Walk this Waaaaaay - Talk this Waaaaaay

 It's been a very stressful week for Quiet Rage at work.  Add to the mix the health issues of people I love and it makes me even more stressed that I have to stress about work things that in the big picture are not worth stressing about, when my stress energy would be better served stressing about people I love.  

Have I mentioned the "stress" word in every context there is?  And how utterly useless it really is in the work picture?

Here's the hard truth nobody wants to face.  We are all going to die.  What is our life for?  Fulfilling corporate quotas? Preparing quarterly economic reports?  Competing with everybody in our work circle to prove how much more valuable we are than they?  Who is keeping the score on egos and material accomplishments in the afterlife?  I don't think God cares one bit if we followed the corporate bible.  God cares about His Bible...and I do not think there is any mention of serving the corporation as a demigod or proxy god. 

Yes, we all have to make a living.  Where we are struggling as a society is finding the balance.  Do we really NEED all of the STUFF advertising says we need?  Of course not.  But....the minute we figure that out the economy takes a dump because it's based on creating and consuming useless crap we don't really need....and destroying the environment in the process.  This business model we hold near and dear to our hearts is not sustainable.   

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... I don't want to be all grumpy, but I am.  Maybe it's the full moon playing into my psyche.  Maybe it's STILL because I miss my cat.  Even more so it's because I see good people suffering from disease, and yet there are others who are evil that manage to skate by unscathed from any consequences of their bad behavior.  

Life is not fair.  

To be fair, nobody ever said that it would be fair.

I'm struggling.  

So.....with that I offer something completely brainless, but yet significant and unrelated by my rant.  I'm going to completely switch gears on you all.  Back in the late 1980's early 1990's-ish the group Aeorsmith and Run DMC were complete opposites.  Aerosmith being the typical white-guy-long-haired screaming hard rock hair band, and Run DMC the typical black-bad-ass-rappers.  

Culturally, these two groups were world apart.

Somebody had a genius idea to marry these two very different musical worlds in a video that literally breaks down barriers between blacks and whites.  The result was pure ecstasy for both music genres.   Who would of ever thought that Run DMC and Aerosmith could ever co-exist?  

Keep breaking down barriers.  'Tis all good.  

I love this video.  Proof that there can be peace in da hood.  Ya 'all dig? 

1099-K

 You're out of your mind if you think the government is not going to nickle and dime you to cover the kabillions of dollars in handouts.  You're also out of your mind if you think they are going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg (corporations).  

Here's a little surprise for you all that will sink in come 2022 tax season.  All of the people who have set up online Etsy shops and the like to make ends meet are about to get hammered on taxes.  Anybody who receives payment via electronic means (credit cards, PayPal, etc.) will get taxed on any and all income over $600.  Right now the current threshold is $20,000 AND 200 transactions.  The threshold for 2022 has been lowered to $600 and the transaction limit has been removed.

The $600 threshold is also the trigger for issuing a 1099-NEC or 1099 MISC.  Cash payments are easier to hide than electronic payments, so enforcement of issuing 1099-NEC is a lot tougher.  Electronic banking transactions are a lot easier to track and collect taxes on - plus their exploding popularity with the younger crowd makes this low-hanging fruit ripe for taxation.   

Bottom Line:  If you receive payment electronically, you will now be taxed.  

Hey, nothing is free.  How did you think all the money the government disbursed was going to get repaid? 

 

My Cat

 I've been mourning the past week or so as my beloved cat died.  He was 16.5 and had a myriad of health issues including kidney disease.  We've known for some time that he was not in the best of health as he stopped grooming himself and stopped jumping up on furniture - especially my computer chair as he would walk across my keyboard as I was trying to type.  

I will never forget the day we got him.  It was December 28, 2004.  My daughter and her BFF somehow convinced me to take them to the animal shelter that day 'just to look' at the animals.  My son came along as well that day.  

There was an area where there were kittens in a large cage.  There was young couple there who were also looking at the same kitten my daughter was.  The kitten came up and licked my daughter's finger through the cage.  

That was it.  He was ours thereafter.  The young couple did not have the heart to tear away a little kitten away from a little girl.  

Our cat was not like any other cat.  He thought he was a dog.  Many times neighbors would call him "The Mayor" as he had a very stately stance about him.  Everybody loved our cat.  He greeted those who passed by for pets and loves.  He really did have a local fan club and was a staple of the neighborhood.  

Sorry....I'm jumping all over the place.  I'm very emotional and mourning.  This blog entry is not very linear.  I'm in and out of tears. 

Today I brought leftover food, litter,  and other items that belonged to our cat to the animal shelter.  I was so tempted to want to adopt another one, but.........  there is a black cat with huge green eyes who has started appearing at dusk in our front yard.  She is very skittish which lends me to think she is a stray and does not have a home.  I started to leave food out for her.  We have named her Skade after a character in the Netflix series The Last Kingdom.  Will Skade ever warm up to me?  Only time will tell as I will not force it.  If she is hungry and a stray I will give her a loving home.  If she is hungry and not a stray, I will feed her.  If she just wants to hang around at dusk she can do that as well.  I will give her a safe space for whatever she needs.  

That is how I will honor my cat's passing - by taking care of another cat.  

Here's to you, Mr. Mayor.  We LOVE you and miss you.  I hope you're catching all the mice in kitty Valhalla.  

No, thank you

 Please do not confuse no, thank you with no thank you.

I'm at that point in my life where my kids' friends are getting married and whatnot.  I have one friend with four kids.  When the first one got married we were out of town, but sent a gift.  Months later we received a preprinted postcard stating how happy they were we could be there to share their special day (we were not) and for the gift.  Nothing was personalized and even the signature was preprinted.  It had all the warmth of receiving an advertisement in the mail addressed to "resident." 

Strike one.

The next kid because of COVID had a very small wedding.  Only immediate family was included in the ceremony.  I get it.  Still, I sent a check and a card to wish the couple well.  They managed to find a pen immediately to sign and cash the check, but can't find a pen to acknowledge the gift.  

Strike two.

Now, the third kid is getting married this fall.  

Do I hold the etiquette crimes of the two older siblings against this one by refusing to send a gift?  The other siblings have pattern of being ingrates, and it's presumed this one does as well.  Please, don't scoff that "nobody sends personalized thank you cards any longer."  Take that attitude if you will, but also accept that, "nobody sends gifts any longer." 

I'm saying "No, thank you" to those who send no thank you. 

The Rooster

Before I got kicked off the social media site Next Door, there was a post from a woman who recently moved to the area from Marin complaining about a neighbor's rooster crowing.  Typical.  They move to Sonoma County because of our 'country charm' and then bitch about what makes the country the country. 

Anyway, that was at least a couple of months ago and I've since got kicked off the site because  I dare to challenge the NIMBY's and other do-gooders who want to save the world - unless it means paying out of their own pocket or residing in their own immediate area.  

What?  Me?  Kicked off????  LOL

That's not the point of today's blog.  Have I noticed the rooster's crowing?  I guess so, but it's all part of living in Sonoma County and I never gave it another thought.  

That is until I got the mail the other day.  There in my snail mail box was a postage marked letter addressed to "neighbor" and it was sent anonymously.  It was not signed nor was their a return address.  In this letter it was telling me to shut my rooster up or brimstone and fire shall rain down from the heavens citing noise ordinances.

Sorry, but we do not own a rooster.  We never have.  I think this person just blanketed the neighborhood with letters.  What a coward.  

Well, the letter campaign did not work.  The rooster is still crowing, and I laugh to myself every time I hear him.  I'm thinking of getting a rooster just to irk the complainer off even more.  LOL

Phizer 2nd Shot

I just had my second COVID shot yesterday.  How do I feel?  Like I want to actually start living my life again.  I know I have to wait a couple of weeks and still wear a mask and whatnot.  I know there is controversy about "the vaccine."  I can attest that to date I have not grown horns nor a tail.  Am I a guinea pig?  Yes.  Sometimes one has to take a leap of faith and I chose to be vaccinated and yet still adhere to the recommended safety protocol of masking and distancing.  Does that make me a gullible chump who is manipulated by the media?  I'm certain to some people it does.  

Sigh. 

I miss my Minnesota family and friends.  I'm planning a visit late June.  I have not seen them since October 2019 and my soul aches for them. 

As far as work goes, I'm not telling anybody I've had my shot.  Zoom meetings are so much more convenient and suck less time from my day.  As I've said a million times before, at the end of the meeting I press a button and they ALL DISAPPEAR.  

It's PAT! Too bad humor has now been banned.