...and you can quote me on that.

James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine was seriously ill two to three weeks ago in London but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness, and the report of my death was an exaggeration

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), in a telegram sent from London to The New York Journal on 2 June 1897, after his obituary was published.


The above paragraph is from the book Immortal Words: History's Most Memorable quotations and the Stories Behind Them, a gift Julie gave me the other day. Okay, so we were at Borders, I saw it, and she bought it for me (if you wish to be technical), but I consider that a gift, and honestly, I consider it one of the best gifts anyone's ever given me.

The book combines three of my biggest interests: History (my major back in my college days), reference books (the old librarian in me always loves having little tidbits of knowledge at my disposal), and quotations. Somewhere, in my electronic archives, I have a file with quotes from various people, quips they've dropped that have stood the test of time.

I use the Twain quote here since it's been several weeks since I've posted anything. I haven't had anything to say, really, even though I know some of you still check here on a regular basis, waiting to hear good news from me (for a change). Alas, I can offer none.

I'm still out of work.
I'm broke beyond broke.
The house remains unsold (even though I've lowered the price below current market value).

My Realtor had a contractor check out the house, to see what needs done. Apparently, besides the things I knew were wrong with it, some time in the last seven-plus months, the roof began to wear out. After a particularly strong storm, shingles were blown off. Not the news I needed to hear.

I decided it'd be best to lower the price and offer it as a "fixer-upper", in hopes of luring some repairman or contractor to come in, take it off my hands, fix it up and make a nice profit for themselves. As of this writing, that hasn't happened yet.

I've also been waiting to hear back from this company I interviewed with a couple weeks back, to see if they want me in for a second interview. I e-mailed the HR rep I'd been in contact with a few days ago, and haven't heard back. That means, most likely, that once again my former employer isn't returning calls about my references. You'd think, after a year, they would just let it go and say "yes, he worked her from blah to blah". I'm trying to get on with my life, but can't until I can find new work. With them delaying things, it's making that very difficult for me.

I've left Pittsburgh, and odds are, if I go back, it'll just be for a few days visit, and nothing more. I'm here now, and I don't intend to go (until I can't afford my rent, and I get kicked out of my place, but that's another story for another time), so I don't see a problem. I've made my mistakes, I've owned up and accepted my responsibility in them, and I've apologized. What more do I have to do?

*sigh*

Sorry for the depressing post. They happen, more often than not these days.
I'll see if I can offer a more upbeat one next time.