What's going on with you, part II...

[pbrower2a]

Avoid Michigan if you dislike snow.

[pbrower2a]

(12-22-2019, 03:41 AM)taramarie Wrote: My dear sweet furbaby, Asaria has 4th stage kidney failure and today is in a very bad way. Seems for Christmas I will lose my wee baby just before I leave for Slovakia. I guess at least I will be here to say goodbye to her. It is going to be a very rough Christmas.

My sympathy. Every loss of a beloved dog is different because dogs are as individual as we are.

[David Horn]

We all need a Happy New Year. Let's hope we all get one.

[pbrower2a]

(12-31-2019, 05:06 PM)taramarie Wrote: Happy New Year everyone. I welcome the 2020's after the rotten year I just had. Hopefully no more losing loved ones this year and no more surgeries for me this year. Have a lovely new year everyone. I will be leaving very soon for Slovakia to my new life. Have a good one guys. All the very best.

Enjoy Slovakia! It has a great musical tradition -- not so surprising in a country surrounded by Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine. 

I hope to get a job that allows me some independence so long as I toe the line on the job, getting out of a precarious domestic situation that involves a white elephant of a house, and getting a dog. 

All in all, happiness devolves to a few things, and most of us find ourselves distracted from the real causes of happiness.

[pbrower2a]

White elephant: nominally valuable, but costly to maintain and hard to sell. It is designed for the time when American families had more children. The local economy is depressed. It is 55 years old -- which in America means that it is too old to not have big repairs to do, but too new to have any charm.

I'm in a bad domestic situation because I am living with my brother and his girlfriend, and she has gotten sick of me. She has me figured as a nasty narcissist and questions my diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. It is real, even to the extent of causing physical manifestations that include a rigid gait and back problems unrelated to any injury.

Besides, I am 64, so I may be in the position of having to commit myself to a "suffer with a smile" job until I end up in a nursing home. I'm sure you have heard how American politics are -- great for elites and getting increasingly awful for everyone else.

Sometimes I think that a malign deity has created this nasty world to tantalize me with promises that invariably get broken. Most people are good, but the people capable of doing good for me are economic sadists.

Things are not quite what they seem; skim milk masquerades as cream. -- W. S. Gilbert, H.M.S. Pinafore.

[pbrower2a]

Gee! I'd want to hire that fellow no matter what age or handicap he has!

[Tim Randal Walker]

I find it a bit odd to be living in the decades off the twenties.

To me the twenties were a quaint period during the early twentieth century.

[Tim Randal Walker]

Live long and prosper, Taramarie.

[pbrower2a]

(01-03-2020, 02:35 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: I find it a bit odd to be living in the decades off the twenties.

To me the twenties were a quaint period during the early twentieth century.

I think of the 'Twenties, and I can hardly avoid thinking of a time that I know through others. The only roar that any of my relatives knew of the 1920's was that rum-runners used the road (first Michigan 23, which became US-112 in 1926) that went through town on the way from Detroit to Elkhart, South Bend, and Chicago. The local sheriff was too scared to do anything about that. It was a great time to be rich or middle class... but there wasn't much of a middle class in those days. It was easy to get work -- of course it paid little, and the 60-hour workweeks of genuine toil wore people down. Paradoxically it may have been the Great Depression that compelled the Establishment to lengthen the norms of education, to curtail working hours, to get the elderly (often industrial accidents waiting to happen due to slowed reflexes and addled minds) out of industry and into retirement. Real estate was cheap by current standards, but in view of the long hours of hard toil one could hardly get to enjoy it if one worked to pay for it. If one was a housewife, the single-family house was a place in which one could hardly get away from. Cooking, cleaning, and children -- and avoiding the beating that a husband could deliver if one's cooking wasn't up to par for some reason -- and he could get away with it. And let me remind you that although the Harlem Renaissance was going strong, then so was this:



Yuck! We can all be grateful that that group basically disintegrated before it had the chance to do large-scale genocide as did other fascists

It says something about me that prominent people of the time (Sir Winston Churchill, Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Chaplin, Marc Chagall, Bertrand Russell, Georgia O'Keefe, Robert Frost, Helen Keller, Herbert Hoover, Irving Berlin, ira Gershwin) lived at least deep into my first decade of life. But should I live a long life like one of theirs I might be around into the 2040's and be a real dinosaur.

[Marypoza]

(02-29-2020, 10:52 PM)taramarie Wrote: I am in slovakia now and setting up life in europe. So many things going on all at once! Hope all is well for you guys.

-- good luck with your new life

[David Horn]

(03-24-2020, 04:21 PM)taramarie Wrote: Due to the quarantine lockdown here in Slovakia and the latest update that Slovakia will be in lockdown till the 30th of april, this means they will force me to overstay then so far as I know they will deport me and I will be banned from my soon to be husband's country for 5 years for overstaying by force of the Slovak govt due to the lockdown. I cant even cross the border to get to the NZ embassy in Austria. I am in deep deep kaka guys.

Wow! I don't know what to say.  Is there an embassy in Slovakia that represents NZ interests?  Both Sweden and Switzerland have been known to provide that service.  So has Canada at times. It may be worth a phone call to each of them.

[pbrower2a]

I am no attorney, and even if I were I could give no advice on specifics of immigration law in Slovakia.

I would guess that most countries excuse technical violations of the law if official orders such as a quarantine get in the way. As an example, if a policeman orders you to continue through a red light, you can be ticketed only if you violate the policeman's orders.

Starting a new business? There is no better time than a depression. Rents are low, supplies are cheap, inventories are available at fire-sale prices without the smell of smoke and without water damage, good help is easy to find, and customers are loyal. Starting a new business is always difficult, but it becomes a better choice when other opportunities vanish. The work is hard and the hours are long, as usual, and the return on investment is bare survival -- but it is survival. As things improve a business owner is in the best position in which to profit from the improvement. Hard times force good habits.

[beechnut79]

(03-26-2020, 10:32 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I am no attorney, and even if I were I could give no advice on specifics of immigration law in Slovakia.

I would guess that most countries excuse technical violations of the law if official orders such as a quarantine get in the way. As an example, if a policeman orders you to continue through a red light, you can be ticketed only if you violate the policeman's orders.

Starting a new business? There is no better time than a depression. Rents are low, supplies are cheap, inventories are available at fire-sale prices without the smell of smoke and without water damage, good help is easy to find, and customers are loyal. Starting a new business is always difficult, but it becomes a better choice when other opportunities vanish. The work is hard and the hours are long, as usual, and the return on investment is bare survival -- but it is survival. As things improve a business owner is in the best position in which to profit from the improvement. Hard times force good habits.

But there isn't an abundance of land today like there was in the Depression era because of much larger populations and at least twice as much land under development.

[pbrower2a]

(03-26-2020, 11:39 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(03-26-2020, 10:32 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I am no attorney, and even if I were I could give no advice on specifics of immigration law in Slovakia.

I would guess that most countries excuse technical violations of the law if official orders such as a quarantine get in the way. As an example, if a policeman orders you to continue through a red light, you can be ticketed only if you violate the policeman's orders.

Starting a new business? There is no better time than a depression. Rents are low, supplies are cheap, inventories are available at fire-sale prices without the smell of smoke and without water damage, good help is easy to find, and customers are loyal. Starting a new business is always difficult, but it becomes a better choice when other opportunities vanish. The work is hard and the hours are long, as usual, and the return on investment is bare survival -- but it is survival. As things improve a business owner is in the best position in which to profit from the improvement. Hard times force good habits.

But there isn't an abundance of land today like there was in the Depression era because of much larger populations and at least twice as much land under development.

To be sure, I was not thinking of starting a farm.  Retailer, restaurant, repair shop... even an advertising agency.

[beechnut79]

(03-27-2020, 01:41 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(03-26-2020, 11:39 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(03-26-2020, 10:32 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I am no attorney, and even if I were I could give no advice on specifics of immigration law in Slovakia.

I would guess that most countries excuse technical violations of the law if official orders such as a quarantine get in the way. As an example, if a policeman orders you to continue through a red light, you can be ticketed only if you violate the policeman's orders.

Starting a new business? There is no better time than a depression. Rents are low, supplies are cheap, inventories are available at fire-sale prices without the smell of smoke and without water damage, good help is easy to find, and customers are loyal. Starting a new business is always difficult, but it becomes a better choice when other opportunities vanish. The work is hard and the hours are long, as usual, and the return on investment is bare survival -- but it is survival. As things improve a business owner is in the best position in which to profit from the improvement. Hard times force good habits.

But there isn't an abundance of land today like there was in the Depression era because of much larger populations and at least twice as much land under development.

To be sure, I was not thinking of starting a farm.  Retailer, restaurant, repair shop... even an advertising agency.

The point I am making is that land may not be so cheap and plentiful this time around.

[David Horn]

(03-26-2020, 04:35 PM)taramarie Wrote: Happy birthday btw David. I hope you had a lovely day.

Thanks!  After a certain age, adding another year seems redundant.  When it gets to the point of scary, I'll stop counting all together.

[pbrower2a]

(03-27-2020, 07:46 AM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(03-27-2020, 01:41 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(03-26-2020, 11:39 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(03-26-2020, 10:32 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I am no attorney, and even if I were I could give no advice on specifics of immigration law in Slovakia.

I would guess that most countries excuse technical violations of the law if official orders such as a quarantine get in the way. As an example, if a policeman orders you to continue through a red light, you can be ticketed only if you violate the policeman's orders.

Starting a new business? There is no better time than a depression. Rents are low, supplies are cheap, inventories are available at fire-sale prices without the smell of smoke and without water damage, good help is easy to find, and customers are loyal. Starting a new business is always difficult, but it becomes a better choice when other opportunities vanish. The work is hard and the hours are long, as usual, and the return on investment is bare survival -- but it is survival. As things improve a business owner is in the best position in which to profit from the improvement. Hard times force good habits.

But there isn't an abundance of land today like there was in the Depression era because of much larger populations and at least twice as much land under development.

To be sure, I was not thinking of starting a farm.  Retailer, restaurant, repair shop... even an advertising agency.

The point I am making is that land may not be so cheap and plentiful this time around.

But fewer people will be farmers.

[David Horn]

(03-28-2020, 03:59 AM)taramarie Wrote: It seems that its quite certain that i will be having to overstay by force of the slovak govt due to lockdown. When borders are lifted ill be able to race to austria and plead for my visa to be renewed and stay in austria for a few months and allow my partner to act on my behalf in slovakia to get papers arranged for me given i wont be able to step foot in slovakia for 3 months. Interesting times guys! At least with the forced overstay i wont be banned.

Best of luck to go with your high zeal.

[David Horn]

(03-29-2020, 04:59 PM)taramarie Wrote:

(03-29-2020, 02:53 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(03-28-2020, 03:59 AM)taramarie Wrote: It seems that its quite certain that i will be having to overstay by force of the slovak govt due to lockdown. When borders are lifted ill be able to race to austria and plead for my visa to be renewed and stay in austria for a few months and allow my partner to act on my behalf in slovakia to get papers arranged for me given i wont be able to step foot in slovakia for 3 months. Interesting times guys! At least with the forced overstay i wont be banned.

Best of luck to go with your high zeal.

Thanks. Update in a positive direction, my partner has a relative who is chief of the Slovak immigration police. Hopefully he can help in this emergency.

There you go.  

[David Horn]

(03-31-2020, 09:15 PM)taramarie Wrote:

(03-30-2020, 12:27 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(03-29-2020, 04:59 PM)taramarie Wrote:

(03-29-2020, 02:53 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(03-28-2020, 03:59 AM)taramarie Wrote: It seems that its quite certain that i will be having to overstay by force of the slovak govt due to lockdown. When borders are lifted ill be able to race to austria and plead for my visa to be renewed and stay in austria for a few months and allow my partner to act on my behalf in slovakia to get papers arranged for me given i wont be able to step foot in slovakia for 3 months. Interesting times guys! At least with the forced overstay i wont be banned.

Best of luck to go with your high zeal.

Thanks. Update in a positive direction, my partner has a relative who is chief of the Slovak immigration police. Hopefully he can help in this emergency.

There you go.  

Update: relative who is chief of the immigration police is willing to help let me stay. In other news, from a legitimate source, there is an update from the govt that later today we will fibd out the decision on regarding if they wish to allow foreigners to stay put in the country a further month due to the virus. I hope so as it will buy me some more time.

Great news.