Ouch

It is not so much the sore throat that is the problem, it's the ear and jaw ache that come with it. One of those dull slow pains that just lingers, enough for you too feel all the time, except when you do anything at all then it turns into a blinding shooting pain. More pills all round I think.

Sleeping

That's how I've spent most of this week. I had a tonsil removed on Monday morning, maybe I got to keep the other one for luck? Anyway, I was sent home with a pile of different pain killers and after a short debate with my mother regarding where I should go (her house, she won) I spent a couple of days sleeping on her sofa and being fed and watered while she took pity on me. I'm home now and having had a sore jaw for 2 days now it's getting better. Apparently the pain is worst on the 4th and 5th days so this was all expected. However, I've not had any medicine in 6 hours so I'm thinking I may go have some more so it's all kicked in for bed time. I don't know about you but I can't get to sleep with an ache.

Aside from that I've not really been up to much, I got some flowers for the flat to cheer me up, not that I've not been cheerful of course. Pictures tomorrow I think, once they have had a chance to open. Peonies and white snap dragons seeing as you asked. This post is really just me thinking I need to be as good with updating this as I once was, so any random babble that comes to mind will be posted to get me back in the swing of things.

Also, a favour to ask for anyone out there, I assume there is someone out there? Can you recommend a book I have to read or a film I have to see. I'll buy any book if you tell me why I must and I will add any film suggestion to my lovefilm account. Broaden my horizons people, thank you please.

Your Tax Form Explained

I got my Tax Return the other week, this says it all really :

Enclosed is your 1998 United States Internal Revenue Service Tax Form 1040-ES OCR: “Estimated Tax for Self-Employed Individuals.” You may use this form to estimate your 1998 fiscal year tax IF:

1. You are the head of a household AND the sum of the ages of your spouse and dependents, minus the ages of qualifying pets (see Schedule 12G), is divisible by a whole number. (Use Supplementary Schedule 142C if pets are deceased but buried on your property.)

2. Your Gross Adjusted Income does not exceed your Adjusted Gross Income (except where applicable) AND you did not pay taxable interest on dividend income prior to 1903.

3. You are not claiming a foreign tax credit, except as a “foreign” tax credit. (Warning: Claiming a foreign tax credit for a foreign “tax” credit, except where a foreign “tax credit” is involved, may result in a fine of $125,000 and 25 years‘ imprisonment.)

4. You are one of the following: married and filing jointly; married and not filing jointly; not married and not filing jointly; jointed but not filing; other.

Instructions

Type all answers in ink with a number two lead pencil. Do not cross anything out. Do not use abbreviations or ditto marks. Do not misspell “miscellaneous.” Write your name, address, and social security number, and the name, address, and social security numbers of your spouse and dependents, in full on each page twice. Do not put a check mark in a box marked “cross” or a cross in a box marked “check mark” unless it is your express wish to do the whole thing again. Do not write “Search me” in any blank spaces. Do not make anything up.

Complete Sections 47 to 52 first, then proceed to even-numbered sections and complete in reverse order. Do NOT use this form if your total pensions and annuities disbursements were greater than your advanced earned income credits OR vice versa.

Under “Income,” list all wages, salaries, net foreign source taxable income, royalties, tips, gratuities, taxable interest, capital gains, air miles, and money found down the back of the sofa. If your earnings are derived wholly, or partially but not primarily, or wholly AND partially but not primarily, from countries other than the United States (if uncertain, see USIA Leaflet 212W, “Countries That Are Not the United States”) OR your rotated gross income from Schedule H was greater than your earned income credit on nontaxable net disbursements, you MUST include a Grantor/Transferor Waiver Voucher. Failure to do so may result in a fine of $1,500,000 and seizure of a child.

Under Section 890f, list total farm income (in none, give details). If you were born after January 1, 1897, and are NOT a widow(er), include excess casualty losses and provide carry-over figures for depreciation on line 27iii. You MUST list number of turkeys slaughtered for export. Subtract, but do not deduct, net gross dividends from pro rata interest payments, multiply by the total number of steps in your home, and enter on line 356d.

On Schedule F1001, line c, list the contents of your garage. Include all electrical and nonelectrical items on Schedule 295D, but DO NOT include electrical OR nonelectrical items not listed on Supplementary Form 243d.

Under “Personal Expenditures,” itemize all cash expenditures of more than $1, and include verification. If you have had dental work and you are not claiming a refund on the federal oil spill allowance, enter your shoe sizes since birth and enclose specimen shoes (right foot only). Multiply by 1.5 or 1,319, whichever is larger, and divide line 3f by 3d. Under Section 912g, enter federal income support grants for the production of alfalfa, barley (but not sorghum, unless for home consumption), and okra WHETHER OR NOT you received any. Failure to do so may result in a fine of $3,750,000 and death by lethal injection.

If your children are dependent but not living at home, or living at home but not dependent, or dependent and living at home but hardly ever there AND you are not claiming exemption for leases of maritime vessels in excess of 12,000 tons deadweight (15,000 tons if you were born in Guam), you MUST complete and include a Maritime Vessel Exemption Form. Failure to do so may result in a fine of $111,000,000 and a nuclear attack on a small, neutral country.

On pages 924-926, Schedule D, enter the names of people you know personally who are Communists or use drugs. (Use extra pages if necessary.)

If you have interest earnings from savings accounts, securities, bearer bonds, certificates of deposit, or other fiduciary instruments but DO NOT know your hat size, complete Supplementary Schedules 112d and 112f and enclose with all relevant tables. (Do not send chairs at this time.) Include, but do not collate, ongoing losses from mining investments, commodities transactions, and organ transplants, divide by the total number of motel visits you made in 1996, and enter in any remaining spaces. If you have unreimbursed employee expenses, tough.

To compute your estimated tax, add lines 27 through 964, deduct lines 45a and 699f from Schedule 2F (if greater or less than 2.2% of average alternative minimum estimated tax for last five years), multiply by the number of RPMs your car registers when stuck on ice, and add 2. If line 997 is smaller than line 998, start again. In the space marked “Tax Due,” write a very large figure.

Make your check payable to “Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America and to the Republic for Which It Stands,” and mark for the attention of Patty. On the back of your check write your social security number, Taxpayer Identification Number, IRS Tax Code Audit Number(s), IRS Regional Office Sub-Unit Zone Number (UNLESS you are filing a T/45 Sub-Unit Zone Exclusion Notice), sexual orientation, and smoking preference, and send to:

Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America
Tax Reception and Orientation Center
Building D/Annex G78
Suite 900
Subduction Zone 12
Box 132677-02
Drawer 2, About Halfway Back
Federal City
Maryland 100001

If you have any questions about filing, or require assistance with your return, phone 1-800-BUSY SIGNAL. Thank you and have a prosperous 1999. Failure to do so may result in a fine of $125,000 and a long walk to the cooler.

From "Notes from a big country" by Bill Bryson.

Keys

Finally got them!

Take a breath.

Where have the last few months gone exactly? How can it be the first of February all ready? It is frightening to think how long ago my last post was and how very little work I have done. The danger in having a part time job is that, over Christmas, the hours you work sky rocket. So while previously I was just having a little rest before cracking on, I really didn't have time to think about anything other than getting to work on time, and getting all the necessary things done each day like food shopping, gift buying and general upkeep of me and my flat. Now however things have relaxed a little, although I have to say I'm still on full time hours but I think I will just suck it up and crack on.

I have an exhibition opening in a couple of weeks so I have put some more thought into this personalised gift box idea I mentioned a while ago. It's looking like I'll be going with this after all:I still haven't managed to visit Chrissy to collect keys to the workshop, but it's fairly certain that when I am there it will be unsocial hours. I hope to pop by her office this week and get that all sorted out. The list of things that have been highly neglected over time is getting ever longer so it is most definitely time to rectify the matter.

What else has been happening? Well... Some of my work was down in London last week being photographed for Easy Living Magazine, how entirely random yet exciting! So I've been advised that it should appear in the May edition. I'm not really sure what their plans are for it but I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The sudden jolt back into posting on here was because of my online store. For a reason that I don't know, the visiting numbers went up 7 fold in the last couple of weeks, I have no idea why. What happened to cause this? Do you know? Not that I don't appreciate it of course. Shall be adding a few more bits and bobs on there later in the day I think.

Talk to you soon (deffinitly).