Update →[More:]it would have been better if I'd stayed home and gone to AWP. At least I would have been around compatible people.

According to my father, the Neptune Society can do a small ceremony, but doesn't scatter the ashes until six months after the death. They are willing to do this with additional ashes they didn't process. My cousin had thought about surreptitiously scattering my great aunt off of Ellis or Liberty islands, but she decided not to risk it, so she sent the ashes to my mother. My middle great aunt died last year, but I don't know what was done with her body.

When I called my parents my mother screamed at my father for me not to call there. The fact that her mother has died does not change the fact that I want nothing more to do with her. What I said when she picked up was " could I speak to Daddy please".

The hotel's internet connection wasn't working most of the time and I didn't bring my laptop. What I did manage to do was find the columns my grandfather had written for a lefty tabloid's book page at LAPL. The man who wrote Island of the Blue Dolphins was the main book reviewer for it.

If there is no change in the management of the building by the time I've remodeled the bathrooms I'm getting out. I've had enough of the bullshit and need to feel settled.

I don't know if I'll be at the meetup.