Hi I'm still alive

[Nate]

Even though I know this forum isn't entirely.

But my house burned down. I have nothing left.

So that sucks.

[shooraijin]

Like, burned down to ashes??

[Nate]

Well, not really ashes, I'd describe it more as "a pile of smoldering rubble." But most of the stuff I had was burned up, and even the stuff that didn't is stuck under the charred remains of the house and I think it's supposed to rain tonight. Like, there's basically no way my Switch or my 3DS survived. We were able to save some family photos out of the china cabinet towards the back of the house though, and aside from water on the floor (from the firehoses) and the mirror being broken, my bathroom was actually mostly intact. Which is nice, it means my contacts didn't burn up, they didn't even melt from the heat. And it meant that there was a cabinet full of dry, non-sooty towels.

So I mean...I guess I have that. And my car. But nothing else, really.

[shooraijin]

So what happened? Where did the fire start?

[Nate]

We're still not sure, the investigators are supposed to come out in a couple of days. It almost certainly started in the living room, the firefighters said that was the most damaged, and it's where I saw smoke coming from when I escaped. It could have been a malfunction in the gas heater in the room, or maybe a mouse in the wall chewed on a bare wire and started a spark. That's all we can think of since nothing electrical was on in the room other than the heater.

[Kaori]

That's a horrible thing to have to experience. I'm very sorry. Are your mother and her husband all right?? Please make sure to see a doctor if anyone has smoke inhalation symptoms, as that can be very dangerous.

Did you have insurance on the house? Have a place to stay?

If you haven't already, you can contact American Red Cross. They can give you some money to help out with expenses. It may not be a whole lot, but certainly better than nothing. Whatever social support systems are available in your area, please don't be afraid to use them--they exist precisely for disasters like this.

[shooraijin]

The Salvation Army can help as well. Is the investigator from your insurance, or from the fire department?

[Nate]

Insurance, I assume, but I'm not really sure. I just know we can't really try and dig through the remains to salvage anything until they've finished.

[steenajack]

I’m glad to see you’re still alive. :/ Please stay safe and take advantage of the resources available to you. Losing everything like that is devastating. When you’re safe, take as long as you need to grieve.

[Nate]

I'm still alive, still.

I'm still living with my brother, which is rough for him but I'm glad he's willing to put up with it.

I have a new job that is amazing. If you're in the Raleigh Durham area of NC, stop by a store called Game Theory and you'll find me most days!

I obviously can't say I'm glad the fire happened. But I wouldn't have gotten this job, or even known it was possible to have a job I didn't hate, if it hadn't happened. So I'm glad at least some good came from it.

[shooraijin]

Glad to hear about the job. Haven't been to Raleigh-Durham in a few years. We were out at Research Triangle looking at a couple vendors.

[Ante Bellum]

At least that's something of a silver lining, as hard-earned as it was. You still around on Discord?

[Nate]

At least that's something of a silver lining, as hard-earned as it was. You still around on Discord?

Oh yeah I am, I forgot you were in the FFBE discord. After I lost access to my old Discord I just never came back since I'd long given up on FFBE.

Guess I'll post it publicly, but yeah my new discord is Crimbleshins#9605