Two and 1/2 Months later...

At least I'm making some progress. I didn't wait another six months to post like last time.

What's been happening?  OK. I'll do it in the order of when the events occurred:

 

1. I served on Jury Duty for three weeks (September 11th-14th, 18th-21st, and 26th -29th). I would like to say that it was an interesting trial, but I've already promised to be honest when I made entries here. It was a civil trial, more accurately a combination contract violation/intellectual theft/sexual harrasment case. For the first two charges, the Plaintiff charged the Defendant with violating her contract with his company, Ken Clark International (a job-hunting company) as well as stealing his client database to start up a company of her own. The Defendant filed a countersuit claiming that the Plaintiff created a hostile work environment that made it impossible for her to work there and she was mistreated because she was a woman. The jury, that consisted of me and 7 women, found in favor of the Plaintiff regarding contract violation. The Defendent did business with a client that had a history of doing business with the Plaintiff's company that extended over three years and didn't ask his permission to do business with the Defendent while she was under a three-month restrictive covenant not to compete with "KCI"). Since the client would have more than likely did business with another company (KCI advertised themselves as a Retained-Search company, meaning that they would charge the client a fee regardless of whether or not someone was hired as a result of any searches), we didn't award any damages to the Plaintiff. The remaining two charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. No hard-drive forensics were entered into evidence (only a copy of the file by a witness for the Plaintiff) and only two women who worked with the Defendent claimed that she specifically was harrassed by the Plaintiff due to her gender. If anyone asked who won the case, I said "The attorneys! They raked in HUGE billable hours for this case!"

2. I've recently lost a friend to The Grim Reaper: Starlog Magazine's Senior Correspondent Steve Swires. I'll avoid saying the smaltzy things that most people say at eulogies and say that my sometimes foil/sometimes compadre was one of the most challenging and fascinating people I've had the occassional pleasure to know.

I met him 20 years ago in Manhattan, NY. I was a volunteer staffer and guest escort for a convention organization called Spirit of Light, who sponsored a convention tour that was called "The Pertwee Tour without Pertwee!" The original Guest of Honor, Jon Pertwee, contracted hepatitis in New Zealand while eating a bad batch of snails, so he was too ill to travel to The States. His friend and Who rival, Patrick Troughton, filled in for him and the Chief Organizer, Ralph Scianno, contacted other actors for the line-up that included Paul Darrow from "Blake's 7," Star Trek's Jimmy Doohan and Caroline Munro, Stella Star from "Starcrash!" My mission, which I chose to accept, was to drive to New York and pick up Caroline and a "writer-friend" of hers, who was going to serve as her on-stage moderator and interviewer on the convention tour. It might have been the excitment of playing chauffer to one of the most beautiful ladies on this planet that prevented me from inquiring about this unusual arrangement, but when I arrived, the "friend" sat shot-gun while Caroline sat in the backseat. I tried not to be insulted by this at the time, but I was able to deduce why this happened after meeting them and driving them to The Trenton War Memorial Building: Caroline was unusually shy and Steve had a very forceful personality that could either "put some people off" or draw them into an endless number of stimulating conversations with him! Fortunately for everyone involved, I was in the latter category. Not only did I lose my fear of a return trip filled with awkward silence, it was the most pleasant drive I've experienced since I put the downpayment on the car I drove at the time. Steve and I talked like long-lost brothers sharing one pop culture reference after another ("Soupy Sales and Friends" among others) when I wasn't enjoying anecdotes of interviews he's had with actors, writers, directors and producers from Hollywood and Europe, including several that Caroline knew personally! I felt like a convention audience of one! 

When the tour moved on, I established an unusual friendship with Steve that included two-to-four-times-a-year get-togethers at various sf/fantasy/media conventions (the latest being Chiller Theatre in Secaucus, NJ), updates on his long-distance telephone interviews to the West Coast and "across the pond" as well as the latest gossip on several beatiful actresses, of casual acquantance, who confided in him when they discussed their "questionable" life-choices (I'd name names, but I don't want to risk any lawsuits). He also managed to inadvertently help me face my fears of driving from Trenton, NJ to Brooklyn, NY and back (arrived at lunchtime, returned at midnight) so that I can pick up several VHS tapes & DVDs that I've purchased with him when he made discount orders online and he had an annoying habit of borrowing numerous VHS tapes, DVDs and books from me (and his other friends) and holding on to them for years! I've never written a list for them because I trusted that he'd return them when I saw him again at the next convention that we attended. Leave it to him to prove me wrong by dying unexpectedly!

A virtual neighbor of Steve's, who contacted him 4-5 times a week to run errands for him and Irving, Steve's 98-year-old father, had the unenviable task of burying them both this month (Irving died 10 days after Steve due to various injuries and surgical complications). When he's able to regain access to the Swires' house, he'll gather all of the books, tapes & DVDs and arrange to sell the "unclaimed items" at a later Chiller Theatre Convention.

3. Starting September 18th, I officially started teaching The Basic Tax Course for...oh hell, I'll have to give them more free advertising...H&R Block! It's an 11-week 66-hour training seminar on preparing consumer tax returns that the company encounters between January and April as well as "off-season" for the lucky few preparers that take care of them. I've completed my fifth week and I can honestly say that this was more of a challenge than I would have ever expected.  Not only are the students struggling with the massive information that I'm trying to convey to them, I'm struggling to come up with ways to help them learn to "think like a tax professional" instead of a typical layman who's overwhelmed with the ever-changing Tax Laws, prompting 60-70% of the population to have their taxes prepared by people like...us. At least the more experienced instructors have complimented me by adopting some of my "radical" ideas into their teaching curiculum like a chart that I designed so that the students will know where income sources, deductions, credits and other increments are placed on a 1040 Tax Form and a Schedule A. If only I could have more time to do a thorough review of the NJ1040 and supporting forms for New Jersey.  Maybe I'll do better during the remaining 6 weeks of classes that we'll have before and after Thanksgiving week.

I'll comment on my movie-going experiences on a later posting. It's getting late and I have some serious homework to do! Oh yeah! I'm also taking a course in preparing Partnership Tax Returns! What's "spare time?"

 

Watch your step going down the stairs and drive safely. The weather report says rain and lower temperatures, so I wouldn't rule out dangerous roads.

Good night.

Six Months later...

So much for keeping up with my writing goals!

An update for those who are reading this blog:

1. In mid-February, my 2001 Hyundai Sonata died an unexpected death! It seems that the timing belt, which should have been replaced during the previous owner's waranty period, never was.  This caused the gears to grind against each other, causing the termination of the engine after putting in over 60,000 miles! I had a choice between spending over $2000 for a new engine, not counting labor and the fact that I was still making monthly payments on it, or trading the car in for a 2006 Hyundai with the dealership finishing the payments on the "old" car and me making a $200/month increase on payments for this new model along with a $2000 downpayment. I chose the second option, which caused a considerable crimp on my budget that I started to feel in July. More on that later.

2. I had my most successful year at H&R Block in terms of seasonal income. I didn't beat my record of 242 clients, but I did exceed my $7,500 gross average by nearly $1000! My $2,300 bonus was devoured by $900 for taxes, of course, but at least I was able to pay back most of the money that my mother loaned me for the unexpected car payment that I made in February as well as get caught up with the rent.

3. The ownership of Burlington Coat Factory has been officially transferred from the Milstein Family to Bain Capital, a factor (bank for businesses) that also owns companies (like Staples). The "new owners" haven't introduced themselves to BCF staff below management, but it has made its presence felt by making a few policy changes. The checks that we issue to the vendors and factors that we deal with are pre-printed with signatures, except for checks valued at over $300,000, and there will be no more authorized overtime! The latest development has come down to management this week: certain departments will be downsized, but there will be no lay-offs! There will be job offers posted that current employees will have options to take when they're available. They're also opening 20 new stores next month after closing nearly 10 a few months ago! Something tells me that some of these new stores won't only have employees transferred from other stores manning them.

4. I've completed 2 H&R Block tax school courses, Financial Life of a Taxpayer Parts I & II, and I'll be completing two more before the end of next week, SoleProprietorships & Tax-Exempt Organizations. The first two will be mandatory courses for second-year preparers because of H&RB's policy of being "Your Tax Preparation and Financial Partner," no doubt prompting the potential growth of H&R Block's Mortgage and Financial Services as well as the acquisition of a new bank that will start next year! As I've posted earlier, banks and other financial institutions are the wave of the future in terms of the US economy and I shudder to think about what's going to happen when manual labor in the form of "Made in the USA" will become a thing of the past! "Sole Proprietorships" cover the Schedule C form and all connecting forms filed by people who either contract their services, sell packaged goods out of their homes, license themselves as day-care providers, work as freelance artists and other self-employed practices. "Tax Exempt Organizations" involve working on tax returns for 501(c) 3 organizations like charities and non-profit organizations. I was going to attend two courses that would prove beneficial when our district reinstates the "Clicks & Mortars" online program next season: "Foreign Income for US Citizens" and "US Income for Foreign Citizens" since the program has been available online for people from different countries who work for American corporations as well as soldiers serving abroad and foreign-based American business-people. Since the District Manager said that he needs more instructors for the Basic Tax Course being offered in the fall, I don't know whether it will interfere with my attending these classes. I'll have to wait and see.

5. My moviegoing time has been limited due to a tighter budget and higher gasoline prices, making any non-essential trip a luxury. The few movies that I did see, "Superman Returns," "Lady in the Water," "X3" and "Clerks II," were little more than curiousity-satisfyers after seeing the steady hype each film pumped out on the "small screen" these past few months. They weren't bad films so much as formularized re-treads of better films IMHO.  The Superman film was basically Superman II without the Kryptonian Villains, "Lady..." was like "Splash" but without the warmth and gentle humour that saved that picture (ironically, the daughter of Splash's director played a mermaid in this film), "X3" had Kelsey Grammer playing the long-awaited Dr. Henry "Beast" McCoy but there was very little else to recommend a repeat viewing, and Kevin Smith attempted to fulfill a promise to his old friend Jason "Stoner Jay" Mewes, as well as please his long-standing View Askew-niverse fans, with "Clerks II" but grossed out everybody else in the process (including ABC-TV film critic Joel Siegel, who alledgedly walked out after the first 40 minutes)! Garrison Keillor's "Prarie Home Companion Movie" had its moments, but it was more due to the contributions of the prominent "guest stars" than the material that they had to work with. I occasionally listen to the radio show, so I'm familiar with the basic structure, but I don't know if I would have gotten as much out of it if I was new to the concept. Of course, I could say the same thing about 3 out of the four films that I cited earlier. It's a sad commentary that all the movie industry can currently offer are sequels and TV adaptations! That's why I won't waste my time and money watching "Pirates.....II" and The "Miami Vice" Movie! When "Ghost Rider" comes out, I might consider seeing that. Nicholas Cage will probably make a better Johnny Blaze than a Clark Kent/Superman fill-in (as was originally proposed a few years ago).

I have some homework to do, so I'll just have to cut this short until...the next time that I post. I'm trying to cut down on making promises that I can't keep, but it's a constant struggle. Let it begin here.

Yumyum is downstairs picking up breezes from under the front door, so watch your step when you leave. Things have cooled down lately since the arrival of that cold front  from Canada.

Take care.

My life so far...

Oh well.

At least I didn't wait until April to make my next entry. That can be considered progress, especially if I'm to meet my goal of being a paid published writer before the end of the year.

The year started off fairly uneventful until my supervisor at Burlington Coat Factory announced that she was retiring! This was followed by an announcement that BCF was being sold by the owner, Monroe Millstein, for slightly over $2 billion to Bain Capital, a factor (bank for businesses) that owns several companies like Staples. The official word is that they won't sell us until they decide if it would be more profitable to keep us!

Yes, it's a company that makes money by making money! It's the logical progression of business that the richest companies don't manufacture, buy then sell, or even sponsor a product! They just purchase companies that do this and if they lose their profits in the process, they unload it at a profit!

I once read one of those corporate magazines that listed The Top 100 Businesses. Is it any wonder why over 50 of them were either banks, investment firms, or insurance companies? There seems to be money in money management!

What I'd like to know is what happens when The General Public finds out about this? Will they send their children to college to be investment brokers, chartered accountants, and bank managers instead of doctors, lawyers, and educators as in the "old days?" If they run out of people who can "make, build and produce" anything, what will happen to the Global Marketplace? Will all of our consumer goods be manufactured in China, Africa and Indonesia or will they eventually hop on the economic bandwagon by setting up a Class System that will elevate the semi-literate to the Educated Level and delegate manual labor to undesirables and convicts who might not be motivated to produce quality workmanship as long as they're incarcerated?

Moving on to my Seasonal Part-Time Job, I officially started working on tax returns on January 9th and I've completed over 80 returns so far. Last year, I've worked on 156 returns but some of them were either incomplete or rejected due to the contested claims by the clients' ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends as well as upstart 18-year-olds who insist on claiming themselves! Despite World Headquarters' belief that most people who owe aren't going to come in to our offices this early in the season, I've already had four clients who owed and I had to do some "hand holding" while the waiting area was swelling with clients! One in particular was frustrating as well as heart-breaking! A 70-year-old great-grandmother, who brought in one of her great-grandchildren due to her grand-daughter being called in to work and no babysitter was available while "grandmom" was having her taxes done, discovered that "for the first time" she owed money to the IRS due to her earning Social Security while she was working. She didn't realize that most responsible companies withhold taxes for overtime at a higher rate than they do for "straight-time," so the taxes for her SS income were covered. Last year, she didn't put in overtime, so I had to try to explain for over 15 minutes that she needs to withhold her SS income while she was working due to the fact that it's partially taxable if she's a single person making over $34,000 in combined income! I printed a copy of the W-4V form and filled it out for her so that all that was required was her signature and date of mailing.  Hopefully, she'll follow my advice or I may have to go over it with her again next year!

Some people will follow the advice of their doctor, their lawyer, or their dentist without the slightest hesitation! Maybe 1 out of 10 of my clients have ever followed any suggestion that I've given them and then it was due to repeat incidents of owing the IRS and resigning themselves to try "something new." Maybe when I become an Enrolled Agent and I'm able to "hang up a shingle" and network with radio and/or TV, like Dr. Phil, people will accept me as a professional as well! I might even extend that image to other professionals by publicly stating that people should only have their taxes done by Certified Tax Professionals since the IRS is in the process of finally making that a requirement for doing taxes! I wonder how that will affect our competitors, both nationally and in the travel agencies/pawn shops trade?

My movie-going has been limited due to my six-to-seven-day work schedule, as what usually happens between January and April, so I've been compensating by making the random DVD purchase at Best Buy.  My latest acquisitions were "The Time Tunnel : Part I" and "Death Race : 2000!"  T T T I featured the first 15 episodes of the 1966 series along with "silent home movies" and the unaired version of the first episode "Rendevous With Yesterday," which started with a tight-fisted Senator threatening the government budget for "Project: Tic Toc," prompting Tony Neuman to test The Tunnel on himself and winding up on the RMS Titanic before it hit the fateful iceberg! Doug goes after him wearing an early 20th century tweed suit with a copy of the next-day's NY Times in his pocket. While they're powerless to stop the impending disaster, Tony was able to convince a young schoolteacher to go on one of the lifeboats and have a dangerous brain operation that she would have refused to pursue before Tony's passionate plea changed her mind.  Many people who have seen this series have tended to dismiss it out of hand when I read their comments on the Amazon.com site, but I have very fond memories of this series! While some of the commentaries described the characters as cold and wooden, I remember the episodes where Tony & Doug argued about how to avoid the dangerous situation that they were trapped in this week, Drs. Swain & MacGregor and Gen. Kirk arguing over the risks of trying a new procedure to bring Tony & Doug back to the present, and how numerous historical figures were portrayed as real people as opposed to the "heroic archetypes" seen on late-night movies! The Custer/Sitting Bull/Crazy Horse episode immediately comes to mind, as well as the episode "The Last Patrol" where the late Carroll O'Connor played a modern-day Brittish general and his ancestor, an infamous colonel who fought Colonel Andrew Jackson at The Battle of New Orleans in 1815! I was doubly impressed with how the man who was destined to be best remembered as Archie Bunker pulled off both portrayals with such distinction! I hated the colonel, but my heart went out to the general up to the end. Brilliant!

Hearing the audio-comentary conducted by Roger Corman and Mary "Calamity Jane" Woronov while watching "Death Race: 2000" was like watching the film with them in the room!  Talk about educational! I had no idea that Corman himself did some of the stunt driving in the film and Woronov, being the Typical New York Model/Actress, didn't know how to drive and was towed during her close-ups! The juicy gossip about Stallone and Caradine was fun to listen to as well! What gossip? You'll have to rent or buy the movie for yourself to find out! It cost me $13.95 plus tax to buy! The film is about 75 minutes long, so I had time to re-watch it  with the commentary off as well as the filmed interviews and one of the original trailers.

After nearly two hours of snow-shoveling, I've gotten a little tired, so I'll have to cut this short.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll probably have a follow-up posting next month when I've managed to get caught up on most of my bills and obtained most of my goals for The New Year that I posted last month!

Watch your step going down and drive carefully! The temperature will drop into the teens tonight so watch out for black ice!

Goodnight.

 

A New Year Has Begun!

I suppose it's literally time for me to start on a clean slate.

I've allowed myself to be put into a position of committing myself to making more postings on this blog by letting more people be made aware of it's existence.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but I tend to think that knowing that there's someone else reading what you've written is the true motivation for any publication to be created. I use to believe the high-profile authors who said that they wrote for themselves instead of for the pleasure of others or to make mucho bucks, but as I've gotten older, I've questioned that notion more than agreed with it. If it's self-satisfaction that the author is looking for, why write? When a work is published, other eyes are looking at it and appraising it by definition. If the authors in question meant that they never allowed negative reviews of their work determine what they wrote, that could only mean that they value literary honesty over pandering to as many bibliophiles as possible. Some would call it the difference between an artist and a hack, but I would describe it as the difference between a communicator and an entertainer. The sculptor Rodin once said, or at least this is an approximation of what he said, that when he looked at a block of stone, he saw a beautiful sculpture trapped inside of it and he felt obligated to remove the unimportant fragments that surrounded it. Perhaps communicators see the words on a blank screen (or page) and feel the need to type what they see while the entertainers sort out from their "box of tricks" what he(or she) can dig up to amuse his(her) "visitors." The exceptional performers can accomplish both without the audience being aware of it. If there were a goal that's worth pursuing, I couldn't think of a better one.

I've seen a film today that's based on a bestselling novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha." I'll post the usual spoiler barrier for those who haven't seen it yet:

********************************Spoiler Warning********************

It's told from the perspective of the title character as an old woman who's looking back on her formative years as an orphan who lost her family and was sold into the life of a geisha, unlike her sister who was sold into prostitution. After being manipulated into one tragic event after another by veteran geisha who saw her as a threat, she was apprenticed to the veteran geisha's hated rival, a kind and wise woman who was aware of her limited station in life and knew how to use it to her advantage instead of being a victim of powerful men as her culture has been known to do to beautiful women.The title character eventually accomplishes her goal of being a geisha and being "owned" by a kind man of high social standing that she was in love with since she met him when she was a little girl. The film's ending could either be interpreted as a happy one or an ironic one depending on your sensitivities. On the one hand, geishas exist to entertain and pamper men in ways that their wives don't but they're not purveyors of sexual pleasure like prostitutes. On the other hand, they can never marry and they can't pursue any ambition other than to entertain and serve a man of power and financial means. While most women in the Western cultures would strongly question whether the geisha's status in life is morally just, it is part of a separate culture with its own rules and standards.  To question them could invite open criticism of the culture of the critic. Except for convents, I know of no example of a society that gave women total autonomy over their lives without male intervention or manipulation through high finance, legislation or brute force. While I don't take any pleasure in the existence of this situation that women worldwide find themselves in, I also don't enjoy the idea that there are situations where an imposed image of gender victimization is considered a justifiable means of combatting it by the women who are the most afflicted because of it, especially when a blameless man is the injured party. 

My overall assessment of this film is that it was beautifully packaged and honestly told, which would make this both a work of art and a poignant source of communication.

*********************Spoiler Warning Ends**************************

Another movie that I've seen over the weekend is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Since this is a classic tale that's part of a series of tales, I won't write down any spoilers to bar against anyone's pleasure of seeing this film but I'll write down my general feelings after watching it. It seems to have a foot in two places: religious allegory and family-oriented action/adventure. Those who are aware of the former would have a banquet of foods for thought after watching it but those who aren't are probably going to be confused over the motivations of one of the major characters: Aslan, the original Lion King. I would prompt those people to read the book after seeing the film. I'd attribute the toning down of the violence, as noted by some people who know the series intimately, to this being a Disney film as opposed to a Touchtone or Miramax film, where graphic violence would be expected. I enjoyed it on both levels and I compliment the way that the CGI effects were handled in this film. It was integral to the story as opposed to being intrusive, which is a drawback that I've felt after viewing several Pixel-animated films which is why I have no plans to watch "Chicken Little."

Before I "call it a night" and see you out, let me wish you a Happy and healthy New Year and briefly share with you my New Year's resolutions:

1. To cut down, if not completely sever, my "in debt" situation before December 31, 2006.

2. To own my Silver 2001 Hyundai Sonata by July 4th, 2006 if not sooner.

3. To purchase several bookcases and file cabinets so that I can get my apartment cleaner and more organized before December 31, 2006.

4. To have a written work of my own creation (or co-creation if it's drawn or illustrated) published and get paid for it before December 31, 2006.

I could also add "to lose weight," but I don't want to make promises that I have no immediate plans to keep. Besides, my weight tends to fluctuate based on how physically active I am and on what I've eaten in any given month. I like to pick my battles and not overwhelm myself with too many goals, thus reducing the possibility of disappointment over not accomplishing any of them.

Watch your step going down the stairs. Yum Yum still likes to sleep on one of the steps when she doesn't doze on the radiator for warmth. I think that she purposely does that for attention and as a reminder to me that she feels neglected, especially when company comes or when I'm surfing the 'net.

Have a safe trip home and mind the roads. The weatherman said that there's a possibility of overnight showers and low temperatures.

Good night and Happy New Year!