Month: December 2015

And After Nearly a Year…

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So I’ve written a lot about the comedy-writing class I’ve been taking, and our show is coming up fast! We now have a title and a poster and everything.

Here it is, thanks to the brilliant work of my classmates:

It’s really happening! All the props are propped, with a few last-minute additions today, and it’s getting pretty exciting. If you’re in the Chicago area, or will be in the Chicago area, come and check it out!

It’s amazing to think that a year ago, I probably hadn’t even considered entering the writing program. As we all know, I’ve had my glitches with it, and I’ve found that this style may not be my style, but I’ve also grown through it. I’ve met people I never would have otherwise known, and it really got me to broaden my relatively narrowed horizons.

Was it a perfect experience? Of course it wasn’t, but then again, nothing is ever a perfect experience. It was an amazing experience, though, and an opportunity for which I am grateful.

Writing ebbs and flows, and sometimes you find yourself working on things that don’t quite fit, and other times the words simply come out. But it’s good to test it, to try something else, because next thing you know, your name might be on a poster somewhere.

But hopefully not a “Wanted” poster. That would be taking this advice entirely the wrong way.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

Happy Health Insurance Ending?

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Yep. Health insurance. Again. I am currently on hold with the insurance company I am trying to pay. It is my third call to them, in essence asking them to take my money.

So far, 28 minutes on hold and counting.

It may not be fair to judge them by this wait time; the last two times I called, I had a short wait in comparison, and it wasn’t Monday morning the day before the application deadline for coverage on January 1. But it sure would be nice if they would take the exorbitant premium off my hands.

Let’s see if I can get a whole blog post written while I’m waiting for someone to answer. Any bets?

When I called before, I was not yet in the system. Hopefully by now I will be. I’m also having visions of hearing this twangy music that goes nowhere for the rest of my life. I’m relatively certain that that is the music in the elevator to hell.

The application process itself was very easy, but now I have to give them money for the policy to go into effect. They have an option that would allow you to wait for them to call you back, allegedly without losing your place in line, but I’m skeptical. And I’ve already invested more than half an hour. Now it’s a battle of wills. Well, maybe the will of the hold system isn’t really involved, but I am determined. Determined, I tell you.

Oooh, it rang through, I’ve paid my premium, and it looks like I’ve got insurance for another year! I have to wait to make sure it posts before cancelling my policy my previous insurer so generously shoved me on after cancelling my decent policy, but it looks like this issue is very nearly resolved.

Phew.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

 

Writer, Meet Health Insurance

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WARNING: Topic ahead is so boring, it may cause entire sections of your brainular region to fall into a vaguely unpleasant catatonic state. Really. Read ahead if you want to, or if you’re having trouble losing consciousness for any particular reason, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Still with me? OK, here we go.

Health insurance.

Yep. Health insurance. What did I tell you? And OK, friends in the UK and other regions of the world who recognize that basic health shouldn’t be a cash lottery for huge corporations who exist solely to take money from one group and prevent giving it to the other, you can stop snickering right now. It’s just not nice.

One of the many, many fun things when you are a writer without employer-provided health insurance is getting health insurance. And when I say fun, I mean fun along the lines of, oh, say, the kind of thing the devil might make up to punish you when he’s not feeling ironic. It’s fun for the devil, at least.

Don’t get me wrong, as a person who was in the individual market before the health care law passed, I recognize that it is easier now, and the insurance, overall is better. But there was really nowhere to go but up.

And insurance companies are still insurance companies. After staring at the plans the hospital I prefer will take, it’s clear it’s like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. It doesn’t matter where you squeeze it, there’s still the same amount in the tube.

Eventually, I will just have to close my eyes and pick one. I’m down to three possibilities, and none of them give me the warm and fuzzies. Each of them getcha in their own special mind-numbing way. I just have to decide how I want to get got.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!