Into August
Didn't fall off the map, tho' some days feeling like I've been embedded IN it. Sun Dance begins on Saturday, for all the week to follow... In between, been working and trying to get Padawan Two ready for Buffalo State. He's headed up middle of August. And seriously folks, money is just POURING out of this house. We went on a family plan on the cell phones, to get the lady plugged into Sprint with us. $$. Had to get him a new computer to take up to school with him... $$$. Just got the tuition/room & board / Fees bill... $$$$$$. However, we DID turn down the wait-list admission he got from NYU Polytechnic.... the numbers are just mind blowing (Near 300K for the degree - holygorramfrack!), and the quality if the students at the place or the program didn't impress us at all. We'll be going to Stones Rising for the Labor Day weekend, and first time without Nicholas.
Padawan Two is still spinning his wheels. We tried a life coach for a while, who was a sweet lady and very nice. But a few thousand dollars later, was stressing him out more than getting him moving. So ... pass. The kid's 22 but is only really functional in very limited contained environments like fire-keeping at Sun Dance. Perhaps there is an energy around ceremony that is just not present in the outer world.
We may not be having massive wildfires, devastating floods or waves of tornadoes, but a six week heat wave does raise the eyebrow. It's been consistently warm and steamy since mid June with days in the 100s to make it... interesting. The National Weather service as all but said "get used to it" or in other words, batshit crazy random-ass extreme weather is The. Way. Things. Are. Now. Just saw a story about the prominent Climate Change skeptic doing his own research and coming to the same findings as most of the scientific community that the earth IS warming, much to the embarrassment of his climate denier sponsors. Hello. Go Science. Note the Yahoo item focuses on the Politics and the Ars on the science. Typical.
Berkeley Earth project is back to re-re-confirm Earth is warming
About-face: Former climate change skeptic now says global warming is man-made
The other thing we're trying to set in motion is ... we coming to the realization we've got to get out of here.
Rockland county is nearly in default, and we're looking at a 30% bump in County Taxes, a new Energy Tax and all kinds of cutbacks. Our Property Taxes are killing us having more than doubled since we moved here in 2001, plus the cost of living here. Our income has been pretty flat since 2006, if you leave out the dip from 2008. Heather has been unable to find any sort of work or craft teaching gigs since the Crash. So we're doing the preliminary work at very probably selling this place and moving to someplace a little kinder to ... I won't say retired, but no-longer-youthful people. I don't think I will be able to retire, but I'd like to slow the frack down a bit. One place we've looked at was Berkley Springs, WV, a small, but neat community not too far from both the Four Quarters and Standing Bear people, who we rather like. But our income is just not meeting expenses and were slowly eating our savings and investments.
It's fucking MONUMENTAL... we've accumulated so much CRAP, not to mention being artists and crafts people. And there is still a LOT of Mom's old stuff here that needs to be turned over... the energy this is going to take just makes me wilt. But it's that or suffer the death of ten-thousand mosquito bites, with regular Wolf Chomps tossed in. It does not help that my clients are MUCH less prompt in paying me since the economy went to shit. But I'm glad I'm working. So many aren't or have been looking literally for years now. The one major consolation is that I am not feeling particularly picked on. This stuff has been happening to virutally everybody we know.
"There somethin' happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear..." Song's gettin' airplay again, folks.
I don't want to even think of how nasty this election is turning... But the overwhelming fact is that it looking like it's all about MONEY. Nothing else matters, whoever has the most to spend gets to buy the election. The media is ignoring this as most of it is spent on THEM. Kinda hate them all.
Last little bit is I had another colonosopy this morning. No polyps, no cancerous weirdness. Good news, considering the risk group. Irritated bum from too much time sitting at the workstation, and need to get more fiber in the diet. Big surprise there. G.I.'s always say that. Not that they ain't right about that...
Other than that, we're hanging in there, and it's NOT been boring.
I'll try not to be a stranger.
Banzai.
I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org