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.