Out of the Frying Pan

Hey, gang! Welcome to my life – where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. I’m Freedom and I’ll be your host, coming at you from within the depths of Geistopia. 

DOC: Velcum To My Life ees a prochect, un experiment in Life unt ART. A living storyboard, if you will. Its premise ees zat life ees experiential, unt zat you can, unt do, experience ze life you choose. It ees based on Ze Veel of Life unt Ze ARTs for Ze New Millennium as life building tools. Ja, it’s true! 

WALT: Welcome to my Life is a Geist…House Players Production, in association with the Center for Creative Inspirationalism. JustUs Productions, the parent company, would like to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to the following for their ongoing, and oft-times unknowing, inspiration and support:

Princess Cuddlebug

Princess Sunshine

Company

The Shaman

The Pillar

F’n Bob

The Entire Putt-Putt-Putter Clan

The Warden

FaeriePrincess

Professor Siggy Chong

Sparky Wentz-eclaus

The VanMan and General Ralph Glossop, and Craze (may they R.I.P.)

The Messengers of The Galactic Federation

 Looch

BJ & The Bull

Ace

Bert-On

The Baker of the Cornbread

Andy Pandy

The Mudder

Wilson

Zason

St. Diane & You (5)

Brother John & Sister Jen

The Bee Man

Spooky Queen

Boom-Boom Snuffbox

The Nameless One

Tim-Bo

The Mayor & The Turkey Man

The Rox

PDT

Sir Richard Slouch

The Wix-ians

The Socialite

The Village of Idiots

Piz-Niffer

Dancing Queen

Downtown Encyclopedia Brown

Chicken Witch

Dick Pointer

Soup, the Son

The Legendary Pink Elephants

Baby-Mama Rabbit

Wisconsin Belle

The Babes

Aaaand, of course, a very generous sponsor who (not-so-much) wishes to remain anonymous.

It is…Sunday, June 30, Two-Thousand and Twenty-More. Time...???

Theme – Don't Give Up

I am having such a tough time lately. The income has been very low and I am fighting the good fight to keep up and catch up. BUt giving up completely or even just giving in and resigning myself to failure will do nothing. As Long as There is a Tomorrow There is Hope. So, I muddle through my days - twisting and turning and managing and manipulating until things fit good enough. I keep on keeping on - making the most of what is right before me.

Lesson – It's Not Easy

The best example I can give of this is - Some time ago I said that we should Bless Everything. We should bless out income and our expenses. We should bless our busy times and the idle as well. We should bless the good times and especially the bad. It's all the same. In come and expenses are just two ends of the same financial spectrum. I said that this was something I knew, something I have practiced. This week I have had to repeatedly remind myself to do so. We think change is easy. We know what we need to do and it seems so clear and plain. Yet, in practice - in daily life - it can slip away from us. It takes a conscious effort and that will not come naturally at first. So, I remind myself daily that I need to Bless Everything. Today, I remembered when to do so at a time I was unhappy with my fare. I caught myself being frustrated and grumbling under my breath. Then I remembered to simply bless it.

Observation – Sometimes We must be the Opposite of What We Are

I had a really bad day this week. I was a very angry and volatile person. I lashed out and I cussed and argued and antagonized. One person asked me if I would think differently of my behaviour later on. My answer then was the same as my answer now - No. Like, yeah, that's not really how I like to be but that's also not really how I am. I didn't really harm anyone [in The Grand Scheme.] I mean, sure I hurled a lot of negativity about and that has its affects but No long term nor permanent damage was done. I am certain everyone moved on with their lives just fine. Though these moments are never my finest nor my proudest, I can not regret them or feel bad about them. In the end it is all about balance.

The Post

 Day 35

I should probably go back and change up The Trinity. I just don't have the mental stamina to do so.

I was having a good week. A typical week, really. I spent the first day or two trying to catch up to last week. This has been the case for about 2 months now. Of course, the first few days of the week can also be the slowest and lowest income. So it's a challenge. Therefore, I also spend those days determining where I can cut some expenses and how I can move things around. I think I spent $20 on groceries this week. bought Just Enough to get through the weekend, figuring I'll go next week as I need things.

For the first time in those 2 months I was coming into the weekend with the hope of actually getting myself to 0 - to be able to cover the whole week without working off any of it next week.

Then Saturday happened.

I left the house all pumped up and ready to go. I needed to make $180-185 on each Saturday and Sunday. This is not an unreasonable amount. Certainly not on those 2 days, and especially now that I have been working all 3 apps.

I left the house and went up the road to get gas. I've been doing it in the morning and every morning. It seems to save me just the slightest bit of money. Then I headed to put air in the tires. [The place I get gas charges $2 for air. I don't think so.] I filled the tires, moved the car, and ran in to the restroom.

I came out and started the car and headed to my normal parking spot. When I got there, I couldn't turn the car off. The ignition switch went too far and now it is stuck. This is not a total surprise. There has been a recall notice on it. I just haven't done anything about it yet. Initially, the notices I was getting were coming from a dealership in Quakertown. It's not terribly far away but far enough to make it a pain in my ass. Besides, the way things have been going [for the last year] I just didn't know when I could afford to take time off the road to deal with it and have it fixed.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Ok. So, after a brief moment of panic and "what the fuck" I drove back to Nu Geistopia. I still couldn't turn it off. I called AAA. Someone on Facebook had suggested disconnecting the battery. I didn't want to do anything without someone smarter than I here. Of course, I had to wait like an hour for him to get here.

In the meantime, Wilson came over and we were chatting. He pointed out that if the car keeps idling without driving it will eventually over heat. About 2 minutes later the temperature light came on. Still no AAA Tech.

He did get here in time. He has been here before to jump start The Rocket [last year.] We got the battery disconnected. The car kept running. Of course. The alternator still had juice and as long as it had power the car would run. We tried to pull the fuse for the ignition. Nothing.

The tech looks at me and says, "I'm not telling you what to do..." [I get it. A lil C.Y.A. So, I can only imagine the suggestion might bring some risks.]

He says, "I'm not telling you what to do, but you could try pulling the fuse for the fuel pump."

I did.

And it worked.

I called the number on the recall notice. Explained my thing to the woman who answered. She transferred me to the service manager - to whom I had to leave a message. And now I wait until Monday sometime to receive a call back and find out how this is going to go.

Before I continue on, the first Lesson from this is - The Longer You Wait, The Worse It Gets.

I should already know this. I believe I just blogged something similar very recently. I've definitely created a challenge in getting it to them. But, I fear, I may have also made the whole repair process harder if not impossible. I realize this is just an ingrained reaction because I am used to everything in my life just exploding. Only time will tell.

My next step was to call The Mechanic and see if they could hold the check that I dropped off on Friday. I knew it hadn't gone to the bank yet, but I was hoping maybe they could pull it out of the deposit. I need to call tomorrow and talk to the office guy and let them know what happned. The woman there - who is part of the family that owns the garage - was very confused as to how I could give the check and the money wouldn't be there. Simple. I drop the check off on a Friday morning knowing I am working the weekend and will get the money before it clears on Tuesday morning. [That's how up against my expenses I am every single week.]

Second Lesson - Be Careful What You Wish For

Cuddlebug had not left for Maryland yet. Mama's family goes down every year at this time. So, we were chatting about things. She said, "Well maybe you can get the metal done now."

Earlier that morning, we had been chatting about the week and finances and whatnot. Cuddlebug had invited Big 'D' and Booom-Dee-Aye and myself down to have a birthday dinner this coming Wednesday. There's some seafood restaurant they all like. Mam's family goes there once each year when they are down and Big 'D' and Boom-Dee-Aye have been there several times. I think we all went once.

Anyway, I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it. That's a half a day off of working plus the gas expense plus dinner. I didn't know how I could swing this. I do have some metal that I have been working at to take for scrapping but it has been a drawn out process. I'm only able to get out there for like 10 minutes at a time every few days.

So, that morning, I told her I would keep trying to work at it and see. If I didn't have it ready before making the trip on Wednesday, maybe I could have it together to help recoup afterwards. I had even commented that, "I wish I could take a day and just work at it." I also acknowledged that I know there's money there, decent money, but certainly not a day's worth of income.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Also, as I left the house to go work on Saturday I joking sighed and said, "Dear Lord...fuck this day." I immediately caught myself and was like, "No, no, no. Just kidding. Bless this day."

I'm not sure G-d got the second memo.

As the morning went on, I realized that I had made quite a few wishes at the beginning of the week. They're not new. I've thought them many times over the past year. They started, this week, with, "I wish I could take a day off to just rest. Rest. Nothing else."

I am constantly on the go. I don't willingly take a day off. I tried that for a few weeks and things got worse for me. I will take time off to spend with the girls - such as last week. [Which admittedly was excessive for all at one time.]

As I thought on my 'Day of Rest' I realized that that would never work. I know myself better than that. I would see a day off and think, "I have so much stuff to do." From there I would push to get as much of it done as I could. Resting probably wouldn't happen.

So, I thought, "It would have to be like 2-3 days." That way I could rest some and work some and I could keep it all at a very casual and relaxed pace. This is something I need. I am always in a frenzy of thought and activity.

In the past, I have wished I could take a whole week off.

I don't mind that I work every day. Sometimes it's frustrating. But there have been times in my life when I didn't have work for a month. I figure it's balance. I find I don't really neeed a day off every week, but every so often is nice. And, as I said, unless it involves The Princesses or an appointment, I don't really plan time off. It happens to me - a slow day, the weather, car issues, illness.

Well, now I have my days off.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Now, I'm a 'Turn that frown upside down' kinda guy. I try to find the advantage to my challenges - what can I do to make the most of the situation? In this case, Cuddlebug was right. I could work at the metal. In fact, I could work at a lot of things. For instance, I haven't actually cleaned the house in about 3 months. This has been driving me crazy. I got the car washed but I still needed to clean the inside. Now that it has rained it is time to mow the yard. I have flowerbeds which need tending. The list goes on and on and on.

Saturday became my 'Day of Rest.' Sort of. I wasn't prepared for this on any level. So some of Saturday was just dealing with the shock and the pressure of it all. Once I got through that I started my list of things to do. I worked at that list slowly over the whole day. I would wander the house and the property and just add things as I noticed them.

After calling The Mechanic, my next step was to contact Brother John. I asked him if he could stop by today after church. He did and we chatted and he was totally cool about everything. He told me not to stress it. Take care of business and do what I can.

Before he left, he said, "I thought you were going to tel me you had to leave."

I said, "Funny. I thought you were going to tell me the same thing. "

On Saturday, I also managed to throw down some rock salt for the weeds. I've had the salt for about 2 weeks but I was waiting for rain. It was going to storm on Saturday night. [And it did.] So I wanted to get it out so the rain would help dissolve it and push it into the ground.

I decided to not set an alarm this morning. Unless, I've forgotten, I have set an alarm every night for a year and a half. So, no alarm.

I was still up at 0400.

This was good though. I had plenty on the list.

My day involved washing all my bedding and doing some other laundry. I've been wanting to do the bedding but I have to be able to get it done in a day and it is a process. I had my chat with Brother John and I looked at my finances for the week. Tried to have a plan.

I emptied the dishwasher and what not. Little things along the way -like spraying the hornets nest last night. I started cleaning the house. I've been going room by room - cleaning and organizing and tweaking. At this point, I still have the kitchen and the two bathrooms to do, as well as mopping the floors.

I did take a rest at one point. No different than any other day.

I started some videoing yesterday and filmed some more today.

During my remaining time off I do have stuff to do. I can finish the cleaning and work at the yard and work at the metal. I have a list of job applications I want to do. This is another of those 'I'm not home long enough to do it' kinda things. I get applications in, but sporatically.

I need to clean the dishwasher. I have to try to grind up some coffee beans. [I say "try" because we don't have a coffee grinder so I've been doing it in the blender.]

Despite the big wrench in my system, I feel good. All I can do is just take each day and make the most of it. I'm being very grateful and staying off the worry.

Only time will tell.

If you’re not already there, go to the Welcome to my Life Facebook page – WTML. Or the YouTube channel – WelcomeToMyLife08. You can also find me on Facebook under Rev. Matt.

Wherever you are and whenever you are – Like, Comment, and Share – we’re on a Journey and it takes you to get there.

So, without hesitation, for now and for always, from here in Geistopia, this is your beloved Rev…

WALT: And Walt…

DOC:  Unt Doc…

JOHNNY: Aaaaand Johnny…

And those guys, saying, “Stay Tuned-In, Fellow Travelers,” and wishing you Peace, Love, Light…

WALT: And Freakishness, Baby.

The Totems & Archetypes

from Ted Andrews’ Animal Speak

Heron

Hornet

Fox (R)