Not Alive

Last month has been a bit of a shit storm. Didn't get to shoot that short film (the guy I wanted to act in it got run hit by a car -- minor inconvenience, he's fine now). I gave up on writing on my tablet and accepted I'd just have to haul my crappy laptop around with me forever. One thing the tablet IS good for though it having my outline open on a second screen while I'm working on Final Draft on my laptop so I'm not constantly switching back and forth. Doing some writing, but trying not to talk about it so I don't jinx it.

Caught a flu a few weeks ago. Wasn't sleeping. Got sleeping drugs (Trazodone) that are meant to help with my anxiety at night as well. The first night I took them I was unbelievably groggy the next day and it almost scared me away from taking them again. But I stuck with it, and for the most part, the drugs knock me out within half an hour or so and I usually don't remember trying to fall asleep. I can get a solid 6-8 hours of sleep without waking up. If I don't get 8 hours or if I take the pill too late, I tend to be groggy though. The nice thing is I don't have to take them every day if I don't need to. 

Anyway, then my flu mutated into my usual bronchitis, so I missed a good four days of work because of it, had to go to the hospital one night because I was throwing up so much (I was working that night too and had to go home early because throwing up on tables is a problem), got antibiotics, and now I'm trying to work out my paycheck/benefits potential because of it. To qualify for benefits, we need to work 30 hours a week for 4 months, NO EXCEPTIONS. So even though I didn't need the money necessarily, I had to use all my sick days and some stat to fill in my hours. But now it looks like I didn't get paid for my sick days this paycheck and ugh. So I still have bronchitis and on top of that, I caught a fucking cold this week. I am pretty certain I'm dying. I'm also not really healthy enough for work, but I can't afford to take anymore time off, so I've just been hacking all over the tables and spreading even more germs around. Total waste of summer. ON TOP OF THAT, the city was smoked out by forest fires that are surrounding us on all sides for about a week, so I couldn't even leave the house without inhaling smoke, and obviously that was really good for my lungs. 

I was concerned at the beginning of the month that we were going to have to put the Ratdog down, because it looked like his kidneys were shot and he was in a lot of pain, but somehow the Little Engine That Could bounced back and he's actually in better shape than I am now. Go figure. 

Parents are drama because they are so good at making me feel guilty. They say they miss me when I'm away from home for a couple days, so I go home, and if I'm not "spending time with them", it's somehow not good enough, so I end up wasting all this time "hanging out with them and their various visitors" when I could be get writing done and it's absolutely a headache. Why they couldn't have just kicked me out of the house at 18 like normal parents is beyond me. They're so wishy-washy about what is going on with their living situation anyway. My mother keeps saying she's going to move and my dad says he wants to stay still, but of course my mother doesn't have the balls to leave my dad even though she probably should, so . Also I want to spend as much time with the dog as possible, and I tried to rectify that by taking him to MG's for a few nights, but his apartment is tiny and there are no windows for the Rat to look out so he spazzes out and takes hours to settle down. Rat is spoiled. He doesn't bark anymore (we're not sure he can), but he does have less bladder control, so that's a problem as well. MG isn't supposed to have pets in his apartment and it's risky going outside all the time. So that also complicates my situation. 

Have been house hunting for like two months now and we haven't even got our foot through the door of one of them. It's is IMPOSSIBLE to see a house here. I don't know if it's because we are looking with a third person or if the realtors are just lazy. It might be easier if it was just the bf and I, but we all have good refs (which apparently no one wants to bother checking) so it shouldn't be a problem. I wonder if people just read three mid-20s and assume we're going to wreck the place and party. It seems like no one will even talk to us. 

One good thing this month -- I got on an Asian horror film kick. Watched Dark Water (so sad), Ju-On, Pulse, Tale of Two Sisters. Ju-On bored me but Pulse gave me chills. Tale of Two Sisters was actually Korean (thought it was going to be Japanese) so it was a bit different in tone, but intriguing as well. I'm planning a J-horror style script now. 

I'm supposed to shoot a wedding next month even though I'm booked for work that night, so hopefully that pans out. I couldn't get the day off because of all the other people who requested it to go to the wedding as well. It would be a nice change of pace, plus it would be like an entire regular paycheck in one day.

I'm doing well with saving money now (all I really spend it on is gas and booze and food, lol) so when I do move out, it's shouldn't be too stressful. I've been helping MG get out of debt as well (though he is anticipating a big CRA fine since everyone at work was audited last year and no one was told to claim 100% of their tips). I should be okay even though I didn't claim either because I didn't make enough money last year to pay taxes. Next year I'll definitely have to claim though. People were blindsided and have been hit with fines up to like $10k. MG hasn't submitted his taxes yet because he wants to pay off his bank debt before getting hit with fines. I'm hoping he can play dumb and get out of it (since he did go to H&R Block and he claimed a PERCENT of his tips that they said should be fine, even though it wasn't). It's totally unreasonable to expect young people without parental guidance to figure this tax shit out. I wouldn't have a clue if my dad wasn't an accountant. This is the stuff that SHOULD be taught in school. 

Enough ranting though. Anything new and exciting?