[Magdalen] Long-overdue update (is LONG); was Airshow.

[M J _Mike_ Logsdon]

So far, both Marion and Lynn want to know how the hell I am.  Might as well brave the pain and do it now.  (Pain, due to the vasculitis not allowing me to sit at my desk for too long at any given time.  I generally do anyway, for other reasons, so, might as well admit laziness, and, as I said..., etc, so forth.)

First, here is a pic from last July just days before I issued my lunch-time resignation.  (Thanks to Mr Reid for hosting said pic, as you can see.)  Does it look like a man at the end of his work/career rope?  If not, study it as long as you need.  Because it is... :

http://reid.org/~brian/images/IMG_2120a.jpg

I don't know how much I might have said last year when it all happened, but I don't think I'll be repeating much.  And as I'm sure most of you have more to do than remember my details of woe, just let it be new all over again.

I resigned Fri 07/31, approx 1:53 pm.  And like any good, self-respecting dysfunctional governmental office, no one called to try and talk a 25-year veteran out of it.  From what I was told, supervisor and HR folk combined were "shocked" yet had no qualms about strutting about squealing about how I'd "abandoned my position".  My attempt the following month, via a Union MOU provision and at the encouragement of my Union rep, to reclaim my job only cemented that I'd "abandoned my position".  Once that was clear, and with the need for at least some money coming in with no end date, I retired from the CalPERS system at age 53 and, with future COLAs in mind, $2,214 a month.  Not enough to live on (my rent alone eats up the lion's share), so the next thing I did was file for State Disability Insurance, which was approved via my Stanford Doc's certification, but which ends on 07/31 of this year.  During this time, I'm actually bringing in more than I did, net, while working, so I've been socking as much as I can away in savings, which will hold us for quite some time following 07/31, thereby allowing me more than "panic time" to evaluate my "post-retirement" future.

I called a popular local disability attorney only to find out that attorneys such as he only exist for fighting for a person's legitimately earned Soc Sec permanent disability, which I don't have, as the Agency I worked for did not take part in the Soc Sec aspect of life, and I can attest I was NOT the only person in 2011 (when newbies brought the issue up) to roll the dice and stay out, relying solely on CalPERS.  (Don't gamble, young people, don't gamble.)  So, after 07/31, I'm kinda shitoutaluck.  But said attorney did give me a number to call (Legal Services for Seniors), who, though not being able to provide tangible help themselves, could no doubt put me in touch with some programs that could.  Plus, I happen to know that my apartment complex does deal with Section 8 housing assistance, so I definitely also plan to call our County's Housing Authority to see if I qualify for said assistance.  PG&E also has a program where one's ONEROUS gas and electric bill can be signficantly lowered if one qualifies.  I'm told I will, after SDI runs out.  Only other immediate, and personal, issue would be potentially filing for bankruptcy.  I have A LOT (understatement) of credit card debt (most with 0% balance transfer benefit, so not as bad as normally assumed).  But, it's my decent (emphasise "decent") credit rating that's kept me afloat for many, many years, so I'm loathe to let that benefit go.  We shall see.

Anna has actually told me that if she CalPERS retired in the near future (she's older than me, and has been in the system longer albeit with a lower income than me, so she may actually make out like the bandit in this scenario) she'd be willing to pay me on a monthly basis the percentage she "took" from me when, post-divorce, she had our divorce settlement re-negotiated to "get her share" of my CalPERS (we'd originally agreed not to touch each other's retirement).  Several thousand dollars later, she only got 2.77% of my retirement.  Great effort, little return.  Oh well.  She's definitely in a different mindset now, as this year was the first time, at my obvious request, she didn't claim Everett as a dependent on her taxes.  Considering how wonky mine will be, I'm definitely appreciative.  (I've let her claim him all these many years, because I'm a nice guy.)

End result I'm dimly looking at in a year or two?  Is there still such a thing as "welfare"?  Or has it been so modernised that people who cannot work, but also cannot qualify for permanent Soc Sec disability, are simply screwed?  I've even thought about a decently worded GoFundMe account; would that be worth it, or even moral, so to speak, as it were, etc?

So there's the update.  I can only add that, in the not-too-distant-distance, I think I hear the monster-struck whateverthehellitis ruckus going on at the airport.  Repeated roaring crashes.  Must be no significant breeze tonight, or I wouldn't be hearing such a thing.  Been a lot of rainy, windy weather lately, so this is a change.  (You can take the boy out of the Water Agency, but you can't take the Water Agency out of the boy, so I can say I'm very, very glad we've had so much precip lately.)

Only other thing I can say is that I've got a lot of high-end Pre-VatII stuff I gotta get up on eBay so as to bring in some extracurricular money, as it were.  (It's good stuff, so the starting bid will generally always be high.  I bought most of it in the early to mid-2000'ies when one needed to pay the proverbial arm and leg.  Things are different now, economically speaking, but I ain't gonna give it away for a song!

God bless, and, as always, thanks for listening.

M J (Mike) Logsdon.

"Aaugh[.]" -- Charles Brown.
"Avoid dull needles and use a soft cloth." -- E Kovacs.
"Because that's the kind of guy, I'm." -- C Reiner, "Your Show of Shows", skit: "From Here to Obscurity".