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Feb. 3rd, 2012 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kodalaiAs social media progresses, I find myself more and more often thinking about my life in terms of Facebook status-length updates, rather than Livejournal-length blog posts. Especially since even ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aging_parents has caved and gotten a Facebook, I seem less and less motivated to actually talk about my boring life. All I can say is, I'm glad I never tried to get into Twitter. The truncation of my thoughts to the length of a tweet would be depressing.
But here are some enumerations of my shorter status updates:
"Finished my taxes yesterday, yay!" -- Since I'm poor, it's both easy to do my taxes, and I also have more incentive to do them early. I got my W2 in the mail on Tuesday, sat down on Thursday and filled out the 1040EZ (and the 540NR for California.) I have no spouse, no dependants, no property, no loans, and only one source of income, so it was honestly quite easy to fill out the forms. The most time-consuming parts were tracking down my charity donations for 2011 (where did my old checkbook from Jan 2011-August 2011 go?!) and tracking down what I paid in car registration fees when I moved to California. (It was printed on my registration, go figure.)
It seems bad form to brag about money you're getting back from a tax return, but I'll just say, I was expecting something substantial (because I was paying taxes at my old job as though I would be staying at that job all year, but then didn't) and my expectation was accurate. Maybe I'll finally put words to the test and buy a darn bike.
I'll go ahead and repeat it here -- if you are poor (under $30,000 a year) you can take advantage of the IRS' Free File program and use any number of tax programs to file this year without paying a cent. It saves so much stress and hassle and can identify lots of deducations you might not have thought of. I used TurboTax Freedom Edition (not the same as TurboTax Free Edition, mind) but there are others. For state taxes (which I didn't have to worry about last year, hah) TT doesn't work, but your state may have its own free tax filing program. Check on their website.
I know it sounds kinda like I'm shilling for them, but I didn't know about this program until I heard someone talking about it on the internet, and it's been a great boon for me! So I want to pass it on.
"Chrestomanci and Dusty are loving the sun in the spare room." -- In December, our roommate Traci moved out (the remaining roommate is Andrea, who owns the place.) I took advantage of the moment to move into Traci's room, and despite the fact that it took me forever to complete the move, I'm much happier with it. I haven't had any problems with the network signal since I moved, and unlike the other room where the window looked out directly on the inner court/walkway (meaning I had to keep the blinds shuttered most of the time for privacy) this one looks out over a three-story drop and some nice plants.) And the little faux stream that runs through this apartment complex runs right under my window, providing a nice white noise that helps me sleep as well as some very nice fresh air when I open my window. My windows now have eastern exposure, unfortunately, but that's what blackout curtains are for.
Andrea is advertising for a new roomie now. In the meantime, the other bedroom (with western exposure) stands empty. I have opened the blinds (with the sheer curtain over the window and no internal light sources, you can't see inside from outside at all) and the sunlight pours in for hours in the afternoon. Chrestomanci and Dusty love it. I have moved Chrestomanci's scratching-post-and-bed into that room and he often sleeps there, or roughhouses with Dusty across the open carpet. I'll almost be sad when someone comes to fill that room again.
In other cat related news, after moving I was left with the dilemma of what to do with Chrestomanci's box, since there was simply NOT room ANYWHERE in my new closet, but I obviously couldn't leave it in the old room. With Andrea we set up a new arrangement where the sliding door out onto the balcony now has a cat door!! Chrestomanci managed to figure it out pretty quickly (smart kitty,) so now his box lives out on the balcony. Can't say I'm sorry to get it out of my bedroom. Even when cleaned every day it is still a distinct odor-emitter. And Andrea has moved her boxes out there as well, reclaiming her bathroom, so everyone is happy.
"No BlizzCon this year. Woe!" -- Blizzard announced recently that they would not be holding a Blizzcon in Los Angeles this fall, unlike the past few years. Gah! Figures that the first year I actually would be in the area would be when they decided not to have it. Well, maybe if I'm doing a little better job-wise by this fall, I can make a road trip up to San Fran instead.
Speaking of road trips, I actually made one out to Phoenix a few weeks ago to attend the birthday party of a friend. Eastern California really is singularly ugly territory. Deserts have their own kind of beauty -- and there's more than one kind of desert -- and mountains do too, but the mountains of E.Cal are irregular and lumpy and brown. Unattractive. However, if you are planning a visit to Arizona, winter is definitely the time.
aging_parents has caved and gotten a Facebook, I seem less and less motivated to actually talk about my boring life. All I can say is, I'm glad I never tried to get into Twitter. The truncation of my thoughts to the length of a tweet would be depressing.But here are some enumerations of my shorter status updates:
"Finished my taxes yesterday, yay!" -- Since I'm poor, it's both easy to do my taxes, and I also have more incentive to do them early. I got my W2 in the mail on Tuesday, sat down on Thursday and filled out the 1040EZ (and the 540NR for California.) I have no spouse, no dependants, no property, no loans, and only one source of income, so it was honestly quite easy to fill out the forms. The most time-consuming parts were tracking down my charity donations for 2011 (where did my old checkbook from Jan 2011-August 2011 go?!) and tracking down what I paid in car registration fees when I moved to California. (It was printed on my registration, go figure.)
It seems bad form to brag about money you're getting back from a tax return, but I'll just say, I was expecting something substantial (because I was paying taxes at my old job as though I would be staying at that job all year, but then didn't) and my expectation was accurate. Maybe I'll finally put words to the test and buy a darn bike.
I'll go ahead and repeat it here -- if you are poor (under $30,000 a year) you can take advantage of the IRS' Free File program and use any number of tax programs to file this year without paying a cent. It saves so much stress and hassle and can identify lots of deducations you might not have thought of. I used TurboTax Freedom Edition (not the same as TurboTax Free Edition, mind) but there are others. For state taxes (which I didn't have to worry about last year, hah) TT doesn't work, but your state may have its own free tax filing program. Check on their website.
I know it sounds kinda like I'm shilling for them, but I didn't know about this program until I heard someone talking about it on the internet, and it's been a great boon for me! So I want to pass it on.
"Chrestomanci and Dusty are loving the sun in the spare room." -- In December, our roommate Traci moved out (the remaining roommate is Andrea, who owns the place.) I took advantage of the moment to move into Traci's room, and despite the fact that it took me forever to complete the move, I'm much happier with it. I haven't had any problems with the network signal since I moved, and unlike the other room where the window looked out directly on the inner court/walkway (meaning I had to keep the blinds shuttered most of the time for privacy) this one looks out over a three-story drop and some nice plants.) And the little faux stream that runs through this apartment complex runs right under my window, providing a nice white noise that helps me sleep as well as some very nice fresh air when I open my window. My windows now have eastern exposure, unfortunately, but that's what blackout curtains are for.
Andrea is advertising for a new roomie now. In the meantime, the other bedroom (with western exposure) stands empty. I have opened the blinds (with the sheer curtain over the window and no internal light sources, you can't see inside from outside at all) and the sunlight pours in for hours in the afternoon. Chrestomanci and Dusty love it. I have moved Chrestomanci's scratching-post-and-bed into that room and he often sleeps there, or roughhouses with Dusty across the open carpet. I'll almost be sad when someone comes to fill that room again.
In other cat related news, after moving I was left with the dilemma of what to do with Chrestomanci's box, since there was simply NOT room ANYWHERE in my new closet, but I obviously couldn't leave it in the old room. With Andrea we set up a new arrangement where the sliding door out onto the balcony now has a cat door!! Chrestomanci managed to figure it out pretty quickly (smart kitty,) so now his box lives out on the balcony. Can't say I'm sorry to get it out of my bedroom. Even when cleaned every day it is still a distinct odor-emitter. And Andrea has moved her boxes out there as well, reclaiming her bathroom, so everyone is happy.
"No BlizzCon this year. Woe!" -- Blizzard announced recently that they would not be holding a Blizzcon in Los Angeles this fall, unlike the past few years. Gah! Figures that the first year I actually would be in the area would be when they decided not to have it. Well, maybe if I'm doing a little better job-wise by this fall, I can make a road trip up to San Fran instead.
Speaking of road trips, I actually made one out to Phoenix a few weeks ago to attend the birthday party of a friend. Eastern California really is singularly ugly territory. Deserts have their own kind of beauty -- and there's more than one kind of desert -- and mountains do too, but the mountains of E.Cal are irregular and lumpy and brown. Unattractive. However, if you are planning a visit to Arizona, winter is definitely the time.
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Date: 2012-02-03 10:00 pm (UTC)Chrestomanci and Dusty are loving the sun in the spare room
Sounds like a good photo op. *hint, hint*