2001 is finally over. It was not all in all a good year for me. I managed to put off having to really deal with the aftermath of a decision I made in 2000 which really altered my financial situation.Near the end of 2000 I found that the John L. had lost the contract to the office suite we cleaned and would not need my services any longer. On top of which I had decided to change dentists, a decision I don't regret but which could have been timed better. What I didn't realize when I changed dentist was that the university I work for has two differnt dental plans and the doctor I changed to was not on the one I was signed up for. My new dentist proceeded to do a lot of major work on my teeth and to bill the plan he thought I was on. The insurance company didn't inform them that I wasn't on that plan until I had racked up several thousand dollars (US) in fees. All of which would now have to come out of my pocket. .
So I ended up paying small amounts for a couple of months putting them off until I could figure out what I was going to do. Fortunately just as I was at my whits end the university changed policies regarding borrowing from the retirement plan. I was able to borrow enough from them to not owe the dentist.
Many people wouldn't have worried about paying this off all at once and would have paid the dentist in installments. I some how felt that to put off paying him his money was to deney paying an individual, where as paying a company off in payments was not going to overly adversly effect their cash flow.
So now when you added up what the two major changes in income would cost me I was going to be out about 20 - 25% of my monthly income. Before these changes I wasn't living on a shoestring but neither was I living high on the hog. I had reached a point that when I needed something I could generally afford to buy it and I felt that if i wanted something, with judical planning I would for the most part beable to find a way to afford it given time. I also was at a point where little things like going out to dinner w/ friends when asked (a least once a week) or out to a movie or play was not something that I would have to decide soley on cost. If you read my journal for the past couple of years you can see that I often went out and enjoyed my friends.
By robbing Peter to pay Paul for about a year I was able to stave off the exicusioner (drastic changes in my life style) for over a year. Well now the chicken has come home to roost and I have managed to exasperate the problem by my manooverings. As I come into the new year I think I may have things in had. I may not beable to spend the way I did in '98-'00 but I can still at least pay my bills. I do need to find a way to get a little ahead. This morning my mind went from finding a job here on the plaza, which with the currrent economy seems less likely to getting quick cash through plazma sells and/or spending a week or weekend at Quentiles for drug tests. I have to look into both of these before I decide which if either are what I want to do.
I worked late for John today. I normally only work Monday and Tuesday but Rays Mother was in town and he asked that I work for him. John and I have discussed my buying Ray's air conditioner from him. He recently moved into an apartment that has central air and has an air conditioner from his previouse place that he doesn't need. We worked out a deal that I would work for Ray a couple of times and he would give me his air contioner. I already have one but it only cools off the living room. My bed room is always much warmer. This should help; August is just around the corner.
Now for the real reason I am writing this. Late this eveing as a was waiting for Charles to come over my phone rang. I thought it was Charles calling to say he was downstairs waiting but instead it was Chris from the 4th of July. He had my number that said "Jeff from across the street" and thought he would give me a call. I was still waiting for Charles to call but talked to Chris for a couple of minutes. He mentioned that he was having a party in a month or so and wanted to invite me but thought I was a ways away so we talked some more and I segetsted we go to dinner later in the week. What a stupid thing to say. It is already Wednsday how much "later " is there.
The combination of my stupid commint, the unexpectedness of the call, my waiting for Charles to show up and most importantly my desire not to stick my foot in my mouth again made me rush the conversatoion. I really shoud have relaxed and talked w/ him more. In the conversation about going out we decided to get together on Friday. He then quickly said something about others could come along if I wanted. This was a polite way of saying that this wasn't a date.
Tonight I was going to go to dinner w/ Chris. I called him as arranged last night to set a specific time and place but he didn't answer. I wasn't sure how gung ho he was for this dinner anyway. So my plans got changed. I am now going shopping w/ Charles. We had planned to go on Saturday morning but there is a stereo on sell that I want and I have been apprehensive all week long. I'm afraid if I don't go get it at the first possible time they will have sold out of them. So Charles agreed to take me tonight. I will be getting a vacuum cleaner then also. So I will still have a fairly full evening. The rest of the weekend also looks fairly busy which I am looking forward to also.
My weekend thou uneventful and not unplesant was overshadowed by angsiety. On friday the new CFO at the University where I work stoped by my office to let me know that a check I had written had bounced. I was never so mortified. I was even more horrified because he came in when I had a student in my office visiting with me. even thoe the CFO and I went into my bosses office which is directly behind mine and talked with the door closed I am sure the student could hear all that was being said. This really shouldn't have been that big of a deal but unlike our previous CFO I don't yet have a good working relationship with this new guy. This was not the first impression I wanted to make with him. So each time my mind started to go to something I was enjoying over the weekend it would slide back to the fact that I would have to bring the money into him on monday morning. I did give the money to his assistand and fervently hope this will be the last said about it. But I know that when ever I see him or have to deal with him in any way it will be the first thing that I think of. Well that wasn't the end of it. The woman who should have delt with the problem stopped by and gave me a refund on the overdraft fee I encluded when I paid for the check. She made me feel better and admitted that she really should have been the one to handle the situation.