Category: Life

  • Downside, Upside, Funnyside: Taxes

    Downside: I went to get my taxes done today, to the tune of nearly-two-hundred-dollars to have a professional give everything the once-over it needs. (There are complications due to the divorce and, this year, due to Spud being a college lad.)

    Upside: I’ve learned that having a fully-dependent child in college is good for your chances at a rebate. Quite good.

    Funnyside: The great State of Oregon is giving me a refund this year (unlike last year, ugh)… a whopping, extravagant, don’t-spend-it-all-at-once… seven hundred… cents.

  • Downside, Upside: Pants

    Downside: $40, and that was on sale.

    Upside: Pants that fit. (Thank you, Levi Strauss.)

  • It’s fun to visit the O-D-M-V!

    I received notice in the mail a few days ago indicating that my current Oregon state ID card is to expire on my forthcoming birthday. Having means, motive and opportunity now, I figured not to wait until late February to do anything about it.

    So I gathered all of the bits and bobs needed. Social Security card? Check! State-issued, non-laminated birth certificate? Check! (Hospital-issued certs won’t cut it. No, I don’t know why.) Checkbook? Check! (They don’t take plastic.) Off I went, to the Oregon DMV “Express” over at Lloyd Mall.

    The mall’s a much nicer place in the middle of a sunny school day, by the by.

    The process itself went quickly, smoothly, painlessly (unless you count the $40 spent). On the other hand, two of my favorite things ever took place during my brief sojourn:

    1. “Are you waiting in line, ma’am?” “…No.” “Oh! Sorry about that…” I must have that kind of face. Or something. Last time I got the “ma’am” treatment was at a Starbucks near work. Sigh.
    2. “Carol?” “…Not quite.” It’s like being back in school all over again, when each new teacher (and there were many thanks to all of those address changes) couldn’t get my name right.

    But hey, I’ll have a shiny new ID soon, and I won’t have to worry about this again until who-knows-when down the road…

  • You Do Not Fit

    We’ve all long known that I don’t “fit in,” metaphorically speaking. I’m not into the usual things guys are into… not sports, or cars, or hunting, or what-have- you. I don’t slot neatly into the Red State / Blue State spectrum. George Lucas didn’t “ruin my childhood” by making a trio of crappy movies. I shoot a webcomic based on my rubber duck collection, for pity’s sake. That’s fine, since I don’t really want to be like most of the rest of humanity. Maybe I’m a snob, but I just don’t “get it,” all of the identifying with brands that people seem to do. What I would like, however, are pants that fit.

    Supposedly I’m just barely under average height, 5’8″ tall. Too bad that doesn’t translate into a wide availability of pants. Everything’s got a 30-inch inseam or longer. Even when I find a “short” 30, or an actual 29, I have to wonder what the hell kind of body shape the pants were built for. There’s weird bunching going on that mystifies me. Or, to put it another way: Why in hell does it look like I’m smuggling a small animal in the front of my trousers?

    (Yes, yes, go ahead and crack wise. I gave you a straight line, I’d be disappointed if you chose not to use it as you see fit.)

    What I usually end up with are pants that are too wide and too long and bunch up funny, because the alternative is… what? A kilt? I don’t see my boss approving that as proper work attire, for starters.

    Were I rich, I’d just have everything custom made. Since that’s never happening… I just have to live with the fact that, like in every other part of my life, I’m the odd man out when it comes to buying clothes.

  • Arbitrary Demarcations

    Let’s face it: Reality, should we choose to anthropomorphize the cosmos for the sake of argument, doesn’t give a damn about when we say a new day begins, or a new month, or a new year.

    I ended 2010 with a wearying, annoying head cold. I started 2011 with a wearying, annoying head cold. At no point anywhere near midnight of December 31st did the universe change so that the new year would be better or worse than what came before.

    This may seem blindingly obvious to you. I, however, spent the first half of my life (give or take) looking for signs, meaning in the meaningless, pointers from a higher power. That sort of thing. Even now, I approach the end of four decades on this planet and it’s still all too easy for me to get caught up in wrong-headed nonsense.

    Still and all, I hope 2011 goes well. We could all stand a bit of improved circumstances, couldn’t we?

    And I really wish that this stupid cold would go away.

  • Bookending December

    Wow. I haven’t posted since December 1.

    That pretty much sums up my year, here, doesn’t it? I most certainly did not start posting more often in 2010 like I originally intended. I didn’t make more stories, I didn’t chronicle my journey through the year, I didn’t do much of anything.

    Gotta do something about that.

    Also, the anime forum pretty much shriveled up and died. I tried to carry the whole thing myself for a while, but it’s one thing to talk to yourself on a journal site, something else entirely to shout into the echo chamber of an empty multi-user forum. Sigh.

    On the other hand, I cranked out another massive slew of webcomics without missing a scheduled update.. I’m rather pleased about that. And let’s not get into how many posts I made to Twitter. Again.

    My goals for the year, Internet-wise: Get this site back up in the priority chain. Redesign & improve Quacked Panes. Gripe less, snark more. Keep building relationships with other webcomic-y types like the nifty folks behind Marlowe and Tree Lobsters. Improve my writing skills by actually writing more.

    Let’s meet again a year from now and see how well I performed, shall we?

    I hope for a 2011 filled with love, laughter, shiny toys, tasty treats, and prosperity for you all. Thank you.