I feel like I need to make a list since things started going amiss a week ago. There’s just SO MUCH and if I wasn’t so angry it’d be comical.
Tues 9/15 – Heather’s car starts acting up, we limp into Toledo just past 6pm which is when all the shops close. We make an appointment for the next morning – my mother’s house has been on the market for 24 hours and we have started to get bids at list price. I choose to accept the first one that meets list, but my brother only sends a “thumbs up” emoji in response.
Wed 9/16 – if the repair was done by noon we could make it to Pittsburgh for our show, but car shop quotes 5 days and $5000 to replace the catalytic converter, but we find another shop that quotes $2600 by end of day. If that holds true and we get out of Toledo tomorrow morning by 8.30 am we can make our gig in Catonsville. We start getting above list price offers on my mom’s house, which is excellent, but my brother can’t sign the paperwork due to timing. Kristen gets a text from our Nextdoor Upstairs Neighbour about lots of thumping noises and wonders if we’re back home already? Our catsitter reports lots of thumping noises from next door.
Thurs 9/17 – they get the car done by noon but immediately call us back to the shop because they forgot something. Mechanic doesn’t put the emergency brake on and knocks the car into gear, stalling it out and smacking himself with car door, nearly running himself over. “No-one to blame but myself” he says, which is good. But that could’ve really sucked. We accept an offer on my mother’s house as we cross through Western Pennsylvania and closing is scheduled for next Friday. My computer cuts off mysteriously back home at 2pm but I’ve got all the paperwork on my laptop and can file everything before the battery dies. Meanwhile, Kristen is negotiating the release of a bunch of drums from customs to the tune of a $900 tariff. Nextdoor UPSTAIRS Neighbour reports that Nextdoor DOWNSTAIRS Neighbour has gone kinda nuts and is wrecking the lower floors of the house.
Fri 9/18 – I try to get pills to my mother in Ellicott City, as usual she refuses to answer the phone, isn’t awake by 11am, isn’t really cogent when I wake her up. I’m informed that my father’s name is still on the house deed and I need to get death certificates to prove that he’s dead. I see I can order them online, go through that process, upon payment they say “thank you, expected processing time is between 1-2 or 25-28 business days”. That won’t work. I schedule an appointment with the department of records. The earliest appointment they have is in 2 weeks. That won’t work. I drive back to my mother’s and go through her records and find one… last… copy of my dad’s death certificate! While I was doing that, our bank has emailed the titling company showing that the death certificate was on file and everything’s recorded correctly. Meanwhile, the titling company is checking with legal to see if it’s okay for my brother, who Lives in Belgium, to sign the paperwork digitally, which he has done for every other single thing.
We go play a gig. They’ve moved all the tables around wiping out seating in front of the band which makes it feel like no-one’s there for us, but it’s fine. We get to the end of the gig but due to reorganization within the venue they can’t pay us tonight, they need to mail us a check. This is less fine.
Sat 9/19 – Fantastic gig at Ellicott City Main Street Festival. Everything is just as good as it could be. Our monitor mixes suck, but we don’t let that stop us! Upstairs Nextdoor Neigbour tells us Downstairs Nextdoor Neighbour is missing.
Sun 9/20 – a catchup day. I get a lot of work done but my computer randomly cuts off twice. Kristen wakes up with a fever but still goes and plays her gig, coming home absolutely exhausted, so we’re NOT in the mood as her father calls complaining about his usual facial pain and various gastrointestinal issues and how he doesn’t want to go to the hospital. She cuts him off as I receive a phone call from David complaining about the store. Her father calls ME instead. I tell him firmly that if this is a medical emergency he needs to call 911, but I’m not interested in having a conversation with him about all these things as I’m a musician and not a doctor. He calls back one more time and I’m very clear, I’m sorry he’s having a hard night, we’ve had one too. He calls Kristen back and leaves a message that he’s going to “push his pendant” (informing the front desk staff that he needs help), leaves another message saying he’s gonna do it… and we later receive the call that he’s been taken to the hospital. We watch test results roll in all night “negative” “negative” “negative”… My watch crashed again and I again am horrified that I Live in a world where that’s possible.
Mon 9/21 – My computer continues to fail off and on but mostly off. Looks like I’m going to have to replace the power supply, but it stays on through a video render and a bunch of other heavy lifting so I forget about it. There’s a LOT of thumping from next door. Upstairs Next Door Neighbour tells us that Downstairs Next Door Neighbour is back and ripping the electrical wiring out of the walls and has knocked out the power to the house looking for listening devices. DNDN has begun posting on Facebook for the first time in years: pictures of random things she’s ripped out of the walls asking for people to identify them. Police and landlord are called. Police declare it “a civil problem” and leave. She settles down after a while and wanders the backyard aligning mirrors and furniture in the rain. We don’t receive an answer to any of the house titling problems because it’s a holiday. Bill is still in the hospital, all tests point to anxiety for which he refuses to be medicated.
Tues 9/22 –Computer won’t stay on. Looking at power supplies. Everything is quiet next door. Bill’s going to be released today having had ALL the tests. I break a knife in the kitchen and I’m TIRED of things going amiss because now even the little stuff feels like part of some sort of conspiracy. The titling company can’t seem to get their mind around giving us a LIST of materials they need, instead doling things out one email at a time: the POA is okay now. The death certificate has been accepted now. But we need a copy of your mother’s ID. (I have a scan of her driver’s license, no problem), we need a bank statement or voided check. (I have all the routing numbers no problem). It turns out my scan is expired, and we need a BANK STATEMENT, just having the numbers isn’t good enough… I find that for some reason, though my brother can login to her account and download a bank statement (which I ask him to do) I cannot (it later turns out that my brother sent me the wrong login)… I discover that my mother has cut up her driver’s license, and can’t find her passport. I figure I’ll make an appointment for tomorrow at the MVA IF they actually need her ID and not (as I suspect) MY ID since I’M who is actually signing. The notary calls me while I’m on stage at 8.30 at night to clarify some details for a pre-meeting phone call required at 9am….
Wed 9/23 – I’m up EARLY because I have received the new power supply and I’d like to swap it out so we can play the Lair tonight – but the machine still doesn’t power up. FORTUNATELY, in my phone call with the notary it turns out I’m right, the titling company has no need for my mother’s ID. Finally, the signing is taking place but the notary doesn’t realize that our mics won’t work until we’ve finished verification, which George can’t do because he doesn’t have an address in the US and their verification system kicks out his phone number because it has too many digits. We finally get verified, we sign lots of papers, only to realize I’ve made a typo and not included the Y at the end of “power of attorney”. I re-sign half the docs while George catches several errors including PLEASE DON’T MAIL THE TAX DOCUMENTS TO THE PROPERTY BEING SOLD SHE CLEARLY WON’T BE LIVING THERE I swear has the titling company EVER DONE this before?
It’s done. The papers are signed. George calls and he drinks a reasonable amount of rum for almost 6pm while I drink an unreasonable amount of tequila for before noon.
I go downstairs, chew through diagnostics and get my computer up and running by hotwiring it with a screwdriver. This isn’t a long-term solution, but it IS running! However, I’m not in time and we cancel the Lair.
Thurs 9/24 – My mom is diagnosed with mild dementia and early stage Alzheimer’s.
Well fuck. We knew it was coming. Or at least *I* knew it was coming.
Facebook cuts off our ability to post more than 2 links a MONTH. Bandzoogle locks down the Institute of Musical Traditions mailing list because of bullshit proscriptions against “industry and generic emails”. Reverbnation cripples our mailing list functionality and eliminates Facebook connectivity as well as the ability to duplicate previous mailings.
Kristen takes me out for a giant margarita and I am finally radicalized. I’ll figure out what that really means after this weekend.
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