somniloquence

Hey, would any of you know why a bunch of my Dreamwidth icons suddenly won't load? I noticed it a few days ago when replying to someone's post, and the icon I chose just had a question mark in the middle and didn't seem to show up, even after I hit post. It's happening consistently with certain icons, and when I went in to look at my list of icons, a bunch just don't show up or they have the question mark. There's nothing different about them, I have a paid account and am under the icon limit, but they just abruptly don't work.

When I first went freelance, I did all the sosh meeds you're supposed to do to make sure your business is out there where people can find you. Of course that included twitter, but I always hated it and only kept it so that I could read a few people's pages, especially after they started making it hard to read without an account or being logged in. When that fucking slime mold took over, I wanted to delete my account, but they made it impossible for me, and for months I've been trying to get into it so I could remove it. I finally got in and deactivated it, and did set up a bluesky account, although I'll probably only use that as much as I used the bird site. I just don't love having this tiny character limit, and it's such a noisy interface compared to the aspects of tumblr that I like. The less said about FB, the better.

But anyway, if you want to connect there, I am under my wallet name, and since someone beat me to my preferred handle, it's not as simple, but it's my first name + the first three letters of my last name + B. (I used the B--or b, since everything's lowercase I guess?--because when my sister and I were born, we were going to be adopted, so for about five days, our birth certificates were just Baby A [her] and Baby B [me]. I still have these, and there was a period where I couldn't find my named birth certificate, but I had to replace my license and boy howdy, did no one like the fact that it just said Baby B. That was an ordeal, let me tell you, even with my social security card and everything else.) I'm definitely wary about that space, and I'm only following a few people so far since I don't know who all is over there. But if you are and want to connect, I'm there!

Today is not turning out good. I applied a few weeks ago for health insurance with one of the local companies who provide plans for individuals. Today they sent me the big-stamp DENIED package, which indicates that I have the maximum number of points allowable to obtain coverage. Now, the editor in me of course looks at that and says, um, assholes, what you just said was that I was inside the limit, because that's the equivalent of saying "you can miss only two questions on the test and still get a passing grade" and I missed only two questions. I can appeal, but I don't see what good that's going to do me; at the heart of it, I think it's my age. Because they also don't allow you to fill out the forms and say "hey, this was years ago, it's not going to bother me again" (dudes, my gall bladder is gone), so the scores for things like past accidents or operations are huge and throw you out of the ballpark.

I am really depressed about this, for a lot of reasons, one being that it's hard to get around in the health game without having at least something. And the package they sent me for the state's program is astronomical in cost, the monthly premiums are hundreds more than what I pay for COBRA right now, which will soon run out and why I was trying to find something before it runs out. I really don't know what to do now; I feel flaily and depressed, which is exacerbated by not having any money. I'm mostly a really healthy person with a few things here and there, and it pisses me off because I am more than a little certain this has a lot to do with scoring me higher because I'm a woman and I'm older. Fuck you, Regence.

There is a list of "agents" who deal with the state program; I'm thinking of contacting the one here in my area and asking her about other options, and see what she knows. I know I'm supposed to hope Obama can change this disgraceful situation in this country, but I don't hold out much hope for it, just because people in power don't want to change, and the Republicans have so far done everything they could to keep Obama's ideas from being successful, I don't see how something so monumentally reformative as health care for everyone could happen here.

I also got word the other day that I'm being audited for state sales tax deductions on my 2007 taxes. My tax person says a lot of her clients have and she thinks the IRS is just trying to see who they can get to pay by scaring them. I had a huge deduction that year because of the kitchen addition/remodel, new front door, etc. They kindly allow us to make a spreadsheet if we have too many receipts to send, which will be lots of fun, since me and Excel are unmixy.

Teeth still hurt today, mostly my jaw, but it's also kind of weird how all my actual back teeth feel bruised. Craziness. The bank account definitely feels bruised.

elz kindly offered me an invite code to Dreamwidth after discussing it here with her. I am amazed at how many people seemed to think I was being anti-DW when I said it was funny that people kept saying "it's not a special club" who were already in it. I really did mean that it was funny, as in laughing, not as in bitterly sarcastic. But people even defriended me over it. Whatevs. Not much you can do about it, I guess. Anyways, what I like so far about DW:

- I have been able to get the name I wished I could have had here, which is gwyn. I've never been an early tech social networking type adopter, so I have never been able to title my spaces what I want. This is nice.

- Also, I can change the red to purple. I figured out how to post and add a friend, though not how to find them yet.

There's a lot to think about, but I'm too down just now. I plan to just see how it goes -- follow people here, follow them there... wait and watch. A lot of my comms aren't going to move, I figure, so I'll be two places at once for a long time.