Tuesday, June 25, 2002

Finding A Bit of Voice

It's been a very odd sort of day. I don't think I've ever had a day quite like this one.
-- I slept for more than 12 hours, and woke up with aching muscles, no doubt from laying around so long without any movement. It passed very quickly. I've felt fine today, and until tonight, my poor smashed foot has not bothered me--now it is slightly aching.
-- I called and fired my housekeeping service, very nicely. I told them what I thought they had done well, and I told them what they had done wrong that was the reason I am firing them.
-- I called to remind a deadbeat client that she promised two weeks ago to pay me for an invoice that is almost 6 months old!
-- I called the Nazi homeowners association to ask why they are complaining about the board on my gate when it was here when I moved in two years ago.
-- I called the property management company to tell them that they have to remove the board to please the HOA.
-- I complained to the contracting company that just gave me a new balcony (which is beautifully done) that their guys broke the irrigation system directly under the balcony.
-- I called my insurance company to pay the next 6 months on my car insurance, nearly $700. Only to discover that my renters insurance is also due, so that was another $300 for the full year. Nearly $1000 spent in a single phone call that lasted at most three minutes. And I didn't even have any fun spending it.
-- I interviewed and then hired a landscaping company to do a clean up in my yard, and contracted with them for weekly lawn mowing and trimming services. I think it going to work out very nicely.
-- After being inside for days, I went out to my truck to get something out of the back, to discover that someone had broken into the truck. Two of the doors were ajar. The battery wasn't dead. The contents of the glove compartment (which contains no gloves) was all over the passenger seat, and the handy wipes on my visor had been removed. Other than that, nothing appears to be missing. I don't store much in the truck. It is just weird to discover that someone had been in there.
-- I continued to work on my backlog of laundry, and got most of the dirty dishes clean up, along with most of the kitchen. I'll finish that room tomorrow.
-- About 9 pm, I took a shower and got all squeaky clean. I left the house with wet hair, and drove to my favorite drive-up ATM machine to initialize my new Visa check card and deposit my last three paychecks. I drove around Phoenix on the highways for over an hour, wind in my hair, looking around and thinking.
-- I seriously considered contacting a person I banished from my life three years ago, someone who is truly insane and I'm sure qualifies for institutional life. I have a sliver of memory of great dinner conversations with her and her hubby. If only the other slivers were that good. I'm not sure why I was considering doing this. Now that I'm home, and seem to have regained my own sanity, it seems crazy. Maybe I was under the spell of the full moon, out there driving on the highway, with the windows open, and the truck not protecting me from the moon. Now I have timber, stucco and plaster between me and the silver orb, which seems to be offering me much greater protection.

The only person I didn't reach today was the printer who kidnapped my printer many months ago, and who called me a month ago to say that he couldn't fix my printer so he would return it. Where, oh where art thou? I'll call HIM tomorrow.

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