Got to work way too early, no reason. Had a mini-windfall of a week. Out of nowhere someone swooped in and offered to buy one of my old domain names. Next thing I knew I was able to wipe out most of my credit card debt, which had been weighing on my psyche quite heavily. By most standards I was not deep in debt. I talk to others who are basically buried in credit card debt. My debt was trivial compared to others. It’s just that I am allergic to debt. In my barfly days I never even carried a tab at the bar, or rather the one or two times I did even that felt like a heaviness, a weight, an albatross. Prior to taking this money-losing job I had not been in debt for over 20 years. But certain jobs are like this. It’s like an investment. I remain confident that some day this will lead to something better but jobs and admittedly presumptive ambitions such as mine are not aligned like they used to be.
I was prescribed a medication last week only to be told insurance will not cover it without prior authorization and even some kind of written, sworn affidavit from the doctor. I seem to remember something similar happening years ago, when I had so-called “good” insurance, and the process took weeks.And of course I did not get the notification about any of this until 4:55pm on Friday, just in time for nothing to be done about it.
I don’t really have anything to say. I visited the last phone booths of Manhattan last week, somewhat impromptu after some routine medical tests on the far east side. An M96 bus rolled through and I said hey, that’s an idea. Jete over to West End Avenue and make sure none of those phones are working. As expected, there is no dial tone on West End Avenue, despite legally binding obligations that those phones should be maintained.
I also made another somewhat dull discovery. The two working public pay telephones at the Brooklyn Central Library are now down to one, and it only allows 3 minutes of call time for 50 cents. That’s really not cheap, and cheapness was, for a brief moment in time, considered an advantage of using public telephones versus the epxense of a cell phone plan when you only make a few calls a month. But those days are past.
I feel fine today. Yesterday not so much. I do not stick to a schedule on my days off and I pay for it when returning to the workplace. I need people to talk to but there is no one around. I can’t trust telephone services for this. I can’t trust anyone.