Thought Parade

My mind's a jumble today, a mental mixer, to be sure. I have a lot on my mind right now and feel the urge to spill.

So, forgive me.

1. Seriously. It's snowing here, but it comes and goes. I'll look outside one moment and there's nothing and then a few minutes later it's snowing like crazy. It's sticking to the roof of the house, but our lawn only has a few spots of snow. The trees blocked most of it, but the little we got melted off earlier in the day.
   The stop-and-start reminds me of a game level I designed where the weather was snowy. Because I was designing it, I could move anywhere in the environment and not limited to the spaces where normal players would be confined. I could go above the visible "snow-line" and see the flakes just sit there, ready to fall when it was their turn. I wonder if the snow outside is falling like that whenever it starts up again?
   
2. Wrote a friend yesterday at the old office from Hell. I mentioned that I'd written emails to a few others and had no response from these so-called friends. She didn't brush off the comment or deny it, but just totally ignored it in her response. I just don't understand why some people ask my wife why they never hear from me then ignore any messages I send.
3. The game design stuff reminded me of a time when I was a kid and dreamt of creating my own worlds and everything on it. Now I can and for whatever reason, I choose not to.
4. My mother gave me a couple of boxes of my "stuff" from when I was growing up. They're filled with file folders for every year of my life. Kind of odd to see my entire life as a system of file folders (complete with tickets from every play, opera, and musical I've ever gone to). It also has my report cards from each grade. I never really tried until the very end. There's test results stating I was reading at a university level by the time I was 12, but my grades the next year in English were only Cs and C+'s. I never put the effort in. The next year was even worse because my teacher accused me of plagiarism. I refused to do any more work (not a stretch since I seemingly never did anyway) until she apologized. I went from a B to a D, followed by two Es to finish off the year. I wrote the final exam an got an A, so they were forced to pass me.
5. My Grade 12 exams, of which only one was "official," had a scoring system similar to the SATs. The document states that if I should accumulate a score of more than 1,000 points grand total in 3 or more final exams, then I'd be receiving a provincial scholarship. (If memory serves, 3 people in my class did receive those scholarships: $30,000 or more if I recall correctly). Because I only wrote the one official one (at the time, we only had to take a regulated science course to Grade 10 and Math to grade 11 --I did Math 11 twice), I wasn't eligible for the scholarship. My score on the one final was 497, which I'm assuming was out of 500 (so, 98.4%?). I know on one unofficial exam, I scored 98%.
   
6. Every report card makes mention of my lack of ability to complete homework and if I just "strive to work a little harder...). I wonder now, what life would be like if I'd ignored my social life (which I realized was a disaster much too late) and focused on school? Damn.
7. I've been reading a new blog about a woman who was in the comics industry and some of the obstacles she faced before she left. It's got me thinking about a bunch of things too.
   
8. I'm working on a story which is just a single chapter of a much, much bigger story (I'm sure I've mentioned it before). This part of the story is about a woman who is dying and reveals to her boyfriend that she was raped year earlier and it, ultimately, led to this very moment. Although the boyfriend reveals he already knew about it, there's a time for some healing and understanding about the rape. I don't write about it any further than to just mention it. There's no details about it other than that it happened. In a lot of ways, I don't feel I could a rape story properly by describing the event itself. I'm not sure right now if I can even justify any type of healing afterward, but I'm going to give it a try. This woman is strong and this is a hint at a moment where she wasn't in control of anything.
9. One of my wife's cousins was raped a few years back and the man who did it is back in the news right now (he'd escaped from prison or something and went on to rape 3 women before he was arrested again). "They" are trying to figure out if he should be considered a "dangerous offender." Why this process should take more than 30 seconds, I don't know. He escaped custody (he'd done it before) and goes out and does it again. Three times.

Mountain of Rage

I have been driving for 17 years. 17 years in which I've received a single ticket. One ticket for speeding. I've never been at fault for an accident and have a major discount with my insurance agency.

17 years.

The insurance company finally got back to me today to inform me that the accident in October, where a van came out of a side lane and t-boned my car, is 100% my fault. I failed to yield the right-of-way.

Um, what?

Even better, the insurance adjustor is inclined to side with me, but still put me at 100% at-fault. The van, coming off a short lane, had the right-of-way to turn in front of me. I should've stopped --on a major thoroughfare-- to let her into traffic. Anyone want to picture what would've happened had I stopped? I would've been rear-ended because nobody expects you to stop there!

Oh boy, is there an appeal coming.

Out In The Dark

A little back-story...

When I sell stuff on eBay and need to send it to US addresses, I make my way into Washington state to mail them using the much superior (seriously!) US postal system. I can send a package from Washington to Florida in a manner of days. To send it from Canada... 2 weeks, sometimes 5 weeks, apparently depending on how well the dogsleds handle the Interstate (grr).

It means I have to walk across the border, though, as the "commercial" side of the border crossing is designed for semi-trucks, not cars. I can park and take a decent 10-minute walk to the post office, chat with the ladies about the latest lunch specials down the road, pick up anything I may have purchased myself. Oh, and always ensure I have my receipts ready for the Canadian border guards who insist everything is valued at $200 or more . I once declared a video game for "three ninety-five," which translated as "$395.00" instead of "four bucks" --"four bucks," incidentally, would be a false declaration... sigh. After that, it's another quick 10-minute walk back to my car.

So, anyway, I had a bunch of stuff to mail off today, including a number of rather bulky boxes of toys to send off to various states. I walked into the US Customs office, submitted my ID and proper form and declared my travel plans (post office and back). Not a problem and usually isn't.

Well, except for one problem. The customs officer never thought to mention that the entire town was without power and had been all day. I discovered this sad fact after I'd walked to the post office and saw signs on storefront stating they'd be open on Friday.

So, here I was with a bunch of bulky boxes --5 to be exact-- and a number of envelopes, another 5, and no actual proof that they were mine save the return address. But what of the value? Well, that was on the form I'd left at the US Customs office. As far as Canadian Customs officers... This could very well be $2000+ worth of toys precariously balanced in my arms!

So, a couple of panicked phone calls to my wife and she assured me she had found a babysitter for the kids, printed off my eBay pages (that's enough 'proof' for Customs) and was on her way. I told her I'd be waiting just outside the post office building.

That was at 3:50pm. I had left home at 2:30.

At 5pm, the rain started again. There is a severe flood warning in the region as the temperature has picked up dramatically and it snowed heavily in the mountains over the weekend. This little town is known for its floods.

At 5:30, I started calling friends and relatives to see if they'd seen or heard from my wife. They hadn't.

At 6pm, quite wet and feeling extremely numb, I began walking towards the border, hoping I could see her in a huge lineup of cars. But I couldn't see her anywhere.

Why? The US guard who stopped her car had decided tonight was a good night for all vehicles to be inspected. Heavily. We're talking child seats removed, spare tire taken out, X-rays, dog sniffing......

And I stood. In the dark. And the rain.

Waiting.

At 6:30, they finally let her go. She picked me up a few minutes later. She actually drove right by me and it was a less than a 10-minute dash back to the post office. She also couldn't find the post office as there were no lights on anywhere once you got past the border. We finally met up and made our way back to the Canadian border where we had a lengthy discussion with the border guards there.

And I still have 5 bulky boxes and 5 envelopes to mail out.

But not tomorrow. The weather's supposed to be worse.

In the Dark

Around Noon yesterday (Wednesday) we had a storm slam into the area. It seriously felt like a slam. I was playing cars with my son in his room when the trees at the front of our yard suddenly shifted closer to the house with the impact of the winds. I've heard the gusts were up to 100km/h and these continued throughout the day.

Just as school ended, the power finally went out. We spent the next 14 hours in the dark with next to nothing to do. We played board games, ate sandwiches (the fast food places with power quickly ran out of stock we were informed), and mostly read books. I started the next Harry Potter book (I'm a little behind but catching up quick) and am now over halfway through the 5th book.

My only concern as the night wore on was the new carton of ice cream we'd just picked up. It was surely going soft, so it was time for an ice cream party.

Any excuse...

So, I had a couple bowlfuls of ice cream and... (sighs...) dairy is never my friend when I have a bad cold.... I paid for it the rest of the night and into the morning. Power was finally restored at 4am.

But last night's power outage was nothing compared to the blackout I was in today....

Too Good to be True? - Part II

I like being wrong.

I figured there has to be a catch. I'm not working, I'm broke, and they're offering $15,000 at prime-plus-2.5%...... What am I missing?

Nothing, apparently.

Everything's set and I can breathe for the month of November.

Keep in mind, this means that we're planning on using about $4000 to pay off credit card balances (at 18-22% interest), our overdraft (24%), and our November mortgage payment. Keep 'em at the current 8.5% and not touch the money again until I'm working (or... if need be an emergency in December :( ).

This will mean extreme vigilance on my part not to be tempted into something stupid....

New Dilemmas, nothing major

So, there's a hockey game on tonight that could be a great game to watch --or a horrible one. Survivor's on at the same time, as is Grey's Anatomy, followed by Six Degrees.

What to watch....

Too Good to be True?

To say we hit a financial roadblock this week is to say it mildly. We discovered our bank (a credit union) doesn't do payment deferrals. So, while our account sits at 'zero,' we're required to have a mortgage payment in place by November 24.

So, as I stated before, my butt's been officially kicked to get going on the eBay stuff. And I am happy to report over $120 raised so far this week! I have an extremely rare book I'm putting on later today... I've only seen 2 other copies of the book, even on the internet, and I own 2 of them. I'm hoping for at least $100 for it and another rare book I'm selling is currently over $80 (and I was hoping for $50). So, things are starting to look a *little* better....

Then yesterday I receive a very odd phone call. The bank where we have a joint account and where I used to have my business account called to say I'd been pre-approved for a line of credit. A $15,000 line of credit. No income check, no credit check. Nothing.

Too good to be true? I find out this afternoon if my suspicions are correct and this is too good...

But imagine surviving for another couple of months??

Dream in Detail

I've been meaning to write about a dream I had last week. I don't normally write about dreams because I have such minimalist dreams that there's usually nothing major occurring. Every once in a while I'll have a vivid dream where it feels a little too real. After leaving my job (From Hell!) I had several nightmares that I kept getting called to go back. I still have one of those every few months. Hmm, issues...

On Thursday night, however, I had a very long, extremely full and detailed dream. My wife & I were accepted as contestants 'Amazing Race' and discovered when we arrived that there was yet another new twist to the game: This time it was a celebrity edition of the show.

What that meant was that my wife & I were split up and paired instead with a celebrity partner. Yeah, that makes the race more difficult because suddenly you're not with someone you've had any type of relationship with, but with someone who, despite any level of fame, is an unknown factor. My wife was paired up with Matthew Perry.... And as strange as that was, my partner turned out to be....

Madonna.

Seriously.

While I don't remember all the details, I know that my wife and her partner were eliminated first. She has to drive instead of navigate and Matthew Perry turned out to be pretty bad at reading maps and had them drive south for 2 hours while everyone else drove north for 5 minutes... I was quite upset that my wife was out of the game already and was almost willing to give up completely on the game. Madonna talked me out of it, though.

As the race progressed, Madonna & I were usually in the lead. She was recognizable anywhere we went in the world, so there was always someone who would quickly jump in to help us. We argued a lot because she refused to do some of the stunts and then she kept claiming the first place prizes for each round ("Madonna, you and Guy can buy your own island in the Caribbean, how 'bout you let my wife & I take this prize??"). In the end, though, we came in second place after a grueling trip.

It was even a little surreal the next morning as I drank my morning coffee.... And watched Madonna on 'Regis & Kelly.' Weird.

I think out of anyone on the planet, Madonna would not be my primary choice to partner with on a race around the world.

Who would you pick?

Nonsensical Subject...

OK, so an interesting subject title to my last post that made absolutely no sense....

Whoops.

The office I went to for the project meeting is in the old downtown area of Vancouver, referred to as 'Gastown.' It's not run-down (much), but filled with older, character buildings, cobblestone streets and even a steam-powered clock that struck 4pm (loudly) just as I walked by talking on my cellphone. Ouch. The office is locted in the middle of Gastown, just around the corner from Blood Alley.

Now, Blood Alley has 2 historical references to lend to its name. It was the location of several butcher shops and at the end of the day, when they cleaned the shops, the street would fill with blood. Also, the square at Blood Alley was used for public executions. I'm pretty sure, though, that there were only ever public hangings in this region.

So, now Blood Alley makes a bit more sense to everyone! :D

Just around the corner from Blood Alley

So, the project meeting went well and I'll be starting on the project this weekend and most likely finished by the following weekend. That's the so-so news. The good news is that they have some clients who will be watching what I do because they're looking for an upgrade and "they have $10,000 in their budget for these things.:

I can handle that. So, next week is "dress to impress" (the website, that is).

It took nearly 3 hours to get home last night and I was freakin' exhausted by the time I pulled into the driveway. We were driving home slowly for no apparent reason. It had stopped raining, the wind had died down, but we just kept going 20km/h under the frigging speed limit. My patience wore thin and I started a slalom passing people as I did 5 km/h under the limit.... Geez! The really good news is this project is all telecommuting, so I'm staying put in the house for as long as possible. Went out for a few minutes today and had 2 close calls. My car must be invisible or something.... no one care see it.

Or no one cares.

Anyhoo, backing to butt-kicking on eBay --for now.

The Universe Conspires...

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Bull$#!%."
--Hairyhoser

October ended poorly... in more ways than one. We are almost officially broke right now thanks to the money I had to pay out for the car accident. No, it's still not finalized and when/if they ever do, they'll mail me the $300 which means it'll take a few weeks to get here... if they finally realize it wasn't my fault.

I firmly believe that the universe is conspiring to make my family suffer this year.
1. My wife's paystub from work this week was missing all but one shift. So, instead of $400+ in the bank, we got $46.
2. Daddy cooking dinner on Monday night was an utter disaster. Some bugs have infested our boxes of Macaroni & Cheese and I didn't notice until they started floating to the top in the boiling water. I tried 2 different boxes (2 different brands) and each had bugs in them. The older box had dead bugs, the newer one had live ones (there was still one crawling around in the box). So, I made hot dogs for dinner and a peanut butter & jam sandwich for my son who refused to eat hot dogs.
3. I've been desperately trying to talk to my parents who suddenly took off for the U.S. in mid-October. They've called 3 times: once from Albuquerque, once from Houston, and once from Minneapolis. My wife received the call from Houston and didn't mention I was trying to talkto them and didn't try and get a number from them. They called last night while I was stoking the fire. They left a message... but no forwarding number. I had the phone on me all day except for the minute I went downstairs to attend the woodstove.
4. We cheapened out for Halloween this year, knowing that we've had less than 5 kids every Halloween we've lived here. We bought a single box of candy and were out of stock within 20 minutes. Coldest frickin' Halloween I recall too. It was just below freezing.
5. My wife's car needed repairs to the fanbelt. Twice. There went another $150 we don't have.
6. I had a phone conversation with a career services guy from school. He's got a plethora of job opportunities for me. Each one pays just above minimum wage and require a 90-minute commute which means my pay would cover the cost of gas to go to work. So, thanks but no thanks. I've semi-reluctantly told them to start looking beyond Vancouver for work because I know the major company in Montreal is looking for people. Yep, it means a major move, but we're making the arrangements for the wife & kids to stay here and either live in this house or sell it and they can move in with her parents. Sucks for sure, but if it gets us back on our feet faster...
7. I am putting things on eBay as quickly as humanly possible. OK, that's not entirely true. I'm trying to, but I"m lacking motivation at the moment. I'm in need of a kick in the keister to get stuff on this weekend. I don't want to get stuck with more eBay stress around Christmas again. I've had 4 years of that and enough's enough!

OK, enough.

I have one semi-positive note to mention: I'm heading into Vancouver today to sort out this new web project for the film industry company. They don't make movies, but they're associated with the film industry. It's a highly temporary job (less than a week's work), but could lead to more work in the near future. We have a few items to sort out before I begin working on it and a big one for me is telecommuting. It's a fairly easy job and easier to do from home than getting acquainted in a new office. Getting into an office will mean a few hours spent just getting used to the space. Doing it from home means starting immediately.

I'll write more tonight.