Coming to Grips With #RealLifeFail
In addition to my complete inability to remember to do things such as renew my driver's license and get my car inspected, I have a near-existential dread of doing my taxes. I have no idea why. All things told, I've been doing our taxes myself for years, and I'm actually pretty good at them, and they're rarely as bad as I build them up to be in my mind. Indeed, this year they only took about an hour. (And that's with the ferret helping. Ahem. I mean "helping.")
Oh, but the days and weeks leading up to them are filled with a wholly unreasonable terror. The stack of papers sits on my desk and mocks me as I find one flimsy excuse after another for avoidance, one more reason to procrastinate. Horror scenarios play out in my mind, even though after more than 20 years of looking at tax forms, I always have a vague idea of how much we've made and how much we're due back/owe. But no, in my mind is a nightmare where I've gotten it all terribly, terribly wrong and I've somehow doomed myself and my wife to financial ruin, owing thousands upon thousands of dollars in taxes that my modest income could never generate. Seriously, it's ridiculous. Even the bad years haven't been that bad. And this was a pretty straightforward year. But even knowing that doesn't help. I cower in the face of the paperwork and whimper in fear. Until I sit down and do it, check my work, and realize it's over and was no big deal.
I do this every year. Sigh.
***
In things I'm much better at dealing with, the Radius signature feature brings poetry by Roger Bonair-Agard, Jeanann Verlee and Adam Falkner; and Lisa Sisler (happy birthday!) offers an essay on The Other: Origins, Examples & the Divine.
Poetry: Much better than taxes.
Oh, but the days and weeks leading up to them are filled with a wholly unreasonable terror. The stack of papers sits on my desk and mocks me as I find one flimsy excuse after another for avoidance, one more reason to procrastinate. Horror scenarios play out in my mind, even though after more than 20 years of looking at tax forms, I always have a vague idea of how much we've made and how much we're due back/owe. But no, in my mind is a nightmare where I've gotten it all terribly, terribly wrong and I've somehow doomed myself and my wife to financial ruin, owing thousands upon thousands of dollars in taxes that my modest income could never generate. Seriously, it's ridiculous. Even the bad years haven't been that bad. And this was a pretty straightforward year. But even knowing that doesn't help. I cower in the face of the paperwork and whimper in fear. Until I sit down and do it, check my work, and realize it's over and was no big deal.
I do this every year. Sigh.
***
In things I'm much better at dealing with, the Radius signature feature brings poetry by Roger Bonair-Agard, Jeanann Verlee and Adam Falkner; and Lisa Sisler (happy birthday!) offers an essay on The Other: Origins, Examples & the Divine.
Poetry: Much better than taxes.
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