My wife and I live in a money consuming, supply eating thing we call a house that we bought a few months before we got married. It is simultaneously a source of pride and extreme frustration. Plus, it eats my time without any regard for what I would rather be doing. Besides, I have lived in much worse places so I can't really complain. However, I'm trying to figure out what we are doing wrong.
I went on a call yesterday. Needless to say, I can't divulge any particulars about the patient but I will give you a general idea. She is a single mom in her early twenties without a job. The part that gets me is her apartment. It was nice. I don't mean nice as in a good, decent place to live. I mean nice as in a sweet place to live. I would have loved to live in a place like this back in the day. There were at least two bedrooms and bathrooms that I could easily see, the kitchen had all the modern appliances you could ask for, the living room and dining room area was spacious, and there was a good sized deck outside. The complex has a nice big pool, clubhouse, and fenced in playground with nice, new equipment. There was cable and high-speed internet too. This is the new section 8 housing and not the only one in town like this.
Did I emphasize that she doesn't have a job? She has several nice, and I'm sure expensive, tattoos that look very professional but no job. Reread the description above. Does this make any sense? Without going into the in's and out's of welfare and such (another day I'm sure), since when are the amenities above required to live? I don't get it. Should a child have a decent place to live, sure. Should people who are struggling have a decent place to live, sure. Do they need cable and all the other really good stuff, I'm thinking not so much. The part that is really chaffing my ass is that I am paying for it but I don't get to partake. I make too much money.
So, where did my wife and I go wrong? We both work hard and take care of our bills. Neither one of us are bad people though I will admit that she is far nicer than I am. (At the same time, she doesn't have to deal with people like I do.) Why do we have to pay for all of our appliances and amenities? And, get this, since this is an apartment, if an appliance tears up, they just call the maintenance number and it gets fixed or replaced. ?????? No repair bill? No having to wait until payday to get things taken care of? Hell, there is no getting out the phonebook and calling around to find someone to come and fix things.
Did mention the parking lot? I am into cars. I love them and have for as long as I can remember. I also know what they cost. There were a few hoopties here and there but most of them were within three years old, twenty thousand dollar plus rides with upgrades. Even the hoopties had upgrades, tacky but expensive upgrades. I drive a nine year old car with over two hundred thousand miles on it. The only upgrade is tinted windows. How can people with no job get these? I want in on it. With the price of gas these days, how do they feed them? I want in on that too.
So, I did a little informal research. Most of them are disabled with things like degenerative disk disease, bipolar, and schizophrenia being the top three. So, using that information, I am formulating a plan. I will become disabled.
Don't get me wrong, these are legitimate problems that are very life-altering to say the least. But, I know what the signs and symptoms are of these particular problems and I know what medications these problems require for treatment. In far too many cases, I don't see the two happening at the same time. Anyway, back to the plan. I am going with degenerative disk disease (DDD). I'm sure I have it by now. I don't think anyone really knows the statistics but I'm sure spinal problems are pretty rampant in EMS. All I need to do is get a doctor to certify me as having DDD and that I can no longer work. Since I know the symptoms, I can get all the pain meds needed. I can use these as "supplemental income" and/or for those days when I just want to get away. Then I can qualify for section 8 housing and get to move into one of these sweet complexes. There is only one problem......
We have pride. We work for a living like many, many folks. What we have is ours because we have earned it. Besides, if I left my job now, I would have to change the title of this blog and run out of things to talk about pretty quickly.
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