Manic Briefs

For those in the know:

We are still living in the same place. Still have internet. No long distance, but whatever. All is well. NO further worries on that front.

For all others:

Cheeks is pregnant again! This one seems to be taking. Not sure if that's a good thing or not yet. They heard the heartbeat today. Ultrasound tomorrow to be sure everythingis cool. Also, her mother and her have both been dreaming she's having twins. They run in the family on my son's side, so it's possible, I guess. More later.

I'm presenting to a conference in November. Due to a variety of circumstances, my Self-sufficiency worker thinks I'm a great person to present on the barriers presented to self-sufficiency via bipolar disorder. I'm looking forward to it very much. I think it's a fine time to show people in the social work business exactly what can happen, and sometimes does, to prevent people from becoming "upstanding citizens" and "productive" adults.

The slug-bug game is still going on. I'm still behind. I'm still enjoying this trip back through my childhood.

School (for my kids) starts here on Monday! Hurray! I love my kids with all my heart. Really. I admit there are days, more and more of them lately, where I just want to love their little heads right off their bodies, but since school resumes Monday, I'm sure that will end shortly. In fact, they're looking forward to it too, for a change. Too much time together over the summer, I'm sure. That and utter boredom since I refuse to rent or purchase any new video games until they start doing their chores without being reminded four hundred thousand times.

I've also started a petition that will hopefully gather several thousand signatures and then be sent on to every member of our US Congress. Basically, I believe there needs to be a law, not some avoidable policy (or lack of any policy) that requires employers of any person (male or female) who is having their wages garnished by any child support collection agency to notify said agency within 7 days if the garnishee (or obligor) stops working. Too many times I have experienced a horrible wait trying to figure out if child suppport is just late or has stopped. And I'm not alone. Yet, too many states do not have a law enforcing this kind of notification. I'm not asking for any privacy to be violated. Simply faxing or calling the agency and stating, "My name is _____. I work for ______. We have been sending child support payments to your agency for (insert obligor's name here) under case number (if available). I'm calling to report that this person no longer works for this company and we will no longer be sending support payments. So and so's last paycheck will be processed or has been processed as of (provide date), and that will be or is the final support payment that will be sent by our company." Finished. How hard was that? There is no need to go into any further detail. Oh, it'd be nice if the company knew where the person is now employed or if they are employed at all and would pass that info along, but not absolutely needed. Same thing if the person is deceased. Pass it along if you know and desire to, but it is not a requirement. Things like that can be found in other ways. With thousands of deadbeat parents out there being blamed for everything from a child's behavior to a child's lack of shoes for gym, there should be no more delay than 7 days in finding out a parent is no longer employed with any given company. Not when a 3 minute phone conversation can handle it. Will this make parents pay their child support? No. But it helps the parent and the agency collecting the support to catch up with those who are supposed to be paying. As for enforcing such a law, if it's possible to fine a business for providing hazardous things to minors (cigarettes, booze, etc) then why shouldn't it be possible to fine them for NOT doing their best to help a minor in this small way?

Cheeks and my eldest son are on Grasshopper's endangered species list. Grasshopper has had three boys. She loves them very much. But she desperately wants a little girl. To this end, she has threatened that if my granchild is a girl (much less twin girls) to come and make them both extinct. At first she only threatened Cheeks. Once I pointed out that the male decides the baby's sex, she added my son to the list, citing that while his sperm give the sex to the child, Cheeks would still get all the joy of the daughter. Good point, I guess. I'd remind Grasshopper that she and Twitch could try again for a girl, but that would put ME on the endangered species list as well. Not my idea of a good time.

That's all for now. More briefs as they occur.