Mishaps & Glitches

My internet soul sister recommended this book to me. I ordered it from half.com and was about halfway into it when I discovered a serious problem. Around page 147, deep into character development and in the midst of a sexual tension moment between characters, I flip the page to find that after page 147 came page 215.

Wha?!

Upon further inspection it became very clear that I wouldn't be finishing my book anytime soon. There were forty pages in total missing. Well, forty pages from the end of the book were inserted where forty pages of the middle of the book should have been. Great! I get to read the ending twice but only surmise how the characters got there. Now that's some good reading.

After dealing with some low brow bookseller on half.com (they wouldn't return my email but instead made me call one of 5 numbers to speak to a slow-witted woman who lied through her teeth), I went to our local used bookstore and bought the damn thing for $7.80 plus tax. In an effort to get the book cheap, I ended up purchasing two copies totaling what I would have paid had I purchased it at full price. That'll learn me.

Fucking IRS. (Am I going to now be targeted for some sort of conspiracy by writing that on my blog?) I hate doing my taxes. Does anyone like doing their taxes? Ok, maybe some taxmen/women enjoy it as it is the line of work they have picked but I hate money and numbers so it follows that I would hate doing my taxes. A few weeks ago I received a notice in the mail from the IRS saying I owed $451 from 2004. I earned $1500 from a side gig and was paid a one time stipend. Apparently how I filed this income along with my regular income was incorrect. So, in their estimation, I owe the $451 in back taxes and interest. If their refiguring is right, being self-employed sucks ass.

But then(!) I received a check for $508 from the IRS just last week. Apparently I miscalculated on this year's taxes and am owed this amount. I have never earned this much back in all my years as an employed adult. How can this be? And then, doesn't the $508 basically cancel out the $451 I owe? That leaves me with a whopping $57. It could be worse. I shouldn't complain. But when it comes to money and numbers, my mind goes numb. I have a strange form of narcolepsy when it comes to math. Don't even try to make me do a word problem. If Sammy buys five apples for 10 cents each but receives a 12% discount for being under 12 and a 50% discount on one because it has a dent in it, how much will Sammy spend? Zzzzzz....Wha?! Sorry, the narcolepsy kicked in. Math = comatose. Give me a crossword puzzle though and I am alert and chipper.