Unsolicited Advice

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to my support from the bottom of my heart. The way I grew up taught me that help does not exist, and every time I get it, I'm surprised all over again.  I did finally lose patience with the people who were dicking around instead of getting me a new contract. I've done ad hoc work for them in the past, without getting the contract in advance, but previously they have always 1) handed me the standard contract when I walked in for the gig, and 2) paid me in full and on time. As they cannot manage either of those anymore, I have a lot less tolerance for lollygagging. Essentially, they emailed me for something and I responded, in polite business-speak, "I'd love to help you but I don't technically work there right now. I've been reminding you for more than two months that my contract was going to run out, and that I would need a new one. And lo, for my contract has run out, and nobody got me a new one. Fix it and I&

I really didn't fucking want to do this. But.  GFM: https://gofund.me/fe36afd2   Venmo: https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2448728627609600559&created=1643930446   PayPal: https://paypal.me/UnsolicitedAdvice?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US   Why?  Roommate #1 is moving out at the end of the month.  Roommate #2 is in the hospital.  Roommate #3 has been in the hospital recently, and is not right now, but is also not working because mostly bedbound so might be again soon.  Job on which I was barely supporting myself switched to an extremely sketch direct deposit service, which has now failed to pay me on time TWICE.  Same job also just canceled a week of work and cut my hours by 2/3rds and didn't tell me until less than a week before I expected to be back in.  Which is kind of moot right now, because after more than two months of reminding them that my contract was ending and I would need a new one, my contracte has ended and they have not given me a new one. But they do keep emai

The single biggest problem in my life is a lack of money. I live well below the poverty line. I do contract work, as health permits. One missed paycheck is a disaster. In August, my biggest contract missed a paycheck. (Several, actually. They had four outstanding invoices, of which they now have managed to pay three. And I have turned in two more since then, so we'll see how they do on that.) Their new direct deposit service is a dumpster fire; they had to ask for my bank info twice, their estimate of when the money will be in my account is optimistic by several days, and somehow one week they just... didn't send money. Just, none. I told them this was not okay, and they agreed, but agreement that the situation sucks is not the same as money . Several things bounced. My bank is nice about giving you a business day to reconcile whatever is going on, but there was no way to get it fixed that fast. I am out almost $200 in NSF fees from an accumulation of small transactions that hi

I hate waking up. Back when alarm clocks were their own objects, and mine sat on the table next to my bed, it woke me up in a dead panic every single morning. I wasn't dreading what I had to do that day; I hadn't gotten that far yet. It was just a loud sudden noise that catapulted me out of a sound sleep, usually slightly earlier than my body wanted. I didn't bother mentioning it to anyone. I had already had it banged into my head that help didn't exist, and any attempt to ask for it were just going to annoy people. I tend to sleep with some kind of media running. Silence spooks me. It feels like the world has disappeared and left me behind. I'm pretty sure that was the plot to a Twilight Zone episode. If there's a voice going while I'm trying to wake up, especially if it sounds authoritative, like a news anchor, my brain interprets it as an emergency bulletin. The worst is come to pass. It's finally happening. The bombs are dropping. I assume a lot of p