WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING HERE?

Joe Btfsplk by Al Capp

Remember the old L'il Abner comic strip by Al Capp? There was one character that walked around with a dark raincloud over his head. We were made to think that trouble followed him around because he was a "gloomy gus". Lately I feel like that little guy. The past few months there have been things happening to objects in my life that make me think that I might be causing them.

I remember reading articles and even seeing some television programs throughout the years about poltergeist phenomena. Maybe the occurrences I have noticed have been due to my mental or emotional state. I haven't recognized any overt hostility in my personality, but then, I may not be the best person to recognize that. It's hard to be objective.

Now, don't get me wrong, there haven't been any flying objects or furniture moving around or things going bump in the night. It's just that things mechanical, electrical, and electronic that belong to me or are contained in my environment are breaking down! A few of them are major, and some are only minor. 

This is an old photo of my Jeep taken in a rare Texas snowfall. It was old then, even older now! Since the first of the year I have had to call AAA twice (thank you, son-in-law, Branch), having it towed once. It was in and out of the repair shop, and then at my son Matthew's (thank you, Matt) for his expert care and repair. I was without wheels for the better part of two months. I jokingly said that my Jeep is wearing out and beginning to show its age -- like me!

The day after I got my car back, I lost my cable internet service completely. That affected my telephone, which is an internet phone I have used for years, television service, Roku (which allows me to watch Netflix on my TV), and worst of all -- my computer was down for days!

Luckily, I have a little Tracfone that I carry with me in my car in case of car trouble. I called my son about the internet, and as he advised, I called my cable internet provider. To no avail. This second call gave me an error message and told me to call Tracfone's Customer Service Line. Of course, it went through. After talking to two different people somewhere in Asia (I could not understand the name of their country due to their heavy accents), I was so angry I was breathing fire into the phone!

You see, when you purchase a Tracfone you buy so many minutes and so many of what they call "service days". When the service days run out, they send you a message that you need to buy more days (and minutes). So I did. For several years I did - at $20 a pop. I had over 1,800 minutes accrued when son Matthew told me I didn't need to keep buying more. To just use the minutes already on the phone. I still had over 1,800 minutes, as I had rarely used it. However, the service reps in Asia kept telling me I needed to buy another phone (they had a special on at the time) or purchase more days. I yelled at them (shame on me). The young male supervisor said there must be something wrong with the phone and they could not check it out while I was using it. To "please call back on another phone". ("I don't have another telephone, that's why I'm using this blankety-blank phone!") He said if I would purchase a new Tracfone they would credit me with the minutes I have left on this one. I yelled again that I DO NOT WANT A NEW PHONE! At this point, he finally told me to take out the battery in my phone and reinsert it in 5 minutes. No easy feat, but I finally got it out, and the telephone now works fine. I don't know how long I have before I have to go through this whole scenario again.

I was finally able to call the cable company, but had to wait two days for someone to come, and he still didn't get everything connected. I'm still having to use the dratted cell phone, but at least I now have internet and my beloved (seriously) computer. And I can again watch movies on Netflix if I get bored.

Also in the past two months, my coffeemaker and my hair dryer both went kaput! That's not important unless you have just got out of the shower with a wet head and have an appointment in an hour -- and are on your way to the kitchen for that first cup of coffee only to discover cold water and no coffee! I guess there is something to be said for keeping instant coffee on hand.. ugh.

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I don't know where each of you lives, but here in the Hill Country of Texas we have been having a particularly warm spring. Temperatures have already climbed into the 90s during the day, and at night it's frequently in the 80s until the wee hours of the morning. Last night was one of those hot nights. I kept looking at the thermostat, checking the weather on the internet, and wondering if I were suffering some kind of late-in-life hot flashes. I could not get the temperature down below 79 degrees by the time I went to bed. It was still 79 degrees when I woke at 3:30 am, tossing and turning from the heat. I am now waiting on the a/c repairman.

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I have searched my memory, and as a matter of fact, maybe my mental and emotional state does have something to do with all of the occurrences around here. I guess I have been a little angry or upset with a couple of folks in the last few months... Maybe I have been holding onto some resentment for real or imagined wrongs I've suffered... Whew! Right now, let me state to the Universe, "I FORGIVE EVERYONE OF EVERYTHING! AND I ASK YOUR FORGIVENESS AS WELL!" There! Now enough already of the breakdown of all things mechanical, electrical, electronic, and oh yes, physical in my life! 

And if the a/c repairman doesn't hurry up ... oh well, I'll just have to forgive him, too!

Peace,

Marilyn