I finally won my 8-month fight with CA unemployment. Kinda. They still owe me about $2,000. But at least I have the first $10,000 so that's a start.
A little late but...well better late than never.
Tho never was, eh, never an acceptable conclusion for me!
After 8 months of starving, freezing, negotiating, begging, pleading, and fighting...
now what?
First I paid everyone off - feels amazing to send money to creditors vs. letters apologizing and explaining. The lack of finance charges will be awfully nice too!
Then I treated myself and a friend to beer and nibblies before a free show at Millenium park.
Today? I'm suddenly suffering from that awful post-war void of having nothing to fight. Nobody to fight. I have no fight dammit!
So, I stopped at the new Whole Foods in the new Lincoln Park. Got myself a cup of organic coffee + a raw bar before parking my butt on some green furniture to check my email and newly full bank account. I was supposed to volunteer at PAWS this morning, but the wifi at Whole Foods is awful. Just good enough so I could begin emails & transactions, but continuously shutting down in the middle of my work.
aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh! I'm now tightly wound. Bitter. Angry. Aggravated. Ashamed. Embarrassed. Furious. Swearing and (softly) yelling at the lousy internet service and wishing I'd just gone to Dunkin Donuts for my coffee as I wanted to and just skipped email and banking until this afternoon.
so now it's nearly noon and too late to work at PAWS as I promised Kennedy I would not be gone all day.
So I remember my plan to find a local source for salt lamps. Other than Karyn's Raw. My assumption is she's overpriced, tho I can't recall being shocked at the tag when I found the lamps in her shop last year. So I attempt a search despite the bad wifi.
It crashes a couple times, but eventually I find a groovy little shop in Skokie.
Skokie?! I have to drive to Skokie?
fine. I've wanted that salt lamp for over a year. And after a sh*tty 40th birthday plus 8months of a negative balance in my checking account, I deserve that salt lamp dammit. Besides this shop looks REALLY cool and it has a salt room and says I can sit in that salt room for up to 1 hour if I want to and I could really use some positive vibes rights now to offset all the aggravation I put myself in today and it's not even noon.
So I drive up to Skokie. My laptop is now at 8% battery life so I turn it off as I get near my destination. As I memorize the final 2 steps in the directions, I shut down my trusty pal Mac.
But there's no shop. But I could swear it said Ridgeway! And to turn left. And if I turned right, I'd be in the front lawn of the Chicago Transit Authority.
aaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh
more anger. Stupid suburbs. Stupid Skokie. I hate the suburbs. Right now, I. Just. Hate.
I try to get the phone number by accessing the internet from my old phone. But this website is not old phone internet friendly so I can't get the information I need.
More anger. Stupid website. Stupid old phone. Why won't this website have the phone number on it's front page readable from an old phone?!
I call 411 and get the number. A lovely female voice answers. I quelch my disgust just long enough to ask her for some guidance to her shop. She's so sweet and polite and calm and....positive she pulls my head out of my arse just long enough to finish our call.
I get turned around, find a parking spot. Cursing the whole way. Storming to the building. Stupid building. Stupid small sign so I can't easily find the place in the midst of this industrial neighborhood.
I walk in and the room is filled with salt lamps. The air is cool and clean like Palisades Park at 6am. Isabella is helping someone out and smiles "oh! You're the woman on the phone right?!"
I smile and I mean it. 30minutes of listening to her answer my many questions on the varieties of salt lamps and I'm calm.
No more hate.
I choose a rare Persian lavender salt lamp. As she packages it for me, I sit in the salt room breathing deeply. Looking at the plant on the top shelf and thinking of Fred and how lovely it would have been to build a salt room for him when he was so sick. Feeling overwhelmed with peace and happy and calm.
Isabella steps in quietly to ask if I'd like to stay for a while or if I'm eager to go as my lamp is ready if I'm in a hurry.
I'm not in a rush, but again promised Kennedy I'd be home at a reasonable hour, so I decide to get up.
Denise rushes in gushing about how pleased her doctor is with her improvements since her acquisition of her salt lamps. So she's back for more! Denise explains to me why her doctor suggested the lamps and how they've positively affected her.
As she continues to shop, Isabella walks me to the back shipping area and shows me all their products. I ask about a feng shui remedy I recently read and she responds by grabbing 4 large salt rocks and lovingly placing them in my hands.
I'm already in a buzzy positive bliss and now she's pushed me into heaven. I can't believe her generosity of both material and spirit.
I told Isabella - and because she was so tickled by my comment I'm repeating it here - Solay is the coolest!
I love Solay. I love Isabella. I love Denise. I love my new salt lamp. I love my salt rocks.
and I love Kennedy- who just jumped up from her
bed across the room and ran to me, climbing her 50lb body onto my lap while eagerly licking me and wagging her tail.
