Freebies? Not exactly but I guess kinda on some levels.

One freebie is the credit balance on my Zipcar account, thanks to neighbor Sherif who houses the cars in his backyard lot. They give him monthly credit and every so often he’ll dole some out to me and other friends of his. Unfortunately the credit has an expiration date and I still had some that expire tomorrow. So I reserved one this afternoon (as well as a Mini convertible last Saturday) to do some grocery shopping.

Which brings me to the second freebie. While this is technically free, it’s that whole I’ve-been-paying-into-the-system kind of payback, and that’s my EBT card. Or as they used to be called pre-technology days: food stamps. Just like last time, I didn’t really need to stock up on anything other than perishables but since I had a car it was time to get more of things I usually can’t carry like bottled water. Plus I noticed that instead of having Club Card specials many of the hanging tags were advertising “new lower pricing” instead of Club Card-only savings. Subsequently, my Club Card savings wasn’t that much.

Pushed on by the drizzly weather I found myself buying comfort foods: tomato soup, deli turkey, stuffing mix, flavored mashed potato mixes. Oh, and Healthy Choice dinners $1.99 if I buy five or more? Sure, I’ll take six.

Purchase: $208.63
EBT Card Balance: $97.01
Club Card Savings: $21.90 (9% of purchase)

The balance on my EBT card is $348.20, and that’s a lot. Apparently I have not done a real grocery shopping run since mid-July. So it’s time. Rent the Zipcar, grab a cart (the kind you actually push!) and start filling it up. Since my balance is pretty healthy, I’m grabbing both things that I need to get as well as things that strike my fancy, with little regard as to what my purchases are going to add up to.

Purchase: $202.70
EBT Card Balance: $145.50
Club Card Savings: $44.58 (17% of purchase)

Let’s see…

I still can’t hear about of my left ear after Eddy’s drunken/birthday/hello greeting. I’ve been hydrogen peroxiding it all weekend long, and while it’s tickly and bubbly it still hasn’t solved the problem. I’m afraid I’m going to have to put my no insurance/Medicaid to the test soon and actually go and see a doctor. Is it ironic that a cancelled beach trip with a deaf friend this weekend is the same time that I can’t hear?

This week I’m starting M–F half-days at my “volunteer” job. Best thing about it is that it’s only five blocks away. I haven’t even ridden the bike there, it’s quite enjoyable just to walk through the neighborhood. It takes about two iPod songs. Things I’ve noticed while walking that I never saw before on the bike or in a car: There is a house on 14th that has an entire porch covering made out of a wisteria tree. I’ll take a pic this week and add it here. Also, there is a grate/manhole cover on C that still has the ladder in it leading down to the catacombs. Whether the workers left it there or it’s non-removable is unknown.

After my last round of the blandest marinara sauce ever, I’ve redeemed myself with yesterday’s batch. While I didn’t have some of my fave/regular ingredients, I pulled it out with an eye-measured mix of ground cayenne red pepper, epazote, ground red chipotle, ground mustard, oregano and adobo seasoning. And the cans of diced tomatoes also had some jalapeños in them. And S&P, of course.

I’m going to see if I can barrel through a re-watch of Season 1 and 2 of Mad Men before the 3rd Season premiere on August 16. Since I don’t have AMC, luckily iTunes has S3 available for next-day downloads. That is something I’ll spend $20 on.

Useless trivia: Kristy McNichol’s name was spelled “Kristie” during the pilot credits of Family. When I was a kid in the 70s, I had a box full of notecards that listed the 555-xxxx phone numbers of television characters that I had collected over the years. I had the numbers of the Brady’s and Jaime Sommers, those that I can remember. Now you can just find them here.

I have been awake for about 27 hours now, not counting the hour-long nap yesterday afternoon.

I woke up yesterday with a headache and a headcold. I think the headache stems from the “sleep aid” pills that I frequently (these days) take, but they’re nothing but generic Benadryl tablets.

So yesterday morning I stayed in bed, trying to see if I could snooze off the headaches and the grogginess but I couldn’t get to back to sleep. Needless to say I had no appetite either so I haven’t really eaten much in the last 48 hours other than two hard pretzels.

Last night I went to bed around midnight, which is pretty average. I decidedly opted to not take any sleeping pills, figuring I’d be exhausted enough from being sick all day. Here I am ten and a half hours later and still not sleepy or tired enough to fall unconscious. And I only had two small cups of coffee yesterday as my only caffeine intake so I don’t think it’s that.

I guess I should get up and get on and wait for the brickwall crash that is inevitably going to hit me.

UPDATE: Around noon I made some scrambled eggs, figuring that a full stomach would conk me out. Soon enough it did. But only for about 3.5 hours.

A while back I received notice that the Stimulus Package was being put into effect, raising my weekly unemployment benefit as well as upping my monthly food stamp payment as well. Every little bit helps, right?

Then I received noticed from the Department of Human Services that my food stamp benefits were scheduled to be terminated, with June being my last beneficiary month, but that I could come in and get them extended for another six months. That’s what I’m doing this morning.

7:43 I’m on the red line Metro, opting to take the train instead of bus/long walk since it’s supposed to be pretty warm today. Quite a difference from the cold and rainy day in January, when I was last here.

7:55 I’m here now corraling in the waiting room. They do seem to be calling people a little faster this time, although I know that’s pobably no indication of how quickly I will be processed. And only two screaming/crying kids!

8:08 Being here is kind of like being at the DMV: lots of waiting with fellow humans that you probably would ever encounter elsewhere in your life circles.

8:44 Name called to fill out paperwork. Then wait again for appt with case worker.

9:52 Coming up on the two-hour mark and these chairs are not comfortable at all. There is a man that came in and took off his shoes, no socks. He grabs a towel from his bag and wipes his feet off. He puts on brand new athletic socks and puts his sneakers back on. He is also carrying another, nicer pair, of sneakers in his bag. Now he’s putting on a yellow tie, yet he’s wearing a tshirt.

10:30 They’re putting The Wiz on the TV!

10:52 Well that was a fucking waste of time. Now they’re saying I need to show all this different paperwork that wasn’t needed before. Which means now I’ve got to get in touch w/ the H8ST8 to get proof of unemployment payments with them, as well as proof of lease (neither of which was necessary before). I think it all depends on who you get waiting on you and what kind of mood they’re in.

No job, no car, no cash to buy food. I do have the food stamps though, on my EBT card. Normally a trip to the grocery store consists of what I can carry the eight blocks home, usually amounting to one of those handbaskets full and and maybe a little overflowing. I would do this trip a few times a week. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

Since I’ve been away the last three weekends and all last week I was trying to get lean on the groceries in my cupboard and fridge so that nothing would go to waste. I didn’t see the point in making grocery runs since I was going to be away for many days. Add to that another monthly deposit into my EBT account, and I have a whopping $373 on which to spend on groceries. It was time to spend $15 and rent the Zipcar for a couple of hours.

On today’s trip I was actually able to push a cart through the grocery store. I’m buying crazy stuff that I never would have dreamed of before: gallons of milk, 12-pack of paper towels, Odwalla chocolate protein shakes, three boxes of cereal, eight cans each of 28-ounce crushed and diced tomatoes, two magnums of Fresca & a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper, a five-pack of Mac & Cheese and over a gallon of laundry detergent.

Because of the humongous balance on my account I was buying things I normally wouldn’t, items that weren’t on sale (gasp!) or multiple items that were on sale and will be used stored and used eventually.

Purchase: $231.89
EBT Card Balance: $141.57
Club Card Savings: $76.17 (23% of purchase)

I was trying to pick a CD to take with me for driving to Charlene’s services yesterday, and I stumbled upon Journey’s Escape, purchased with my first year roommate at UofH, when we both joined one of those music clubs to get 11 CDs for a penny. I thought Journey would be a good pick for the era that Char and I were good friends; we graduated in 1982.

I was surprised (and only a little embarrassed) to discover I knew practically all the words to every song, even the ones that weren’t radio hits. The biggest mistake was when I pulled into the funeral home’s parking lot Open Arms was playing and I was a big blubbering mess.

After the service (and decompressing at home) I went to dinner with Goldy and since she had missed her bus I told her I would take her out to Herndon where she can pick up her car from the commuter lot. Driving back into town around 11:30, with Thomas Dolby and Depeche Mode’s Speak and Spell blaring from the speakers I had an odd sense of déja vu. Twenty or twenty-five years ago I was taking the exact same route, probably at the exact same time on a Friday night, to go downtown and party. Destinations at the time would have been Winston’s or Poseurs in Georgetown, Lost & Found or maybe Badlands in Dupont. A-ha, Hall & Oates or Arcadia would most definitely have been blaring from the “tapedeck” at that time. Or maybe Styx or Journey.

After passing through the toll plaza I see the cars exit that are heading north and south on the Beltway but I and several other cars keep going, taking the most direct route into town. I wonder if they’re coming into town to do what I was doing years ago. Possibly.

Today I’ll head back out to Annapolis for Charlene’s former funeral service. I’ll bring the Escape CD with me again but I’m really wishing I had Paradise Theater or something by Heart or Pat Benatar. Wait, I’ve got it: Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat!

Insomnia is the new 401(k). Middle of the night Twittering will be our downfall. Kara Thrace is the harbinger of doom.

Another sleepless night and a early morning mental debate of “whether to put the coffee on” or lie here for another three or four hours. On my Twitter feed, @Mr_Darling (another recent insomniac) tells the world he’s headed to his local Safeway. It is 6:08am. Since I was going to go to the store sometime today anyway, I decide to do the same. I get dressed and head out, whether the morning rush is already in swing but the sun hasn’t crested the cloud-laden horizon yet. I take my sunglasses just in case I will want them on the walk back.

Of course, the Safeway is devoid of customers. I think there were only a handful of us in there; most of the cars in the parking lot were undoubtedly employee-owned. Restocking of shelves and buffing of floors, however, is in full swing.

I grab my usual basketful of groceries and head home, passing people who are headed the opposite direction towards the Metro on their way to work. I get home around the same time that, three months ago, I would have been catching the bus outside and undoubtedly already complaining about my commute.

But now I have milk for my morning coffee, and after breffus I’m going to start making sauce. Crushing garlic and chopping onions before 8:00am, why not?

Purchase: $33.54
EBT Card Balance: $156.21
Club Card Savings: $11.00 (25% of purchase)

People are doing the simplest things for me, and it is so greatly appreciated. For example, last night after a grueling cardio class, I mentioned to Bernice that she could drop me at the Safeway on the way home (she had given me a ride to the gym) and then I’d walk home from there. I’m used to that walk three times a week, right? She pshawd that and she she’d wait in the parking lot or go fill up her gas tank while I was shopping. She also gave me a Hamilton to pick her up a 6-pack of Sam.

I do my shopping, come outside and load everything into her car. I give her the change (a dollar + coins) and she said to just keep it, then she gives me a Jackson and tells me to keep that. While getting a direct cash gift makes me a little uncomfortable, I tell her I will put the money towards establishing a margarita/quesadilla fund for the next time we make it to Banana Cafe after class, which we would do sometimes in the banner year of, say, 2008.

Then, as I’m running the groceries into my apartment I discover that Bernice has slyly snuck two of her beers into one of my bags. How nice is all of that?

Purchase: $25.97
EBT Card Balance: $63.84
Club Card Savings: $11.07 (30% of purchase)
M/Q Fund: $21.29

I know I’ve written about this minor fact before, but know it’s hitting me with reality right now. It’s minor, no need to worry, no need to be upset.

Six years ago, when I accepted a new contract assignment with an old company, when I went to a newly reunited Duran Duran concert wearing the most makeup I had worn since 1985, when I put my much-historied VW out to pasture, when I was dating the Millionaire, I thought it in my best interest to redirect my Netflix delivery address to a different address.

I had just embarked on a new contract with Gee, where you probably already know was where I always was meant to be. I was determined to become a full-time employee again, and one of the things I purposefully did was to immerse myself back in to the company’s culture. It wasn’t difficult since I still pretty much knew everybody that worked there still. But I did take it to an extreme by fully decorating my office with plants, posters and mementos both current and reminiscent of my past tenure.

One of my infiltration secrets was to have my Neflix discs sent to my workplace, both to extablish rapport with the new admin staff and to give me reasons for circulating throughout the studio (checking for my discs in the mailroom).

Now, I’m finding myself running (not really) across Horseshoe Park at 2:45am just to get a disc put in tomorrow’s mailbox in order to get another one kicked back to me before the weekend. I’ll bet Netflix is making a killing in today’s “economic crisis” because it’s easier to rent instead of paying $15 for a seeing a movie in a theater.