April 10, 2004

It is that time of the morning when I am ready to get going. Like start my day. Take a shower. Get dressed. Go to work. But Laurie is still sleeping. Last Saturday. I learned my lesson. I woke her up before she wanted to get up. I heard about it all day. A lesson learned. Now. I have been up for two hours. I have edited all that I feel like editing. I want to get going. Instead. I put on “Hail to the Thief” by Radiohead. Not too loudly. And I wait. For her to get up.

Last night. We went to Oberlin, OH. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. “This is exactly where I imagine my children growing up,” she said. Yeah, me too. I don’t think I could take that commute, though. It’s too much. We were around college students last night. They were younger than we were. Noticeably. A lot. They are kids. I am an adult. There is a difference. Kids. It’s funny. Listening to them talk. With all of that idealism. With that desire to take on the world. To right all of the wrongs. “Uh, yeah, like, I think that the world should be good.” The cynic in me says: Yeah, me too. Who doesn’t? But I have to work for a living. But there is a part of me. Small. Sure. That is alright with the fact that they are idiots who have not been beaten by the world yet. I am OK with that. I don’t envy them. I don’t want to be them. But they can do what they want to do. Stupid hippie kids. “Yeah, like, I think that we should do something, you know, like, to make the world a better place.”

Yesterday. My sister Laurie’s birthday. Big up and props to her. Remembering when I was 27. When we started the Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show Starring Baby Fea (yea!). For some perspective. I know what you are going through, sister. It’s hard. Figuring out what you are going to do with your life. I was there, five years ago. And I made all of these decisions and almost none of them were right and here I am five years later doing the exact same thing and it is not that big of a deal. That’s what I would like tell my sister on the occasion of her 27th birthday.

Um, alright, she’s awake. Time to get going.

posted by Thea at 8:05 AM

April 7, 2004

What a day at work. Not killer. All filler. Meetings. Deadlines. Emergencies. Assignment after assignment after assignment. If they can’t prioritize, I will. Finished the taxes today. Owed the State. Owed the City. The City can bite me. Anybody who votes for additional taxes in the City of Lakewood, OH is a crazy person. It’s too much. Not only did I have to write a check for hundreds of dollars to some bitch named Rita but I finished paying off my medical bills from getting hit by the car ten months ago today. You write twelve hundred dollars worth of checks in one day and get nothing out of it and tell me how you feel. I feel like shit. That seems reasonable.

Last night, the white noise sleeping fan died at a quarter to one. The motor burned out. I was dreaming when the fan went silent. My dreams went silent as well as the fan died. That is the only way I can describe it. My dreams went silent and stopped.

I still read The Scene and The Free Times every Wednesday but nothing seems that interesting to me in either magazine any more. I used to know exactly when The Scene got to Tower City. Now, I might not get it until Thursday. Bands. Movies. Whatever. It all seems kind of blah. What does this mean? What happened to Eric Broder?
posted by Thea at 9:24 PM

April 6, 2004

Not a bad day. Listened to Allman Brothers Band bootlegs pretty much all day at work. And then some bootleg Doors at the end of the day. Did a test run on the taxes. Using the standard deduction, Laurie and I are getting a little bit back. That’s good. Surprising and good. Stayed late at work. Came home. Ate dinner. Went for a walk. Listened to Santana. Told Laurie about how seeing Santana playing “Soul Sacrifice” at Woodstock made me want to be a drummer. Not Keith Moon. Not John Bonham. Started talking about money. Nothing puts a dark cloud over a good day like money. Will finish the taxes tomorrow. Will apply for law school loans as well. “Then comes affliction to awaken the dreamer.” Thank you, Chuck.

posted by Thea at 9:30 PM

April 5, 2004

As stated, I am not panic tax guy. No. I will not panic. Or worry. But I will work on my taxes a little bit every day. Today, I discovered, thanks to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, taxpayers are allowed to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from the sale of property owned and used as a principal residence for at least two of the five years before the sale according to 26 USC Sec 121. A taxpayer can claim the full exclusion only once every two years. This does away with all of those exemptions, deferments and roll over rules that the old school are always bringing up when talking about selling a house and the associated capital gain tax. Take my word on it – we did not make $250,000 dollars when we sold our home. So, I got off on that one.

posted by Thea at 7:42 PM

April 4, 2004

BLOG. Weekend Edition.

I spent so much time running around this weekend that all I wanted to do today was sit on my ass and do nothing – after I started getting my taxes in order. I was not one of these guys who waited until the last minute to do his taxes until I started owing money every year so, I figure, what’s the point? Still, I am not panic tax guy. I know how to read an instruction book and I know how to fill out the various schedules that go with the 1040, so, you know, big deal. Well, after much sitting on my ass today, I got going on those taxes and it took me only a few minutes until I figured out that I need to get more booklets and more forms. Instead of running downtown, I quit. And went back to sitting on my ass. Yeah, I’ll get those additional forms tomorrow. Or the next day. Like I said, I am not panic tax guy. Well, I am off to bed to watch that “Arrested Development” show that Baby Fea was talking about. I will probably talk about it tomorrow on the Assholier than Thou Good Times Happy Friends Monday Morning Radio Show Starring Baby Fea (yea!).

posted by Thea at 9:04 PM