update

I'm in Austin in Adam's mom's "winter house" which is in the middle of a town for old people. Weird. But they let us use their old people computers! Hooray!
Still planning to leave for Italy on Friday (the day after tomorrow? that can't be right.) It would've been good if I'd thrown more than two days' worth of clothes, my passport, and tickets into a shopping bag before I left, but so it goes. If my things are destroyed, maybe it'll be cathartic. Maybe I'll be broke trying to replace things, especially since I can't work now and I'm hourly. Ah well. I'll figure it out. Today I'm going a-shopping to get a comfortable pair of walking shoes and clothes to wear in Italy. It feels horribly extravagant to have to say to people that call, "No, I don't know how much damage my house/car got. I'm leaving for Italy now." But I think I like it.
If my house is unliveable, and my job is on indefinite hiatus, I have very little holding me to the city. Adam's planning on stayin in Austin, because his house is definitely ruined. He just lives a few blocks from where the levee broke, so that'll be fun to see.
I've gotten used to the idea of "right now we're ignoring the bodies, because there's too much else to be done first." I feel awful that the worst thing to me right now is that I may have to move to Borger/Amarillo temporarily to save money on rent while I look for another job. The rent is cheap, and I know I'll be able to get a job doing something. I'd like to think that I would've been active and found a great job without a horrible catastrophe, but New Orleans just sucks any ambition out of me and makes me want to take a nap. Now I feel like I have to do something, if only to earn money to replace my pretty shoes.
Another plus is that in Texas I can eat guacamole and drink margaritas while I read the classifieds. I'm really trying to make myself not care about anything else right now.
I think my hamster has been traumatized, because his eyes do not say indescribable to me. Oh well. He'll snap out of it.