Cursed

No updates in a while due to my being afflicted with a huge case of LIFE.

Short version: I’m beginning to think I’m cursed.

Slightly longer version:

Friday, my landlord informed me that due to a bad financial year, they have to sell their new house, and move back into the property that I’m renting from them. Subsequently, they will not be renewing my lease. Faced with either having to look for a place in the most cut-throat real estate market (and highest cost-of-living) in the country, or finally going through with the decision to move back to Lawrence,Kansas (site of friends, family and half the cost-of-living of this area), I begin to think that the latter is looking pretty good.

Monday, I get pulled over by a cop on my way to work, who informs me that my insurance (which I thought I had purchased for 12 months, but apparently was only for 6) had lapsed, and so my registration and license had been suspended. They had sent notices, but it was to my old address, and none of them were forwarded. So—car towed (lot costing 26 bucks a day), court date set, and, because of New Jersey’s feckin’ *legendary* draconian traffic laws, I’m facing, as a first-time offender with a spotless record, $1500+ in fines, and a mandatory 6-month license suspension. Apparently, all of this is mandated by law–the judge has no leeway, and for this reason, there are lawyers in this state who make a career out of only handling traffic cases…because the only way to reduce the penalties is to plea down to a lesser charge. Hell, even the adminstrator of the Court tells me I should do this. You know it’s bad when civil servants are telling you to “work the system.”

So now, to get back and forth to work (a 45 mile trip which used to take me 3 hours/day driving), I have to walk a half-mile to the train station, catch a 6:40 a.m train, ride it for an hour to Hoboken, transfer to a bus, then ride that for an hour to my office. Then, on the way home, same thing—except the bus ride now takes almost 1.5 hours due to traffic, and the trains are slower, too. Last night, I got home at 8:30. 5 1/2 hours of commuting to work an 8 hour day….plus the privelege of paying $20 a day for the trip.

I love my life.

I guess the gods felt that I needed more of a push towards the decision to move back to Kansas. To them, all I can say is: “I get it already. Knock it off.”

GMS

Welcome to your New Country, America….

(From the Seattle Times, via Boing Boing) The Transportation Safety Administration apparently has now taken it upon themselves to start policing thoughtcrime. Remember, kids—it’s not bombs or boxcutters that are the threat. It’s “Anti-American Attitudes.”

Not, of course, that you’re ever going to hear about this from any of the major networks or cable news outlets.

GMS

Remember the classic electronic board game from the 80s–Dark Tower? Click the link to a brilliant bit of web time-wastage: You can play it on-line!

In other news, re-location back to the Kansas City area may be in the offing for this summer. Events have been set in motion. More on this as it develops.

GMS