Greetings, and welcome to Monique’s blog.

This is more than a little hypocritical of me, because I’m lousy about checking other people’s blogs. I’m told there’s a way to have blogs you like emailed directly to your Inbox so that you don’t have to go look every day to see if something new has been posted. Perhaps one of you know how to do that and could share the trick with the rest of us in a reply comment to this post?

At any rate, I finally decided to begin this for a few reasons. The first is that over the years my friends have resisted all my efforts to herd them into a commune and stay put for me… so I’m having to improvise a way to form a community. It would be so much easier if you all would give up these silly thoughts like “good schools” and “living near family” and “keeping a job”. Alas, here we all are (or aren’t):  scattered to the ends of the earth. At least no one’s moved to Mars (yet). 

The other issue is that I’ve found over the last couple of years that I’ve quit calling people because I hear myself telling the same stories over and over and I get tired of it. I mean – I appreciate that people care, I do. But sometimes I don’t call because I don’t want to go through it all again – taxes, money, debts… blah, blah, <gag> blah.  If even two people keep up with this blog then that’s two conversations where I can spend my phone minutes hearing about your lives instead of mine, and that’s a win. (Not that my life is bad, in fact, a lot of my legal and financial crap is coming to a close, but we’ll get to that.)

Also, there’s going to be a lot of changes coming up, and I figured if I established a blog before I started moving and changing my contact information, then if you lose track of my phone number you’ll still have a way of getting in touch with me.

In addition to all that, I’ve found that the thing I miss most about my comic store was having a ready crowd of people around to discuss my latest pop culture obsession. So be prepared to hear me geeking or whining about Dollhouse, Watchmen, Terminator, American Idol, Supernatural … etc. It’s what I do, and if you’re reading this, you know that already. J

(Speaking of which, how much of a downer was Supernatural last week? I know!)

<ahem>

So: blog it is, and here’s what’s up with me these days.

I’m still working at Washburn U. I very much like it here. I seem to have an affinity for liberal, over-educated academics – who knew? (Yes, yes, everyone knew that. Got it.) I enjoy the job and the people, though my dislike of Topeka deepens continually. Unfortunately, while my job pays enough for me to keep the utilities paid (All of them! At the same time!), it doesn’t pay enough for me to afford much above subsistence-level expenses, and I’m really tired of being broke all the damn time. 

My bankruptcy was discharged in June of 2008, which means the debts that could be erased were. The bankruptcy is not closed, however. Since the discharge I’ve submitted my 2007 and 2008 taxes to the court trustee, and had I been allowed any refunds, those refunds would have been applied to the debts (Yes, even though they’ve already been discharged. I don’t really get it either.) 

The bankruptcy trustee also has to decide if she’s going to call for the seizure of assets to be sold and applied to the debts. (Yes, even though they’ve been discharged. No, I still don’t get it.) The only assets still under the microscope are my jewelry tools, equipment and inventory. At this point they are trying to decide if I get to keep them, if I have to pay money to keep them (which would then be applied to the – say it with me – already-discharged-debts) or if I have to pack all of it up in boxes and wave it goodbye. I’m hoping this issue is resolved soon, because I’m trying to pack and I’d like to know if it’s going with me or not.

The bankruptcy did not affect the tax debts I have to the state of Kansas or to the IRS. I owe each agency about $20,000. The last couple of months have been rife with the threat of wage garnishment and other legal action; it’s been a hundred kinds of exciting. (Read: scary) It looks like it’s settling down, though, and I should know more next week. 

At this point, the IRS will either classify my account as “Currently Not Collectible”, which means they’ll take no legal action until my status changes – I get a new job, or win the lottery, or sell my house… or they’ll decide that I can pay them a monthly installment and they’ll garnish my wages for that amount. Either way, it’s out of my hands. I should hear back on their final decision by April 14. If they CNC me, then they’ll put a lien on the house.

The state has agreed to accept token payments ($25/month) for a brief period until I sell the house. They put a lien on the house today, I believe.

There’s probably enough equity in the house to cover both tax debts, but if so, then just barely. My current concern is that if there isn’t enough equity in the house to cover both liens then I won’t be able to sell it until there is (both liens would have to be completely satisfied for the sale to proceed and allow the buyer title to the property) which means I’ll have to stay in Topeka, in that house, until the equity builds to the point where it covers the debts, or until I can somehow pay them down enough to get them covered that way. Until this week my worst-case scenario was that I could sell the house, have no proceeds from the sale, and still be in debt. Now it turns out that the worst-case is being stuck, unable to move forward until a couple of years pass. The state of Kansas is not going to change their mind, so my future depends upon the whim of the IRS agent who makes the decision for my account. At this point I’m praying for the wage garnishment, so that I can freely sell the house when it’s ready.

So basically, it all comes down to the house, which I’m now packing and getting ready to sell. Lots and lots of work to do. I’m not a pack rat (and I can say that with authority since I’ve lived with a couple. Mom, wherever you are, I’m talking to you…) but even so, twenty years is a long time to build up crap in a house. It’s amazing, the stuff that’s just … accumulated.

The next order of business then, is selling off the stuff that I no longer want. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the lure of material possessions, and I won’t be taking as much with me as I once would have. As I said, I’ve never been a pack rat, but I’ll be paring down a lot. My rule of thumb, when I’m looking at what to put in the box, is to think about whether I would be willing to carry the box up a flight of apartment stairs at 3 am when the moving van is due the next morning. That measure is causing a lot of stuff to get put in the sale pile. 

I’m also trying not to move anything I can’t lift and carry all by myself. That means most of the furniture is getting sold. The dining room table is already gone, and this week I’ll be posting the queen-size iron bed on Craig’s List as well as in the Topeka Capital-Journal classifieds. After that, the sofa.

“But Monique, where will you be moving to?” I hear you ask. Yes, well, that’s the question, isn’t it?

The answer is simple: I don’t have any friggin’ idea. Yikes.

Once upon a time, and by that I mean three weeks ago, I had the intention of following Tom to grad school. However, Tom and I are no longer Tom-and-I, and now I have to figure out a destination of my own. The good news is that it looks like he and I are going to be able to continue our friendship, which was important to both of us. So far it’s been a little awkward and a little weird, but I think it’s going to work, which makes me very happy.

The bad news is that I’m plan-less. All I know for certain at this point is that I want to get out of Topeka, badly. Everything else is a big blank. However, given the current economy, it isn’t like I can just throw a dart at a U.S. map and assume I’ll get a job when I get there. The idea of leaving a job I like for_____? is a little terrifying. 

Which leads to the obvious solution of staying in Topeka for a bit longer, maybe sign a six-month or one-year lease on an apartment, if the house does sell.  Which makes my skin crawl a little, but … there are merits. I’ve had a lot of change in the last few years, and it would be nice to settle in for a while. Plus, I like my job.  But I'd much rather 'settle in' somewhere else.

In any event, I really can’t make plans until I know what the IRS decides. At some point in the hopefully near future, my fate will be in my hands and not up to some random IRS accountant.  (Though I have to say, the IRS on the whole is not at all the worst agency I've dealt with during this mess.  IRS agents get a bad rap.)

That’s where I am for now, and what’s going on with me. If you’re reading this, write and tell me what’s going on with you. And if you want to start a blog… well, I guess I’ll have to start reading them now.

Monique