Day: July 22, 2010

Glasses: Acquired! Still need to learn how to use contacts.
Taxes: On hold until I speak to an accountant. (T4’s arrived. Completed half the back-filing forms. 2009 needs another double-check.)
Employment: Started JobWave’s unemployment program, missed most of the first week due to illness. Going to make it up next week. Have more minimum wage transcription work. No recent job prospects or call-backs, no upcoming interviews.
School: GED test results arrive in two weeks. Need to research night-school/possible grants. Social Services may pay for a First Aid certificate.
Driving: Plan to sign up for September Young Drivers of Canada classes.
Photography: Updated my Etsy store, A Thread of Grace. Liking the unfinished, rough, new Foxtongue.com. One/two shoot(s) booked for next week.
Cleaning: Room is a post-illness disaster. Laundry is becoming serious as I avoid the required stairs. Boxes of miscellany need to be sorted, tidied, reintegrated into my room. Room need to be sorted, tidied, reintegrated into my room.
Repairs: Computer won’t boot. Coat rack still broken. The antique chest of drawers is missing a handle. Old microwave needs to be recycled. New Craigslist-score countertop dishwasher needs a hose fixed/needs a home in the apartment. Camera card possibly on the fritz.
Health: Still recovering from last week’s super sickness. Also down to only one limb. Right toe still broken, as is, possibly, another bone inside the foot. Right ankle is a useless ruin. Right shoulder still shredded from a car accident. Left arm in a sling, likely strained.
Finances: Currently relying on Social Services, which pays rent +$75. EI claims I owe them $1000+ with a minimum payment of $200. Credit card maxed yesterday on groceries. Other immediate personal debt = $9000. Appox. complete and total debt = $27000.*

*Last year was devoted to working my way into back into the black, grinding away at my debt, and doing very little else. I spent as many hours at work as I could taking small jobs around my nine to five, writing articles until late into the night, no job too small, no task too tiny, and very quietly, with as little fuss as possible, I managed to squeeze my debt down from an impossible fifty-five thousand to a relatively small none thousand. (There’s another sixteen-thousand I owe someone that’s been put on hold). My social life suffered, my stability suffered, and financially, every penny was earned only to be given away. When I was suddenly laid off in December, I had no savings to catch me, except for some that I had already allocated to debt. Since then, every un(der)employed month has been a trial, stressful, agonizing, a battle for basic necessities, and yet, while I am aware that food and shelter come first, the desire to whittle down that elusive final nine to zero still gnaws me to sleep.