Yesterday
Yesterday was a good day. I refinaced the 20% or my 80/20 loan for my place and got a fixed rate of 7.25% for 15 years. This means my payments will be $311 a month. This is great because my original loan was interest only and the payments will exceed $311 very soon. I also watched 'The Sixth Sense" and fell in love with it again; even though I did cover up my heade with a pillow from time to time. It's not so much that anything was all that gross or scary in the movie; it's the scary music that makes me cover my eyes. And then, most importantly, I was finally able to get ahold of my sister. We sat and talked for the first hour about the craziness of her job working at this tile distributer. This company actually sends samples to HGA and so it was fun to actually have a point of reference, and an experience that one only gets when somehow involved with the constructoin buisness. It was odd that I barely talked and she said, "so is there anything else really to cover?" Odd. Then we talked about what happened that Saturday not so long ago when the cops were called and my brother-in-law and mother got to see me pretty much trashed. First I found out that she found the blog site and has been current in my life which explains why she didn't need any catching up. :) Then we talked about my misconceptions and things she has wanted to share for a long time. 29 has been quite the messed up year for me. I have basically managed to offend and displace everyone that means a lot to me, some to the point of not being able to talk to me anymore, by wearing them down with my self created drama. Will 30 be a better year? I think there is no way it's can't. In fact I really feel it will be one of my best years yet simply because I know I plan to put more effort in my family and they with me. It's a good feeling.
Joy is such a great sister (wink) :)
The Car Saga Ends
TCSE. It has all been settled now. I will be getting a check for $3,100 as soon as I send in my title to the insurance company. The $3,100 includes the $2,900 that I am getting for the car and also money for the taxes I will have on it and the title transfer fee. I do not have to pay for my car being towed, the ticket I got, or the fees the city charges per day as they hold ones car. I went to the impound lot yesterday and signed a release for Western National Insurance, the guy who hit me's insurance, to take it away. It has tons of junk in it, and I wonder if they will notice, and I hope I don't miss the junk. I don't even remember what was in the car.
I still plan to go without a car. When I called to get my Uncle David's work number again, the tax situation is still not taken care of, my dad questioned if I really could go without a car. As I suspected, the only reason they are concerned about me not having a car is that it means I can't just hop in my car and visit them at any given notice. Really there is no good reason for me to need a car, and they will just have to learn to come out and see me. :) I will see how long I last, but let me tell you I would rather travel with money that would be spent on car maintanence.
And finally, I bought myself a ticket to go to Chicago leaving April 7th at night and returning April 10th by 10:30 so I can be into work at noon. I am happy I did this because now I am committed to going. Now I need to do the same thing for my friends in San Diego and Detroit.
Car Update and other misc. things
Alright, so I have been trying to work with the insurance company of the person that hit me. They have been alright and have sent out someone to look at it last week. And thank god they at least got that done because yesterday I noticed it was gone. My car. Yes, my car is gone. I can only assume the city towed it. Now what? I am not sure. I called the insurance people after I got inside and left a voice mail and plan to call again around 1 or so if I don't hear from them. I intend to find out if they are considering the car a total, and if not then I want them to have to pay for getting it out of the city pound and towing it to a place to be "fixed." I mean with the way this has turned out I can't donate the car. That would have been a very nice tax credit for next year.
And on the Taxes note, I fucked up. I already did my taxes and have recieved the return already, but I failed to claim 7,699 dollars of interest. Yea, I know. How is that even possible? Well, I guess when I saw the link at CityWide Bank to electronically get your online end of year tax statement I didn't notice both loans weren't on there. I have the 80/20 loan so I only claimed the interest on the 20 part. Man! So, I called my Uncle David, he is a tax man, and told him about it. I also let him know that I did not claim the income that I got from my renters, and that possibly I had $2,000 total of medical bills. I am too lazy to get everything together for the medical bills stuff though. He left me a message to call him from 5-8 so we can chat. I tell ya, at least this kind of stuff makes you realize you are alive. :)
Oh, and I am going to Houston, Texas to visit my friend with benefits Rich this weekend. He is paying the $100 to get me there and I am going to buy him dinner at some point. Should be a pretty even trade actually. I hopefully leave Thursday night and come back Monday morning.
AND HAPPY FUCKING VALENTINES DAY!
My answer to this week's Office Question
We have an intranet site called HIP here at work. Lately, everyweek they pose a different question for people to answer. I always have the time and tend to answer the question.
The Question: Describe a personal brush with celebrity. Any celebrity - local,A-list,D-list,etc.
My Answer:When I worked for the State Theatre box, Grease was playing, and that guy from Chips, you know Paunch, was playing the lead guy. Paunch decided to pay us a special treat during the run, and maybe surprise a fan too. It was all so desperate and sad.
Cute Boy on the Bus
The title is a teaser because the story to follow has to do with an actual boy of 5. The first time I saw this guy he leapt unto the bus and then he scanned the bus for a place to sit. In the back of the bus is bench like seating, and he choose to go back there. He moved with determination and then used my leg as a means to get himself up onto the cushion. I was sitting on the bench as well. Super cute kid. His mom came behind him. She is one of those punk like, black haired, army jacket kind of people and her kid is one of those dirty, marker still on the hands from the day before, kinds. Very typical of Uptown. Before he got off the bus that day he said, "My name is Nicholos (something or other)" like they teach kids to do in case they get lost. If it were me I would have said, "My name is Jonathan Howard and I live at...."
This morning, I ran into one of the counter ladys, Nichole, who works at the North West Athletic Club at the Arena club. She's a riot. We were chatting as the bus moved along and then at 31st and Bryant. I saw the mom running full speed to catch the bus and the little one lagging behind doing the best he could. When they got on I told Nichole, "See that kid? He is going to head staight back here and sit right here." I was sitting on the "bench" again and there was an empty seat inbetween me and the really cute/handsome/great smile gay guy who was wearing his gray slippers. The gay guy is really good looking, hope I get to flirt with him again, but I am getting ahead of myself. So the kid did exactly what I said and Nichole just laughed. I decided to introduce myself to him since I have seen him a few times on the bus by now. His name is Nicholos. Nichole, Nikki (that's his mom's name I found out), Nicholos and I let him entertain us. I asked him questions and he answered with what would be considered brutal honesty, if he was in his teens, and the kid has an amazing smile. I guess he is moving to Duluth in a couple of weeks which is too bad since I would have liked to get to know him more. The bus was at their stop and they stood up to go. He was basically to the door and then said, "Oh!" ran back and said, "Hug" and when he got to me opened up his arms and hugged me, and I hugged him back. I love kids.
Oh, and the really good looking guy with the slippers? I took full advantage of my opportunity of him seeing me interact with the kid and the fact that I could say, "So, are you wearing slippers?" He had a cute smile too, and everything thing physical I like about a guy. He was wearing his slippers, and he was going to the UofM and planned to wear them while at school. I will find out his name, and now I have a real good reason to make sure I catch the early bus :)
The Orchid Has Bloomed
I really wanted to have a picture of what it looks like on here, but oh well. All I know is that around this time last year I put my name in the drawing to win it. Every couple of weeks a new Orchid is placed in the main entrance of HGA and I always had wanted one. The thing is that when I won it last year my mood was so horrible I didn't even care and for the longest time about it. I left it in my old suprevisors work space, so I could see the plant but didn't care about it like so many other things in my life at that time. When I started getting better I decided to take it home. It has been sitting on top of a slabe of bluish, gray, marble that is on top of my radiator in my dining area. It grew new leaves (and the leaves are huge on my plant)and I would say a couple of months ago a shoot grew that I tied to one of the bamboo sticks, and then the buds started to form and just yesterday they opened up. This makes me so happy. I love that I tried to find a picture of the kind of I on line and realized there are TONS of varieties. What I love best is how cultish it is to own and grow Orchids and all the delicate care, and specific conditions, it takes to grow these guys. In my opinion this all just randomly happened for me. If I would have tried it would never have worked I am sure. Now I need to decided if I put it in the middle of my table or leave it by the window since it seems another shoot may be sprouting. Still, I love it. I have always wanted this and who knows if it will happen again next year.
And here's the update
I got the police report, which cost me 25 cents, and here is how it reads.
Unit #1 stated due to the amount of medication he is on his judgment was impaired. Driver stated he was N/B on Lyndale when all of a sudden he hit unit 2 (which is my car), unit 3, unit 4 before rolling over. NFI. (does that mean No Fault insurance?) Driver of Unit 1 was given a blue card and blue cards were left on the hit motor vehicles.
The report also states that this happened at 8AM on Saturday morning which means I slept through it. I find that hard to believe, but I did. Hmmmmm. I contacted Western Insurance and got the claim number and left a message with Josh. Josh the claims guy not that Josh :) I am still torn if I should report this to my insurance company or not. This also means that maybe the decision of not having a car has been made for me :) We shall see. Currently I am sitting in the Saloon so I can use their free internet. Does anyone else know of other places to get free internet downtown? As soon as the Library is done...oh wait...I could have gone there anyway...they have temporary location in the old federal reserve building...oh well.
Advice on if I should call my insurance people or not would be appreciated.
Karma is a Bitch
So, after a delightful morning of freezing my feet and feeling invigorated watching The Midget Girls and Boys speed skate, Victor and I had some amazing potato pancakes at Perkins. Victor and I were in good form with friendship vibes hmmming and conversation flowing. I love just trying out things like watching a junior speed skating tournament with my friends Victor and Ron (Ron don't move! We have a such a good thing going). Victor drove, so he dropped me back off at home and we said our goodbyes and I beelined it upstairs and into the bathroom. Then the door buzzes. DAMN! I guess it might be Victor, and I don't believe in talking whilst in the bathroom on the phone, so I texted him, "Did you just buzz the door?" "Yes" "Ok I will be down in just a little bit" "Ok" I get downstairs and Victor is standing outside in the cold instead of in the little foyer area by the mailboxes. "Your car has been hit and there is a note on your windshield." I let him know I would check it out, and honestly I was planning out checking it out later, but I got the sense that Victor was not giong to head off yet. So, I put back on my shoes and jacket and walked with Victor to my car. Now I wish I had a digital camera because a picture would be so much better. My driver side bumper is completely gone with the wire that was attached to the tail light dangling lifelessly. The frame is caved in with the tire off the axel at a 45 degree angle and flat. Then it gets artistic. The gas gage is scrapped up into a peak that an ant could ski jump off of and a pile of fill up the gaping dent that goes until the driver side door for it to land in. Don't believe me? Ask Victor (maybe I should insert his number here so everyone can call him. I know bad joke.) The car is not drivable.
So, the family knows and some friends know, and I did have a blue card on my front windshield that tells me my police report number. I know there was an accident, but I don't know what happened yet. I also don't know if there is any insurance on the end of the person who hit my car. I am going to get the police report today on the way to my doctor appointment and find out. I honestly think the cosmos needed to ground me for a bit. :)
Lotion
I have been using Derma Fleur, Moisturizing Skin Conditioner, lotion for my lips today becuase they are so dry. I have a Aveda lip balm, or whatever, somewhere. Who knows where it is though. And the Derma Fleur works just fine it seems. So my question is, why are there serperate lotions for your lips as compared to the rest of ones skin? I mean the part of the lips that gets dry is the thin layer of skin on them right?
No, not even a social drink
I have decided I must be dry. Even just a social drink with friends, even when I can have just one and be done, eventually turns into a drinking binge and bad things happen. I already did this earlier for 2 months and found I did not miss it, but then felt the need to be social. Bad things happen in my life when I drink. Though sometimes they have a positive outcome. We'll see. This time with my brother-in-law and mom coming over and all the stuff I purged out of me, and the fact that I told my brother I am gay, may prove to be a good thing. Then again my first major depression proved to be a positive thing for me too and still it was no fun for me or my family. Ok, enough said. I am dry and will be till I die. And I am friendly enough to still have fun I think :)
