close call. One hell of a lucky break on your part. I take it you need to find a new place to live again?

But wow, this makes me want to rethink moving out on my own...

I've talked with some other people who were pretty well off despite being caught up in the blaze, having good insurence and all. They said most people didn't lose anything too serious, both material and financial, in the whole deal so that's good. Nobody seems too keen on what to do now, though, and there's a lot of confusion involved. Pretty bad, really.

The current rumor is that, within a month or so, the smell should have cleared out and it'll be safe to go back. Bit longer for those whose appartments are, uh... in appartment heaven. That's unconfirmed though, so I'm going to try to get ahold of the landlord and see what's what.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

You sir, are an extremely lucky fellow. A little TOO lucky... conspiracy, perhaps?

<.<
>.>

Anyway, I kinda know how you felt when you realized that all your stuff was still there, I felt the same way when I arrived back at home yesterday after the Rita evacuation. Of course, I knew on Friday that the storm wouldn't hit us, but there was still this nagging in the back of my mind that it would turn back to the West.

Yay for Endless Saga NOT being utterly destroyed!

--------------------

The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

Wow. Things keep getting better and better.

Yesterday, I went back to pick up some stuff with my old man. The essentials: clothing and alcohol. (Hehe...) All goes well, I take care of some stuff during the day, figure I'll leave the furniture there because...

1) The elevator doesn't work and I live on the 3rd floor. Stairs? Meet large couch seating 3 people.

2) A very strong rumor floating about was that we could return in a few weeks once the smoke smell clears and the burnt half would be torn down and rebuilt. Very reasonable: half of the building is untouched.

Today, roughly a few hours ago, I go back with my mother and her boyfriend to grab the rest of the stuff we can grab. A few angry-looking people are crowded around a yellow paper by the door. Well now, let's see what the paper says.

"HI DUDE! Hey, sorry to hear some of you lost everything. Well, anyways. We're tearing the whole building down! Even the half that hasn't been damaged. Completely tearing it down. Holy hell dude, what a sound that'll make! But anyways, as leet as that is, you guys have until sunday to clear everything out. Yeah, all 70 families living in there. Sorry about us having only one set of stairs and no elevator, lol. So yeah: 4 days, well, 3 now, to find either movers who'll go in a burnt-out building (good luck on that, lol) or to rent a van, to rent a warehouse to store your furniture, and to empty all 70 of your little appartments. Through the stairs. Come on people, stop whining! My grandaddy used to beat me with a willow switch if I couldn't plow the fields with my little toe when I was a kid!! Lazy snobs! :/ Anyways. Get out. You have 4 days, starting today- well, 3 now."

...Wow.

According to the law, they're supposed to give you a reasonable delay. A collective lawsuit was omnipresent in the discussions people were having.

It's great that some of these people are now out on the streets AND have 4 days to figure out a way to get their stuff out of there.

Oh yeah, here's the cherry on the sunday: the building is locked down between... 5 pm and 9 am. Great, great. 8 hours over the course of 3 days now: 24 hours to clear out 70 buildings through the one single stairway leading out.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

^^^ Ouchie. ^^^

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Uwao. aooh! I'm Gau!
I'm your friend!
Let's travel together!

As horrible as that is, I can't help but laughing, just because of the way the letter was written. I mean, c'mon, it IS kinda funny.

You should post up another note saying that is was all a joke (made to look like the first one), and then when everyone else is breathing a sigh of relief, hurry and get all your stuff out. And they'll be all "Dude it was a joke." And you'll be all "nuh-uh the other note was a joke." And they'll be all "...crap."

And if that doesn't work, then I really do feel sorry for ya.

--------------------

The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

Umm...?

I'm pretty sure that "note" was just RuneLancer's mock interpretation of the guy who told them all to move out. Because it makes the person seem real imcompentant and contradictory and all those good adjectives that define a stupid person.

And that suggestion is just outright mean. But of course, it will never happen, since I'm quite sure that letter doesn't exist.

Edit

Btw, RL, the dumper is pretty much perfect. I think I can straighten out the names based on their stats. I'm gonna see if Dji and I can't figure out some of those mystery bytes before submission, though. Thanks!

This post has been edited by Caesar on 29th September 2005 02:40

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Is PJ

Quote (Spiffyness @ 28th September 2005 21:31)

As horrible as that is, I can't help but laughing, just because of the way the letter was written. I mean, c'mon, it IS kinda funny.

Hopefully you're aware that that's me piling on sarcasm, and not the letter verbatim.

The actual notice was much more brief and basically went, "Due to the current events and situation, all tenants are required to have their appartments completely emptied before sunday the 2nd." And, kindly enough, we were reminded that, "Management is not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged goods." It went something more or less to that end.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

That's just a whole barrel of poo flinging monkeys you got yourself. Well a lawsuit does seem in order here. You can't expect 70 families to just hike all thier shit down the stairsa in 4 days, that's unreasonable.

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At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

...And they can legally do that? What's the manager on?

Too bad you can't just fling the stuff out the burned half into waiting trailers Would make it easier.

Quote (Shinryu @ 28th September 2005 23:44)

...And they can legally do that? What's the manager on?

Too bad you can't just fling the stuff out the burned half into waiting trailers Would make it easier.

No, actually, I don't think he's legally allowed to. The law states you have to give tenants a "reasonable delay." Given the circumstances and the amount of people involved, that's hardly reasonable. In any event, I'm gonna call the office which handles this stuff and see what's what with them directly. Doesn't seem like a very kosher way to proceed to me. :/

What most people had heard, myself included, was that the destroyed half would be thrown down and rebuilt, and the rest left where it was (the flames not having reached there.) But apparently that's not the case, and they're demolishing even the untouched parts and rebuilding from scratch.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Yes, I noticed the sarcasm, mostly on account of if that WAS the real note, than the guy who wrote it would've been completely aware of the mass injustice he was causing. And NOBODY could be that big of a jerk. That doesn't change the fact that it was funny, however.

But honestly, I don't think you'll have too much to worry about if you just talk to the dudes involved, and then talk to some... law... apartment... helper-guy who will say "Hey idiots, give 'em at least a few weeks!"

--------------------

The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-