Thursday, January 5, 2017

Phone, Not Phoney

The phone has been busy today. Let's review.

The phone rang and I picked up. It was a recorded call from healthcare.gov warning me that the deadline to buy insurance was coming and I would face penalties if I did not buy insurance. I thought that was all cleared up (at least that is what the person on the phone said the last time I spoke with healthcare.gov). So I pushed the button to speak with a person and once again I had to re-live the reality that I am homeless and have no income and so on and so forth and the woman apologized and said she would take me off their automated call list. I see why people hate the ACA and curse it as "Obamacare" better every day. It does feel like "big brother is watching" and harassment and threats and intruding into our lives like insurance sales people with the power to fine or jail you if you don't give them a lot of money. Letting the insurance companies run the program was their biggest mistake - instead of appearing like a service and help, it comes off as a sales call with a threat.

Not long after that, the phone rang and I picked up and it was a recorded call telling me that my student loan was due and I could get help paying it off. That was a pure phishing call as I do not have a student loan, but they would have still asked for my name, address, phone number, date of birth, and likely social security number to offer reassurance that I was not in any trouble. I saved the number, blocked it, then reported it.

A little while later, the phone rang and I picked up and it was Jackson. Maybe she reads my blog,. Maybe she reads my email. Maybe she's psychic. Maybe we still share a weird connection that we've shared for some time (like the last time I texted her because I woke up feeling like something was wrong and something was very wrong that night - it worked out ok when she finally told me about it). It's happened more than a few times over the years and not just with her but with others I lived with and maybe it's coincidence or maybe my ego wants to believe I have some psychic powers or maybe I actually do.

Well, it could have been ugly, given the mood I was in these last couple of days, but... perhaps because she called when she had more than a minute to talk or perhaps she actually felt like talking or perhaps because she took a long walk while on the phone or perhaps she's finally letting go of the guilt/shame loop she goes through that keeps her away or perhaps because of something going on in me (forgiveness?... but I'm not even halfway through accepting and processing yet, dangit lam... foolishness?... ok, we won't list the dozen or more possibilities just now) or perhaps because we have not actually talked in a long time (longer than any previous time period in almost a decade) or perhaps because the sun was shining and there's a bright golden haze on the meadow, but it was our best conversation in almost a year and while I did not bring up my finances or the car other than to say it was one of the reasons I was down yesterday and early in the conversation... we can say yay.

Dirt, drama, and details, that's what pours out around here. Maybe things will go back to some sort of connective friendship again. Going from living together best friends to nobody is not much fun. Went out and got home well after midnight, The Maharaja is asleep (first time he's asleep before I got home, he's usually out until near dawn).

Catching up on the day (between phone calls) evening that was, I wrote and checked emails and job website and did that thing, watched some internet TV, then headed out to run errands before heading the Excel and The Commodore's for bridge. I deposited some money in the bank and must make it stretch farther than I've been doing in previous months. Remind me to remind myself to remember. I want to keep the car. I dropped off the paperwork for the Colonoscopy consult at the clinic so they can make an appointment for me. The Case Worker assigned to me still did not even introduce herself. Weird impersonal volunteer. Then I stopped at the storage place and loaded up a bin with food and intend to spend almost no money on food for the rest of the month. Challenge accepted. Almost is relative (shhhh).

Finally I headed to our Thursday evening bridge game, stopping for Taco Bell along the way. Damn fool, it was not even very good. Finally getting to The Commodore's place, I had a hot dog that Curly brought and we dove into bridge. I don't know the scores but it was fun. Heading home, munching on some chocolate chip cookies, wondering when I will finally put on the brakes and actually get back to low calorie intake days. The Commodore is doing it so maybe I'll find inspiration there. Thing is, I know it's a choice I make and like a switch in my head, I turn my will power on and off for many reasons. Comfort food is where it is set to these days.

Change is coming. Feel free to jump in anytime.

Narf. :)

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