Autumn Roses And Curses

"Autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible on mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read, some attempt at description,

 or some lines of feeling. She occupied her mind as much as possible in such like musings and quotations."

~Jane Austen

I reached into the archives for this rose photo, from 2013. My current December files are a bit anemic! I need to get back out with the camera, and maybe I will later today, we'll see what the day brings. I am trying to ignore the fact that it is December 10th, a slightly amusing, and slightly dreaded day in our house, because of all the hilarity over the years, and of course the fact that it's cursed. 27 years in a row, we have some kind of financial boo-boo occur. It's been everything from getting robbed... twice... to someone renting a car in my name, and then crashing it, to last years adventure. 

We stopped into our local Bargain Market, to pick up some plastic food containers, and a few other items, but when we went to the check out, sure enough, it happened... the total for 3 small items came to $109.89! Alan and I started laughing, because we knew what it was, but the checker, well, not so much! It took roughly 30 minutes to find out what had gone wrong with the scanner! The containers should have scanned at $9.00 but obviously, they didn't! Then to make it all more fun, it was ultimately discovered that, only the set we picked up had the problem! The rest of the same lot was fine. Oh December 10th, it just wouldn't be the holiday season without you!

#10 Leaf Of The Day

December 10th, 2017

Stockton, California

Mood: Amused

~Me

Happy December 10th Eve!

"Christmas is a time when everybody wants their pasts forgotten and their present remembered. What I don't like about Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."

Phyllis Diller

Good grief! It's the Eve Of December 10th! What is December 10th? Well, that's our cursed day! Yes, Alan and I have our very own cursed day, and it's tomorrow, December 10th! Why is it cursed? Well, you see, it has been an annual occurrence since the year of our marriage, in 1990, that on December 10th something odd, usually something to do with finances, takes place on or very near the actual day of December 10th! If you are new to my blog, and this is all a new revelation about me, let me give you some examples of December 10th oddness, in random order...

Our storage unit was burglarized.

Someone claiming to be me, rented a car, on December 10th, had an accident, and I didn't find out until the following March when the claims adjuster called to ask additional details. That was the year we thought we had beat the curse! How this person got my name and phone number, I will never know.

One of my favorite December 10th hilariousness, happened when Alan was nearly arrested for stalking a neighbor! What he was actually doing was checking the roof at my mother's house for lost shingles, due to a wind storm the previous night! LOL. Thank GOD mom was home to identify him! I was there, trust me, he was looking at the roof's shingles!

In 2011, I decided to just completely ignore the day altogether, that DID NOT WORK OUT! I got a call at 3:30 in the morning, of December 10th, from the fraud division of my bank. It seems someone in Illonois was trying to purchase $1,000 worth of assorted items from a dollar store, using a copy of my ATM/Debit card! They had been approved for $100.00 worth earlier in the day! Thankfully, I wasn't held responsible!

Last year, on December 10th, someone did the exact same thing to Alan! Exactly one year apart mind you! They made a copy of his ATM/Debit card and tried to purchase first $100.00 worth of merchandise, then $1,000.00 worth, only this time, they were in Georgia!

Another personal favorite was the year Alan tried to order a garden hose, on December 10th, using a gift certificate he won at an office party, on December 10th the previous year! He ordered the hose, which was free, but when it came it wasn't one hose, it was 2 hoses! No problem, right? Yes... PROBLEM! Two weeks later, another 3 came! It was difficult to deal with, but they understood we didn't need 4 garden hoses! They told us to choose the one we wanted, and send the 3 remaining back. Alan hadn't opened them, so NO problem. It was however, when he opened the hose he decided to keep, the following spring, only to find it was damaged! 

And there are other assorted incidents. I won't share all of them. My friend Paul, of the blog, Aurora Walking Vacation, a kind and rational thinker if ever there was one, has challenged me at times to consider that December 10th isn't really cursed, but rather I am noticing a pattern where there isn't one. Like if I suddenly noticed that on October 22nd, leaves tend to fall from trees, or more in the abstract, every year during our vacation, Alan and I will spontaneously encounter a celebrity. It's happened a lot, and I used to think of it as magical, but in truth I live in the Bay Area, and we do get the ocassional celebrity in our midst. No magic, more just the way things work! If you leave the house, and even if you don't, random things happen! And I believed that for many years, but how many police reports does one have to fill out before you come to the realization, The Curse Of December 10th is a thing? But does it deserve the respect I give it?

I wish I knew. But good, bad or otherwise, 24 hours from now Alan and I are going to watch old movies, pop popcorn, make some cinnamon frosted pecans, play with our new kitten Joey, watch as many Woody Allen movies as we can fit into 24 hours, dance to disco music, play scrabble, play, Quiddler, and NOT ANSWER THE DOOR! USE OUR CREDIT CARDS OR DEBIT CARDS! WE WILL ACCEPT NO CODS! AND THERE WILL BE NO CYBER SHOPPING! Or for that mater, engage in any transaction of commercialism what-so-ever! There... I said it! I am not afraid to admit to this probably unfounded fear! In fact, I am a bigger person for it! And Paul, if you are visiting my blog this week, I will say it right now... YOU ARE PROBABLY RIGHT!

But Happy December 10th Day Anyway! Watch your wallet and bank accounts my friend! LOL!

:)

Mood: Uncertain :)

~Me :)

Dear friends, I will update you later this week if anything happens, so stay tuned!

It's Not That He's Wrong, It's That He's Not Right :)

"I am all for curses and superstition, but there's a point at which they start getting in the way. That point had arrived."

"Curses are like chickens, they always come home to roost."

~Proverb

My friend Paul came by yesterday and left his opinion about what December 10th is about, for me, and in general. His opinion isn't wrong. It's true that sometimes we mortals tend to put more belief and emphasis on things that can't be proven. Faith is a lot like that. Faith can be a good thing or a bad thing, and it cane be neither one of those things. Sometimes faith just is what it is. Speaking for me, I think I take a lot of things on faith. I have faith in the chair I am sitting on right now to hold me up. I have faith in the fact that the very next thing out of Sarah Palin's mouth with be idiotic, bordering on moronic. I have faith that if I punch that punkass little shit neighbor next door I will be arrested. I have faith that God loves me. I have faith that my friends are there for me. I have faith in Alan, and that we will be married forever, regardless of any silly curse.

And along with all that specific faith in things good and bad, I have faith that next year something odd, probably financial, with occur on or very near December 10th.

Why? You ask.

Well, because tonight Alan received a call from our bank's fraud department, which called to tell us someone was trying to purchase $2 in gas from an Exxon station in North Carolina.

When you have gone to your local sheriffs department 2 years in a row, within a day or so of December 10th, after having experienced 20 some odd years of strange occurrences in and around that date, when do you give in and say... okay... it's a thing. The Curse Of December 10th is a thing.

Paul couldn't be more right about what he said. We mortals do sometimes reach into the metaphysical or the mystical to explain away everything from our character flaws, to our poor decisions. But in my own defense, I have tried over the years to change my thinking. I have laughed at the occurrences. I have ignored the occurrences. Just last year, I had asked Alan if we could just take that day off to kind of hide a bit. He laughed and reminded me that even if something did happen, his being home wouldn't stop it.

It only took a moment for me to realize he was right. What could he do?

Well, as it turns out HE WAS WRONG.

Something did happen. Someone tried to charge a great deal of money, using an ATM card in my name with my number.

And it has happened again this year.

The odds of it happening in the exact same way, exactly a year apart, kinda gives me a bit of validation don't you think?

I don't know. I know there are lots of things that humans can't explain away, and yet I always find it humorous that folks refuse to believe in science and think it borders on heresy to believe that anyone or anything other than God makes the world go round.

Without getting too far into my beliefs and my faith, I believe that science absolutely created everything, and science and the ability to use it, came from GOD. The two thoughts DO NOT have to be mutually exclusive.

But back to December 10th.

It is what it is. Whatever it is. After 20 years of odd happenings I have learned to give it a proper amount of respect, and not be surprised by it when it happens. What else can I do? But I no longer shove it to the side as a coincidence.

It's not.

It's December 10th.

How many times does a person need to be hit over the head with an anvil before they say...

"OUCH."

So Paul, it's not that you are wrong, it's just that you aren't right. But thank you nice man, it's always good to hear from you! :)

"All of us have our individual curses, something that we are uncomfortable with and something that we have to deal with, like me making horror films, perhaps."

~Wes Craven

~Me :)

Don We Now Our Day Of Peril 12-10-2012 AGAIN!

"Reality continues to ruin my life."

~Bill Watterson

Don We Now Our Day Of Peril...

Jeepers, I could have sworn it was just yesterday I was sitting in the waiting room of the sheriff's department, waiting to give my report. Was that really a year ago? Yep. It was a year ago. How could it have come around again so quickly? Oh well, I know that no day on the calendar day comes any faster than any other one, and yet certain days in my life do seem to move at a different speed that others do. December 10th is mine.

Why you ask?

Well, you see, the December 10ths in my life are... ahem... CURSED!

Every year for as long as I can think of... well... at least since Alan and I got married anyway, there have been a number very strange occurrences on December 10th, no matter where we have been, or what day of the week it happens to fall on. More times than not it has centered around some financial mishap, but it's not exclusive to that. Not at all.

One year, we had a big wind storm come through the Bay Area, which didn't do a lot of damage, but did displace a few roof tiles at my parents house. Alan, good guy that he is, offered to stop on the way home from work to check things out so mom and dad didn't have to do that climbing. While Alan was on the roof, the neighbor lady next door saw the backside of him and mistakenly thought it was the creep who had been stalking her. In a panic she called the police, who came, quickly, guns drawn. It took about 30 minutes to clear things up. Blech... that was fun.

On a different year we thought that perhaps we had beat the curse, only to receive a call from Avis Rent-A-Car the following March, wanting additional information about the car accident we had been in on the December 10th. We hadn't rented a car that day... we didn't need to... we both owned cars, and there was NO need to rent one. But someone did, and used my information to do so. Blech... that was fun.

*One year our Public Storage unit was completely cleaned out by crap stealing bandits. But we gained on old brown blanket that wasn't ours. I left it in the LOST AND FOUND. Blech... that was fun.

*Then there was the year I dropped a large can of Del Monte Cling peaches in Heavy Syrup on my right foot. It still hurts to wear boots. Blech... that was fun.

*One of my least favorite December 10ths involved an apartment on the property where I live being rented by a Ne'er-do-well. He vomited regularly off his balcony and into his very own BBQ that sat on the deck below his place. He only stayed about 6 months in that apartment before the other folks on the property, including myself, requested he be kicked out. I hated it, but what can you do? He has been gone several years, but his BBQ remains. Like a ghost. No one really wants to deal with it. Sigh. Blech... that was fun.

*On a different December 10th, a different vomiting occurred. Alan and I went to Union Square to share a nice lunch and watch the ice skaters, when a lady at an adjoining table completely lost her lunch. And more than likely her breakfast. And I am pretty sure her meal from the night before. No kidding, I was almost convinced she was possessed. BLECH... THAT WAS FUN!

*A real favorite was when Alan and I decided to check out apartments in Santa Cruz. We were looking for a change it seemed like a great place to live. We purchased a local newspaper and began calling the different listings. The first three had NO idea how we got their number, but there was NO apartment available... HELL, the numbers published we to private houses! The last number we called was actually the customer service line for a business called... "Whose Your Daddy Novelties."
 Blech... that was fun.

*On one particularly fun December 10th, there was a bit of odd as I witnessed the mugging of a Salvation Army bell ringer and his elf sidekick. I kid you not, I actually got to hear the phrase... "DROP THE BUCKET OR THE ELF GETS IT!" Yes, someone held the two bell ringers up, and used that cheesy line! LOL.

It's not like I said it's never fun on December 10th, but I really do wish I knew why it is so prevalent in my life! What invisible entity did I piss off? I would say I am sorry if I could, and then we can all go our own way. So strange. So random!

*Last year's December 10th turned out okay I suppose. I got a call on December 9th from my bank, asking me if I had made a last minute trip to Illinois. No. I was still in California. But it seems someone using my ATM card and password had just purchased $100 worth of jelly beans. That purchase was approved, but they placed a second purchase on hold. It was for $1700 worth of ski hats, miscellaneous magazines, 3 boxes of roofing nails... and a George Foreman grill. LOL. Oh yeah, and 2 (size small unisex thongs).  It had never occurred to me that there was such a thing as unisex thongs!

Blech... just.. Blech. But also... ROTFLMFAO!

Like I said, the fraud watching folks at my bank caught it. It was odd though that it happened on the 9th, and would that count as a genuine December 10th occurrence? After I told the deputy about my weird track record on December 10th she kinda chuckled and told me that my case was more than likely part of a fraud ring that had stolen a lot of names and card numbers from different grocery stores in the Bay Area. One of the stores on the list was for... you guessed it... my very favorite stop and shop place, conveniently located a mile or so from my house. The theft ring didn't make the purchases in person, they bought stuff over the Internet, and were located in Eastern Europe, where it was already... yep... December 10th!

Okay, so now I have to worry about December 10th in different time zones? LOL!

I don't know what will happen today. But I know this much, I am staying inside, all day, and night, and I am NOT answering the phone, or the door, should someone come knocking. I might answer the phone if it is the bank calling though... sigh... I think I should take that one!

Do I believe in curses? (Shrug) Yeah... kinda!

Now, enjoy this scene from one of my favorite episodes of ABC'S "TAXI."
Season 4 Episode 1 "Jim The Psychic"



~Me :)

Disembodied "W" : Revisiting The Curse Of December 10th!

From For Ellipsis

"The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange."

-G.K. Chesterton

It's been a week since December 10th, and I promised to update you about the day, and if anything strange happened. Well, for the most part it was a quiet day. It was windy and cloudy, so there were strange noises all day, but for the most part quiet. I didn't, however, escape the day without strangeness occurring...

The first odd thing happened around 11:00 AM. I was in my office, playing Slingo Millennium when there came a knock at the front door. I got up, walked to the door, opened it... and no one was there! I check up and down the driveway, I looked all around the house, but no one was to be found. It was spooky.

From For Ellipsis

The second thing has to do with the image you see above. I don't know what happened, but suddenly, on December 10th, this strange "W" has appeared in the upper left hand corner on all new windows I try to open online! It is completely annoying, and I have NO idea where it came from! Is this happening to anyone else? I have run my anti-virus software everyday, and it says everything is fine, but if that's true where could this weird little "W" be coming from?

Is it "W" for "Windows?" Is it "W" for "Weird?" Could it be "W" in reference to George Bush? LOL.

I have to admit, the most annoying part about the weird little "W" is that it instantly reminds me of Dubya. Sigh. Yikes. :(

Do you think George Bush made some pact with the keeper of the Curse of December 10th just to annoy me?

LOL.

Nah... I am not that paranoid, but gosh, couldn't we give another letter some airtime... like maybe... K, or C or perhaps... Z?

So tell me, have you been seeing the Disembodied "W?" If so, tell me all about it in the comment thread for this entry.

Yay... The Curse of December 10th Lives on!

;)

-Carly

Oh No, Is It December 10th Again?

From For Ellipsis

"Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost."

-Robert Southey


It's December 10th. EEEGADDDs! If you have been reading me for a while, you know that I pretty much stay inside, under the covers, each December 10th. Why, you ask? Glad you asked... BECAUSE IT'S CURSED! It's a cursed day in the universe. You see, each year on December 10th something odd happens to Alan and I. One year we were robbed. One December 10th Alan was nearly arrested for stalking, when a neighbor thought a strange man was up on our roof, when in fact it was Alan who was on the roof of our house checking shingles because of a wind storm the previous night. I laughed, but Alan didn't find it funny and the cop didn't find it funny either! LOL. The one year we thought we had beat the CURSE OF DECEMBER 10th, I got a phone call from a rental car agency, the following March, regarding the car accident I had on... you guessed it... last December 10th! I hadn't rented a car that day!


It's an odd day. I really believe it's an odd day for the Universe in general.Don't just ake my word for it, ask Bernie Madoff... he was arrested last year on... December 10th! Now I don't have much sympathy for Bernie Madoff, but I do for his victims. For them, December 10th will always be the worst day in the history of forever. Sigh.



Alan and I kind of watch for the day, kinda like a weird experiment.It's become another of our very own made up holidays. What will happen this year? Will it be something minor? Will it be something silly? Will it be something profound? Only the Guardian of December 10th knows for sure, but whatever it is, it will be interesting. I will let you know how it goes on Friday. Wish me luck.



So tell me, do you believe in curses? Have you ever had something strange happen to you on December 10th? Do you have a different day some time in the year that you believe might be cursed? Tell me what you think!



Good Luck, and beware the CURSE OF DECEMBER 10th!


-Carly

The Day After December 10th And Other Tales Of The City

"The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected."

-Will Rogers

Yesterday, as you know, was the day after December 10th. Which for most folks means it was just another day on the calendar, but in our house, it means the day after whatever strange event more then likely visited us the day before. If you read my last entry, then you know December 10th is a cursed day in the universe for us. Something something really bad happens, sometimes it is something amusing, but it is never, ever uneventful... and this year's December 10th was no exception.

This year's events could best be described as a cosmic practical joke. It went like this. Alan needs a special set of licences for the job he does. His everyday license plus some assorted endorsements. About 3 weeks ago, he got a renewal in the mail for them, and he put the letter on the bulletin board for taking care of later. His birthday isn't for another month, so he thought he had plenty of time to take care of it. on Wednesday night, we sat down to play a game of Skip-o and celebrate what we thought had been an uneventful December 10th, when he decided to take a closer look at the letter from the DMV. As he read he turned white as a sheet. As it turns out, the letter said in very small writing that one of the endorsements he needed would be from a division of Homeland Security.

????what? And on top of it, it had to be approved by no later then... you guessed it... December 10th! In that it was nearly 10 PM on that very day, Alan began to panic. Would he lose his job? Would he be demoted? What the heck are we going to do! And on top of everything, the cost of all the licenses and the various fees would add up to well over $100. Not a huge amount, if you happen to have it, but his check, which was due on December 10th, of course didn't make it into the bank that day! LOL. We were really nervous. He checked and checked again, it indeed said it had to be renewed no later than... December 10th!

"Carly, I read that notice about 5 times when it came, I never saw that part." He was beside himself, and so was I. Another odd thing was that he had never been asked to be cleared by HS before, which wasn't a problem on it's own, but really strange all the same. But things have change quickly in this country, so maybe it was a new thing. What to do, what to do? So, we went to bed, and he set the clock so that he could be at the DMV the next day pronto.

He was home before 9:00 AM. As it turned out, that portion of the form didn't apply to him, because one of the license covers that part of the requirements all on it's own. As for the rest of the endorsements, it was all done and in time, and the grand total for everything was $35. And when he called the bank, the check was there, so we are all set and doing just fine. LOL. What a difference a day makes! LOL. After he got home, we decided to go out and enjoy the day, and have a good laugh on the cosmic practical joke that is December 10th.

We went for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Union Square, and did some shopping for Christmas. We were going to go earlier in the week, but decided to wait until later in the week, so yesterday was a perfect day. Well, almost. While we were seated out our favorite little outdoor cafe, drinking our hot chocolate and cappuccino, a later sat down a couple tables away. She was dressed in a nice red wool coat and had on a ton of jewelry, but something just didn't seem quite right. After a few moments she put her head down, and began to lose her cookies... right there... barf, barf, barf. LOL. Holy Toledo. I have never seen someone that well off, that drunk, that early in the day. At first I thought she had spilled her drink, but then I realized they don't make drinks that color! Somehow the ice skaters a few feet away, no longer seemed all that charming~ LOL.

Alan and I got up, and went for a walk. LOL. Maiden Lane was a much nicer place at that moment, and who doesn't enjoy a brisk walk in the December sun? As gross as it was, there was some humor in it as well. While I am sorry for the woman, and whatever is hurting her so bad that she felt the need to get absolutely drunk that early in the day, it was, to us, one more shot from the evil elf of December 10th, and one more practical joke for the road. Alan and I don't just go shopping, we have adventures, and that was just one more. We could let it ruin the whole day, or we would just chalk it up to the curse. Right? We decided to not let it affect the rest of our day.

I thought about that lady most of the day yesterday. On a serious note, I think she was very symptomatic of how harsh this time of year is for most folks, this year more then others. Next year, I fear, might be even worse, unless Obama can help change things around. As scary as my December 10th was, I wondered if that lady might have lost a job the day before? Or maybe she lost everything she ever worked for in the recent downturns of the Stock Market? Or the scariest of all, maybe she had recently lost her home? Or maybe she just felt the disconnect that sometimes comes with the holidays. I don't know. Wherever she is, I hope she is better now. Sigh.

-Carly

Beware Of The Gnome!

"Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck."

-Joseph Heller

I Blame It On The Gnome Of Joy...

Here is an Ellipsis Pop Quiz. What happens to Carly every December 10th? Anybody care to guess? Yep, you guessed it... something strange! I can't believe we have already arrived at the most cursed day in the universe, at least for me, December 10th. I don't know why it began, but ever year on this day something bad happens to me. One year some unscrupulous woman rented a car in my name, and had a fender bender. When the rental agency called me, I was thankfully able to clear myself, but wow... yucky. I have been burglarized twice on December 10th, two different years, and one year, Alan was nearly arrested as a stalker, when a new neighbor found it suspicious that he was on the roof, hanging upside down, looking at that unsuspecting woman (me) changing clothes? LOL. Well, actually, he was checking on the roof tiles, because we had bad wind storm the night before, and he was wanting to see if there is any damage. LOL. And yes, he was also being a bit playful. LOL.

On yet a different year, I got the flu, and it lasted until well after New Year's. In 2005, Alan ordered a garden hose from Amazon, and they ended up sending him 2 and when he tried to send it back. 2 weeks later, another 3 came! It was a mess trying to get the proper credit, and to get them to understand, we didn't need 4 garden hoses! It was 2 years before he dared order from them again! LOL. Last year on December 10th I again woke up with a cold, but the good bit of luck was that I recovered fairly quickly. I haven't been out of the house yet on this December 10th, and so far all that the day has brought was big doses of love from my 3 fellas, Alan, Hendrix and Dylan. But the day is young. LOL. Keep in mind one thing, dear readers, nothing bad will happen to you just for reading my blog today, it seems that the curse belongs solely to us. And in a weird kind of way, that makes me feel very special! LOL.

So tell me, do you believe in curses? Have you ever felt like you were under a curse? Does anyone want to venture a guess about my day today? Will something strange happen? Will it be a good strange, or a bad strange? Feel free to leave a guess. I am now off to climb back into bed, and pull the covers over me. I will report back tomorrow if the curse comes true yet again!

-Carly
"Blame It On The Gnome Of Joy"
Berkeley, California
December 10th, 2008
Evening

The Phantom Menace

"Some people are so fond of bad luck, they run half way to meet it."

-Douglas Williams

Ok, here is some additional proof that there is just something funky about December 10th! Not only did I catch the head cold from HELL, but last night, before I went to bed, I found out that I have three pieces of phantom email in my AOL mailbox. Now I know what you are thinking. AOL messes up all the time, it is probably just one more glitch. Right? Well, perhaps, but I still think it is weird that it happened on December 10th, rather than any other day this week. :)

I believe there is something about this date, and it's relation to my life, but I have never been able to figure out what or why? I successfully broke the curse of Santa Cruz a couple years ago, by attending a Micky Dolenz concert on the beach. Micky Dolenz has always brought me luck. :) But I am not sure what will ever break the Curse of December 10th. All I know is, Alan takes the day off, we shut the doors and windows, hold Elvis close to us, and hang on for dear life! LOL. Now I have one more curse to get through this year, but that one's not due until Christmas Eve. Stay tuned. :)

So tell me, do you believe in curses? How about miracles? Do you have certain days in your year that you consider to be either blessed or cursed? How many years in a row has something happened on that specific day?

-OndineMonet
"Curses And Buggy Software"
Berkeley, California
December 10th, 2007
Late Evening