Elvis said it best

In the film G.I. Blues, Elvis sang a song called "Didja Ever?" In it, he asked:

Didja ever have one of those days, boys?
Didja ever have one of those days
When nothing goes right
From morning to night?
Didja ever have one of those days?

Well, it looks like I'm having one of those days right now, Elv, ol' mate.

So far, essentially, today has cost me £531 (that's US$1,064 or Can$1,193 or €779 or Aus$1,276). Now that, my friends, is a whole hunk o' cheese.

First, I turned on my e-mail to see that Paypal, cunts that they are, in their infinite fucking wisdom, have decided to reimburse one of the people I sold some tattoo magazines to on eBay. Why? I don't know... I sent the mags to a confirmed address SIX WEEKS AGO, and she left me positive feedback, so I know the mags got to her. And now she's requested -- and been given -- a full refund. So I'm out of pocket to the tune of £19, and I no longer have the goods either. What the fuck?

Second, I get my Visa bill. Yes, the one I had paid in advance yesterday. And I see I've been charged £12 for missing a payment. A discussion with my Visa card provider ended in me discovering I will not get the £12 reimbursed, despite the fact the bill never came to me last month. It also ended with me advising the girl that, therefore, I would like to cancel my account, asking her why her company treated its customers like cunts (freezing my credit card because I missed a payment of £5 despite the fact that I pay it off in full every month), and telling her to fuck off when she gave me her shitty standard excuses.

Third, a job that I have lined up, which is proving to be a complete ball-ache: I've negotiated them taking a part of it back, but of course that means my fee gets reduced by £500.

Okay, so the last one is fair enough, I suppose...

... But if the proverbial fool and his money are easily parted, I guess I must be the prize fucking sucker right now.

Another rambling load of old nonsense

First up, I must apologize to everyone on my blogroll, as well as to those who for some reason (i.e., no decent reason) aren't on my blogroll but I still visit regularly, a big "sorry" for being a poor visitor of late. It's a combination of work and selling stuff on eBay that's taking up all my time.

I can't believe how much time and effort it takes to make a few quid on eBay. I've sold 18 "items" and made over £100 so far, plus P&P (though I don't make much profit on that cos I'm not one of those rip-off bastards).

But it's all the confirming buyers' addresses, packaging stuff up, going to the post office... It all takes time, y'know.

So I've made £100. Well, then I went to the dentist, didn't I? Bye bye £190. And I paid £200 off my credit-card bill. I'm making money, yet I'm still out of pocket. What the fuck...?

Yes, then, I was in London Town yesterday (where my dentist still is). And I'm going to London Town again next Tuesday (for my birthday tattoo), and again on 16 March, for a gig up in Camden. Truly, I think that by the end of March, I will have been to London more this year than the whole of last year. Weird. I want to be there at 5:30pm one evening to see the alcoholic ladies and filthy kids from the Adam & The Ants song "Mowhok". The lyrics go: "London Town / 1730 / Women drunk / Children dirty", you see.

RDRR.

It's my mum's birthday today. She's 58. Happy birthday, ma. You know that my folks split up a couple of years ago? Well, I'd meant to call my dad yesterday. It's been a while since I last spoke to him. But I forgot, what with the dentist, then getting home late, then having to do some work, yada yada yada. Well, I can't very well call him today, on my mum's birthday, and I can't call him tomorrow, on what would have been their wedding anniversary. So I've got to wait until Friday. Soz, pappy.

In other news, I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Wow. Well. What can I say. I sort of loved and hated it. I really liked the story itself. But I cannot put into words how much I abhorred the way it was written.

Candy, I know you love the McCarthy, but man... It really fucked me off. Not only is his omission of apostrophes inconsistent (e.g., cant, wont, but let's), in some cases it seems even more wrong than others -- e.g., "in two day's time"; that apostrophe should be after the s because it's a possessive plural. Aaaaggghhh! And I even found a stray sentence fragment that clearly should have been deleted and should not have made it to the printed page.

Still, I read the last 20 pages or so on the train on the way to London. And you know, that bastard brought a tear to my eye. In fact, one tear for each eye. Maybe I was feeling particularly open to the emotion, giving how it ends and the e-mail I'd read just a couple of hours before from a blogpal. A tear for each of you guys.

Peace out.