April 15, 2013. Thoughts on an average day.

   I have gotten into such a predictable routine that I often wonder if I just stop noticing things along my way. Today afforded a few observations. Not necessarily brilliant, but I'll share them anyway.

    I approached  the red light across the street from my workplace and came even with the only other person on that corner. He said good morning and I could tell that he was a fairly recent arrival from Africa. I was a bit slow to respond-my being takes a little time to get up to speed in the morning-and he felt that he should explain himself.  It was his custom to talk to people he came across and he didn't mean to disturb anyone. I encouraged this happy practice while silently feeling a bit sorry for him.  This city, as so many others, is populated by people totally preoccupied by MP3 players, i-Pads, i-Phones, PDA's, readers and all sorts of electronic devices that isolate ourselves from others  while we delusionally think  we are staying connected. What an anti-social place this must be to this friendly young guy.

   The court I was working in today usually has a few slow moments  and I took advantage of that to fulfill an annual duty.  Yep, I finished my 1040 form during a criminal sentencing.  (Gee, what does that say about paying taxes?)  I usually get my return done on April 14. Why that date? Because it is the anniversary of my arrival in Australia. Yesterday, Sunday, was my fifth anniversary.  I never owe money (one has to make ridiculous amounts of dough before the IRS asks for a small percentage of the overage) but the US Treasury likes to hear from me.  And from all U.S. expats wherever they are.  I find that many American expats are not aware that they are obliged to file a return.  Hope they don't run into any surprises when they repatriate. I always have my envelope hand cancelled so that the postmark date can clearly be read by even the dimmest auditor eyes.

    I received my pink slip at lunch.  My company lost its contract after 25 years and most of us monitors are being "made redundant". We've known for awhile that we were getting the axe, so this was a mere formality.  I took a moment to share my company experience with the boss and silently hoped this wouldn't be too painful a day for him. Oddly enough, I am not sad or panicky.  I don't have new employment lined up for after May 17 yet but I must have greater confidence today than I did five years ago. Que sera, sera.

    After work, I went to the store to pick up some frozen apple juice concentrate. You know the stuff--just like orange juice it comes in a cardboard or plastic can which you mix with three or four cans of water in your own pitcher. Economical and ecological.  And nonexistent here in Australia. All juice is sold in cartons or jugs.  Kev said frozen concentrate had been trialled once upon a time but Aussies weren't sold on the concept. Just another thing OZ doesn't have but one learns to live without.

    And finally, this evening I made apple butter. Not quite as rich a brown as one expects but it tastes yummy.  I made a batch yesterday but absentmindedly added apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider. It's not ruined but I will put both up for my professional taste-testers to see which suits Australian sensibilities more.  No one seems to have heard of apple butter before so this will be an interesting session.  My taste-testers help me fine tune my recipes to Royal Show (state fair) winning standard. And since I lose my team in a month, I have to step up the R and D schedule.

   I am thinking this indeed was an average day.


 

Authoring My Own Post Mortem

     My recent vacation back home in the U.S. after being away for five years was notable. I caught up with a lot of family and dear friends. I let my suntan brag for itself to all the northern hemisphere  winter whites.  I engaged in some serious retail therapy to the tune of  a second 50 lb suitcase  (without being charged by the airline for it!)

     And I  got to hear how I died on April 1, 2008.

     Yeah, that was a bit of a shock to me, also. In a visit to my U.S. credit union to check up on my financial health, I discovered that where the consumer retail credit  world was concerned, I was little more than a name on a gravestone.
     This is how it happened.  When I moved to Australia five years ago, I changed my permanent address with all pertinent parties from the U.S. address to my new one overseas. Who wouldn't? Well, unbeknownst to me - and apparently to the razor sharp folks at my credit union, also - a foreign billing address is not recognized by North American credit reporting agencies. I had committed financial suicide. Add the fact that activity evaporates after several years -both the good and the bad- from one's credit rating , I essentially fell off the credit-worthy grid.  
     My credit rating went from 800+ to too low to calculate a score.   
     It is like being 18 years old again--in an unpleasant way.   I chose to take an immediate,  proactive role in my financial recovery (because yelling at the equally ignorant credit union people in shocked outrage would only have gotten me escorted out the door by armed security personnel) and have taken steps to reestablish myself  as a credit worthy individual.
     I don't believe in Woulda', Shoulda', Coulda's. I cannot change what is done.  I can help spread the word to other folks who plan to temporarily leave the country for contract work or preserve a retail credit presence in the U.S. for their own reasons to do so with the least amount of damage.  
     As we've seen, keeping a domestic address is paramount.  Start with a trusted relative or friend who will allow you a virtual home for your financial entity. Will they accept your mail and forward it to you?  If this is not a good option, try renting one of those private P.O. Boxes where the service will forward your mail. It will cost a fee per forward, but P.O. Boxes carry full weight as a residency requirement.  
     Remember to generate activity every now and again.  Make online purchases with your U.S. credit card or department store charge card a few times a year to make sure they are seen as active.  Take out a small secured loan against your savings and use the loan money to pay it back over a several month period.  Credit reporting companies love to see installment loans and aren't too fussy about the amount. A $300 secured loan paid back over nine months will probably cost you $5 in interest.  A much easier cost to swallow than trying to crawl your way out of a financial black hole.
      So much banking is done online or electronically that many people couldn't identify a single  employee in a brick & mortar office.  I know people who haven't stepped in a bank in years.  Not a good idea for a future expat.  Get to know your banker personally. Keep them in the loop of what you want to do and where you will be doing it from. This raises the customer service level and appropriate assistance you will get when managing or reassessing your financial affairs via email from some far corner of the Earth.
      And when you return to the good ol' US of A after your exotic couple of years abroad,  you won't find your name on the financial obituary list  hoping for an autopsy.
    
     

Time Affects Our Vision

     Funny how Time can affect our vision.  Take today, April 14, for example.  The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the unsinkable ship HMS Titanic.  Far from being just another ship going down in an ocean,  this maritime disaster has spawned an industry of its own.  Treasure hunters, movie makers, playwrights, song writers, museums and uncountable romantic tragics  have elevated this incident from a cautionary tale of marine safety into a full blown fairytale.  Beyond fairytale...we were, nay, are there...dressed and setting sail a full century later.

    April 14 marks another big day :  my arrival into Australia in 2008.  Has it really been four years?!  Where does time go?  I arrived in Perth in the middle of the night and when I woke up in the morning I dashed over to the library to get my library card. That day, and each day for several weeks beyond, was filled with discovery and new things for the mind to digest.  But even then I feared it all becoming too commonplace. That is when I started these postcards--before this city and country lost its 'newness'.   Familiarity may or may not breed contempt, but it sure does promote tunnel vision. And recently I became all too aware that I have become as quite myopic as the locals.

   I was returning from a quick errand on our side of downtown.  It was such a nice day that I decided to walk home rather than take a bus.  Taking a shortcut to the bridge would have me avoid playing chicken with cars at a major traffic circle.   It  would also expose  a piece of the city I had never seen before.  From the elevated seating of a bus, this small strip of land looks like a tree-lined bike path next to a municipal parking lot.  From ground level, it is a hidden park complete with an extensive playground set, Aboriginal interpretive center and a bike & kayak rental barn.

    This park is but a half mile from my home.  However did I miss this? I feverishly thought of excuses: tree cover keeps this hidden from commuters, my left knee keeps me from bicycling on the bike paths, it's the "wrong side" of the river, etc.      The truth is that I have put on the same blinders that so many others  wear.  We each follow our same path each day without variance , without seeing what we look at.   A life of routine.
     Routine is a voracious eater of Time.  I shouldn't wonder that four years have elapsed without me noticing.  So I vow that I will get off the same over-trodden path or vary my routine on a regular basis from here on out.   I am looking forward to more discoveries.