Bad Day (Archive from December 20, 2005)

Today was a bad day. I'm not even that upset about the transit strike, although it pissed me off. Are these MTA workers serious? Their starting salary is $50,000 and they do a shitty job. I almost hope that they all get fired. Do you know what they are upset about? Having to pay 6% into their pension and 1% of their healthcare benefits. I pay 50% of my healthcare benefits, and I don't get a guaranteed raise every year. I mean come on! And they all sound like idiots when they are interviewed on TV especially that Toussant guy. Arrogant prick. They are making it hard for every union that strikes in the future with real complaints.

Anyway, I woke up with a fat cheek. It turns out I have an infection in a tooth and it either needs to be extracted or I need to get a very expensive root canal followed by an even more expensive cap. I am quite poor because of Christmas but my mom offered to lend me the money so I can at least get the root canal. The extraction is cheaper but I don't want a tooth missing in the front of my mouth and look like I escaped from Appalachia during the depression. I have enough aesthetic difficulties.

I came home from this humbling appointment, armed with penicillin and a six-pack only to find a letter from the IRS telling me that I owe them $1200. I paid my 2004 taxes quite late and I had to pay something like $4500 (another loan from my mom.) No one -- not my accountant, not the IRS rep that I spoke to when I had some questions -- told me that I would owe more money. More money that I don't have.

So tomorrow, after I walk over the bridge to Manhattan -- thanks again Mr. Toussant and Merry Christmas, by the way -- I will have to beg my accountant for an appointment during the holidays and figure out a way to come up with this money, which by the way is due on the exact same date as the next installment of my 2005 taxes are due. YAY! The one thing that I can hope is that I lose weight from all this walking and I win the lottery before the New Year.