The great thing about Monday is that anything can and will happen. Consider today:

After spending all morning fixing the damage from a campus wide power outage, The Poet calls with news of picking up an extra summer class ( more money, always good ) just in time for a crown to break, but that’s OK, because the dentist is reasonable about billing.

Four vultures congregate directly over my office. Really.

Moments later, my boss tells me he is enjoying my book.

Driving home on a major highway, a tire blows out on the trusty Nissan. This is actually good because one, nobody was hurt, and two, wear patterns indicate another tire is at risk, which would have been very dangerous. Triple AAA towed the car across a million zones and without complaint to my mechanic ( closed for the day ).

A final plus: my neighbor once again proves how awesome he is by letting me borrow his car while mine is being fixed tomorrow.

It is, as they say, a Monday.

Just installed WordPress app on my blackberry; this first post from Baybeh 9700.
Long long week at work. Fortunately the Poet has a birthday Saturday and the Cat Army and I have plans for her.

I hate taxes. Most everyone ( unless they are the bright spark that fomented the justification for revenue enhancement in the first place ) hates taxes. Lately I’ve been paying too much. And this time, the government is not at fault.

See, there is a self-inflicted tax–well beyond the influence of any legislature or collection agent. It’s a tax that has always been levied against people, and for some, will continue appearing as line item on the bill forever. The DWT, or the Double Worry Tax. What is the DWT?

I probably ( OK,  definitely ) spend too much time dwelling on the things I have little or no influence over. The more angles I consider such problems from, the more overwhelming the issue appears, the worse I feel about my life in general. That’s the first part of the tax. Worry part one.

See the WDT is a progressive tax, in that affects people relative to their ability to pay. Or in this case, the cost is the ability to worry. The more energy I spend worrying ( or paying the tax ), the more fantastical or negative the prognostications, the more of my life it consumes. Hence, the more DWT costs. And the meter charges keep running.

Let’s say what I’m worrying about doesn’t actually come to pass. I’ve just lost all that time and energy to an unfounded concern. I fell out of the moment and wrestled to get back to being productive.

Which brings me to the  second, and in fact, “worse” possibility. Perhaps the fear had a basis in reality and the very point I’m stressing about comes true. Now I’m not only spent from worrying about the problem, I have to deal with a big hairy situation. Except I’m exhausted.

Welcome the Double Worry Tax. Your party is waiting for you in baggage claim.

Starting today, I refuse to pay the Double Worry Tax any longer. When the world ends, then I’m worrying. Till then, I got books to write.

Watched the following DVDs four ( or more ) times in the last twelve months:

1 ) Apocalypse Now Redux
2 ) The Fog of War
3 ) Gonzo : The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson
4 ) Halloween Unrated Director’s Cut
5 ) Friday 13th Extended Killer Cut
6 ) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
7 ) Factotum
8 ) Gladiator
9 ) Street Kings

The Vietnam War, slasher flicks, dirty cops and writers who went so far past the boundaries of reality no one around them could remember where the line was in the first place. Good company.