 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Health Boundaries Bite - Blog
Health Boundaries Bite Blog
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
Learn some warning signs -- |
Entry for February 27, 2008 -
Comic Book Heros v. Buridan's Ass
If I ever believed in comic book heroes when I was a kid, this is the
time for me to emulate them. Those heroes would be in impossible
situations and then things would take a turn for the worse. What made
them heroes, was that they survived and completed what they had set
out to do.
So here I am, being more like Buridan's Ass than a hero. (The ass, so
the philosophical story goes, was set two bales of hay, one on its right
and one on its left at exactly an equal distance from the ass. The
donkey was hungry and wanted the hay, but because the hay was
exactly the same distance away, it could not move forward to get any
hay because it could not make up its mind which of the equal bales to
go to. It starved to death.)
My problem is that I received an envelope from USPS customer
relations that I was sure had stamps in it to replace ones the post office
would not honor because my mail was heavier than 13 ounces. But the
envelope contained not stamps but an envelope for me to send in the
dishonored stamps. Because I had explained in at least eight emails that
I do not have the stamps, that I left them on the envelopes when I had
Del take them to the Appeals Court, I felt as if the post office thought I
was lying.
If the post office won't make good on the stamps, then I have to use
my candle money for stamps. (I'm nearly out of cooking candles.)
So today, like Buridan's Ass, I could not make a choice: I ordered
neither stamps nor candles.
But worse I received a denial of my disability in the mail, so no extra
money to stave off foreclosure from that quarter. I also got back my
motion to the bankruptcy court, saying my case was closed. I knew it
was closed but the judge had written in his order that even though it
was closed I could prosecute the willful violation of stay. So how was I
going to do it, if I couldn't get anything filed? (The clerk has put a
post-it on the returned papers suggesting I file to reopen my case. But
the attached order reiterated a denial of that exact thing when I'd
attempted it earlier.)
It would have been nice not to have to worry about where to get the
money to pay my mortgage arrears. But, I've been keenly aware that
Wells Fargo and their lawyers were probably not going to accept it since
last time I was in foreclosure they kept trying to sell my house when I
was going to have all the money in twenty days.
I kept my home by filing bankruptcy to get the twenty days. But that
ruined my credit for seven years, with the result that I couldn't
refinance this last summer. (They say it's seven years, but really it's
more like two.) Except, after this mortgage meltdown, who knows.
Since the judge must have had a way in mind for me to prosecute, I
figured there was something I was forgetting because I'd successfully
prosecuted willful violation of stay in my 1997 chapter 11.
I called the judge's law clerk, but she didn't answer. Then it came to
me, I have to do an "adversary proceeding." So, I called to see how
much it is to file one, and it's $250 with no provisions for payment over
time.
I get $598 a month from social security, and I'd said I was going to pay
$150 a month on my unpaid balance from filing the Chapter 11 to save
my home. I think the chapter 11 fee is $850. Well worth it, too. A
chapter 11 gives you a lot more time and control, since you can be your
own trustee. Though I don't know how much this was changed when
they gutted the bankruptcy laws to favor creditors.
All of which reminds me of a night in London when the coal miners
were striking and there was no electric for several hours. I and my little
son were living in the derelict building on the corner of Goswell Road
and Friend Street and I was watching The Bionic Woman just before
the lights went out. In the episode that night she was drugged and could
not exercise her powers and no one believed her. It looked like curtains
for her.
For whatever reason I totally identified with her and I got physically
sick at the thought of being trapped like that.
That episode of The Bionic Woman was foreboding, and probably why
I got sick watching it: because I recognized a part of my future that was
going to be fun.
I'll post my pleading that was sent back by the bankruptcy court, so
that you can read the short version of what I'm talking about.
Now, I just need to materialize some money. And this has not been a
spectacular month for sales on my web site. Darn it!
I fail to do the newsletters and things that are required to remind people
to visit my site when I'm stressed... and then there aren't any sales. As I
say, Darn it!
Comic Book Heros v. Buridan's Ass
If I ever believed in comic book heroes when I was a kid, this is the
time for me to emulate them. Those heroes would be in impossible
situations and then things would take a turn for the worse. What made
them heroes, was that they survived and completed what they had set
out to do.
So here I am, being more like Buridan's Ass than a hero. (The ass, so
the philosophical story goes, was set two bales of hay, one on its right
and one on its left at exactly an equal distance from the ass. The
donkey was hungry and wanted the hay, but because the hay was
exactly the same distance away, it could not move forward to get any
hay because it could not make up its mind which of the equal bales to
go to. It starved to death.)
My problem is that I received an envelope from USPS customer
relations that I was sure had stamps in it to replace ones the post office
would not honor because my mail was heavier than 13 ounces. But the
envelope contained not stamps but an envelope for me to send in the
dishonored stamps. Because I had explained in at least eight emails that
I do not have the stamps, that I left them on the envelopes when I had
Del take them to the Appeals Court, I felt as if the post office thought I
was lying.
If the post office won't make good on the stamps, then I have to use
my candle money for stamps. (I'm nearly out of cooking candles.)
So today, like Buridan's Ass, I could not make a choice: I ordered
neither stamps nor candles.
But worse I received a denial of my disability in the mail, so no extra
money to stave off foreclosure from that quarter. I also got back my
motion to the bankruptcy court, saying my case was closed. I knew it
was closed but the judge had written in his order that even though it
was closed I could prosecute the willful violation of stay. So how was I
going to do it, if I couldn't get anything filed? (The clerk has put a
post-it on the returned papers suggesting I file to reopen my case. But
the attached order reiterated a denial of that exact thing when I'd
attempted it earlier.)
It would have been nice not to have to worry about where to get the
money to pay my mortgage arrears. But, I've been keenly aware that
Wells Fargo and their lawyers were probably not going to accept it since
last time I was in foreclosure they kept trying to sell my house when I
was going to have all the money in twenty days.
I kept my home by filing bankruptcy to get the twenty days. But that
ruined my credit for seven years, with the result that I couldn't
refinance this last summer. (They say it's seven years, but really it's
more like two.) Except, after this mortgage meltdown, who knows.
Since the judge must have had a way in mind for me to prosecute, I
figured there was something I was forgetting because I'd successfully
prosecuted willful violation of stay in my 1997 chapter 11.
I called the judge's law clerk, but she didn't answer. Then it came to
me, I have to do an "adversary proceeding." So, I called to see how
much it is to file one, and it's $250 with no provisions for payment over
time.
I get $598 a month from social security, and I'd said I was going to pay
$150 a month on my unpaid balance from filing the Chapter 11 to save
my home. I think the chapter 11 fee is $850. Well worth it, too. A
chapter 11 gives you a lot more time and control, since you can be your
own trustee. Though I don't know how much this was changed when
they gutted the bankruptcy laws to favor creditors.
All of which reminds me of a night in London when the coal miners
were striking and there was no electric for several hours. I and my little
son were living in the derelict building on the corner of Goswell Road
and Friend Street and I was watching The Bionic Woman just before
the lights went out. In the episode that night she was drugged and could
not exercise her powers and no one believed her. It looked like curtains
for her.
For whatever reason I totally identified with her and I got physically
sick at the thought of being trapped like that.
That episode of The Bionic Woman was foreboding, and probably why
I got sick watching it: because I recognized a part of my future that was
going to be fun.
I'll post my pleading that was sent back by the bankruptcy court, so
that you can read the short version of what I'm talking about.
Now, I just need to materialize some money. And this has not been a
spectacular month for sales on my web site. Darn it!
I fail to do the newsletters and things that are required to remind people
to visit my site when I'm stressed... and then there aren't any sales. As I
say, Darn it!