Crazy Life 'o mine

April 4th 2020

Hello,

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a mixed bag of emotions kind of day.

I am a bit closer to taking advantage of senior citizens' discounts and choose from their menu. I'm not quite sure if the latter is a good thing...have you seen the size of a Village Inn's breakfast for senior citizens? They're a bit on the skimpy side. I'd have to buy two orders to make one order for me. It would cost about the same as the regular meal and make me look like I have the appetite of sumo wrestler. I have to ask myself, "Do I want to starve to save money or do I want to look like a piglet?"

I did receive a lot of birthday wishes. I was also asked a lot of times what I wanted for my birthday. I'm always hesitant to answer that question. Sometimes when I answer, the person asking makes me feel like my choice is the wrong answer. A look crosses over their face that says "How dare you ask for notebooks and pens or colored pencils, or Burger King and carnations". They try to convince me I need a fancy dinner, some sort of small appliance, or a dozen long stem roses. My youngest is the only one who heard me, though he did try to get me a pepperoni instead of the supreme pizza I wanted (Ummm it's my birthday present, son...not yours).

The convenience store I work at closed it's doors to the public on my birthday. People can still get gas at the pumps, but that's all. So I spent time online filing for unemployment on the day I turned 53. That was depressing. Then I learned the amount of my weekly benefit plus what the government adds totaled was more than I thought. I was excited, thinking...wow I'll make more with a single weekly phone call than working. And then I was sad again when it dawned on me my tax business is also taking a financial hit due to the pandemic restrictions.

Unemployment will cover my bills and online impulse shopping (I can't resist buying towels).

It was an up and down kind of day.

Dj