sunshine0221's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Too Busy Panicking to Have a Good Title For This Entry Too Busy Panicking to Have a Good Title For This Entry Money has gotten really tight. Book sales have been slow, and my favorite client is having his own financial problems, so I'm only working for him an hour a week. I've been applying for every job that even vaguely matches my skills, and I signed up at Manpower. And holy crap do they have a lot of paperwork. One of the herd of forms I filled out was an agreement that I would not weld while wearing contact lenses. The form stated that some people have had a reaction to the welding chemicals and their contacts painlessly fused to their eyes, And then when these people took out their contacts, they also, unfortunately for them, removed their corneas and became permanently blind. Now, I don't gross out easy, nor do I wear contacts, or weld, but this one creeped me out. When I got home I did a search for it, and guess what? Total Urban Legend - doh! Manpower had me sign a form promising that I would not become an Urban Legend cautionary tale. Thanks dudes. And I'm still grossed out.
***** Then, because The Powers That Be have wicked senses of humor, I got an email from American Express saying that my charging privileges have been suspended. Gah! It looked the kind of spoofed emails I get from people trying to get my ebay or Paypal account information, so I called them, and yup it was real. I've had the card forever, and have never made a late payment, but apparently they are nervous about the balance. My AmEx was my emergency card. The one I use when I really need something. The card that kept me from being in a total batshit panic about money. I stayed up late panicking, and decided that I would skip the garage sale circuit, and start selling my body on street corners or something. Mom woke me up at 8 (that's BEFORE the crack of ass) and insisted that I attend the City Wide Garage Sale with her. My mood improved when I found some great books. And improved even more when I got a service for 6 of really pretty white Pottery Barn dishes for 8 bucks. And yes, ironically, shopping did help relieve my financial panic. And then I went to more garage sales and got more books. At one of the sales they had a Total Gym. I've seen these babies on informercials (the one with Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley), and they looked cool. This one had all the pieces, and the instructions, and even the video. It was priced at $75. I completely suck at bargaining, but I think I have found my technique. I gave the garage sale woman my business card, and said if it didn't sell, and they would take $25, I would like it. She called me later that afternoon and accepted my offer. I grabbed Mom and her van and went over to get it. It was less than two blocks away, and after some excitement getting my very cool Total Gym into the van, we started for home. I was driving, and probably because the drive home is a low-speed block-and-a-half trip, neither of us put out seatbelts on. I got stopped by a cop. Who started listing off the fines for no seatbelts, broken tail light, and no proof of insurance (Mom couldn't find it), which came to, I kid you not, something like $500. I nodded calmly as the police officer went into gruesome detail what could happen if one got in a car accident with no seatbelt (of course on the inside I was wondering if there would be nice people and fun arts and crafts in the prison I would get incarcerated in when I couldn't pay the ticket). I helped Mom look for her insurance card, which she did not find. I apologized and thanked Jesus H. Roman that at least I had my license and the car registration. I don't even want to know how much that ticket would have been. After going back to his car, and checking to be sure that I'm not wanted for murder or anything, and another speech about how the war in Iraq never would have happened if everyone wore their seatbelts, Mr. IGetMyKicksPickingOnPeopleWithEnough StressInTheirLifeAlreadyandAlsoHaveAbsolutelyNoSenseofHumor gave me a warning, and I have to go the courthouse with proof of insurance and pay $17 in court costs. Not wearing your seat belt is dangerous?!!? What about giving me a heart attack by threatening me with a $500 ticket???!! So my Total Gym ended up costing $42, I will now be wearing my seatbelt even if I'm just parked in the driveway, and the cats are just going to have to get up off their fuzzy little butts and find jobs. 11:10 p.m. - May 15, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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