Man, yesterday was a nightmare of exhaustion.

I always have alot to do on Fridays, especially the first Friday of the month, as I have to do the refunds, but I also have my doctors to pay, and the checks for the NJ office, and the recuts of checks where errors were made. I don't do the courier checks anymore, and The Raccoon does the checks for the new office, but I usually have to do at least three separate runs, so I like to get in early.

Of course, I was already over my limit for overtime this week, but I sincerely doubted that I would have time to leave early, and was I ever right.

I got in at 8.45a, which is appalling enough for a person who usually doesn't even get up until 9a or so, and I did my various checks as fast as I could, because I knew that the enormous, tottering pile of refunds was going to take a massive amount of time.

Once everyone else was done with their checks (it's a one person at a time kind of thing), I settled down to the refunds. I started at about 2p, and finished, shattered, at 6.30p.

Why did it take so long? Well, they are done one at a time, you see, and it's like this. Click on Quick Check, create a new one, type in the invoice number, type in "onetime", because the vendor is a special vendor set up for one time payments, then type in the payee and the address, which was most of the time, either "Medicare", "Medicare Overpayment" or "Medicare O/P Recoupment", which meant that I could cut and paste the address line by line rather than type it over and over, which was frankly just as tiresome, type in the amount, click on print, hit enter when the first check screen comes up, wait about 20 seconds for the check to be created, hit print, then x out the check.

Doesn't sound so bad? Well, do that, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again, then do it again.

About a hundred and twenty times.

I was ready to shoot myself by the time that I was done. The worst part was that most of them were Medicare, as I said, and alot of them were the same amounts, so it was hard to keep track whether the one on the top of the pile had been done yet, because that twenty seconds of nothingness was just enough for me to totally blank on whether I had put the one I just did in the done pile or not, so I would have to keep getting up and getting the checks out of the printer and looking to see what the last check cut was.

I have never done that many refunds in a row, and we only do them once a month, so they pile up, but half of them were from last month when they were pulled to be double-checked right before I did them. This meant that last month was an easier run, only about 40 or 50, which I thought was pretty bad at the time. How little I knew back then, she laughed, hollowly.

There was stuff that I had to do when I left, I hadn't done any of my FedExing, and there was plenty of it to be done, but I was trembling and wide-eyed and staring (not joking, I really was!), so I fucking well left.

Because what's the good thing about Saturdays? There is no difference between FedEx pickup on Friday or Saturday, both get delivered on Monday.

Anyway, I staggered off into the night, or rather straight to Virgin, because I knew that the only thing that would make me feel better would be shopping and buying and spending and getting and owning and keeping and having.

Besides, Billy Bragg is at Irving next week, and I want to get the new album before then. Of course, I got other stuff, too. And I would like to know since when did buying four albums mean spending $80? Seriously, what's up with that shit? They were having a "Three Albums For $25 Sale", but it really should have been named the "Crap That Nobody Wants For $25 Sale", or the "CDs You Already Have For $25 Sale", or possibly the "Definitely No Bluegrass, Folk or Irish Rock For $25 Sale". Thus, I spent $80.

In addition to Billy's new album (yes, I got what I came for!), I picked up The Planxty Collection that I heard about on that Irish music special that was on Bravo on St. Patrick's Day, Brad Paisley's Who Needs Pictures, and Songs of Seduction, an Alan Lomax album of dirty English and Irish folk songs.

Everything, folk, country and celtic, was down in the basement ghetto with the jazz, but there's not only alot more room down there, there are also alot fewer people standing around in the way. Not to mention the fact that I'm still a little embarrassed to be seen looking at country albums. Bluegrass is niche-y and cool, folk is hip, country is just neither--in New York city, country cds are browsed with redder faces than the porn section of the video store.

Johnny Cash is the only cool thing that you can buy in the country section, or at least it's the only one that everyone knows is cool. Nobody knows that Brad Paisley is cool, but he is, I swear! Totally cool! Real rootsy!

I never knew that I cared so much about what people thought until I started buying the occasional album with a picture of someone in a cowboy hat on the front.

On my way to the van, I stopped at HMV, because I wanted to get another album from a group that I discovered on the Bravo special, but I couldn't remember the name of the group, only of the song, and they don't have any MUZE machines in Virgin. And they certainly don't have any employees down in the basement ghetto.

So I went to HMV and checked for the song, "National Express", and it turned out to be by Divine Comedy, and the album I was looking for was this one. That they didn't have at HMV. So I got A.I., which was on sale for $10 off instead.

And then, having spent $100, I was okay again. All I needed was a little shopping and buying and spending and getting and owning and keeping and having, that's all.

O, and when I got home I put on the Songs of Seduction album, which, to put it mildly, was absolutely awful. And I worship Alan Lomax, I really do! These albums are amazing! But there is a big difference between field recordings made in the American south of traditional blues and field recordings made in Britain of traditional folk songs. The former sounds powerful and moving, the latter, cheap and crappy.

And I love traditional British folk! But I guess I love it more when it's not sung a capella by some old man in his sitting room. Maybe I'll try it again another time when I'm not so tired.

Lenten entries missed:

Quinn, well, Quinn has unlinkable entries, so let's just saw that she kept growing and learning and making noises and stuff. Also, proving that her parents are the two silliest people alive. Not that this is a bad thing, she'll love it when she's 8, she'll want to disown them when she's 15, and she'll love it again when she's 30.

Today's horoscope:
Leisure themes are mixed between an inward, private focus and an emphasis on friends and groups. Blend solitary and social needs.

One year ago today:
It is the Curse of 6 April.

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Last Updated Sun 7 April 03:34:09 2002