weird meeting, high electric bill and bunkers

I had a super weird meeting yesterday. I’m being rewritten. It’s not a first and it’s pretty normal to be rewritten. But this rewrite was about something I’d kind of not expected. Notes were harsh, “needs to be funnier and more contemporary.” This translates to: you’re old and not funny. I know I’m old, I’ll even accept that my jokes could be better. Maybe just tell me what parts are old and unfunny and give me a shot to fix them? But it’s not about that. Person X wants to bring friends onto the project and this is the way they’re going about it. It’s ego bruising but the thing I’ve discovered as a writer is over time these things hurt less and less. This is the sort of comment that would have sent me into a 2 week depression spiral 20 years ago. Now it’s like a moody half hour and I’m on to the next thing.


My solar panels have stopped working and Tesla is being super weird about replacing them. My electric bill for December/January was over $1000. That does not seem normal. But then again I do have 2 electric cars, a jacuzzi and I run a paint shaker and rock tumbler 24/7 so maybe? My panels account for a little over half of my electricity usage so I need to get those babies up and running. In the meantime, Jacuzzi is off and I’ll just use the gas engine on the Chevy volt until I can go back to running it on sunshine. I guess I’m glad I leased panels instead of buying them. I think for the guest house though I’m going to buy panels and a battery system so the house never uses LADWP electricity. There are these two water generating systems that I really want to get so I can be completely off grid. First is a water from air generator that pulls 30 liters per day of drinking water from the atmosphere and stores it in your own tank. Then there’s a second system that recycles all the water (except black water) for use in the washing machine, toilets and irrigation. My dream home is completely energy and water self sufficient. We have some high water and power bills here because both the public and private energy companies in CA are really mismanaged. Oh Lordy, CA, get your act together. We are a hot mess these days. Our governor is about to get himself recalled and the last time that happened we wound up with Arnold. Who is a perfectly nice guy but wasn’t a fantastic governor. The best governor I’ve ever had, of all the places I’ve lived, was Jerry Brown: Part 2. No fuss, no muss, no drama. I miss that guy. Newsom got elected, I think, because he had a lot of cred for being out front on Gay Marriage. Don’t get me wrong, as a married gay I am very grateful. But what we need now is a good crisis governor. Florida governors, as socially retrograde as they are, are usually good at crisis management because they go through hurricane season every year. DeSantis however, strikes me as someone who is going to drown his state the next time a big storm hits. Anyhow, we could use someone who’s good at crisis and Newsom isn’t the guy, sad to say.


All my survivalist LADWP thinking relates to a new series I’m working on. Not the one where I’m being rewritten. This is sort of like Gillian’s Island meets Succession. The world’s richest of the rich see the world is coming to an end and so they hoard up everything and disappear into a trillion dollar underground apocalypse bunker. Five years in they’re starting to have a Lord of the Flies situation given dwindling resources. Meanwhile, on the surface, with all the worst people out of the way, humanity is flourishing. Their number one problem: making sure the bunkeroids never catch on. Otherwise they’d return to the surface and make life hell again.

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February 9, 2021

Have you figured what parts needs the most work or are you just going to re-write the whole thing?

And I love how you are the only i know who is 99% green.  I think that everyone should have the same hearing and water and cars as you have.

February 9, 2021

I can’t even fathom a $1000 electric bill. Mine was higher than normal today and I was pissed at that and it was $71. That’s alot for me! But then I live off a very low income, below poverty level. 

February 10, 2021

@mamaqueenie518  I’m not sure if you know about a program meant to help those on low incomes manage their electricity/gas/heating/cooling bills.  It’s called LHEAP and is in just about every state.

February 10, 2021

@novembercirese There’s HEAP here but it cost more for me than the budget offered through the electric company itself. They just raised my budget amount though which surprised me. 

February 10, 2021

I’m sorry about you being rewritten.  I got a LOT of rejection letters before my manuscript was accepted.  My book’s been out for many years now, but it’s hard to find.  Amazon carries it.

I don’t know WHAT to say about your electric bill.  YIKES!!  I hope you get those solar panels working again toute suite.

I also like Gov. Jerry Brown, both times he was governor.  Hated Arnold and Reagan just sucked.  I love your idea for a new book!!  Sounds like an excellent read!!

February 10, 2021

I remember the point that I realized that the stuff I was watching on TV – what was meant to be funny I recognized as the stuff that my son would find humorous.