May. 17, 2004 - Day One. New Chapter

So this is the official first day of my unemployment. I have already paid my bills for this week AND next just to make sure they actually GET paid�I now have $39.10 left in the account. As I type this, I am on hold with The Department of Labor and Training (Unemployment Office) to file for my benefits.

I just hope that I can get the maximum amount they allow; I need every penny I used to make and how I am going to make due with only 80% of that I have no idea. I will get through it I know, it just doesn�t make my stress level any less knowing that I HAVE NO JOB AND DON�T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I WANT TO DO.

I have a few different options as far as what is going to happen over the course of the next few months. First things are first, get unemployment (and I am working on that right this second. Heh, good thing I can multi-task!) After I get off the phone with unemployment, I am marching my butt down to the town tax office and going in to speak with Christen and inquire about being covered under Kevin�s health insurance. As most of you know (those who read the private entries) I NEED THAT INSURANCE due to the frequent hospital visits and constant blood tests that I need done every week/month. (Just thinking about loosing insurance makes me want to vomit all over my keyboard). I called Blue Cross on Friday afternoon to speak to them about Kev�s policy; they said that under the common law marriage act that they recognize me as his significant other. This is cool�but it has to be ok-ed by the employer (in this case, the Fire District in the town where Kevo works).

Kevin inquired about this over the winter and Miss Christen said �no�. Just like that; of course Kevin didn�t ask why, so I have to go down there today to ask for myself. I will tell her that I talked to Blue Cross, they said yes, and I also inquired with another department (my cousin is a Providence Lieutenant AND the union Steward for his station) and he said that if Blue Cross covers it, then the department has to recognize me; there are four homosexuals on the department in Providence and their significant others receive benefits. I am not looking forward to going down there today. Christen is one of those people who intimidates me and I don�t know why, and on top of that, she doesn�t particularly care for me due to some personal issues that took place between her and husband, Don and Ellen. OH. Boy. I. Can�t. Wait.

UGH. Let�s see what else�.Oh my girlfriend Heidi said I can work for her, she has her own business and she needs some help. My cousin who owns the Family Therapy Practice is looking for an office manager and to do medical billing, she said I am totally over qualified, but she would hire me! I am looking into going back to school and finally finishing up on my degree or possibly my Real Estate Appraisers license. I have no clue as you can tell�

In other news, got into a fight with my neighbor. She seems to think that I am a shitty neighbor (and that is a direct quote from her) because I want to fence in my whole side yard. In us doing this, she would not be able to use her gate that she currently has that opens up into MY YARD. Why do I have to allow someone who is taking down their existing fence, putting up a new one; to keep their gate? I don�t have to. The kicker about all of this, her brother is my next door neighbor and she can put her gate on his property line. (This woman lives behind me on the next street and her property comes down on a weird angle and they have a gate that opens up onto our property so that they can get from their street to our street). She said, �Why would you do that?� I said, �Well it is OUR yard and we want it fenced in for the dogs�. She just kept saying how shitty that was of us and they have been here for 13 years and no one else who has lived in our house would have done that to them� I was like �Patty, your brother lives next door, you can put your gate OVER THERE, he uses the gate to put his dog in your yard and to go to your house, why do you have to walk through MY yard to get there?� Her reply was, �yea I can put the gate there because now I have no choice, and you are making me.� Then she asked again why would I do this? I told her that if it was her yard she would want to fence it in and use it; she told me that no she wouldn�t. I told her that she must be a better person than I am and she should feel proud of that. (Now the bitch was asking for my sarcastic side to come out, and believe me I held back) Then she said something else that I didn�t quite catch, but it was along the lines of �why would you do this� and then I came right out and said, �We spend a lot of time and money on our lawn and we don�t want people walking in and out of our yard when it suits them, that is why.� She said, �Oh I KNEW THAT was coming.� I said, �Good. Then this should not have been a surprise to you at all.� And walked away.

FUCK her. Does she think that seniority rules when it comes to property fences? Um�no. If she wants that piece of property in question, fine we will sell it to her, she needs to get the lawyers and all that shit, we will sell it and she can put her gate where she wants, but until then IT IS MY FUCKING PROPERTY THAT I PAY $1,500 PER MONTH ON, PLUS $5,000 IN TAXES PER YEAR. SO NO! YOU CAN�T HAVE YOUR GATE!

She didn�t have to be such a bitch about it. I mean who does that? Who just assumes that they can put up a new fence and not even talk to the owners of the property it butts up against and assume they can still use that walk way? When we replaced the back fence, we talked to the people behind us, just letting them know that we were putting up a new fence and making sure it was ok. That is the correct thing to do. If it wasn�t ok, then we would have to do something else� but no Patty and Steve assumed they could put the gate back up, and on top of that, the gate opens up into my giant willow tree, so people are always tripping on the roots and falling down at night when they can�t see. I don�t need a lawsuit.

Happy days are here�oh happy, happy, joy, joy, happy, happy, joy, joy�.