I'm okay (Patreon)

We were without power for 80 hours.

They didn't treat the roads, so the interstate became a death trap.

People were trapped in their cars over night for up to 20 hours.

Our senator was one of them.

Trees and powerlines are down everywhere.

This was the worst disaster to my region since Hurricane Isabelle in 2003.

And I'm not going to sugar coat it. People have died.

But I'm privileged to have the parents that I do.

Because of 2020 I'm living with them, however we wouldn't have gotten through this alone.

This house has a wood fire stove, and thanks to my dad's paranoia we had plenty of firewood.

This kept the hours rather comfortable all things considered.

And we were able to preserve our perishables by burying them in the snow.

Then on the 2nd day my dad remembered that had a portable propane range.

We were actually able cook bacon and eggs for breakfast, and turkey burgers for dinner (we had to use them or else they'd spoil).

For entertainment it was books or the radio.

My mother and I played cards and scrabble.

I read all of Divine Misfortune by A. Lee. Martinez, not as good as his prior book Monster but still good... I don't think Martinez writes strong endings.

I also found my old Gameboy and would play a round of Tetris whenever I had to use the toilet.

That all being say, being cut off from the internet, and from all of you so suddenly shook me.

I cried during the few times I was alone by myself when it set in.

Again, had I known it was going to be this bad, or if there had been more time to prepare then I knew I would have handled it better. But as it was I really really missed all of you.

I wasn't even that bothered about not drawing. It was just the fact that I couldn't get in contact with any of you that just left me rattled. And I'm still rattled.

But then on the 3rd day, I made a discovery. Cellular internet.

There's this spot in our kitchen. 2 paces to the side of the microwave that for some unfathomable reason gets 3 bars whereas everywhere else on the property gets 2.

This allowed me to finally get some connectivity, and I used that to send out some tweets on twitter and do some light browsing?

How light? I had to disable all thumbnails, and every page was effectively dial-up.

This new phone of mine is 5G ready. Shit good that did when the cell tower also doesn't have power.

But this was the drip feed I needed.

I never said I was strong, and I never said I wasn't first world and spoiled.

I know that there are people who have it way, way worst than I do, but I couldn't take solace in that fact in the moment. And for that I apologize.

The power came back on at 4pm today.

We took an hour to clean up the house and move any buried food back inside.

My mother took her shower, then mine. And now I'm here letting you know everything that's gone on.

I hope your week has been better than mine. 

And I hope you don't mind if my art might be delayed as a reacclimatize 

Thankyou.