I am beginning to wonder if bad things come in threes as this is not the first time I've had a series of bad events. This has been a week from Purgatory, if not from Hell itself, and maybe it's finally over; the damage, however, is done, and its consequences seem like they will follow us for at least a year. There is some morbid part of man which wishes to share in the sorrow and calamity that befalls one's life, thus I shall impart the latest scenes in my saga of woes.

The stage is set on a cheery Monday morning, only slightly past nine o'clock and two silver automobiles pull into a parking lot outside a gleaming white building at the same time. Mondays are never good days, and showing up late to work at the same time as the boss isn't the way I like to start off my week. There is no way to avoid my tardiness as my boss comes over to chat with me. He had some rather distressing news, I was losing my office. Our office building is a mostly vacant 10,000 square foot converted house; I used to work in an isolated section of the building. I like isolation; at some fundamental level all computer geeks are at least partially anti-social; I perhaps tip the scales ever so slightly as I prefer to work without a soul around. I had that for more than a year, and it was bliss. I could turn my music up as loud as I wanted; I could, and often would, whistle with great gusto when a particularly peppy tune would find its way to my ears. I was behind a locked door with only four known keys, and none of my peers had one; I was free from inane interruptions: I had total freedom to work as only I can. This Monday I lost that freedom; my perk was removed from me as that part of the building was finally going to see use, and I had to admit I would most certainly be in the way. I now work in the common room. I have no walls, no cubicle even. I am out in the open, exposed like a naked man on a busy street corner.

The curtain falls only to rise again on a quiet evening of resignation. It's now Tuesday, Holly is at the gym and I have the evening, just me and Mr. 1040 and the Schedule brothers (A, C, and SE). It started off better than I thought; things were going smooth; numbers were falling into place and I made quick progress. I was enthused that I might actually finish calculating our taxes before Holly came home, and I could enjoy some part of my evening. I was wrong, there was no enjoyment. When I got to the very end I encountered what my disbelieving mind could only cope with by labeling it as an error. I checked the most important numbers twice, then three times, but never the the result change: we owe the IRS over $1,500. I had it confirmed the next night and still no errors could be discovered. This is the blow I fear I will not recover from for well over a year.

The night afforded us some rather astonishing revelations regarding our budget as I tried to make sense of it all. We made more money in one year than ever before in our respective lives, and even though we have a mortgage that rivals the rental value of a cheap apartment we managed to fight every month to end in the black (and not always succeeding); this was to be the month that would break free from that cycle as we would end with a largess enough to carry over to the next month, and then to accumulate. Suffice it to say, then, we don't have the money to pay the IRS, and considering we cannot save even a measly $50 a month, paying back a loan of that size is the doom that crushes my spirits. We did find the largest sink-hole our money is disappearing into; we spent two-thirds of what we spent on our mortgage on our cars in gas and maintenance (mostly gas). My 100 mile round-trip daily commute is the oppressor of our budget.

Now is an appropriate time for the final scene change, for it is now that we find ourselves back at the office, this time in the interior, and it is time for my much belted annual review/evaluation. This is the moment I have been waiting for, and now I don't much care. I have been waiting for the day when I can have a conversation with my boss about my salary schedule and hopefully secure a raise that will provide us with some much needed financial relief. Ah but the world is bleak this morning, and nothing short of a miraculous 100% raise would banish the dark clouds of depression from my soul. It was not to be, and I knew it. The evaluation itself went fine, spotless even. Were it not for the commute and the dismal salary we'd both be content as cows, and yet the company is in a slump and there are no funds for raises; there likely will not be any until July, at which time we are to meet again and discuss the issue, but I'll likely be gone by then, only my boss doesn't know it. We cannot afford to let me work at the best job I've ever had, and now I must once again face an evil and corrupt world and play a modified game of Russian Roulette hoping I don't get another despot for a boss.

Monday I lost my office and much of the joy of my job. Tuesday I lost the shirt off my back and any hope of living from surplus instead of handouts. Wednesday I effectively lost my job as it will no longer provide as we need, and will not be able to for some time. The little matter with the IRS is mostly dealt with. I had saved back some money from my freelance work to pay taxes with, but it is by no means significant; however, my parents have offered to loan us the money interest free. We will still have to spend our year arguing over what things we will not be buying, and who will not be getting birthday gifts and all those other fun financial arguments I had thought were behind us. Monday I will begin a job hunt in earnest, only this time I will not look in Portland, I can't keep throwing my money away down my gas tank. Holly has an interview on Wednesday, a development which happened well before this current fiasco. Things may get better yet.