Finally, some resolution, at least in terms of my identity. It seems I am who I thought I was and EDD is agreeing with me. It doesn't mean they have figured out if I am getting unemployment benefits but at least they have acknowledged that I exist in my name and SSN. That's a start.
I talked to them on Friday, I will talk to them tomorrow, on Monday. In the meantime I am trying to put these jobs that keep biting my ankles on the back burner. Or, to confuse metaphors even more, I am trying to make the job offers less like offers and more like small plate items. I want some of them but I don't want the big bites they want me to take. I want a nibbling job. Three days a week with three months off for the winter. It's a pipe dream (and I ain't sucking no pipe here, let's be clear on that) that might happen or might not. I don't care. Something will come about.
There are places I want to go to in December and January and a job would get in the way of that. But money is necessary. Without a retirement package and without any sort of net, I can't afford NOT to work. But emotionally, psychologically and physically, I can't afford to work full time for much longer. I have been working straight on for more than 50 years. I am tired of it.
At least the State of California how recognizes me as a tax paying person. Let's see where they go with that.
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Sunday, September 17, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Sam Shepard
I thought I had written a post about Sam Shepard. It appears that did not happen. Tonight I watched "Don't Come Knocking" on Amazon, a movie with Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, and as you know, they were married for many years.
I searched for movies with Sam Shepard and this one came up. I knew nothing about it, but as I was watching it, I knew it had to have been written by Sam and/or directed by him. It's about fathers and sons and wives and daughters. Shepard wrote about those relationships almost exclusively. He didn't write about the mountains or fishing or living and dying without the clouds of father-son-family covering everything. When the movie ended, I saw that it was directed by Wim Wenders, screenplay by Sam Shepard and story by Wenders and Shepard. Duh. Figures. Wenders and Shepard, great combo.
The movie is slow but the last 30 minutes are stunning. The last 30 minutes are the point, and that's how many of Shepard's plays/movies are. You watch, you wait, you go get another glass of wine, you wonder..... and then you are blown away. The emotion, the honesty in the universal words of relationships, the slap in the face of the reveal.
Sam Shepard wrote, produced and performed in many plays in SF at the Magic Theater at Fort Mason. I know John and I saw at least one of his plays, and maybe more. Shepard was a brilliant writer, producer, director and actor.
He was also amazingly sexy. He wasn't Hollywood handsome and he had crooked teeth but he moved and held himself in such a way that the viewer (at least this one) got the gift he gave: be yourself, be bold, be brazen and be balls-up sexy. He did, he had it, we wanted it. Without hesitation, I can say that Sam Shepard, with his rugged face and his gap-tooth smile, was sexier than George Clooney on Clooney's best day. And I can get a dozen women to agree. And I love George Clooney and he is sexy as hell. Same with Ryan Gosling. Shepard put them all on Little League teams in the sexy category. Go figure.
I will miss his writing and his occasional forays into current movies. Watch "Cold in July" and tell me you aren't freaked out by Sam standing next to the car, suddenly appearing, silently, like a cypher. But not being scary, just scaring you by his presence. And there are more, but find them for yourselves. He has power on the screen.
He was only 73, Sam died from complications from "Lou Gehrig's" disease, he left us too soon. But he left us with a lot to read, to watch, to ponder. Find his work, read, watch, think and be amazed at his incredible mind. Well, yes, and his persona.
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I searched for movies with Sam Shepard and this one came up. I knew nothing about it, but as I was watching it, I knew it had to have been written by Sam and/or directed by him. It's about fathers and sons and wives and daughters. Shepard wrote about those relationships almost exclusively. He didn't write about the mountains or fishing or living and dying without the clouds of father-son-family covering everything. When the movie ended, I saw that it was directed by Wim Wenders, screenplay by Sam Shepard and story by Wenders and Shepard. Duh. Figures. Wenders and Shepard, great combo.
The movie is slow but the last 30 minutes are stunning. The last 30 minutes are the point, and that's how many of Shepard's plays/movies are. You watch, you wait, you go get another glass of wine, you wonder..... and then you are blown away. The emotion, the honesty in the universal words of relationships, the slap in the face of the reveal.
Sam Shepard wrote, produced and performed in many plays in SF at the Magic Theater at Fort Mason. I know John and I saw at least one of his plays, and maybe more. Shepard was a brilliant writer, producer, director and actor.
He was also amazingly sexy. He wasn't Hollywood handsome and he had crooked teeth but he moved and held himself in such a way that the viewer (at least this one) got the gift he gave: be yourself, be bold, be brazen and be balls-up sexy. He did, he had it, we wanted it. Without hesitation, I can say that Sam Shepard, with his rugged face and his gap-tooth smile, was sexier than George Clooney on Clooney's best day. And I can get a dozen women to agree. And I love George Clooney and he is sexy as hell. Same with Ryan Gosling. Shepard put them all on Little League teams in the sexy category. Go figure.
I will miss his writing and his occasional forays into current movies. Watch "Cold in July" and tell me you aren't freaked out by Sam standing next to the car, suddenly appearing, silently, like a cypher. But not being scary, just scaring you by his presence. And there are more, but find them for yourselves. He has power on the screen.
He was only 73, Sam died from complications from "Lou Gehrig's" disease, he left us too soon. But he left us with a lot to read, to watch, to ponder. Find his work, read, watch, think and be amazed at his incredible mind. Well, yes, and his persona.
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Black hole of unemployment, Part 3
Still no resolution on my lost identity. Still no unemployment benefits, no money, no time frame for when money might be available. Still in limbo. But I am also still hopeful that I will be given a new identity, a new SSN, a new photo on my new drivers license, maybe from a different state, like from Kansas or South Dakota. I am tired of my persona, of my 67 year old identifying marks, of my face, my hair, my clothes. Give me something else, State of California, or give me back my Fucking Regular Identity and pay me my Fucking Unemployment Benefits, you fucking bureaucratic nightmare!
Maybe cursing and swearing will help. I know it always helps me.
Sail on.
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Maybe cursing and swearing will help. I know it always helps me.
Sail on.
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Thursday, September 7, 2017
Why is it when you just want to sit back and collect unemployment (for my lost identity) job offers keep coming your way? CRAZY!!!
Seriously, I have three job interviews lined up for the next week, and no matter what I say on the phone, these callers are not deterred. I ask what it pays, I ask what the schedule is, I tell them I have a current part time job, I tell them that I hate people, that I loathe computers, that I am illiterate, that I am always late and that I am deaf and blind (kidding about that) and they don't care. They still want me to come in for an interview, to meet with the "person in charge." It's just bizarre.
My working theory has always been that if you are invited to an interview, you need to go. It's just part of the process and if it leads to nowhere, that's fine. One place almost offered me the job before meeting me and I emailed them a really nice "you know, the swing shift isn't going to work for me and I might need to have knee surgery in the winter so I appreciate your interest but I have to say "No thanks" and they still asked me to come by to see the property! Which I will do because this is a place that is in Guerneville called Auto Camp and it's 20 Airstream trailers tricked out to be overnight lodging. I have followed this story for the past year and I want to see the place, so even though I made it clear I didn't want the job, they invited me to come and check it out! And they said, in the email, "There might be a position for you in the future, and we are looking forward to meeting you." So I will go, of course. Who knows what will happen. I love Airstreams, so why not check it out?
So, basically, go figure. Crazy times. I know my resume is stellar in the hospitality industry and I give good phone, but it still cracks me up that people want to meet me and see if their job can appeal to me. And the pay, for some, is decent, not great, but better than I was getting at the Olea Hotel.
As these things progress, I will let you know what happens. For now, it's a lark. One of the interviews next week is at a really high-end place about 20 minutes from here, and I am considering wearing flip-flops and cut-offs to the "interview" and seeing what happens. I probably won't. But I want to!
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My working theory has always been that if you are invited to an interview, you need to go. It's just part of the process and if it leads to nowhere, that's fine. One place almost offered me the job before meeting me and I emailed them a really nice "you know, the swing shift isn't going to work for me and I might need to have knee surgery in the winter so I appreciate your interest but I have to say "No thanks" and they still asked me to come by to see the property! Which I will do because this is a place that is in Guerneville called Auto Camp and it's 20 Airstream trailers tricked out to be overnight lodging. I have followed this story for the past year and I want to see the place, so even though I made it clear I didn't want the job, they invited me to come and check it out! And they said, in the email, "There might be a position for you in the future, and we are looking forward to meeting you." So I will go, of course. Who knows what will happen. I love Airstreams, so why not check it out?
So, basically, go figure. Crazy times. I know my resume is stellar in the hospitality industry and I give good phone, but it still cracks me up that people want to meet me and see if their job can appeal to me. And the pay, for some, is decent, not great, but better than I was getting at the Olea Hotel.
As these things progress, I will let you know what happens. For now, it's a lark. One of the interviews next week is at a really high-end place about 20 minutes from here, and I am considering wearing flip-flops and cut-offs to the "interview" and seeing what happens. I probably won't. But I want to!
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Black hole of unemployment, Part 2
After an hour of calling and recalling EDD this morning, I finally was lucky enough to be put on the "we'll call you back" list. You don't get put on that list, it seems, if there are too many people waiting in line in front of you. Once on that call-back list, I only had to wait 12 minutes for someone to return my call. It only took an hour to get on that list.
All my EDD information is in some kind of bureaucratic limbo because they cannot verify my identity. Why my identity is in question is still vague, my questions are still unanswered. Supposedly in 7 to 10 days they will have an answer for me. By then I will either be Julia Garagliano or maybe I will be someone else with some other identity. Perhaps that will be a good thing, I am a bit tired of this old persona and a new one might be an invigorating change. Whoever/whatever is currently Julia Garagliano can have that old identity, and I will take a new one. Sort of like a virtual Witness Protection Program.
I can hardly wait.
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All my EDD information is in some kind of bureaucratic limbo because they cannot verify my identity. Why my identity is in question is still vague, my questions are still unanswered. Supposedly in 7 to 10 days they will have an answer for me. By then I will either be Julia Garagliano or maybe I will be someone else with some other identity. Perhaps that will be a good thing, I am a bit tired of this old persona and a new one might be an invigorating change. Whoever/whatever is currently Julia Garagliano can have that old identity, and I will take a new one. Sort of like a virtual Witness Protection Program.
I can hardly wait.
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Sunday, September 3, 2017
"20th Century Women"
Quick review of this movie with Annette Bening, one of my favorite actors. It wasn't what I expected. It's touted as a story of a single mother raising her son who is about 15, and she is about 55, and she "enlists the help of two younger women in his upbringing." Well, fine. The two younger women are living out the 1979-1980's lifestyle of lots of sex and little else. Not bad, but that's not really what you want for your 15 year old. Or I guess it could be, but Mom gets a little freaky about it after a while because she was expecting them to provide more thoughtful industry for her young lad. They had other ideas, of course.
This movie is really just about Annette Bening and how amazing she is. Her character, Dorothea, isn't likeable too often, but if you are a fan you don't really care. It is simply so cool to watch her, watch her face, her expressions, her shrugs of derision, her haughty smirks, the vulnerability in her face, how she delivers her lines like a shark one moment and then like a ghost or next time like a purring kitten and then suddenly like a witch. She amazes me. And she has the worst hair and clothes ever but they work, somehow. This movie is a showcase for her and for that reason alone you should watch it.
The really odd thing is that the character that Bening plays is only 4 years younger than my Mom would have been at that time and in absolutely no way is there any resemblance at all. None, zero, zip. My mother in no way was aware of the Woman's Movement, of Feminism, of freedom. At least that's what I remember as a kid. My Mom had six kids by the time she was 37. The movie character has one kid when she is 40. Huge difference. But I was reminded over and over what that meant in terms of how a woman viewed herself then. My Mom didn't have time to view herself. Bening's character had the luxury of worrying about her one child's formative years and wanted to make sure he turned out OK. In many ways, that's just a fairy tale of a life.
Oh, I could go on but I won't. It's a good movie, but I am not sure it's a movie that men would like. But I am not sure it's a movie that a lot of women would like either. I guess it's not a hugely likeable movie, but I did sort of like it while being a bit pissed about it at the same time. I would like to hear someone else's opinion. Anyone????
Bottom line, I loved watching Annette Bening and I would watch her in anything, anytime, so I came into it on the side of positive prejudice in that regard. The rest of the cast is fine, Billy Crudup is great as a hippy sort of handyman fuck buddy, but he is always good. Not as stellar as Bening, however.
OK, enough. Over and out.
This movie is really just about Annette Bening and how amazing she is. Her character, Dorothea, isn't likeable too often, but if you are a fan you don't really care. It is simply so cool to watch her, watch her face, her expressions, her shrugs of derision, her haughty smirks, the vulnerability in her face, how she delivers her lines like a shark one moment and then like a ghost or next time like a purring kitten and then suddenly like a witch. She amazes me. And she has the worst hair and clothes ever but they work, somehow. This movie is a showcase for her and for that reason alone you should watch it.
The really odd thing is that the character that Bening plays is only 4 years younger than my Mom would have been at that time and in absolutely no way is there any resemblance at all. None, zero, zip. My mother in no way was aware of the Woman's Movement, of Feminism, of freedom. At least that's what I remember as a kid. My Mom had six kids by the time she was 37. The movie character has one kid when she is 40. Huge difference. But I was reminded over and over what that meant in terms of how a woman viewed herself then. My Mom didn't have time to view herself. Bening's character had the luxury of worrying about her one child's formative years and wanted to make sure he turned out OK. In many ways, that's just a fairy tale of a life.
Oh, I could go on but I won't. It's a good movie, but I am not sure it's a movie that men would like. But I am not sure it's a movie that a lot of women would like either. I guess it's not a hugely likeable movie, but I did sort of like it while being a bit pissed about it at the same time. I would like to hear someone else's opinion. Anyone????
Bottom line, I loved watching Annette Bening and I would watch her in anything, anytime, so I came into it on the side of positive prejudice in that regard. The rest of the cast is fine, Billy Crudup is great as a hippy sort of handyman fuck buddy, but he is always good. Not as stellar as Bening, however.
OK, enough. Over and out.
My current journey down the black hole of unemployment
On Tuesday, August 29 I filed online for unemployment, since I no longer work at the Olea Hotel. On Friday, September 1 I received a letter from EDD (the California unemployment office) telling me that they could not confirm my identity, to make sure the Social Security number they listed was mine (it was) and to send them six out of the following ten items of identification. They indicated that perhaps my identity had been compromised.
On Saturday morning, September 2, I took to the the post office the six pieces of identifying items, in the envelope they provided, and mailed it to EDD. That afternoon I received from EDD the notice of my benefits, which are ZERO, and that the earnings from the past year were ZERO, and that my claim for these zero benefits would expire in a year.
Nice. Zero benefits. Now, of course there is something amiss with this. When I filed online I was required to enter my earnings for many quarters of 2016 and for some of 2017. I dutifully did so. Somehow all that information has magically disappeared.
And here's another tricky bit of information: when I filed online, I was also required to enter a user name and a password and an email address. I did, but I had to change the password since it had been 8 years since I filed last. I wrote down the user name and the password because they require you to use numbers, caps, characters and I knew I would not remember all that. I also wrote down my claim number. Today I could not access my account with that user name or password and the system said my email address was not valid.
Sigh. In some fashion I have been hacked or have fallen through the cracks or something. I tried pulling a free credit report but they won't provide it online, and I have no printer and thus no way to print it out. But the questions they asked were very bizarre and I had to answer NO to all of them. In other words, all the questions they asked about credit or bank cards I had ("Did you open a credit card account in June of 2014 with one of these companies?") were not valid.
I will call EDD on Tuesday, of course, and try to get to the library or someplace where I can print out the credit reports and see if someone is using my name and SSN. Maybe that's not the case, maybe it is. I have no idea.
Combined with the End of Days heat we are having, it's no wonder I spent an hour looking at used RVs, fighting the desire to get in a car and just leave.
More to follow. Maybe.
.
On Saturday morning, September 2, I took to the the post office the six pieces of identifying items, in the envelope they provided, and mailed it to EDD. That afternoon I received from EDD the notice of my benefits, which are ZERO, and that the earnings from the past year were ZERO, and that my claim for these zero benefits would expire in a year.
Nice. Zero benefits. Now, of course there is something amiss with this. When I filed online I was required to enter my earnings for many quarters of 2016 and for some of 2017. I dutifully did so. Somehow all that information has magically disappeared.
And here's another tricky bit of information: when I filed online, I was also required to enter a user name and a password and an email address. I did, but I had to change the password since it had been 8 years since I filed last. I wrote down the user name and the password because they require you to use numbers, caps, characters and I knew I would not remember all that. I also wrote down my claim number. Today I could not access my account with that user name or password and the system said my email address was not valid.
Sigh. In some fashion I have been hacked or have fallen through the cracks or something. I tried pulling a free credit report but they won't provide it online, and I have no printer and thus no way to print it out. But the questions they asked were very bizarre and I had to answer NO to all of them. In other words, all the questions they asked about credit or bank cards I had ("Did you open a credit card account in June of 2014 with one of these companies?") were not valid.
I will call EDD on Tuesday, of course, and try to get to the library or someplace where I can print out the credit reports and see if someone is using my name and SSN. Maybe that's not the case, maybe it is. I have no idea.
Combined with the End of Days heat we are having, it's no wonder I spent an hour looking at used RVs, fighting the desire to get in a car and just leave.
More to follow. Maybe.
.
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