July 30 -- We arrive at our new place only to find out the bathroom is being remodeled and is not complete. We have to pay for a motel for the night. The bathroom is not complete (by which I mean with a functional shower, sink, and toilet) until the following Monday, the 3rd.
July 31 -- The shelving on the wall collapses and falls, leaving several holes in the wall. Our alcoholic landlord is laid off from his job.
August 1 -- After all day driving around in a rental truck and checking out vehicles, we buy a car.
August 3 -- We take the car to the DMV to get registered. Wait 2 hours. Need to get a smog check done, but otherwise we have a temporary registration. I apply for my California license, but find out I need to take a written test. Since we've waited 2 hours, there is no longer time to take the test. I will have to return in the morning.
August 4 -- We return to the DMV. I fail the test the first time, but pass the second. They give me a sheet of paper and punch a hole through my Illinois license so I no longer have a functional ID. And I have to get on a plane in a few hours. We go get the car tested by the smog guy. It fails. We call the guy we bought the car from and he agrees to pay for the car to get fixed. I get on a plane (It is fortunate that I have a passport which I use for ID I don't know what I would have done otherwise).
August 4-7 -- I'm in Seattle for Americorps training, where I learn that nothing can be done about my Sallie Mae loans (I will have to pay $150 every 3 months for a forbearance, or $230 a month in interest-only payments, or $440 a month to pay off principle and interest), that I am one of the only VISTAs in Orange County who is not receiving a housing stipend, and that the car has been fixed and failed the smog test again. Will takes the car to another tester and it passes. But there goes another $60.
August 8-9 -- Racist Ron spends all day getting wasted and then proceeds to completely insult me and everything I'm trying to do. I find out that he is an ex-con, is stealing materials from his old workplace and selling them, and thinks that I can't make decisions for myself.
August 10 -- I start work.
August 17 -- We finally register the car.
August 18 -- I am kept awake until past midnight (have to work in the morning) because Ron is screaming at Ronnie (who is not even in the same room) about finding a job. Ron continues to blast music late into the night.
August 20 -- Ronnie requests a ride from Ron to his friend's get-together at a diner. Because Ron is obviously intoxicated, I offer to drive Ronnie there. Regardless of his physical state, Ron leaves later on in the evening to go buy more beer.
August 21 -- I learn that my asthma is not covered under my medical plan because it is a pre-existing condition. They will cover my prescription, but I cannot renew my prescription without going to the doctor first, and I cannot go to the doctor unless I have the money. So I will continue to face asthma attacks until we have money. If they get bad enough, my medical plan will cover an ER visit.
August 22 -- Will cancels his show because we can't find enough people to come. We decide to go to my coworker's birthday party. We drive around for 3 hours because we cannot find the street the party is being held at, and she's not picking up her phone. Finally, we decide to just go home.
August 23 -- Will & I get in a fight. I have a nervous breakdown and spend the whole day in bed, crying, and sleeping.
August 24 -- Will is rear-ended by some woman while he stopped at a red light.
August 28 -- I am finally fed up with living in a virtual hell and write to the VISTA state office, begging to be able to find a new place to live, begging to be able to work another job or something in order to live in a housing unit that is not completely dangerous.
August 30 -- Ron gets completely wasted and angry and sneaks around our bedroom window in order to spy on us. We pretend to be asleep.
August 31 -- I go into work, where my boss has been sent my e-mail to the VISTA state office. That night Will & I are emergency re-located to her mother's house. My boss's roommate joins us on the moving efforts to prevent Ron from doing anything violent. In this process, we have lost $200 on the deposit and gained much anxiety.
September 9 -- Will & I find a place we like and apply for it but we're subsequently denied and not told why nor did they tell us at all that we were denied in the first place, leading to another scramble to find an apartment. I get frustrated with Will because he doesn't seem to care about finding a place and doesn't have work, so I have to go to work and look for an apartment and it upsets me.
September 19 -- We sign a lease on the new place and spend the entire day moving out. All the money I received in AmeriCorps reimbursements for moving out to California has to go toward a deposit on the apartment and first month's rent, so I am still saddled with debt. The rental truck is also only available from far away from where we live, so we're stuck with additional moving fees for every additional miles. Total moving expenses: $80 for the truck, $1600 total rent and deposits.
September 21 -- We try to turn on our gas and electric, only to find out that to turn on both services, we must pay a "deposit" totaling $120. These deposits, apparently, are for people who struggle to pay their bills, so this ensures the extra money is on hand. Another incidence of a "poor tax" in California.
September 22 -- I call AT&T to have our internet service reinstated at our new address, only to find out Verizon has a monopoly on the Long Beach area. I am forced to subscribe to their services, despite absolute shit customer service and billing.
October 10 -- We find Moxie, in what appears to be a new stroke of good luck despite unfortunate circumstances. Unfortunately, unfortunate circumstances continue, and Moxie proceeds to infest the other two cats with fleas.
October 15 -- My birthday. I stupidly go to work, where the founder and resident idiot of the nonprofit holds a meeting with several of the new employees. Unfortunately, instead of having a productive meeting, we simply describe what it is we intend to do when we finally get around to doing it. Chet then proceeds to insult me and Laura by telling the others not to worry, as there is a "steep learning curve." He continues to imply we're morons in a grandfatherly tone.
October 16 -- I go to Planned Parenthood to get my birth control renewed. I wait for 5 hours in the waiting room while Planned Parenthood insists my health care plan doesn't cover their services, and if I want their services I need to pay over $200 up front. I call my health care provider in tears, and they say there's no reason PP should have said that and I am indeed, covered. Finally, PP decides that I am covered, and proceeds to force me into taking a pregnancy test, even though the odds of me being pregnant (considering the kind of BC I am on) is very low. The doctors refuse to even look at my medical records, despite my old PP nicely photocopying them for ease of use, and forget to give me back my medical card. I order a new one later on. As the doctor gives me the shot, I cry some more. She seems surprised that I am upset at all. I go home and cry some more, and then Will makes me a cheesecake for my birthday and we go to see Where the Wild Things Are, even though by this point I'm pretty much miserable with everything and cry during the movie as well. I am actually happy that no one came to the movie theater with us, because I am emotionally incapable of handling any other people at this time.
October 17 -- I find out Verizon, rather than send me a bill, automatically deducted nearly $60 from my checking account and had I not noticed in time, would have overdrafted my account. I'm able to transfer money from my savings account in time, but am livid that they did that without even sending a bill.
October 19 -- I call Verizon to complain about the money being deducted and they tell me there is no way for them to send me a physical bill. I have to log onto my online account to be able to read it. So I tell them I cannot log on... they make excuses, a fight ensues, and eventually I get so fed up that I demand to cancel the services. They try to slam me with a $75 cancellation fee and I demand to speak with a supervisor, so incredibly livid at this point that they decide not to charge me (fuck you very much) and I switch to another internet provider that still sucks but not quite as bad.
November 7 -- My father calls to let me know my grandfather is in the hospital and his prospects don't look good. Doctors give him a week or two to live.
November 10 -- My mother writes me an e-mail letting me know my Aunt Irene is in the hospital as well from cardiac arrest. Her blood won't coagulate and her blood pressure will not regulate itself. She is non-responsive. Later that evening, she passes away.
November 19 -- Last day of in-service training. I come down with a wicked fever and spend the next few days in bed. Our friend Brian, from Chicago, also decides to spontaneously move out to LA. Not the type to leave someone homeless, Will & I take him in. After they pick me up from training, they notify me that they put the car through yet another accident despite the fact that we don't have insurance (still! can't afford it!). This time, the front bumper has a crack in it. Will says we need more brake fluid. (Great, with what money?)
November 20 -- Will loses his job. I wonder how I'm going to be able to support THREE people on my shoddy stipend. What a laugh, this stipend has become. AmeriCorps really doesn't need to worry about keeping ME in poverty, the world is doing a fine enough job on its own!
November 22 -- Will succumbs to the fever. His great-grandmother also is hospitalized with pneumonia.
I can't go on like this anymore.
