Catching Up
Nov. 2nd, 2009 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomIt occurs to me that a few things have happened about which I should tell you.
First and foremost, I might have Medicaid. Back in August, I learned that I did get Medicaid, back-dated to handle much if not all of the medical bills from The Recent Unpleasantness. However, it's surprisingly difficult to get ahold of some bill collectors. I'd have thought that they would answer their phones more. Shrug.
Right. Medicaid. I worried about losing it, however, especially as -- for reasons I cannot fathom but I can guess at -- they don't have my correct address.
I did not get Social Security income. They determined that I was still capable of performing my previous job -- you know, the one that no longer exists, either in reality or in concept. But! they say. I can learn to do Help Desk somewhere else!
Yeah.
I could supposedly appeal. But I haven't been able to get ahold of my SocSec advocate, Medicaid, or anybody. Messages weren't returned after multiple attempts; other numbers give me a "Mailbox Is Full" message and hang up. And it's just been too crazy for me to get over to the SocSec office.
At one point, it appeared that my Medicaid had indeed been canceled. But then, it seemed to be back up. And my ha ha income has a lot to do with it, although I don't know exactly how, to the point that it might actually be to my benefit to give my music away and just have the Virtual Open Guitar Case for donations, which do not count as earned money.
To top it all off, I seem to have Michigan Medicaid, which may be different from federal Medicaid.
I will soldier on. I will figure it out. I am good for November bills, and we'll see what WindyCon does for December and, FSM willing, a bit of January. I would really love to just hit the damn lotto so the point is moot.
Onward. Luke Ski and I represented The FuMP at OVFF, and, given how little rehearsal we had and how scared I was, I think we did pretty well. Got a good amount of laughs, and an invitation from Kathy Hamilton to come back next year. I haven't even discussed that with the other FuMPers yet, as it's been busy for all of us, so: Hey guys! We can do this again at OVFF next year! Put it on the calendar!
Saturday was Halloween, of course, and Leslie, Tom, Karen, and Miranda came out to help me pass out candy and escort Miranda around the neighborhood. I dressed up in the Professor Tom Smith stuff from the ELE Application video, and boy did I freak out a few kids and not just the little ones. The parents all seemed to enjoy it, with several getting looks on their faces like, "Man, why didn't I do something?" The kids in the right age zone, i.e., 8-14, had the most fun with it. At one point, a kid dressed as Captain America came up, and I bellowed, "CURSES! A HERO!"
Of course, there were two out there, later teens, who were the epitome of Bored Kids Who Think They're Running A Good Scam By Getting Candy On Halloween. No costume, no "Trick-or-Treat", and the one kid was using his backpack as his goodie bag, so he turned around while his buddy told me, "Put the candy in the pack." I told them both (in character, of course, to soften it) that they were the lamest Trick-or-Treaters in history.
After the candy, we watched Cars, which Miranda wanted to see and none of the Underwoods had ever seen. Fun fun fun. I really love that film, and don't much care that some people think its plot resembles that of Doc Hollywood.
I've mentioned that Anne and I have been watching some anime together (usually over the phone, watching simultaneously). Well, we just yesterday finished a non-anime, Avatar: The Last Airbender, which you can watch at several sites around the Intertubes. Frickin' fantastic. Funny and terrifying and dramatic and romantic and mythic and epic. The depth of plot and character development, the self-aware playing with convention of stories like this, the world design, the voice acting, the animation acting, the direction, the pacing, the music... top-notch, top to bottom. And now I'm really scared of what M. Night Sha-na-na is gonna do with it in the live-action version coming out next summer.
And, tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., my pre-loaded copy of Dragon Age: Origins activates. This looks like the baddest-ass RPG in a long time, combining the best aspects of Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights but even darker.
Next week is WindyCon. I sincerely hope that is as good a time as I think it might be. We'll talk more about that as it gets closer.
And, I still have not seen a single episode of Top Chef this season. I'm gonna try to do that over the next couple of days.
What's up with you?
First and foremost, I might have Medicaid. Back in August, I learned that I did get Medicaid, back-dated to handle much if not all of the medical bills from The Recent Unpleasantness. However, it's surprisingly difficult to get ahold of some bill collectors. I'd have thought that they would answer their phones more. Shrug.
Right. Medicaid. I worried about losing it, however, especially as -- for reasons I cannot fathom but I can guess at -- they don't have my correct address.
I did not get Social Security income. They determined that I was still capable of performing my previous job -- you know, the one that no longer exists, either in reality or in concept. But! they say. I can learn to do Help Desk somewhere else!
Yeah.
I could supposedly appeal. But I haven't been able to get ahold of my SocSec advocate, Medicaid, or anybody. Messages weren't returned after multiple attempts; other numbers give me a "Mailbox Is Full" message and hang up. And it's just been too crazy for me to get over to the SocSec office.
At one point, it appeared that my Medicaid had indeed been canceled. But then, it seemed to be back up. And my ha ha income has a lot to do with it, although I don't know exactly how, to the point that it might actually be to my benefit to give my music away and just have the Virtual Open Guitar Case for donations, which do not count as earned money.
To top it all off, I seem to have Michigan Medicaid, which may be different from federal Medicaid.
I will soldier on. I will figure it out. I am good for November bills, and we'll see what WindyCon does for December and, FSM willing, a bit of January. I would really love to just hit the damn lotto so the point is moot.
Onward. Luke Ski and I represented The FuMP at OVFF, and, given how little rehearsal we had and how scared I was, I think we did pretty well. Got a good amount of laughs, and an invitation from Kathy Hamilton to come back next year. I haven't even discussed that with the other FuMPers yet, as it's been busy for all of us, so: Hey guys! We can do this again at OVFF next year! Put it on the calendar!
Saturday was Halloween, of course, and Leslie, Tom, Karen, and Miranda came out to help me pass out candy and escort Miranda around the neighborhood. I dressed up in the Professor Tom Smith stuff from the ELE Application video, and boy did I freak out a few kids and not just the little ones. The parents all seemed to enjoy it, with several getting looks on their faces like, "Man, why didn't I do something?" The kids in the right age zone, i.e., 8-14, had the most fun with it. At one point, a kid dressed as Captain America came up, and I bellowed, "CURSES! A HERO!"
Of course, there were two out there, later teens, who were the epitome of Bored Kids Who Think They're Running A Good Scam By Getting Candy On Halloween. No costume, no "Trick-or-Treat", and the one kid was using his backpack as his goodie bag, so he turned around while his buddy told me, "Put the candy in the pack." I told them both (in character, of course, to soften it) that they were the lamest Trick-or-Treaters in history.
After the candy, we watched Cars, which Miranda wanted to see and none of the Underwoods had ever seen. Fun fun fun. I really love that film, and don't much care that some people think its plot resembles that of Doc Hollywood.
I've mentioned that Anne and I have been watching some anime together (usually over the phone, watching simultaneously). Well, we just yesterday finished a non-anime, Avatar: The Last Airbender, which you can watch at several sites around the Intertubes. Frickin' fantastic. Funny and terrifying and dramatic and romantic and mythic and epic. The depth of plot and character development, the self-aware playing with convention of stories like this, the world design, the voice acting, the animation acting, the direction, the pacing, the music... top-notch, top to bottom. And now I'm really scared of what M. Night Sha-na-na is gonna do with it in the live-action version coming out next summer.
And, tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., my pre-loaded copy of Dragon Age: Origins activates. This looks like the baddest-ass RPG in a long time, combining the best aspects of Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights but even darker.
Next week is WindyCon. I sincerely hope that is as good a time as I think it might be. We'll talk more about that as it gets closer.
And, I still have not seen a single episode of Top Chef this season. I'm gonna try to do that over the next couple of days.
What's up with you?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-03 02:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-03 02:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-03 03:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-03 05:54 am (UTC)Brain tumors also frequently get bounced, incidentally.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-03 07:37 am (UTC)I'm married to a lawyer and the daughter of a lawyer. She WILL get covered, even if it is not on the first run through.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-04 06:38 pm (UTC)Her brother has PTSD/ADHD/Tourette's. I am not his legal representative, but believe he's also on first appeal.
My husband is 100% disabled Vet of the first Gulf War. He's has uncountable strokes, pulmonary dysfunction and a wide variety of problems related to exposure to Sarin nerve agents. He's awaiting actual face to face time with a judge... something like 4th appeal.
I only took 3 appeals to get mine. TBI, multiple strokes, severe nerve/orthopedic issues and longstanding PTSD/ASD (which in itself wasn't disabling for decades).
A friend of ours is on second appeal after being diagnosed with ESRD and is currently on home dialysis.
Having *said* all that... if I could work in any reasonably gainful way, I'd do it in a heartbeat!!! That I'm not sure how well I'm able to walk on any given day **until I get up that day** and that my short-term memory read/write is pretty bad are significant factors for me. When I function, I do pretty well. There's no real way to predict how and when that will be.