A Check-In

So it’s been a while since I proclaimed my goals here, and I haven’t checked in recently.

1. To WRITE, not play on the internet. Well…let’s just say I haven’t had a lot of time for playing on the internet lately. Oh, and I got two stories in to Turtleduck Press on time (pretty much), so that’s some writing. That’s good.

2. To WRITE, not clean, so stay on top of stuff. I have this friend who likes to clean other people’s houses… Bless her!

3. To sell books and become independent so promote. This seems to be really hard for me. I can put on my salesperson hat and talk, chatter, promote, enhance, use all the gentle, polite ways, but it’s a completely different mode than writing mode. I can’t take a break from writing and go be a salesperson and come back to writing, and so the promotion falls by the wayside. Until I figure something out (I’ll keep looking!) this will stay on the back burner, because I think I need to keep writing more than anything else.

4. Be healthier, wear smaller clothes, and hike to Machu Picchu. This is one where the tortoise is the sure winner. Day by day I’m trying hard. Yesterday I did not eat a doughnut though the box sat back in the copy room all day. Last night when I served up some of the ice cream cake leftover from the kid’s birthday, I did not have–nor did I really want–any. I had three pretty bad days in a row over the weekend, though, so we’ll see at the Sunday Accounting.

5. To have ALL THE FUN EVER so stop SPENDING. … Stop spending? STOP spending? Was that what I was supposed to be doing? Oops.

Actually this is not (all) my fault. It seems that my ticket back in June (stupid camera, stupid guilty till proven innocent, stupid fear of authority figures so I couldn’t go straighten their butts out) has alerted every creditor in the country to my location. I’m really starting to think they manufacture unpaid bills, but how can I prove their charges from eight years ago are false?

Like the one from my cable company. I’ve had an account with them for ten years or more. When my husband was alive it was in his name, then I switched it to mine. (Because it’s very difficult to get anywhere with no, I can’t get his written permission to change the account to a new home, yes, I can supply the death certificate, no, I can’t bring you any other proof of his death unless you’d like to test his ashes for DNA? and I wanted to make sure I didn’t have to go through it again.)

Anyway. Continuous service. They’ve known exactly where I am, and I’ve paid my bill every single month, for at least ten years. My husband never had cable service in his name before he married me–he went straight from his mother’s house to mine. (Shut up.) So exactly how does he supposedly owe them $147 from service eight years ago when he lived with me and I’ve been paying the bill all along on the account I still have? (This one I did not pay and I do not intend to pay and they can go ruin his credit or sue him if they like.)

And the bill from the court for “unpaid fees” with my name slightly mispelled and a charge (driving without insurance back when I was so incredibly effing broke) that I paid off with every dime of my Christmas money and yes I remember it was paid in full? (This one I paid. I don’t have the receipt any more, and I need my license.)

Damned vultures. This is why they tell you that you only need financial records for three years–so they can come hunt you down eight years later and you can’t fight them.

Soooooo…goals. I shall rededicate myself to them. Nothing has changed–I still want all of them with all my heart.