The Money Hemorrhage Continues in New Beginnings

I’m a fairly spend thrift person, partly because of my inherent personality and partly because of my experiences being unemployed. I stick to a sensible budget that includes treats like eating out and the occasional movie rental, but I only make significant purchases when circumstances absolutely necessitate it. Case in point, my desktop computer died perhaps a month ago. I diagnosed the problem as the hard drive. It makes sense seeing as how I build the PC 7 years ago, so the fact that the only part I’ve had to swap out was the motherboard is kind of impressive.

I decided I should buy a replacement hard drive and upgrade a few other parts while I was doing so. I later decided, after much deliberation, to hold off on upgrading the CPU. After all, I had to buy some incidental accessories for my road bike, (a helmet, car rack, tire pump, etc.). Individually, they weren’t expensive, but they added up to a considerable amount, and I figured I could wait until the supply shortage on electronics ends before making that purchase.

Sure enough, as soon as I made that splurge, another heaping pile of surprise expenses got dumped on me. I mentioned in my last entry how I had a growing pond in my front yard. I asked my town’s water department to look at it, and the technician said that the leak was too far from the street to be the city’s responsibility. I called a plumber to look at it, and he said that my water meter wasn’t running, so there couldn’t be a leak. He offered to dig it up and investigate further, but cautioned he would have to charge me. When he then suggested it might be my sewage line, I declined his labor and called the city back to for a follow up visit. I figured I might as well know what the problem is before making any decisions. The city technician said my sewer line was perfect and that if my water line wasn’t leaking, the issue might be a natural spring had worked its way to the surface. He suggested we test the water for being potable, and that was the last I heard from him.

On Monday of the following week, I received a call from my city water department informing me that my house was using an excessive amount of water. When the representative said I was consuming 46 gallons an hour (!) I about collapsed. I called the plumber back urging him to dig up the water line and repair it as soon as he could. When he reinvestigated it a day later, he discovered that it was my irrigation line that was leaking, not my water line. In case you’re wondering what’s the difference, the irrigation line services inground sprinkler system that came with my house, not my indoor plumbing. Unfortunately, the plumber wasn’t qualified to repair that line for reasons unbeknownst to me, but he was able to shut the line off.

The entire time I’m thinking: Why wasn’t this checked the first time I called any of you?! I’m not a plumber! I don’t know! If you tell me that the water line isn’t leaking, I’m not going to think, “are there any other lines that might be leaking.” Thankfully, he didn’t charge me for that visit.

I found a plumbing service that could repair the irrigation line, but the fellow said it would be a few weeks before they could schedule a repair, and the rate would be $150 an hour. Combine that with the $300 water bill I got for September and however much October’s bill may be, and I can’t help but feel a bit nauseated.

Also, I got T-boned by a deer last night. I was driving back from the gym around 10:30 PM, when the b@stard beast bounded out of the woods to my left and right into the side of my car. She left a very sizable dent in my front driver’s side panel and ripped the casing off my side mirror. Now, I need to take my car to a body shop for that repair. I’ll take it in for an estimate on Monday, but they won’t be able to fix it until the 17th. I didn’t kill the deer, if your wondering, but I sort of wish I did after I saw the damage. The blasted animal sprinted out of the woods like she was gunning for me. I’m presuming she was a female since she didn’t have any antlers. I suppose I should be happy nothing worse happened. Apparently, deer kill the most people in North America by virtue of causing car accidents. I’m still tempted to take up
hunting for revenge purposes.

I also quit Jiu Jitsu after over 6 years. My shoulder just wasn’t taking to resuming the activity very well. I’d feel fine, go to class, wake up the next day with severe pain that would reside after about a week, return to class, then rinse and repeat. I tell myself it’s just temporary. With enough time to rest and recover, I can take it back up in the future. A certain part of me says that I’m just thinking wishfully. Now I worry I’m going to have a pile of gis (Jiu Jitsu uniforms) and a four-stripe blue belt hanging in my closet, forever reminding me of yet another aspiration I didn’t see to fruition.

Whenever something bad, or a collection of bad things, happens, I often wonder if God is punishing me for something. That’s what my mom so often would say in regard to whatever trial she was facing. I wonder if this is punishment for how I hurt Erica and failed in that relationship. Or maybe I’m being punished for how bitter and resentful I became towards God when my career aspirations fell a part and I found myself working at a job I hated.

I think I’ve learned a key to combatting that despair; namely, gratitude. If my current problems stem from how I failed with Erica, then I should be grateful for the discipline that’ll shape me into a better man. If they are related to my attitude from when I worked at Imerys, I can be grateful for this retest to show how much I’ve learned. God took my professional goals from me and became spiteful. Now he’s taken my physical goals from me, but if I relinquish them with trust, I’ll show that I’ve developed a degree of spiritual maturity I previously lacked. Of course, I can also focus on being grateful for everything a I still have: plenty of food, mostly good health, gainful employment in a job I enjoy. Maybe this circumstance is temporary, not unlike my unemployment. In 2011, I was unemployed and living with my dad. A few years later, I had a well-paying, if increasingly demoralizing job, and I had bought and paid off my first condo. I’ve seen how things can turn around. I just need to be patient and keep making wise and honorable choices in the meantime. Maybe in a few years, my body will be sufficiently restored, and I can return to Jiu Jitsu, and I’ll be on my way to a black belt. I realize it’s not guaranteed, but while there are no guarantees, that doesn’t mean there is no hope.

Last updated October 27, 2021