Monday, October 14th
I have been enjoying my subscription to the Criterion Channel. Each month, they put out a group of movies for an actor or a theme and they are not necessarily criterion movies. Some may be, but not all. So because it is October, they had a set of movies called ‘Japanese Horror Movies‘. I watched the original Japanese version of The Ring, which, to my mind, was not as scary as the American version. I may think differently if I had seen that version first, but alas, I am but a simple movie viewer and do not reach beyond the entertainment capital of the world where I live.
M, on the other hand, is a movie connoisseur and when he saw that list of movies, he told us about this movie that he thought was very scary. We searched on Criterion and sure enough, we found it. The movie is a group of four short stories and when we started, he said the first one was one of the scariest. Great, I thought and settled in for a nice October scare. We ended up watching the first two stories and the movie is a gorgeous studio film, but it is paced much too slowly to be scary. Oh well.
Tuesday –Friday, October 15 – 18th
I had a massage today and that is about the only distinguishing thing I can say about this week. When I thought back on the week to remember what I did, nothing came to me. Which just means I really need to write this blog the day of so I can remember what happened that day. Sorry!
Saturday, October 19th
I can remember what happened on the weekends more because they are a little more distinguishable and because they happened just a couple days ago. My sister and my mom were at an annual fundraiser they both go to so I had to settle for my stepbrother and his wife visiting unexpectedly! Yippee! And they brought me shrimp pad Thai! Double yippie!! My stepbrother also helped me charge my new headphones so I could start using them immediately after they left. So the day turned out pretty good.
Sunday, October 20th
My sister came by around noon with sushi, which I had for lunch. I had the Criterion Channel open and The Lawnmower Man was there as one of the features in the ‘Stories by Stephen King’ collection. Is that any good? she asked. Nope, I said, but she was curious so we watched that. We skipped through it a bit but marvelled at how young and studly Pierce Brosnan looked. We especially liked the parts where he was too worried about his technology to put a shirt on. You know, those times when there's just too much going on in your brain to worry about minor things like clothing. Ha! I'm starting to question the integrity of the Criterion person who chose to include this movie in their collection. I guess they couldn't get the rights to show The Shining or any of the myriad SK stories that have been turned into movies.
Just before my sister was going to leave, we started talking about budget stuff and we ended up having a very good conversation about money. Mom and my sister are very practical in their approach to wealth. I, if you can imagine it, have a very different view of things. I like to use money when I have it. I am not reckless about it. It's not like I have a gambling addiction or anything. I have just found that for me, when I need money, I have found it, one way or another. I have never had to ask my mom to help me pay my rent or living expenses these last 16 years. That should count for something, you would think.
Now, I have a chunk of money that mom and my sister know needs to last me for the rest of my life. This is not to pay for my living expenses. That is taken care of by Medicaid. I am set as long as I stay where I am now. That means I don't get to live with a cat, but all my caregivers are taken care of, which is huge. The primary thing I want to spend money on is the supplements I get from the lady in California I have worked with for the last 25 years. They are expensive but they really help me in a slow, steady way that isn't obviously perceptible to other people. But I can tell. Mom doesn't trust this lady, so she won't pay for all of them. Doing it halfway does not help. What they don't seem to understand is that if I do it full bore, eventually I won't need as many and the expense will decrease. And I will be able to do more.
And if I actually got close to using up all the extra money I have, I would not take as many supplements. So it's really not possible for me to spend everything, as long as they tell me how much I have left. Three years ago or so, when I left my life of independence and moved into care homes, I washed my hands of my finances. Mom was so eager to get me in a better situation and take over my banking. I said fine, go for it. I was dealing with losing everything so I had no interest in money. Now I am stable enough where I can get back involved and maybe show mom and Pam that I can constructively contribute to taking care of me.
Of course there will always be a fundamental difference in our approach towards money, but perhaps we can come to an agreement on how I can handle things. Well, it seems I have made up for the days I didn't write all in one day! I hope I don't make mom nervous talking about money so much, but there were no actual numbers mentioned! Confidentiality has been maintained. No actual legal tender was harmed in the making of this blog. Have a great week!
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