Networking and Encouragement

So here it is going on midnight, it's 87 degrees in the house and I'm sucking on an orange ice pop with The Colbert Report on in the background.  I'm half afraid to play a record or it might melt.  I guess I could put on Pandora.com, maybe after Colbert.  Pandora is cool.  You can tell it what you like and it will play it for you, then it will try other music that it thinks you might like.  You give it a thumbs up or thumbs down and it learns what you like.  I have several channels set up, based on different starting suggestions:  one for my prog rock, one for bluegrass, one for jazz, one for baroque classical, so on.  Give it a try sometime.  But there's no substitute for picking a real vinyl record from the crate, blowing the dust off the disk, letting the needle drop, and hearing that little scritchy-scratch before that beloved music plays, my mind already stroking the memories of where I bought it, who I've enjoyed it with, live performances.  But that other room is so far away...

(thistle, not fireworks)

Dang, it's hot.  At least we have electric fans and the fridge, and water comes out the faucet when I turn it on, unlike at some other times and places in human existence.  Phone still works too, but the call I'm waiting for hasn't come yet.  Dylan left with his buddies hours ago to go check on Sarina.  She took Logan with her to some appointments for medical & WIC assistance.  But she's having some trouble with anemia, dizziness, and blood pressure so she is supposed to get checked out.

Speak of the devil...  Phone just rang and it was Dylan.  Her BP was around 150/100 (maybe we should do the DASH diet together) so they wrote her a prescription.  They called it in to a Walgreens down there where her Mom lives and they don't have the 15 bucks to pay for the meds.  He's trying to get the scrip transferred up to Colerain so he can bum the money here and get the meds.  My unemployment ran out weeks ago but I'm mature enough to manage my money and compassionate enough to buy Sarina's meds.  They've got a lot to learn.  I asked Dylan 2 or 3 times throughout the day to get the garbage to the curb but he blew me off and now he has this to deal with.  I went out to carry the cans and numerous bags and actually felt cooler doing that than sitting here at the computer.  He still owes me though.

(Troy lost his teeth again)

Marcy had another round today in the seeming endless struggle with the Leviathan system.  She went to her Social-Security-mandated mental evaluation and I tagged along of course.  The interview with the psychologist lasted 2 hours.  She told how she had been healthy and active, owned the cafe for just a month, had a stroke and all the plans flew out the window.  Her frustration with her decline in health, her struggle to care for her elderly mom who has her own issues (!), how my job was eliminated and we lost insurance, her continued decline in hyealth & finances leading to us closing the cafe, her crisis last fall with congestive heart failure & gastritis & pancreatitis, her stay at the hospital & nursing home with the mounting unpayable bills, the bankruptcy, the mostly-futile struggle with Social Security & Medicaid & Job & Family Services.  (Is everybody up to speed with us now?  Good.)  After the interview came a brief test.  Repeat increasingly longer number series.  Now do it backwards.  Some arithmetic problems.  Explain some common sayings like "Make hay while the sun shines."  I think that means Dylan should take the garbage out the first time Dad asks, when he has buddies around to help, because some kind of crap is always ready to hit the fan.  The psychologist asked the typical questions "Who is President now?" and of course Marcy knew it's Obama.  Then she asked who was President before Obama.  A pause...It was Clinton wasn't it?......no, it was that Bush!"  That was genuine, no fake, so precious.  So the psych said she'll send the report in and the deciders should have an answer around the end of August.  We'll see.  When we got home there was another letter from them telling Marcy to report to a physical exam on July 22.  At least they seem to be doing their jobs, not like some other agencies that shall remain un-named until we can nail them.

Oh, let me finish this post with what I titled it for.  Over in the right hand column you'll see a list of links, my favorite spots on the Internet, I hope you take a look at them now & then.  I decided I might as well reach out and contact them to let them know that I enjoy what they do, that they are having a positive effect, at least on me.  I got a very encouraging reply from Tommy over at Freedom Guerilla.  Check it out:

"-------- Original Message --------
Subject: kindred spirit
From: "Barry G. Price"
Date: Fri, July 02, 2010 9:08 pm

Hi Tommy! I enjoy your blog and publish one myself at http://thatcrashingsound.blogspot.com/
"That Crashing Sound is the collapse of the American middle class. Or maybe it's just me." I hope you can check it out, since I just put you at the top of my link list. Even though our life experiences may be different, I sense that we are questing for similar things. Best of luck to you in your quest, and feel free to keep in touch.
Barry

Hi Barry,

I gave you a shout out:
http://freedomguerrilla.com/frugal-living/that-crashing-sound/

I really like your writing. It's very poetic and has a certain melancholy/reflective appeal. I read several pages, and able to surmise that you owned a restaurant that went out of business?
I'll keep in touch if you promise to do the same. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.
Best Regards,

Tommy"

And if you follow the link (but you already did that, right?) you'll see that he posted this:

Freedom Guerrilla

None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.

That Crashing Sound
I get a lot of offline comments, thoughts, and shares emailed to me as a result of this site, but this one really struck me.

Check out thatcrashingsound.blogspot.com. Barry is an artist, and I find his writing and photography intriguing and important.

“That crashing sound that you hear just might be the collapse of the middle class. My cholesterol is higher than my credit score. I just found my first white chest hair. My teenage son is reading Nietzsche, so I am too. I think about lots of things I want to share with you. Sometimes I’ll share a picure or song or story or recipe. It’s late now and I’m sure I’m not impressing anyone, so I’ll get a few hours of sleep then get up and watch CBS Sunday Morning with my wife. Good times.”

Thanks for the email, Barry. We’re definitely kindred.

Good luck out there, Everyone. I am pulling for the best in us with all my might. "

 Did you see that?  Barry is an artist?  He finds my writing and photography intriguing and important?  WOW!  I was just getting comfortable thinking of myself as that guy who used to have a job and a business and now just takes pictures and writes to sort his thoughts out.  Now I have to live up to "artist" and "intriguing" and "important."  DOH!  Talking about coming down to earth...this insane heat just made the dog barf and I have to clean it up!  Gotta go, until next time, friends!