2020-06-01 — Happy June!

At least it wasn’t heavy and gray today. Let’s go with that. 😊

I gave up trying to get my taxes done before the deadline, which I guess was today. Why? Because I found out this morning (there’s a vague memory from a long time ago that I’d been told this before but forgot) that not only do I have to pay property tax on every tool and vehicle I own, I also have to pay property tax on every part I’ve bought and turned right around and sold to a customer, and I have to pay property taxes on all the supplies I bought and used as a business (paper towels, cleaners, etc). So I’m supposed to go through all my purchases and divide them up between parts and supplies, and declare it all as property to be taxed.

It’s nonsensical.

Talk about a system needing reform. Please, just let me use the time it takes to do all that ridiculous record keeping and use it to serve more clients. If you you’ll let be, #1. They’ll (the customers) get the service they need when they need it (I had to turn down people today because I was stuck figuring out this junk #2. I’ll make more money. #3. You’ll (the government) quite likely collect even more in taxes from me than what you get via property taxes. You’ll get my state income taxes. You’ll get sales taxes. You’ll get gas taxes. And on and on…

Nonsensical.

End rant.

Anyway, I chose sanity over thrift. I’m late. I’m gonna pay the penalty, and well… now I have breathing room. One month late is the same as one day late, so… as one of my readers put it, I’ve paid for an extension. 😁

So… I spent pretty much my whole morning and a good chunk of my afternoon doing all that before giving up and going out to take care of two people I’d promised to get to today. I also finished mowing the yard. The dog’s yard was getting long, and I’m trying to reduce the chances of Che getting any tick diseases. She has medicine, but that doesn’t stop all the ticks, I’m pretty sure. I’ve had to pull a handful off Che that were latched on already.

So… mowed the rest of the lawn, tried to do taxes, then went to put in a push-button, starter circuit bypass in an ’08 Silverado. It had been doing some pretty nutty things of late, such as the starter not disengaging, which resulted in a totally burned up starter. They replaced the starter, but it still wouldn’t start. They asked me to wire in the bypass switch, which I did, and that got it to crank, but there’s still something quite wrong. It’s not getting spark for some reason. I cranked it and forced fuel into it, but it’s not getting spark, and it only gets fuel if I jump the relay and force it on.

The starter relay had fried, and the starter fuse kept blowing, so I’m thinking that the fuse block might be toast.

Remember that thing about the universe sending things in clusters? Yeah, so in the last few years, I’ve probably recommended a customer get a fire extinguisher for their car, maybe once or twice (of course we all should have one, but…), and then there was today–three different customers all got the same recommendation. One with a mashed fuse box in the trunk that was getting hot (David did that job). One with a fuse box in the engine bay that very likely appears to be shorting out within itself, and the last job of the day where the power steering line split and sprayed power steering fluid on the catalytic converter area which started a fire and burned up her o2 sensor. So… she gets the recommendation, too. 🙃

I’m falling asleep while I’m writing again. It’s funny, sometimes I’ll start a sentence about one topic (whatever it is I’m writing about for this journal entry), and the second half of the sentence will have to do with whatever I started dreaming in the middle of writing the sentence. When I come to, I have to back track and delete the dream material that has nothing to do with the journal entry.

Sleep writing. 🙃

Well, folks, it’s 12:23. I’m gonna have myself a peanut butter & jelly burrito (I’m telling you, if you haven’t had one–super good [provided you use flour tortillas]).

Oh! Shout out to one of my readers who wondered by I haven’t been adding my daily count totals. Truth is… I’m so tired that I forget. The good news is that it’s not that hard anymore with the exception of exercise (ugh), so I’m not really thinking about how much time I have in each thing, but for record-keeping sake, and to be sure I’m publicly accountable, and for inspiration/motivation sake for anyone out there trying to add/remove a habit/addiction, I’m sitting at 57 (sugar), 65 (journal), 56 (sex/porn), 30 (TV/movies/sports news), 22 (exercise).

Continued progress 👍😊

Aaaaaaaaaaand I realized today that the deadline for getting my vehicles insured was may 30th, not 31st, so I may well pay the stupid tax in the multiple three-digits range. 🤪

Fun, eh? At least Geico was super accommodating to back date my insurance. Too bad it’s one day too late. Super cool of them, though.

And with that…

#1. I’m grateful to have “purchased” my extension. Now I will breathe a bit easier, no longer afraid of the penalty, just living with it. It’s as much a mental health thing as anything. I really could care less about the money (which I recognize is a gift and a luxury that some don’t enjoy [being financially able to not care]

#2. I’m grateful for sunny days, so I’m not working out in the rain.

#3. I’m grateful for the tip my first customer gave me. I busted my butt on his truck before running out of time–needing to go to the next car because I was already super late. It was nice that he recognized all the effort I put in.

#4. I’m grateful that I’m still going relatively strong having made it quite a while since my last physical crash.

#5. I’m grateful that though I not excited at all about getting out and running after taking two days off in a row, that I was still able to get out and just do it–thanks to Che and the encouragement of one of my readers.

Well, my peoples. I’m nodding off a lot, as always. By the time I get this done and my food shoved down my throat it’ll be about 1, so it’s time to sign off.

Loves and hugs.

Lift the World.

~ stephen

Oh! P.S. I’m thinking I’m just going to start networking and getting my organization started, and then I’ll use the power of crowdsourcing to help me pick a name. That way I can get going and won’t be paralyzed by something as unimportant, while at the same time being massively important as a name. Next up is to get the questionnaire going–or maybe next up is to get the network of people started, and then we can use crowdsourcing on the questionnaire as well. G’night!