My Mac has officially been MagicJacked! Tom wanted to look at microphones since my microphone doesn’t work in Windows, which is what I prefer to use over OSX, but I didn’t see the point in getting one.

I gave Eileen and Marie the number, which is easy to remember, and Marie’s gonna leave me a message when I’m asleep. It would be nice to have her voice in my voicemail, as much as we get on each other’s nerves at times. I’ll call her on one of her breaks sometime soon enough.

They didn’t have an Auburn prefix; only Marysvale, Folsom, Paradise, Roseville, Chico and a few other places. I think I chose Chico.

I called my folks and spoke to them both. I told them we didn’t have the new phones yet so we couldn’t all talk, but we’d be getting them soon. Best Buy didn’t have the set we wanted, so we’ll probably order it online. The cashier, who looked to be in her late 40s to early 50s was pretty funny, referring to Tom as “sweetheart” and “love bug.”

I accidentally talked over my folks as there is a lag. When Tom called to test it from his cell phone when we were setting it up, I could clearly hear his “hello” over the phone a second after he actually said it. He says I shout on the phone, too. Oh well, LOL.

Anyway, backing up to when we were out before I get back to Mom and Dad, we also went and picked up the perfume roll-ons I ordered (that Love spell by Victoria’s Secret is to die for), and then to McDonald’s where we got our first real treat in a long time since we began dieting. We don’t like to do fast food too often anyway as it’s costly and unhealthy if you get to doing it as often as we used to. Keeps it special this way anyway. I savored that burger even though it had the pickles and relish I asked them not to include. The rat ate it instead and loved every bit of it as well as some of the bun and a French fry. The fries were delicious too, even though they were cold and soggy, and my caramel sundae was way awesome.

So Mom, Dad and I talked about a variety of things. I asked them what they thought of the healthcare reform thing and they said it was good, but glad that by the time anything could affect them in a bad way, they’d be gone. Yeah, it’s kind of sad to be relieved that my parents will be gone so they won’t have to suffer, but that’s just the way it is.

They said it’s getting hot there again after having the worst winter ever. This has certainly been our worst winter and spring in Cali, but it was warm today.

Their poodle, Max, is going to be 7 tomorrow.

We also talked about the package they sent and they said they’ll be sending another one in a week or so for both Tom and me. It’s a good thing this place has a closet 3 times the size of the two we had in the Oregon house! And that I’ve got lots of spare hangers.

We talked about the economy, too. As I told them, I wish I was one of those who never worry about anything unless trouble is actually upon them, but I’m a major worry wart by nature. I worry about them stopping the checks before the jobs return, and I worry about who’s going to take care of us when we’re older.

Thousands of people have already run out of extensions and it’s sad that this country won’t take care of its own. Yet it will be quick to cart millions off to terrorists in Palestine.

They said they were always determined to never have to depend on any of their kids, and while I understand this, I assured them that if they ever needed a place to stay, they could stay with us. I told Mom I would just have to chase her around with the rat every time she nagged me too much about my comforter not matching my drapes or some silly thing like that.

How things change with time and age! I think the vast majority of us spend our 20s making stupid mistakes, wasting money, dressing like sluts, living in the moment, and basically not caring about anyone else. Then we get older and we scramble to save, we take fewer risks, we swap in the wild clothes for something more casual, then we worry about our future and our parents.

I don’t know where that adventurous side of me came from. It seems Tom brought it out of me, though I doubt he was aware of his own boldness at the time, yet we found we had this adventurous side we never knew existed. Then together we took risks and lived on the edge. I regret it just as much as I loved every single crazy, hectic minute of it. We know that had we never done some of the things we’ve done, we’d always be left to wonder what it would have been like.

Growing old both excites and terrifies me and I’m not afraid to say so. I wouldn’t mind knowing that I’ve only got a handful of years left to worry about money and the world’s twisted unfairness. But the thought of dying – alone or not – and what may await me on the other side, if there is “another side,” really scares the heck outa me.

Anyway, we are doing our best to save what we can without depriving ourselves completely of life. We all gotta live a little. This doesn’t mean spending hundreds of dollars on all kinds of crap, but the occasional fast food runs we make are nice. I turned to Tom a few months ago when we first discovered the Turk and began to save, shook my head and said, “This could all be for nothing. If we don’t survive this economy, all our savings could be for nothing since we couldn’t possibly save enough to survive on if they stop the checks in October, so let’s live a little along the way.” And he agreed.

She pointed out that Tom, as my husband, is obligated to take care and provide for me. And he always has. But if they stop the checks before he can get a job, it won’t be his fault.

Anyway, when life gets me down and I think of how we may be forced to choose between being homeless and hungry or simply killing ourselves, I try to focus on what we do have and not people being uninsured, poverty, legalized discrimination, or our much-needed money going to other countries. Yeah, we might have to kill ourselves next October, since I’m just not tough enough to go hungry on the streets, but not today. Not today.

If we do survive, my dreams in life are simple and that’s just to have a modest house in a few years with a few grand in savings. I don’t care if I never become a published author that makes millions of dollars. I don’t care if PCH never comes to our door. And I don’t care if I can’t stay thin all my life and learn more languages. If these things still happen – great, but I’m already officially in the quadrilingual zone, and I’d say that’s more than most people can claim. I remind myself of these things when I dwell on my shortcomings. I don’t have 5K in savings right now and I may have vision and sleep problems, but I could write this entry in Spanish or Italian and I could sign it, too! Woo-hoo! I can even sing about as good as your average pop star, excluding the extremes like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand.

I still can’t believe there are still people in the world, like Mike Huckabee, who actually believe the efforts to allow gays and lesbians to marry are comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy and drug use. That’s like saying the efforts to raise money for cancer are comparable to beating the crap out of one’s wife and children! Someone needs to show this loser the statistics. 82% of the child molesters in this world are straight males. And drug use and promiscuity are no more or less present in the gay community than in the hetero community.