Outcast With Dogmas Forged Below--Seared and Beaten Banished from Where I was Born

So,

I had a birthday a few days ago. It was nice.

38.

I am now officially too old to be signed to a long-term sports contract.

I would maybe get a 3 year deal, max.

I could really rant here about our new goddamn medical insurance billing issues,
but I don't want to open that can of horrid beans again.

Yes, I do.

We signed up with a new insurance plan, on June 28th. We paid them (well, they took their money) on July 7th. Then, they took more money on July 30th.
And then they took more money today.

So, I call them, to find out WTF... Why have I paid $935.83 for something that is supposed to cost $311 a month, and I only signed up a month and a half ago...

and get it all broken down for me, as I am an imbecile, evidently.

The money that they took today, covers us until September 19. (OK)
The money that they took on the 30th of July was to cover July 18 until August 18 (OK, yes,)
The money that they took on July 7th, covered us between June 18, and July 18 (No---wait)

I said "Why do I have to pay for that time, I wasn't a member yet--I don't think that is right"

So, then, the tables turned, as I tried to 'splain to her that I signed up on the 28th of June, and surely shouldn't have to pay for the period before I was insured...and how can they charge people for retroactive health-care??

I could FEEL her blank stare through the phone.


In fact, I wrote a haiku about it:

Stupid fucking bitch
Hoping I will stop yelling
Not saying a word

Or this one:

I felt cheated and
Continue to feel cheated
By Assurant Health




I was SO inspired, that I even wrote a limerick:


There once was a man from Nantucket
My fucking medical insurance company sucks
I yelled on the phone, and didn't feel better
I am not good at writing limericks.


Yes, I know that wasn't very good, but, limericks aren't really very good to begin with.

The Castles were all Empty--Asleep - Long Awaiting Their King

This is an excerpt of an e-mail, and the response, that cracked me up:

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...good to get out of the house,
and talk to someone who is not a cashier.

I have several cashier buddies in town. One is this kid (prolly 23 years old or so)
who has sold me rolling papers, and scoped my tattoos a bazillion times.
I can tell he wants to be 'bros"...he has that ratty ponytail, and bad mustache of a Metallica fan. He only ever nods at me...never says a word...just tilts his head.
" sup, bro," he is saying.
His e-mail is prolly metaldude4life@dickweed.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the response:

I have some cashier buds, too; the ones who like me tend to be the prim, proper-looking women, who give me an almost vigorous nod of approval, sort of a “You look clean…and as though you have no secret tattoos” kind of thing. Their emails are probably things like Judy61@aol.com I give them the fake plastic smile of the suburbanite, thinking, “Man, if you knew what a pothead I am"… as I bask in the faux glow of their beige approval. ... I try to go against peoples’ expectations of my bland exterior.

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Funny how people can be so similar, yet so different.


Today is the 2 year anniversary of my wife coming to USA from South Africa. We are going to
go out to dinner. We were just thinking back, to my shithole apartment in Buffalo that I was living in (we moved about 5 weeks after she arrived--to a bigger shithole) and how much better off we are now (in an even bigger....)

It is also (one of) my sister's birthday. I think she is 42.

I am joking, I know how old she is. It is her children's age's that I don't know.

Guess I shouldn't buy that "World's Greatest Uncle" shirt just yet.

A Barren Waste is your Land---Crops They Were Sown to Die

So, I started a myspace page because it was the only way I could track down my cousin.

Suddenly I have old friends popping into life, some I have not spoken with in 15 years.
Very weird. Suddenly people are aware that we have moved out of Buffalo, and live in Texas. I only told a few people I was leaving.

Funny, too, those same people make it seem like we would be hanging around together, now, but for the Texas thing.

We are waiting to hear from the mortgage lender. That is a certain way to make time stand still.

Oh, yeah...it is fucking hot today for the first time this year.
It is 94F now (36 C) and going to go UP to 99F (37. fuckin' 2 cel.)

To quote my wife, it is "poes hot". If you speak Afrikaans, or Dutch, you know what that means, and how it is pronounced.
If you don't, guess.
I am sure you won't be far off.

I have been listening to the new Opeth. It is spiffy.