The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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that sucks, richie.

except the rain part. you can always send the rain this-a-ways and we wouldn't mind a bit.




ok. just got off the phone. dr. house's assistant called to tell me the labs are all set up. started talking about a blood draw. there is NO blood draw associated with any of these tests. i told her we were talking a cheek swab, a urine collection, and a philocarpine sweat test. she said we were set for the kid to have the first two, and then she said the blood draw was for the sweat test. i told her to check that again, because as far a i knew NOBODY has sweat glands in the arteries or veins.

sigh. this is getting soooo old. what in the world do people who don't read extensively about processes and tests do to make sure the right ones actually happen when ordered?????

oh noes! utterly sucks, Richie :

sorry, oh so much.

I am just taking this a day at a time...Que sera, sera.....What will be, will be....

All i can do at the moment is cut down on spending and save as much as possible.

I got garnished on my wages from the School Loan folks, or who ever bought the loan. . anyway it is 15% of my wages and all my Tax Refunds for the rest of my life. I am down $260 dollars a month and they have frozen merit raises at work last year (with no promise to give them again somewhere down the line.) I took my new (to me) Starcraft van down to Les Schwab to get a new battery installed and they took one look at the power converter bolted to the stabilizer bar and refused to touch it. So it is sitting in my parking lot, dead as a doornail.

Mercury is still in retrograde until the 29th.

I must confess, I identify with Mr. Micawber :



But as Mr. Micawber always opined "I am certain something will turn up. . ."

Merle

Merle, since you have an official diagnosis, there is a procedure to file to have your student-loan debt dismissed on the basis of disability (provided that your education was aimed at getting you into a profession which you are now incapable of following). H got hers dismissed that way; at least, after the three-year waiting period (which is in place to make sure that the disability isn't getting better - somehow, I doubt that her Major Depressive Disorder, PTSD, OCD, and diabetes are going to just go away) it'll be gone, and in the meantime her credit record has gone from "in arrears" to "paying as agreed", since the agreement is that it looks like she won't be able to pay anything at all...

As for the battery, if I could get down there, I'd put it in for you - it's a relatively simple procedure, requiring a 10mm (or 7/16ths) open-box wrench and knowledge of which terminal to connect first (the ground) - but as I have no money, and if I did I'd use it to send H down to her father-in-law again (now that J's deployed, his father is of course back in the hospital, this time on life support and unable to move his extremities at all), I can't be of service here. Sorry!

The day before yesterday, I worked with my new therapist who is monitored/mentored by the Autism specialist I go to in Portland since July. She made positive noises about 'getting the loan forgiven' and 'we've got to get you a job with the State.' I gave her my last three years of stellar performance reviews from my current job (in this economic climate, my current job has devoled to 'what have you done for me lately') so we will see. I must say, I have heard people blowing hot air up my skirt all my life, so I will believe it when I see it, but it is a shot.



oh, darlin' thank you, I really appreciate your offering to help if you could and that makes me feel good. There is a power converter all plugged into wires over the top of it, and another black box that says to tilt further forward for more power going up hills. Neither of them are hooked up to the battery, though. They just said that if they moved them they would be responsible for any shorts or electrical problems in the ancient van. They suggested I go to an electrician and it would be very expensive because they would have to charge by the hour.

Maybe the guy that helped me jump it knows someone local that would laugh at them and just do exactly what you would have done for me, Jon!

Merle

deacon - how did helen manage that? i knew someone with a freaking brain tumor that eventually killed her, and they wouldn't release her from her student loan debt. i have heard that it depends on which federal court district you are in - some are more lenient than others. the ones in california are not at all lenient.

[edit: did some research. have to be unable to earn more than the poverty wage for a household of two people and have the medical documentation saying it's a lifelong condition. other place in the same document says "completely and permanently disabled". to me those are mutually exclusive terms, but i guess it would depend on the court. the document did mention a 3 year trial period, where if you earned more than the poverty-for-a-family-of-two wage - which is about $14,000 a year - your petition would be thrown out.]

the alternative is to get into a public service job of some kind, where you work for 10 years and they write off the rest. working for a public school, university, or nonprofit, or the government, qualify. or you get dinged by a wage garnishment.

merley, can you not talk to the people at dept of ed about consolidating and then going on their income contingent repayment plan? it's a bit more user-friendly and there is an income-based payment plan via it that might be helpful.

Last edited by Nan on 27 Sep 2009, 1:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

I did call them back when you first mentioned it, Nannerl, I called them three times but just could not bring myself to tell them my name or where I was. I couldn't . The third time I couldn't even speak and the guy just laughed and laughed. I demanded to speak to his supervisor who didn't laugh, but just told me he couldn't help me with information unless he could identify me with my name and social and I freaked/chickened out.
This was when I was seeing the psychologist that ripped the 'community resources' page out of the phone book and handed it to me when I asked him to help me. He said "I am no social worker, I am a psychologist, look up the difference on Wikipedia"

My new therapist has put me on ascending doses of sertraline, an SSRI and some psychic energizer after a couple of weeks on that. I think that there is a balance I am supposed to arrive at, and sometimes, I have flashes of feeling "OK". They are so blatantly not what I am used to feeling they are startling to me. I did a two hour intake with her and didn't shed a tear. I was gobsmacked. Maybe I will be able to actually take some sort of control of my life if I am not always at the mercy of what she calls chronic 'executive dysfunction.' It is so wonderful to be finally with providers that can actually help me, medically. Let's see what it does. . .

Merle

Another Saturday night, another weekly dose of Echoes this time from the far reaches of Tuva....
where a throat singer can almost sound like a tuba.....


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6VVGHLS1Ok[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtnMmYx0vLU[/youtube]

where I was going to go, had I had a battery

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74I5IdzzAPA[/youtube]

i'm very obsessed with my job for the moment,
the primary school mainly, learning 7/8 and 9/10 years to count is wonderful!
the coolest part is to learn them to have a notion of numbers and figures in general,
and then the operations.
i even have to learn them to count cause i'm teaching in my mothertongue, not theirs (immersion education it is called)

English lesson:
You teach, they learn.

"i even have to learn them to count" is actually I even have to TEACH them to count

so it would be



love ya' Teacher!

Merle

yeah, i know Merle, I don't seem to learn it, you're not the only one who ever tried to teach me that by the way
In my language there is not as much difference in both words.

Ah, life is so fracking wonderful sometimes...

So, since J is deployed, his father's dying again, this time for real - liver and kidneys have shut down, life support and feeding tube are in and on, no motion in extremities, unresponsive unless you shout, the whole nines. H needs to be down there to help the soon-to-be-widow, and to help her husband with the whole mess (Red Cross is shipping him back, and we're hoping ol' Dad holds on long enough for J to get there). A friend of H's bought her airline tickets to Vegas and back, because Dad's hospital is in Vegas - but Mom is in Bullhead City, AZ, some distance away, and her car's tags are expired, so we're trying to avoid having her drive that distance just now. Tried Greyhound, she can get from Vegas to Bullhead but not back, and it leaves her at the mercy of her in-laws for two weeks. Found a deal on a rental car, but that needs $370, and there's no chance of getting that in time, as she'll be needing that at 8:30 am tomorrow.

The only solution I can find is to persuade her to take Greyhound from Vegas to Bullhead, then we see what we can work out when J gets paid the next day. Then all I have to do is figure out how to get her the eight miles from the airport to the bus terminal...

Has she contacted these folks at the Red Cross? (J's army, right?)

Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES)

AFES helps military membes and military families cope with separation and other special situations related to military service. This includes around-the-clock, around-the-world communication between military members and their families; neutral, impartial assistance, including comfort and counseling; independent verification of emergency situations; and financial assistance and referrals for emergency travel and other family needs.

The Red Cross, in partnership with the military aid societies Army Emergency Relief, Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, Air Force Aid Society and the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, provides financial assistance to service personnel and their family members for certain critical needs and emergency-related travel.

The assistance is used for food, temporary housing, utilities, treatment for urgent medical issues and other pressing matters requiring immediate attention. Also, service members may be given funds for emergency-related travel for events such as the burial of a loved one.

How to obtain emergency financial assistance:

* Active-duty service members and retirees can call the Southern Nevada Chapter at
(702) 369-8541.

* Active-duty service members stationed in the United States and
their immediate family members can call the Red Cross Armed
Forces Emergency Service Centers for help seven days a week,
24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The toll-free telephone number
is available through base or installation operators and from local
on-base Red Cross offices.

She contacted the Army Emergency Relief Fund. They won't loan her any money because she doesn't have the right Power of Attorney - his unit wouldn't let him give her a general PoA, and none of the specific PoAs he left entitle her to get a loan that doesn't come from a bank and don't have to do with a house. She did speak with her friend earlier, and the friend tried to get her a rental car as well - but the rental-car agency needs to see the credit card at the moment the car is picked up, for reasons apparently having to do with the so-called Patriot Act. So basically her current plan is to wait at the Vegas airport until J gets in, then have him go to the USO about the problem.

Le sigh.