Alright, that's totally a long and unnecessary title. But I've always wanted to use that cliche little saying and well, here we go. Today is the absolute best day for this. So prepare yourselves oh-readers-of-my-blog, for the rant of the week. Hopefully this will not become a staple in my blog, but who knows?
I guess the best place to start is how my imbecilic government causes me much greif and anxiety. Which isn't good because I give myself enough anxiety already. And why, pray tell, are they doing that? Because the Republicans are whiny old white men (and Michelle Bachman) having a temper tantrum over a law that passed and was constitutionalized. That's not the point of this post, but I could go on for hours about my frustration over my government. Before you say something along the lines of 'well you do have control over your government, you need to vote'. I did vote. I do vote. But Congressmen and women have this particular nasty habit of doing what they please which usually means doing something that benefits themselves.
Moving on.
I am a federal worker, but I use the term 'worker' lightly in this situaion. I receive an allowance from the government (I know it makes me sound like I'm five and I get money for chores, but that's the official term for it). But since the service I conduct for my community of Portland, ME is not considered essentail (my god, helping the poor, why that's the last essential thing we can think of said every Republican ever), I've been thrown of the bandwagon of paid federal employees. But don't worry, the secretaries are still being paid in the White House. Phew, I was real worried about them. Anyway, I'm an AmeriCorps member and I work to held build capacity for a non-profit organization that helps the poor and needy. And all the other AmeriCorps members do service similar to mine. And we're not getting paid. Fantastic. So that means I have no money for food, for rent, for utilities. We have no other means of income either. I know I am not the only with this problem, and many, many others have situations worse than mine. That doesn't mean I won't be stressing out over this, or worrying non-stop. My mom - bless her - sent me up packages full of non perishable food items. I don't think I was ever so relieved to see Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in my life.
That's really the biggest worry on my plate. I have very little wiggle room when it comes to money. I didn't sign up for this nonense. I enjoy helping people, I love the work I do here at CCM, but I don't think I can continue this if the government doesn't get its act together and fix this. I barely have enough money to buy food for myself. I can't pay any of my bills. And if I dip into my savings, there is no guarantee I can put money back into it. And that money is for my loans.
But today, of all days, my car stalled. Right in the middle of the busiest street in Portland, it stalled. Besides the minor panic attack I had, people screamed at me while my hazards blinked wildly and I waved people pass me. I almost broke down crying if it wasn't for that voice screaming in my head to think and fix the problem. It was horrible. Eventually, my car restarted and I made it to work. This is a financial mess that I really want to avoid.
So, life. It handed me lemons. Time for lemon jello shots?! Or lemonade. Maybe I'll stick with lemonade. Man, I hope things perk up soon. I know this is a real downer post and I don't want you, my readers, to think this a pity fest. This whole thing was more of, hey I'm ranting and look who the federal government is really hurting with this. Regular, every day people. I do good work, every day but its been made nearly impossible for me to do that with whole mega-ridiculous shennanigan-ry. But this is adult life right? I'll work through it, I'm sure I will. I can't let life get me down, I will not stand idly by while things crumble around me. Life may not be fair, but that doesn't mean I'll go down quietly.
I guess the best place to start is how my imbecilic government causes me much greif and anxiety. Which isn't good because I give myself enough anxiety already. And why, pray tell, are they doing that? Because the Republicans are whiny old white men (and Michelle Bachman) having a temper tantrum over a law that passed and was constitutionalized. That's not the point of this post, but I could go on for hours about my frustration over my government. Before you say something along the lines of 'well you do have control over your government, you need to vote'. I did vote. I do vote. But Congressmen and women have this particular nasty habit of doing what they please which usually means doing something that benefits themselves.
Moving on.
I am a federal worker, but I use the term 'worker' lightly in this situaion. I receive an allowance from the government (I know it makes me sound like I'm five and I get money for chores, but that's the official term for it). But since the service I conduct for my community of Portland, ME is not considered essentail (my god, helping the poor, why that's the last essential thing we can think of said every Republican ever), I've been thrown of the bandwagon of paid federal employees. But don't worry, the secretaries are still being paid in the White House. Phew, I was real worried about them. Anyway, I'm an AmeriCorps member and I work to held build capacity for a non-profit organization that helps the poor and needy. And all the other AmeriCorps members do service similar to mine. And we're not getting paid. Fantastic. So that means I have no money for food, for rent, for utilities. We have no other means of income either. I know I am not the only with this problem, and many, many others have situations worse than mine. That doesn't mean I won't be stressing out over this, or worrying non-stop. My mom - bless her - sent me up packages full of non perishable food items. I don't think I was ever so relieved to see Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in my life.
That's really the biggest worry on my plate. I have very little wiggle room when it comes to money. I didn't sign up for this nonense. I enjoy helping people, I love the work I do here at CCM, but I don't think I can continue this if the government doesn't get its act together and fix this. I barely have enough money to buy food for myself. I can't pay any of my bills. And if I dip into my savings, there is no guarantee I can put money back into it. And that money is for my loans.
But today, of all days, my car stalled. Right in the middle of the busiest street in Portland, it stalled. Besides the minor panic attack I had, people screamed at me while my hazards blinked wildly and I waved people pass me. I almost broke down crying if it wasn't for that voice screaming in my head to think and fix the problem. It was horrible. Eventually, my car restarted and I made it to work. This is a financial mess that I really want to avoid.
So, life. It handed me lemons. Time for lemon jello shots?! Or lemonade. Maybe I'll stick with lemonade. Man, I hope things perk up soon. I know this is a real downer post and I don't want you, my readers, to think this a pity fest. This whole thing was more of, hey I'm ranting and look who the federal government is really hurting with this. Regular, every day people. I do good work, every day but its been made nearly impossible for me to do that with whole mega-ridiculous shennanigan-ry. But this is adult life right? I'll work through it, I'm sure I will. I can't let life get me down, I will not stand idly by while things crumble around me. Life may not be fair, but that doesn't mean I'll go down quietly.
No comments:
Post a Comment