Home For the Holidays..

Long time no blog... But here I am on Thanksgiving Day home alone. This is what happens when you have no family of your own. My sister works on TG day because she is a nurse. My mom isn't yet up to driving over to my house, after her recent heart attack, and I have to wait til tomorrow when the mail, and hopefully my unemployment check, comes as I don't have a dime to my name to go anywhere. Have to get the funds into the bank or I'm a dead duck..... er, turkey!

No one in our family invited the three of us for TG. But they all have their own family so they all go their own way. I understand, but still it hurts. Therefore, my mother, my sister and I will celebrate TG belatedly on Sunday which is my sister's day off.

To make matters more jolly, the Unemployment Dept. totally botched up my weekend. They have been holding my unemployment checks hostage (!!!), as they now have a 'new rule' (so they say!) that when you file a new claim, they have to verify who you are!! They informed me that I had to PROVE MY IDENTITY and requested I provide them with copies of my birth certificate, driver's license, a communication letter from SSN (just your social security card won't do!), my bank statement, last payment stub, utility bills and a vial of my blood.... well, just kidding about that last one! Anyway, I complied and sent all this info over a MONTH ago! I did not hear a word for weeks, nor have I received any of my unemployment payments, so I have been trying to phone them every day to get information on whether they even received my info and when I would be 'validated'... And they absolutely positively will not send any payments until you are 'validated'! Gads, you would think that my last name was Bin Laden or something!

Well, you would have thought I'd been trying to contact the North Pole in trying to get ahold of someone at the Extremely Dastardly Dogs (i.e. the Employment Development Dept). Press 1 for English.... yada yada... press 3 for new claims, press 2 if you received Form 3126, press 4 if you are working out of state, press 5 for job services, press finger into your ear and scream.... This was ridiculous... Everytime I thought I was getting somewhere, it would take me back to the main menu or say 'Due to heavy response, we cannot help you at this time. Please call back at another time' and then would disconnect me!!!! All this after spending chunks of time on the phone over and over!

Ok, thought I'd get on the Internet and try to contact them that way. You should see the menu you have to go through just to get to a teeny tiny 'contact us' in small print....!! So I did that. Next day I got a response. What did it say? "You cannot receive benefits until you send in your documents for verification"..... ACHHHHH!! Puzzled and totally frustrated, that message then left me wondering if they had even RECEIVED my documents!! And how long was this whole procedure going to take? When would I ever see my payments! Would I have to send all this stuff all over again!? Meanwhile, the bank was chewing up my little remaining funds, charging me overdraft fees day after day! Let me tell you, 'tis NOT the season for me to be jolly.

Anyway, I finally got ahold of a HUMAN BEING (or maybe a robot?) at the EDD yesterday! They told me that I had finally been cleared and that my 3 weeks of checks had been issued. Hallelujah!! But of course, this all has to be happening on Thanksgiving week, when, of course, the mail is going to be slower because of the holiday! So I am sitting here waiting like a turkey with its head on the chopping block for my checks!! I couldn't go home today for TG as I have no money for gas for the car! So hopefully, the money will be here tomorrow!

Meanwhile, I'm sure the Juan Lopez's and Ahmed El Zahari's or such are easily receiving their unemployment monies or, better yet, do not even have to go through this as they are most likely GAINFULLY EMPLOYED in our country!!! But here I sit, trying to find a job in my own country, and when I can't, I cannot even get my rightfully earned unemployment benefits as I have to PROVE WHO I AM!!

On the other hand, while I had to prove I am ME to the EDD, the Voters' Registration People think I am TWO people!! They keep sending me voter information pamphlets to my old name AND my new name. This is after 15 or more years of repeatedly informing them that I no longer go by my old name!! I technically could go down in the morning and vote in my old name and then go down in the evening with my new name! Go figure!

Am I nobody?.. Or am I two people!?? Well, right now, I am going to go pour TWO glasses of Wild Turkey for both of me....!! So, HAPPY TURKEY DAY to you too!

I Would Have Invited Them Over, But My Red Carpet Was at the Cleaners....

Well, look who I happened to run into strolling around my neighborhood....!

Last night I ventured down to North Beach, my neighborhood, and situated myself into what I thought was an ideal spot outside Club Fugazi where the Royals were due to arrive for a performance of 'Beach Blanket Babylon', a comical San Francisco one-of-a-kind show and tradition.

The area was, of course, all cordoned off, where if you placed yourself on the same side of the street as the entrance, you could possibly have trouble seeing over people's shoulders and heads, unless you were right up against the barriers. So I went across the street where I had a head-on view of the entrance. With my zoom lens on my camera, I figured I had perfect view of the entrance to the club, and could get some decent photos of them entering. Boy, did I think I was in the cat-bird's seat. HA!! Waited out there for over an hour and watched all sorts of other high society arrive, including Gavin Newsom, our SF mayor, his ex-wife, Kimberly Gilfoyle-Newsom, George Schultz (ex-Secretary of State) and his wife Charlotte Maillard, Chief of Protocol. Then we could tell that the MAIN EVENT was about to happen, as the police and secret service people started shuffling around and whispering in their walkie-talkies, and then motorcycle cops came roaring down the street, sirens blaring, lights flashing.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men and yours truly, all went to hell in a handbasket real quick! About 7 black police vans pulled up in front of the entrance in rapid, frantic succession, and COMPLETELY blocked out the view I had!! Couldn't see a darn thing except the left ear and left gray-haired lobes of Prince Charles, and as for Camilla, all I saw was a quick view of the blond, it's-got-to-go, Farrah Fawcett hairdo!

THE BLOCKED VIEW!
Oh well! At least I had fun being there as part of the lively party-mood crowd. I decided to then stay til the show was over, as I figured maybe I could figure out a better spot to stand as they exited, and get at least one decent photo! Meanwhile, to pass the time, I moseyed into Capp's Corner Italian bar and restaurant, there on Beach Blanket Babylon Street, and sat and had a couple of drinks with some English people and two of the Royal's bodyguards! That in itself was a hoot. When the bartender told me that they had a perfect view of the front of the club from their kitchen, I tried everything to wheedle them into letting me go into the kitchen, even leaving a bigger tip than I would normally leave, but, alas, no go! Not even offering to wash a couple dishes worked!

By the time I got out of there to go see Chuck and Cammie exit the front doors, I was feeling no pain. I made my way, this time, to the SAME side of the street, and plastered myself right up against the closest barrier! Perfect!!! While again waiting, I had a great conversation with some lady from Edinburgh and a couple of guys from Leeds England. They also obviously had been imbibing a few libations, and between all of us being a wee bit inebriated, and babbling in our mixed accents, I don't know what the hell we were even talking about!! But we had a good time anyway!All of a sudden, just before C&C exited the club, a bunch of press people ran over with all their gear and stood right in front of our barrier!!! Oh no!! Not again!!! Again, all I saw was glimpses of portions of the Royal's bodies!! I was soooo disappointed!! Darn.

ONE MINUTE, A PERFECT VIEW............................... THE NEXT MINUTE... NOT!!!

Then right after that, I got interviewed by one of our local TV channels (KTVU) and was assured it would be on the 10:00 news. Called a bunch of people to tell them to watch and then headed home. Well, watched the whole hour of the 10:00 news, and yep, you guessed it, I never got on! Geesh.Today, I decided to give the Royal Viewing another shot.

The Prince and Duchess of Cornwall were going to be appearing at our Ferry Building along the Bay. I got down there fairly early, and I somehow got a front row spot right in front behind the closest barriers. I knew just from the way the barriers were set up and arranged at this location, that THIS TIME, I would have a good view. Well, I was right. There was no way any cars could block my view as I was right near the entrance to the building, and no cars could even come up that far.Chuck & Cam arrived by a Coast Guard boat from Berkeley and walked all the way around the barriers slowly, stopping to shake hands and talk to us commoners! I got fantastic photos, and then the best..... THEY STOPPED AND SHOOK MY HAND AND I GOT TO SPEAK TO THEM! Protocol demands that you aren't ever supposed to offer your hand to Royals, as they are supposed to offer their hand to you first... and that's just what they did! It was an exciting moment, and it made up for last night's disappointment. I said to Charles, "I am very happy for you and Camilla", and he said "Well, thank you so very much!". Then to Camilla, I said "How are you enjoying San Francisco?", and she replied, "It is very very lovely, thank you!"...

Right before they had stopped to meet me, a pigeon dropped a big poop on the very spot they would stand on! All I could think of is 'National Enquirer Here I Come' and what a bunch of money I could make on a photo of a pigeon pooping on Camilla's hairdo or Charles' bald spot!!! San Francisco had all sorts of security there today, but I guess they forgot about Pigeon Patrol!

Many many years ago, long before Charles was even connected to Diana, he had made a trip to SF here, and I got to meet him then in front of the Bank of America building. The security then, was understandably, not as tight as it is now, post 9/11, and I remember seeing him up close but wasn't able to shake his hand or speak to him. He was so young then, and I so vividly remember what a porcelain complexion he had. Now, he actually looks more handsome than he did as a young lad, as he is weathered, with a few wrinkles and gray hair, thereby giving his face more character. Oh, and his voice --- it is very, very mesmerizing, and they both were very pleasant and accommodating to everyone.

They walked all the way through the Ferry Building shops stopping along the way to chat to shopkeepers and others. So today, I finally got my photos and had my brush with Royalty! Did I CURTSEY, you ask? Who me? With my bad knee and my bad luck, I would probably have fallen right over onto Camilla's designer shoes! Nope, that would not have been quite the same as losing my glass slipper and having a Prince find it!