Journal: 04/23/06

Tomorrow is my day off and I seem to be hung up on the idea that I’m going to accomplish miracles of "housecleaning." I probably need to spend the day resting, blogging and zoning out on television. A ten-day run at the job is wearing enough, but having only one day off a week really doesn’t make for a descent weekend. Those tempting thoughts aside though, I do really need to get some things done. One of those chores is to get in touch with Paul Mortuary and let them know I’m still working on the money. Rose thought she might be able to loan me $200.00 and Bill could contribute the same. That would solve the problem with getting Joann home.

Clean clothes are also an issue, as is going through the apartment and finishing my "housecleaning." If I don’t get hung up on emotions, that would truly be a miracle.

Bill’s Car: Milestone or Millstone?

After almost a year in the shop, roommate Bill Walker may finally get his car back. The elderly vehicle, one of the very first Chrysler’s to sport a fully digital dashboard, blew it’s main computer controller. Once that happened, nothing in the car worked, so he took it next door to Ron’s custom auto service to see what could be done. Problem was that it was an old car and new modules were more than scarce. During the year Bill’s car sat on the repair lot, Bill cycled through Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) twice and once through Monterey Pines, a long term recovery facility, for a total of two months. Meanwhile, Ron was busy and Bill’s uncertain return put his car at the bottom of the list.

Eventually, Ron located three different modules from junkyards across the country, only one of which seemed to work. Chrysler doesn’t make that particular module anymore, so wrecked cars were the only alternative.

This week Bill went to talk to Ron and discover the status of his car. Long ago Bill stopped paying for tags for the car, listing it as "undrivable" with the DMV for a small fee. Also in the intervening year, Bill has become used to taking buses and walking the short distances he would have driven the car before. Now, Bill is settled in his new ways and is having a hard time trying to justify getting the car insured, tagged and smogged, and paying the price of gasoline. According to Bill, the car has now become a burden where it wasn’t before when it was sitting on Ron’s lot.

Bill’s sentiments illustrate how far we have come in the last year. Bill has grown healthier by paying attention to his medications and getting exercise outdoors, I have grown enough that Joann’s death didn’t put me at the bottom of a bottle for months or years, and, of course, Joann ended her battle with her disease. In the end, only Bill can wrestle with the "burden" or "opportunity" of his car, but I’ll bet he takes the healthy option.

Still Smoking

Sad to say, but I’m still smoking, albeit at my pre-Commit® lozenge level of one an hour. When I went back on cigarettes after nearly a year of not smoking, it was to help moderate my alcohol intake, and to a degree, it worked. I thought I could get back to the Commit® lozenges after Joann died, but instead I have continued. Money is the issue at the moment. I liked that using the lozenges worked well and I could devote the smoking time to other uses. At least I didn’t have to get up every hour and go outside to smoke, as I do now. It costs me about $7.50 a day to use the lozenges though as opposed to $2.50 a day for cigarettes when I find them on sale or $3.50 if I don’t. It’s a weak excuse, I know, but I’m really poor right now and taking the path of least financial resistance. I’m looking forward to switching back to Commit® though, once my life settles down again.