random truths – Day 1,078 (Tuesday) – adulting awards

Adulting occurred today. This probably isn’t shocking news to anyone who knows me. I can adult with the best of the super responsible, boring-arse, working stiffs who participate in capitalistic society in all the ways available – providing labor, collecting a paycheck, paying taxes, and attempting to have a good night’s sleep to be sufficiently energized to do it all over again, day after day, year after year.

During the paid labor portion of the day, there was an unfortunate and excessive level of frustration related to technology. As an adolescent, my reaction would likely have been to break something. I was once so mad at Dad that I took one of my beloved navy blue clogs with the solid wood sole and spiked it into my bedroom floor like a football, cracking the length of the shoe. I'm  more settled now and understand the concept of replacement cost as it relates to my wallet.

As a responsible adult, more productive reactions to stress have been cultivated. Today, there were majorly annoying periods of computer lag, frozen programs, and mysterious program shutdowns. The remedy to the frustration was a trip outside to the fresh air that was filled with delicate falling snow all day. There was some angry ice chopping conducted at the front stairs and around the two frozen downspouts. This was tackled with a plastic snow shovel, the whole time wishing I had the ice chopper Dad had when I was a kid and wondering how much longer the shovel will hold out after this level of abuse.  

Ice melt was liberally sprinkled. And I finally got smart and plugged in the system that runs along the roof edge and through the gutters to melt the ice and get things moving, like a downspout enema. 

I also ate the entire box of adventurefuls^TM Girl Scout cookies as dessert after a reasonably light and healthy homemade soup lunch. This specific tactic for dealing with stress and frustration came with a load of guilt commensurate to the calorie count of the box. There should be a Scout badge awarded for this level of skill. 

At the conclusion of the paid labor portion of the day, the tax return filing was completed. It was started in January, then set aside until last night with the plan to finish tonight. Recent emails proclaiming “Last day to save” from Turbotax and “Save $10 when you pay with Paypal” were appropriate motivators to get it done. It certainly wasn’t the promise of a nice fat refund check.

The days of tax refunds sufficient to inspire splurges on luxuries like dinner with friends or maybe a weekend trip seemed to disappear a couple years ago. Last year’s filing yielded a most generous federal refund of $5. Tonight’s filing required a payment of $21. Each of these filings caused thoughts along the lines of “What in the actual bloody hell?”

And it’s done for another year. Yet another skill worthy of an embroidered badge. With the gutters unfrozen and the taxes filed, and no badges in sight, it looks like it's corn chips for supper in the homestyle perpetuation of life’s system of rewards.