Quick Quake & Other Passing News

We had the 3rd earthquake I've ever been thru on Weds. Quakes scare me. I couldn't live anywhere that they occurred regularly. This one was mild, part of the Ontario 5.0-5.5 (depending on when you heard the report). Laying in bed, resting my shoulder, I was reading and listening to a friend sit in as DJ for another friend's show. Then everything started swaying, like riding the R train thru the tunnel into Brooklyn, in a north-south direction. As always I was paralyzed, wondering if it really was an earthquake, but as the seconds went by and the rhythm kept up, I thought, "Maybe I should get up and stand in the doorway." Then it stopped, as they all have so far (knock wood) and it was over. Really, there'd be little chance of surviving a big quake in this huge brick building. Standing in a doorway or laying in bed wouldn't make a diff. If I'm gonna croak I'd rather be in bed.

The website we all rely on here in town was hacked by a bot claiming to be a Muslim. I believe that as much as I believe my landlord can't find anyone to sell him new air conditioners. Really, I'm fairly certain (with no evidence) that it was done by some Rovian who's trying to fearmonger. Happily, it wasn't long before the server was cleaned out & our iBrattleboro was back and running as usual.

PAYT is voted up or down on Tuesday. Gods help us all if it goes thru.

Money continues to be the stomach-churner in my life, and what's been taking up all my time and energy, keeping me from posting or working on my book. Medicare will cost me 110 bucks a month. Which comes right out of my SSDI. And will leave 53 dollars a month to pay bills, buy all non-food items and take those extravagant vacations I'm so famous for. Behind that, the yearly 600-buck energy grant has been declared for heat only, and the balance left by May was taken back without notice. So I owe 2 months' electricity already. It'll be okay. I may get an energy grant from a community fund, and my brother and a good friend-in-need have offered to help if that falls thru. As for the 110, that'll be reimbursed by Medicaid in the fall and thenceforth covered by them. So I'm shorting my landlord and I'll catch up when they reimburse me. That's the best I can do. All this tsuris takes a toll, though. I've seen a lot of the interior of my toilet this week.

Health issues continue to fill my family and closest friend's lives. But everyone's hanging in there and nobody died this week.

For someone who rarely leaves the house I have an active social life. Friends were in and outta here all week. The Princess came to town bearing bagels and bread from NYC! The "health bread" she brought from Zabar's is total heaven and I may cry when I eat the last slice. Stevil came by bearing cream cheese and we shared a nice lunch with the bagels and idle chatter. And Ellen came over for one of our catch up sessions, bringing a great pizza from the new-but-the-same-old Frankie's. Thank Gods Frankie's is back. That was a long 6 months! One song I could play to cover the last week-Ya Gotta Have Friends.

Also possible good news- affordable housing may be in my future. I don't wanna jinx it by blabbing too early but it looks good.

My walker finally came back fixed! Yay! No more pushing myself around this little place on an office chair!

So life goes on. The older I get and the more I live thru, I realize that happiness really is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.