Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Trivia Queen

Money without the TRAP
I've been on a trivia kick, answering questions about actors and actresses, music groups, and movies. I've missed one or two, but overall, I've seen a lot and remembered it all. I guess I do not have Alzheimer's after all. That's good. I'd rather have my memories intact than end up a vegetable, especially since I'm also eating clean and also eating a lot of fat, not so much protein, but a whole lot of fat and vegetables. That's a good thing -- isn't it?

I was surprised by the music groups. I guess I saw more than I thought I had and remembered it all. Good for me. Well, there is the talk that people with Alzheimer's have more issues with cognitive decline and hearing problems than anything else. My hearing is fine. The only problem is that I have ruined my eyes by wearing and relying on magnifying glasses, the kind I've used for years to see up close and personal even though my optometrist said my eyes were perfect. I think I was good at hiding the truth from myself as well as her. I'm a bad girl and knowing how to squint to bring things into focus. Of course, I will admit that I rely on my magnifying glasses to see up close even though it was only for cross stitch and not for reading -- until recently. Cheating. See?

So, the fact is that I have cheated myself into wearing glasses to see up close, and not just for cross stitch. Oh, well, I don't mind wearing glasses and I'm comfortable with the glasses I have. Almost twenty or so years ago, I began wearing one contact in the bad eye and complaining about not being able to read when I wore both contacts. My optometrist suggested I wear only one contact and leave the other uncorrected so I could read up close. That is when it began. I started wearing magnifying glasses when I did cross stitch and that led to wearing them whenever I had to read a menu or do cross stitch. The habit became something I did more than when I had to cross stitch and now I can't read or see things up close without the cheaters and so I will have to go to an optometrist and get my eyes checked and give up the cheaters to wear newer, better contacts, or get my eyes fixed with LASIK. BB did that and she cannot use her lasered eyes without wearing glasses so I will keep the cheaters and make an appointment with an optometrist and see how my eyes really are. I have been up and down the eye chart and I have no problems seeing the chart so I will deal with it and keep the cheaters or opt for LASIK surgery which does not have a great track record, not that I've seen. I will eventually end up wearing glasses to see the menu and my cheaters work fine for that now. Oh, well. With age come problems and I've already dealt with the problems and so here I go.

Once a time I had astigmatism and wore gold flecked pink glasses when I was prepubescent. I'm already there and so I'll keep my cheaters and go on with it. I can and do use them to hold back my short but curly hair when it's clean and that works fine. No big deal. I'll deal with it as I always have since I don't have much money until I find a job or get the proposed COLA raise on my Medicare income. The proposed raise in the Cost Of Living Increase (COLA) is supposed to be $70 and that would be about will be about $840 a year more. I'll take it. I've already written to my congressional representative and senators to vote yes and signed my name to the letter I sent. Finally, a COLA cost of living adjustment that will finally be worth having. During Obama's tenure in office, he didn't raise the Medicare COLA once, except when he first got in and that was left over from when George W. Bush was president, as Obama told us, blaming his mistakes on George W for raising the national debt to unheard of levels. It is only right that he face the truth and accept that Bush raised the COLA before he left office and Obama got the bragging rights for it. Trump gave us a hefty COLA this time and that is all on Trump. Obama had no part of that, although the Democrats are proposing the COLA raise to $70 per month, an actual cost of living adjustment that will make a difference. I'll take it. Stick that in your pipe, Obama, and smoke it with my regards. I'll take it.

Trump has done more for those of us making do with Medicare by bumping the COLA raise this year $56 a month, but I'd like the $70 a month raise when the law is rewritten and I hope they plug the gap that Clinton and every other politician has used to balance the budget and cover their fiscal backsides. At last, the money will go to the people who worked for it for their whole lives and we can almost make due on what is left without covering their political backsides and balancing the budget with the rest. I'll take the $840 a year hit when it comes and I don't want to have to wait until January 1. 2020 to get my money. Send it now. Change the law and don't hamstring the government while you make it right. Think of the people you've been screwing forever and give us what is due. It's still not the $2600 a month I should have, but sign the papers and send me my money now. RIGHT NOW!

I've worked my whole life and a COLA that actually keeps pace with the current cost of living is long past due. Get it done!

One last thing before I turn in for the night. I made the dean's list this term. I think I'll make it again this term as well. I'm doing all right and I'm actually writing for a change with good grades. I still don't like doing the math, but I'm doing very well with that and will pass the course and move onward and upward. So much for Alzheimer's and my brain. I've still got it.

That is all. Disperse.