There’s a funk in my household and it’s not from George Clinton. It doesn’t help that it’s dark, bleary, and rainy out either. For me, it started this past weekend when I got a $1,500 bill from my physical therapy place. I was stunned. I shouldn’t be paying a dime; my insurance should. But since it was the weekend, I was left to stew about it until Monday. It really ruined my Sunday and my enjoyment of the NFL playoffs.

When Monday morning came, I called and was told that my insurance company had denied my claims. That made no sense, so I called my insurance company. They looked back in the records three months and told me they hadn’t received one claim from this place for me. So I called the physical therapy place back and, sure enough, they had submitted the wrong subscriber ID. It was an old one from two years ago! I was pissed. I told them that they had a photocopy of my current insurance card, why couldn’t they get it right, and they had no answer. They said they would resubmit the claims. I then drove down to my local physical therapy office and had it out with the receptionist, who I’m sure mis-keyed my ID in the computer. She apologized, but I cancelled the rest of my appointments. I also didn’t like it that I was having to pay a co-pay three times a week, when no other office in town charges me a co-pay and my insurance doesn’t require it. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to them, even if they are supposed to be the best.

Monday night was the NCAA national championship between Alabama and Notre Dame, which Bama, of course, won by killing Notre Dame 42-14. As I’m a Tennessee fan, I’m also an SEC fan, so it was good to see an SEC team win the national championship for the seventh straight year. Talk about domination! But I was still stewing over this bill, and other unpaid bills. I’m unemployed right now, and have lots of bills — and lots of medical bills — piled up waiting to be paid. It’s been pretty rough. And I can’t get that out of my mind. It’s weighing heavily on me.

I’m trying to get my mind off of things by reading. I’m reading one book called The President’s Club, which isn’t a page turner, but is interesting. It’s about the relationships presidents have with former presidents. The other book I’m reading is Scar Tissue, by Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I’ve loved the band since the mid-80s, but the book is kind of  depressing because so much of Anthony’s life was caught up in coke and heroin, along with other things. It’s a crazy book, but one I should probably be reading on sunny days.

Of course I’m paying attention to politics. I’m very interested to see what will happen with gun control. I know I’ll probably upset some readers, but I’m in favor of it, and I’m a proud gun lover. I don’t see why we need assault weapons for sale to the general public! Their only use is for killing people! You don’t hunt deer with an AR 15. I also don’t think we need high capacity magazines. Who needs 30 rounds for self protection? Again, those are made for murdering people. I also think there should be background checks for every gun sale, and mental health should be made a greater priority. And I sure as hell DON’T think arming our teachers is the answer! So I’m worried Biden will come back with some of these recommendations, and just when the public is behind the administration, the NRA will swoop in and get its paid off Congressmen to defeat new legislation. I don’t understand how the NRA, with only 4 million members, can hold so much sway over the country. I’ve had arguments with friends and non-friends about this situation, and of course I’ve heard the tired refrain that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Well, people use guns to kill people. Look, the other civilized nations have gun control laws and they have something like 20 or 40 gun murders a year. We have over 10,000!!! It’s not a coincidence. Fewer guns means fewer deaths. It’s that simple. Of course, it won’t mean an immediate stop to crime, and yes, criminals will still find ways to get guns, but these people committing mass murders weren’t criminals. They were nuts. If there had been a decent database to track these types of people, perhaps they never could have bought their guns. It’s a thought, anyway.

Today I have to go to the vet to get some flea medication for the cats. I have to go get a damn flu shot. I promised my fiance I finally would. Didn’t realize it would be killing people. See, the last two times I got flu shots — years ago — I got the flu, so I never get them. I guess I will today though. I have to go to Staple to buy labels. We’re doing our own wedding invitations and they look pretty good. That’s the one bright spot for the week. I’ve really enjoyed working on them, and working on our wedding registry too. These labels are the last thing we need, and then we can mail them out! Exciting.

Since my last surgery last October, I haven’t had TN-type head and facial pain, but I’ve been having a lot of standard headaches. Yesterday I had an all day headache, and it just wouldn’t respond to any type of medication. I’ve also been very tired, and have been having trouble sleeping. I’ve been up since 3:30 AM today. I’m tired and grumpy. I do hope to finish these two books reasonably soon so I can write new book reviews. I have four others that I’m in the middle of, but they’re definitely not page turners, so it’s slow going. I’m really disappointed with the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I’m about a third of the way through it and hoping it improves. So far, he was just a punk.

I’ve also been reading poetry submissions for the magazine I serve as poetry editor for — Ray’s Road Review. I accepted poems from two writers yesterday. One was quite good. I rejected poems from two others. I have about seven more to work through today. They don’t appear to be very promising. I’m trying to finalize the Spring 2013 issue while beginning work on the Summer issue.

My fiance has been down too. She misses her family back North, and is having work issues. She’s frustrated, and it’s frustrating that I can’t help her more.

I guess that’s the end of my diatribe for the day. Sorry if I brought you down. Sorry if I upset too many NRA members. The weather is supposed to be bad through the weekend, but hopefully I’ll be able to recover my good mood somehow. Hopefully my fiance and I will have a good weekend. Until the next time — cheers!