Gold Star

[plumtreeblossom]

When you have a blog or a public journal, as I do, there are many moments in each day when you spontaneously start composing a post in your head while going about life's very mundane business, only to remember (if you're grounded in any sort of reality) that nobody would or should give a good goddamn about what it is you have to share. I'm not talking about sudden deep insights while doing the laundry; I'm talking about posts about the laundry itself.

As a sometimes-fiction-writer, I can put a spin on quasi-retarded topics and make them readable. Case in point: my post just prior to this about liking all my food on one plate. Only a navel gazer would write about that, but a well-mannered navel gazer can, and does, find wording that neither beseeches affirmation nor bores with excessive detail.

That said, I did my taxes today. That's not something you should care about, nor something I should crow about. Getting things done that we're supposed to do, like changing our underwear or doing our taxes, is not an "accomplishment." Yet when you're doing it, and when you get to that candy-like "All done!" moment, the first thing you (and by "you" I mean "I") want to do is tell someone about it.

This would be a non-item if I'd ever in my life done my taxes before April 14th in any given year prior this, ever. But here we are, in a spring-like February as I sorted through the communal 3-household mail basket and found my W2, that I actually skipped an anti-Superbowl board-game party and chose to geek on my taxes instead.

For the first time in 12 years, I'm getting a re-fucking-fund.

Et vous?

Comments

[rdcf.livejournal.com]

I got around to putting it on my to-do list today :-).

Uggghhh...

[fragile-rage.livejournal.com]

I did our taxes the other day and found out that we owe a lot of money for the second year in a row. My husband doesn't seem to be able to get a handle on what needs to be deducted from his pay. I've had him re-do his W4 and have written down what he needs to specify be taken out (instead of trusting his employer to do so). Having done this using his income before deductions, hopefully there will be a refund in our future? For now, it's rob Peter time... Again!

You shouldn't be concerned about what you post. It's your journal. You should be able to say what ever you wish to without keeping in the back of your mind what others will think of it. I'm suspicious of people who seem to have something exciting, unusual or prolific to say everyday. They're either not of this world or spewing bullsh*t. Ordinary is realistic. Keep it real *grin*.

Re: Uggghhh...

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Getting a refund is nice, but every dollar you overpay is money withheld without interest. Financially speaking, it's better to owe at the end of the year.

Of course, it's not like I would have actually invested the money I just got refunded. So it's purely hypothetical, and I am very happy to have money in my pocket.

Clearly I don't think this subject is too boring... :-)

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

$400 baby!

I, personally, don't see why you (we) shouldn't crow about it...

[mdm-sosostris.livejournal.com]

Heh--I know what you mean. Blogging has definitely changed my thought processes. I took notes all weekend about stuff I wanted to mention when I got back. I definitely start composing posts in my head about belly button lint.

Dunno about the refund, though. I've yet to declare about the poverty line since I started filing, 'cause I've yet to hold down a job for a full calendar year. Last year I got twice as much back as I paid to the Fed; but then last year I think I officially made $6k. So we'll see.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I usually owe federal, and get maybe a $20 refund from state. Ordinarily I wait 'til the last possible moment to view the damage, hoping maybe a new world order will take over before April 15 and in post-apocalypse-land I can pay taxes with scrawny garden vegetables and sexual favors.

I got the W2 this weekend, and I have no idea why I was suddenly johnny-on-the-spot doing them. When I found out I was getting like $500 back, I w00ted for a while and then decided, like a grownup, that it was going to bills.

[saturn939.livejournal.com]

I'm talking about posts about the laundry itself.

Sounds like MY journal, hah.

-Dej

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

You should print out and save hardcopies of your LJ, because it really is a moment by moment documentation of your life. Your great-grandchildren will be able to see what daily life was like waaaay back in '06. :-)

tax refund

[(Anonymous)]

I'm going to have to give the IRS my first born this year.

Bisous