Ahhhh... the life of a wageslave.

Well, the first day of work found me making a less than spectacular impression. I was two hours late (no one called to tell me that I was even added to the schedule) and I wound up locking my new boss out of her office for a few hours. I also found out, that while I didn't have to take a cut in pay, I get NO benefits and NO perks. Not even a discount at the vending machine. (sigh) I suppose that this goes in the "be careful what you wish for" category, but I keep reminding myself that this job is only the means to an end. On the job training... not an actual job. When I leave this job, i will have a much more thurough outlook on what it takes to run a hotel or inn, which is what I really want to be doing.

So, in other news... I noticed these comments on the ol message board from "deleted" who thinks I don't know who she really is...:
"Two questions I meant to ask...

1)I have heard (news) that people will lose the rights to their property if they dont return to NO. Can this be true?
2)Do you really play the accordion?"

WARNING: semi-political rant ahead... please take all precautions when reading. Safety goggles and gas masks are available in the DOA lobby.

Well, what you heard on the news is not entirely true. The city council has decided to give each neighborhood currently slated for "greenspace reclaimation" a chance to "prove their viability". In short, if enough of your neighbors don't move back, they will buy you out and come on in with the bulldozers. Right now, should you want to bail on the city and live in one of the neighborhoods in dispute, the city will buy you out for 60% of the current market value of the home. If the neighborhood proves "unviable" they will offer you 100% of the current market value, which will probably be much less if the neighborhood is "unviable".

In short, if you're an optimist that already came back, and rebuilt... and enough of your neighbors around you don't... you're just outta luck and your home will be forcibly demolished as they hand you a check for how much they think your home is worth, regardless of how you feel about it.

Land of the free, indeed. Makes me gag thinking about it.

The crucial saturation point for most neighborhoods is 5000 residents. Not an easy feat when you consider that many of these neighborhoods in question still don't have any power or safe water, and the city won't issue any more rebuilding permits until they consider the neighborhood viable.

Seems to me that the city is actively discourageing many of my neighbors from returning. Sure the levee breaches demolished their nearby neighborhoods, but what I think outsiders dont understand is, that doesn't make them any less or more safe than many of the other neighborhoods that were spared. THE ENTIRE CITY IS BELOW SEA LEVEL! I can't help thinking that if the breaches had destroyed say... uptown by river bend, we would not be having this conversation. If the levee had breached near my home, (and I owned it) I would be damned if anyone is gonna tell me that I have no right to live here if I'm gonna foot the bill to rebuild and reclaim my life!

Anyway, to answer your second question, No... I can't play the accordion, but have always wanted to learn. The images on the Atomic Thump site are merely clever photoshop productions by yours truly. When we came up with the original idea behind Atomic thump, I thought it was important to have my character play an instrument no one would ever expect in a rock band... so it was either the accordion or the tuba. Tubas are way too heavy.