So. The apocalypse has happened. You and your family—and maybe your friends—have survived the initial apocalyptic event, whatever it happens to be. Now your little group has moved into survival stage. Everyone does what they can to help, to make sure you all make it through the chaos alive.
That’s great, right? Everybody pitches in, and you’ll all live to tell the grandkids what it was like when the world exploded and everybody died (at least until the zombies came knocking).
But what if not everyone in your group can contribute? What if someone’s severely injured, or has a pre-existing debilitating condition like cancer or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s or epilepsy? Will that person survive for long? Can that person survive for long?
I bought a cute pair of shoes the other day. They made me sooo happy… until I wore them. Then, I wanted to bring them to life like Pinocchio just so I could beat them to death.
What if I’d had to out run something? What if my train had stopped in the middle of God-Knows-Where and I’d had to walk or hike or bushwhack? I’d have probably taken the shoes off and gone barefoot.
I felt legitimate visceral Hate[1. yes, with a capital H] for these shoes. So much so that I shoved them in the back of the closet as soon as I got home to prevent myself from accidentally saving them or slipping them on in a fire.
Another thing I did? I went home and reevaluated my shoe collection and organization. If you have, as I do, a metric shit ton of shoes, you’ll want to consider keeping them in different places. Specifically, some shoes should be by your major exits. I realize to some organized people this is blasphemous. But there is good reason for this:
If you keep all your shoes in your shoe closet in your hall/bedroom/guestroom/place that’s not the exit itself, you run the risk of leaving your home without them if you leave in a hurry.
Choice is not always what you need. Sometimes you just need to know you’re weather ready and shoed.
I watched Contagion this weekend with Husband. Duh, I loved it. It wasn’t a hype machine for crazy-pants pseudo -science or mutants or zombies. It was crazy-pants really, real.
Unlike most of the post-apocalyptic stories we see in entertainment, there was an unsettling realism to Contagion. The fear that was so easily fueled and exploited just made sense. There are enough people in the world with enough mistrust to easily create chaos unrelated to the direct source of danger.
The movie followed a number of people in different places as far as the virus’ path, place in society, and ability actually do something for themselves or others.
It was interesting (and disturbing) seeing the little things break people down faster then the actual virus. The idea that the dead were only about 1%, give or take, of the population (maybe, as they only alluded to it), was scary. Society just fell apart. That’s one (maybe two) out of every one hundred people…
I might sound insensitive but, I honestly didn’t think I’d notice. The thing isn’t how long it would take us to notice though, it’s how long it would take the government to respond. Once they start hiding the President and organizing the national guard people start too panic.
We only know what we see on the news and we assume the government knows so much more than we do. We assume they know about science, suspects, cures, and have more than enough food for almost everyone. We assume they, like we would, well take care of their family and friends first and everyone else will have to prove themselves. When we take a good, hard look at ourselves we’ll realize that we probably don’t have the whatever-it-is that someone’s looking for when they decide to save a life at the expense of long term planning for people they actually give a shit about.
Contagion was more about the infectious nature of rhetoric and rumors than the damage done by actual the virus itself.
I say it’s definitely worth the watch but maybe not worth the money to see it in a theater.
I generally think about the apocalypse happening in one sudden apocalyptic event that takes everyone by surprise. But what if it doesn’t happen that way? What if the apocalypse is a slow, years-long decline?
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After all, in some ways, the fall of the Roman Empire could be considered an apocalyptic event. And the empire’s decline took a long time, since it technically didn’t fall until Constantinople fell in 1453 (though, okay, the Western Roman Empire was in serious decline and almost completely taken over by Germanic tribes by the end of the 5th century).
Anyway. A slow decline or a sudden event—what’s better? Personally, I don’t know. They’ve each got their pros and cons. Let’s go over them quickly, so we can all secretly hope for one kind over the other.
Want to get rich quick at the end of the world? Stock up on shit nobody needs. Seriously. After six months of roughing it and cowering in fear and smelling something foul every time you sit down or raise your arm, you’d do just about anything for a hint of comfort.
The key is, people can and will do without most of the amenities they have access to in daily life. People don’t need delicious food but they travel, and search, and pay and wait just to get what might be delicious food. People don’t need most things, but they want so, so much stuff.
This is where you come in. Smart people pack what they need or what they can carry. They have rations, MREs, bottled water, antiseptic spray and the like.You, my entrepreneurial friend, you will have random shit nobody needs but everybody wants.
I live in a hurricane zone. Which is fun and all–at least, until a hurricane actually hits. I wasn’t affected by Hurricane Irene, and the only thing we got from Tropical Storm Lee was a bunch of wind and some (much-needed) rain.
So far, we’ve been pretty lucky that way. (Of course, the season’s not over yet.)
With the recent evacuation of much of the American Eastern Seaboard, I thought about my family’s own hurricane evaluation plan. You know, just in case we need it. It didn’t take long to think about, since we don’t actually have a plan in place. (Which will most certainly bite us in the ass should we actually need to run far away from an angry mass of hurricane.)
But that’s beside the point. (And a scenario to which my procrastinating self says, “I’ll cross that washed-out bridge when I get to it.”)
This is going to be an unusually serious post. I debated saying anything- I haven’t touched previous political hot issues, because I don’t think that’s what this blog is about.I also don’t like the sense that in some way I may be profiting (not monetarily, we get nothing for this site, but in terms of new readers) from these awful occurences. But this particular disaster not only hits close to home, but also brings the advice we give here into sharp relief. We may not present our information in a serious way, we may think that serious survivalists will get almost nothing from our site: But we genuinely want you to surive disasters of all kind, and if something we can say can help, we’ll be very glad. So here it goes.
Husband and I both had buffalo chicken for dinner. His was boneless, mine had bones. He sees no point in chicken with bones.
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I’m not totally sure why I like it. However, I do know that come world’s end, no one will be de-boning your chicken for you. You’ll need to get on board with tearing flesh from bone like a predator or get hip to eating grass and the like.
Chicken and other meats having bones is one of many little inconveniences you’ll have to deal with. Thing is, where the fuck do you find chickens? In addition, if you currently know where to find a chicken, I’m sure they’re not smart enough to save themselves. You’ll either have to save the chicken or go back and hope it’s still there. They’re not like dogs, they won’t wait for you.
However, if you’re smart, and you find a chicken, you’ll be smart enough not to slaughter it immediately. Chickens make eggs[1. Don’t worry about chicken eggs being filled with chickens. Chickens only make chickens if they’re exposed to male chickens (roosters or cocks, depending on where you’re from). Otherwise, they’re just eggs that can be stolen and eaten]. Eggs are food. You can have a dozen eggs a month or one chicken for one day. Small inconvenience, big pay off. Also, a lot of people are particular about eggs. The smell, the texture.. Personally, I love eggs. Get over it or eat grass.
I’ve decided to learn how to knit. Not just because I want to make my own bloody scarves, but because I think it will be useful.
Of course, to the people who get a little concerned about me when I start yammering on about the end of the world, I’m pointing out the accepted benefits- it’s relaxing, it keeps your hands busy so you snack less, you get a pretty jumper out of the deal, learning new skills keeps the brain sharp- but as with all things, I’m mainly thinking about it’s usefulness post apocalypse.
