First, I had to get up from a rather shitty night of scattered sleep. This sinus infection rages on! So I had to put that demon aside as I beckoned to the twinkly notes of my phone's alarm, motioning forward to my computer to commence my third week of Disney certification.
During said certification, I was following along with the instructor using the training version of the main software tool we'll be utilizing once "on the floor" and I came across two quirky errors. Like some Arise instructors before her, Tracy made off that it was mere "fiddly dee" stuff attributable to the nature of the training environment. She promised this wouldn't reoccur in production. Oh, we've been told this before two times now and it turned out to be abjectly false. So is Tracy another Arise instructor I shall relegate to the pit I dispose snaky, lying Arise-headed demons? Soon, like in a couple of weeks, I guess we'll know. For now, I place her in the Maybe pile.
I drove into Avon Park to see my old friend Nurse Gonzalez. But not before the waiting room from hell gatekeepers had their way with me. Oh, they're sweet as shit but answer two out of five particular screening questions in the affirmative and you'd think red lights and sirens would be going off all over the place.
That's right, the old Covid healthcare provider screening: Do you have a fever? No. Do you have a cough? No. Do you know if you have had contact with someone affected by Covid recently? No. Do you have a runny nose? Yes. Are you short of breath? Yes.
I clearly told them I was afflicted with some sort of sinus infection, and they're all like: We'll need to let the nurse know about this. Yes, good, I was going to tell her, I'm not hiding anything, I need her to write me a script for antibiotics. Blah, blah, blah is what they heard as they were likely referencing their policy of containment.
Sure enough, even though I told them I just got tested for Covid and was found negative on Sunday, they shunned me to the bench outside (in the Florida early afternoon sun) made me take another test, and wait 15 minutes for the results. 15 minutes of sweating on a hard uncomfortable bench after testing? Of course, negative.
I was allowed to be back in with the normal people now (albeit masked like everyone else) and after another 20 minutes, got ushered to the back and placed in my cell er exam room. Another 20 minutes, Nurse Gonzalez finally came in.
Now she is really genuinely nice and was apologetic about me waiting and talked animatedly and intelligently to me as we devised a plan for combating this infection, applying good measures towards continued weight loss which she says has occurred since my last visit and tackled the question regarding the transition away from the free Glimiperide and onto Jardiance at about $16.50 a month.
Got me some free amoxicillin and Flonase and despite me mumbling early in the horror visit that I'll be seeking out a new provider, just on her I think I'll stay. It may be ghetto, but the caring is what makes the difference.
So, it took a couple of hours but in one afternoon, I struck what should be a final blow to the Sinus Demon, a glancing blow at the Fat Demon and a soon-to-be smack down on the Diabetes Demon. We even chatted a bit about the Ol' Georgie/Mr. Hyde Demon but let's be real, we'll need more than a chat to be rid of his ass...ah well, can't win 'em all.
Next I made my way to one of my banks to make a cash deposit of $500 and who was there but the old Bank Error In Your Favor Card Morality Demon. Yup, different bank, but just like last time, the teller made an error in my favor. A big, blatant one.
After I whooshed my five one-hundred dollar bills and my ID in the air tube thing, it came back, she thanked me and bid me a good day. I opened the tube and lo and behold it contained my ID, a receipt indicating the $500 deposit and the updated balance, and, the FIVE ONE-HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS!
I grabbed it all, put the empty tube back in its cradle, bid her a good day as well, and drove off. But as I was about to enter back onto Rt. 27, I thought about it and figured it wasn't worth it. I drove back, pulled up to the window and waved the bills at her. The other teller made a little bit of a face and the teller at fault thanked me but wasn't over-the-top thrilled about it. Unfortunately, I'd guess the damage for her had already been done. Everything's on camera. Eh, she would have got fired for sure, I guess, if I kept it and they counted the cash at the end of her shift and it was down by $500. Maybe now she'll only get a warning. Oh well, at least I feel good having bested this demon's trap!
I got home and tackled my Insurance Demon. Today is Open Enrollment so I logged on to the Marketplace (ie Obamacare Hookup Central) updated my info and gandered at their offerings. After some intensive compare and contrast, I decided to stay with the same provider with a plan virtually the same as this year's but for half the premium...just around $7.50 a month. Pondered dental plans again this year but frankly even the "higher" premium options all seem like scams. Bam Insurance Demon!
And to perhaps beat the nastiest of them all, the Poverty Demon, I signed my SOW with LiveOps again. This client? Intuit's Turbo Tax. It's basically tech support, with a twist...a camera will be on me and my customers will be able to see me as I commandeer their computer and show them how to use Turbo Tax. (BTW, I kid you not, back in the 90s I had the idea of call center agents on video appearing on the screens of customer's computers. Of course that was pie-in-the-sky shit back then but here we are, and it's a real thing.) The best part though? This client pays about $20 an hour. Doing this and Disney together should be very doable in the 30-hours-a-week schedule I'm envisioning. To be not only in positive cash flow again but with enough to stash away for another rainy day? Zap Poverty Demon!
Of course I gotta deal with the Big Bad Creditors Demons by way of the golden Angel of Bankruptcy still...I'll soon be workin' on it.