I remember... The Escalator Scene

An incident in the refugee camp today reminded me of an incident at a two story, anchor, department store. People today were pushing and shoving; getting in to people's personal space.

I remember being at the two story department store. Instead of taking the elevator I decided to take the escalator (I was trying to avoid jail time not taking the same elevator as the family with the screaming toddler).

I was on the second floor and stepped onto the down escalator. For a bit no one got on behind me. Then half way down I notice a difference. Someone is in my personal space. I looked left, then right.

The person behind me yelled "What bitch?" As I get off the escalator I turn to the right, towards the register. The rude man behind me gets off the escalator yelling, "Finally, you fat bitch you took up the whole escalator!" I picked up a vroom left my am employee and applied some martial arts on his ass. I tripped him up as he crossed my path. Then I hit him with the broom on his back. Finally, I just kicked him in the gut and walked away, head tall, with a smile on my face.

I remember... Elevator 01

I was laying down, remembering an incident at the local department store. I was there with my roommate. We were there to buy her nephew a toy.

Already I was developing a headache from the constant whining of a two year old. I heard the chronic noise pollution coming from the next aisle. Curious to the cause of my headache I decided to take a sneak peak at the disturbed child.

I expected to find a girl with long hair, a dress, and a princess tiara on her head the way she was carrying on. Instead I found two rough and tumble boys fighting over the same toy. Both boys were wearing earth tone t-shirts and long pants. One had a typical 4-year old boy sounding cry. The second had a 2-year old high pitched feminine cry! Probably perfected from fighting with his brother over the toys.

I decided to walk away from the area. I was expecting the noise level of the high pitched crying to level off. It did not. In the moment I decided to leave my roommate the parents came to both boys, picked them up and decided to spontaneously parallel walk with me away from the toy department. "Oh my g-d! Am I being followed? Seriously?! Really?! F-CK!!" At this point I'm at my wits end, just like the father of the two boys. I was heading for the elevators, when lo-and-behold!, guess who called the elevator! I WANTED TO SCREAM! I WAS SO FRUSTRATED. I step away from the elevator. "I got the toy", said my roommate as she passed me by. She walked over to the elevator and got in the same car as the family. Apparently she missed the dad attempting to lead the screaming child into said elevator. Failing that he picked up the brat and shoved him in the car. Mother and older brother followed. "Come on", said my roommate as she stepped into the elevator. The door closed behind her. I refused to take a step closer to her.

The elevator doors closed. I could still hear the child screaming. Suddenly a blaring alarm sounds out from the cavity of the elevator car. The elevator was stuck between floors!

I slowly and joyfully walked away from the nightmare of elevator 01. I was very happy to have some alone time from my roommate and that family.

My friend was finally released from her noisy jail 40 minutes later. She found me at the cafeteria eating a hot dog and drinking an Icee. So much for peace and quiet.

The Old Haunting Ground

Ok the bitch had it coming!   See, first back in civilization she asked me if I could cook cuz her highness was hungry for a steak. Kiss my mo fo ass. Now since our TRANSPLANT she saw me washing my clothes and thought I would just do it for her automatically. She actually came to me and gave me specific directions. "Not too much starch, and I want them in an hour!" Oh really? Then she dropped her clothes at my feet. She walked away and I walked over them.  

I thought about it. This is a different place. I'm not responsible for that bitch. 

So I looked around and found a few ivies and oaks that looked REAL FAMILIAR. Guess what I did. I didn't bother using my soap.  I rinsed her clothes and  poision sumac to the bag. The bitch came back for her clothes. I told her they were still in the bag along with the flowers she wanted to scent them. I told her she could keep the bag. Then I told her I don't do anyone's laundry and not to come back. 

WAB!

My Clothes

I have only told you of the clothes I was wearing when I was evacuated. I never told you of the change of clothes in my backpack, or the change clothes at the store. Well, let me tell you now...

In my backpack I always tried to keep a change of clothes in case of an incident away from home; an evacuation, a pull out, a shelter in place at work, etc... So I tried to put in clothes that would work for me in everyday life; top, bottom, bra and panties, bathing suit, socks.

Originally I was thinking of shorts for bottoms, but then I thought, what if its cold? What if I have to go to work? What then? That made me think of the BIG PICTURE. I may still have to work in an emergency. It may be cold during the emergency. I want the clothes to be practical and modern. No out of date clothes. Oh, good luck with that. The first change of clothes had me putting in clothes I was ready to donate to Goodwill Industries or the Red Cross. When I took a good look, I realized I didn't want to be caught dead in outdated clothes anymore. Also, seeing as my work has a solid colored shirt and navy pants for a uniform, I decided to forgo the polka dotted shirt and red pants (thank goodness). Instead I went with a solid color polo shirt to match my work, and navy blue pants legging.

Underwear is easier. I put in a sports bra and two-dark, cotton brief panties. Socks, a pair is nice; two is better. I added a two piece bathing suit, just in case for bathing. You never know where you'll be bathing. That's what I had in my backpack, tightly folded up and placed in a plastic bag.

At the store, I ended up picking up another set of clothes; 2 tops, 1 bottom, 1 underwear, and 2 socks. When I picked my clothes from my closet I was able to mix and match. At this store I wasn't able to do that. I asked for a clothing item of a certain size and color, they gave me the size, not the color. So that combination does not match in itself. They do mix and match well with my other clothes though.

At the store they gave me a yellow tunic and grey shorts. After all is said and done, I still get shorts. Oh---kay. Black socks. They gave me men's black socks. Not a problem really. I feel sorry for the man with pink women's socks. I might be tempted to trade with him... For a price...

Chicken Fricasee

Today I made the campsite version of Chicken Fricasee.
I took two ounces of noodles, 1/2 can of chicken, 1/2 can tomato soup, 1/2 water, and 1/2 can of mixed vegetables. 

I used the thermos cooling method to cook. I heated up water on my fire. When it came to a rolling boil I poured it into my thermos and sealed it. The food was already on my thermos. I turned it side to side and rolled it to make sure all sides of the food got cooked by the boiling water.  

One hour later I opened up my thermos to check on my chicken Fricasee. Hmmm. It was almost done. I sealed it up and waited another half hour. It was finally done.   

Mmm mmmm good. 

Laundry

It's laundry time. I need to wash my clothes. I don't even want to tell you what I'm wearing. The day I was evacuated I was wearing heavy winter clothes, in layers. My final destination was a complete change in climate and land. Off came the long sleeve polo, tunic and long johns. Off came the winter coat. My undies I'd change on a regular basis. Some days I'd even forgo the bra. 

As I said before, it's wash day. Today I'm wearing my two piece bathing suit because I know I WILL get wet. I put my dirty clothes in a large trash bag and added water to it, then closed it up. I shook up the bag to make sure my clothes were fully wet. I reopened the bag and added only a half capful of hand washing detergent. I closed the bag, again, and shook it, hoping the water and clothes would suds up. A few minutes later I, once again, opened the bag and looked inside. Hmmm. Interesting. "Do I need to add another half a capful of detergent?" There were suds, but not too many. I really didn't want too many suds, because then I would need a lot of water to rinse them out. 

Phase two in washing my clothes had me transferring clothes from the bag to my bucket. One item at a time, I put the clothes under water and finished washing them out by hand. When I was done I rung them out completely before placing them in a bucket of clean water. Once again I rung out the clothes. Because water is such a commodity I still had some soap suds in my clothes. Still, the majority of my clothes were now clean. What did I clean? Five pairs of socks, all my briefs and bras, short sleeve polo shirt, tunics, navy blue leggings and shorts. I considered a second "load" for the polo shirt and leggings. But I decided, "Why do a second load for two pieces of clothing?" A full load is what's needed. 

My winter clothes will be washed later. I need to save water for now. 

I

The Trade

Before the big exodus many survivalists/preppers/Mormons talked frequently about the economy after a SHTF (Shit Hits The Fan) situation. Many promoted billets and band aids. "you can hunt for your food". Others simply said they would "find the nearest idiot and steal their food". 

On the other side were people who think gold and silver  are the one and only things to "hoard" as people can't live trade with bullets and band aids, easily. These people believe its better for them economically to have gold and silver. Never mind the food. You can always buy food with an ounce of gold. And yet Wendy Dewitt states that would be the most expensive meal ever to have been bought. An ounce of gold for a can of soup! A subgroup thinks silver is better than gold because it is cheaper. It's still the same issue. If you don't have food you won't survive. 

Another group thinks that food and only food should be "hoarded". In this manner they will live a lot longer and can trade for goods needed in the future.  

One group proposes stockpiling needed goods for future use to trade after the collapse of civilization.  I've seen men state they plan to stock alcohol, marijuana and/or tobacco to trade/sell. Those men have been warned that addicts will NOT offer to trade, simply steal or worse kill and take what they think is rightfully theirs. I see other people, both men and women, state they will stockpile less conspicuous items such as hygienic supplies, clothes, shoes, sandals, etc... for trade. These items fall under the legal radar. Everyone has shoes. Everyone has clothes. Everyone has household items such as; dental kit, combs, brushes, can openers, utensils, etc...

One last group says, "once you trade everything you have stockpiled what are you going to do next? How will you trade?  You need a skill that everyone needs but few know. Sewing, knitting, bullet making, shoemaking, gardening, smithing, candle making, soap making, etc...  Entrepreneurship. 

In my opinion. The best one is all around. However, I don't think people saw complete evacuation from everything we know and love as plausible---except Mr. Bullets-Bandaids  he knew. 

•But he wasn't allowed to bring his weapons with him. 

•Mr. and Mrs. Mercantile may have had stashes here and there but I doubt they were able to bring it over to the site. If they're lucky; maybe they bought a lot of combs from the store. 20 combs for one unit of payment. 

•Ms. Crocker never had a chance to bring her dry goods on this trip. Only what they gave us. Maybe she can teach everyone recipes. 

• Mr. and Mrs. Engineer-Entrepreneur  seem to be handling the situation the best. They have their life skills knowledge. They can use it or teach it. All they need are a few tools. They can trade it for food, merchandise or skill. They still need food to survive. 

So....

• Where do I fall? What's my preference? How prepared was I? Well, I had been storing canned food for a while at my place. I had a GO BAG made which I wore wherever I went. The day they picked me up I was wearing it. I learned how to knit and sew. I learned to bake and cook from scratch, not frozen. I learned to play a few songs on a recorder. 

I did stockpile a few things to barter with. Most of it was at the house when I was picked up. Fortunately my backpack had a few things in it for trade as well. I kept my items VERY LIGHT knowing the bag would be carried on my back. 

• A 75 ct. bag of floss paks 

• 20 ct. bag of family combs 

• 18 ct. bag hair elastics. 

• A recorder to entertain people for trade 

• Stories to read and tell people for entertainment. (See journal) 

• Lots of seeds to garden with and then trade the produce for items. I had them wrapped tightly in zip locked bags. 

• A thin homemade, water proof, reference journal to fall back on. I'll talk about this more in another entry. 

• My tools. Sewing kit and knitting needles. Small kit. I got another kit at the store the day of evacuation. 

• Self defense. Martial arts, knitting needles, and now defunct house keys. I have a multitool kit I keep in my pocket. 

My skills? 

• Knitting hats and scarves 

• Sewing scrubs and feminine towels

• Playing simple music on my recorder

• Storytelling 

Only time will tell if its enough. At this point EVERYONE is subsisting.