Observations from the Admin

We're getting by and slowly coming out of the hole. I've gotten used to denying myself things I truly want because higher priorities take place first. Things always come up or Xmas or birthdays happen. I just bought my first pair of new shoes in 3 years which was the last personal purchase I made before all hell went down on me. We try and live below our means. I was feeling good about things and then about a month ago I got served by a sheriff. My house got foreclosed on which I figured would be the end of it. The bank turned around and sold the house for $58,000 less than what I bought it for. So now they served me papers over it wanting me to pay the $58,000. I may have to file bankruptcy if they keep coming after it. I don't know.

I meant to respond to this sooner but never got around to it.

I didn't exactly go to them, I left when I could see the writing was on the wall. At the end I hadn't made a mortgage payment in about 5 months and I knew eviction was just another step away. I left on like Thanksgiving week 2013 and found out later from a note on my door after I left and came back to get more stuff that my official move out date was going to be around January 15th, 2014. I figured I just forfeited and tried to exit as gracefully as I could under the circumstances.

Nah, I really thought that was the end of it until that sheriff came to the house. I think it was more like 2 months ago actually. I remember it was a cold day outside because I talked to the sheriff on the front porch.

That packet didn't say I needed to appear in court, it merely laid out all the legal mumbo-jumbo over about 20 pages. It had papers I signed at the finalizing basically claiming they had rights to do stuff like this. (You only sign like 200 pages that day, at the beginning you're being all thorough and stuff and after a couple hours towards the end you're looking at stuff but at the same time your glazing over things too just looking for buzzwords and phrases to grab your attention. So basically this document was saying it was telling me their intentions were to take me to court and they wanted my response to it, how I expected to pay, blah blah blah I think it wanted to know my current income, assets, living conditions, etc.

1 thing I noticed is I bought my house brand new, original owner on 3/4 acre lot in 2006 for $167,900. In 2014 they sold it for $109,000 which to me is an insult but that's how bad the market got down there after the housing crash. Then they decided they wanted to get the difference out of me. They didn't even factor in that I had 6+ years of steady no-miss payments of $1400 a month and a few scattered ones at the end over the last year.

Me and the wife mulled it over for a few days. Everyone I've told it to, which is really only a few people because don't really like talking about it personally, thinks it smells fishy too and never heard of this as well. I need to say over the course of owning the house, my loan was sold to other banks like 3 times while I was there. I don't know why my loan was sold while I was in good standing to other banks, but I hear it happens all the time in lump batches of loans being sold below full realization amounts to give purchasing banks a way to make increased profits should they manage to get the loans fulfilled.

So got to thinking maybe this lawyer group is just looking for me to play sucker for them and willingly lay myself on the sword in order to uphold the integrity of the loan. I reckon if they want to pursue it, they probably have a legal right to go after it but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll actually be able to seize it unless I go merely along with them and say "sure, let me sign these papers and I'll do everything I can possibly do to pay it off."

Shit losing that house was painful. I often figured at the end it was the only thing separating me from the scum of the earth. I did all I could do to keep living there when I still felt like the place was mine. I wanted to keep ahold of it. Even though I had years to go and most of it went towards interest, I figure I made over $100,000 in payments while I was still in control. If they're looking for me to sign an agreement paper, I'm damn sure not going to agree to keep making payments on a place that is no longer mine and never will be again in the future even if I paid back the $58,000 they said I owed them. I ain't gonna get a damn thing out of t
doing that.

So me and my wife for the time being have decided to ignore it. Fuck it, let them make the next move, not me. If they seriously continued to try and go after it, I guess I'd probably just file bankruptcy. I ain't got much of anything now anymore. I guess if they wanna keep coming after it, I'll study up on my alternatives.

Like I said, been about 2 months since I heard from them and they wanted my official response within like 30 days. So far I haven't heard from them again. And no I'm not saying they aren't through with me, I feel like it's almost likely they'll hit me with some more threats, and if they think it's worth it and feasible, may eventually come seriously after it. But I'm going to see how serious they are first and call their bluff and let them make the next move. See if they want to expend time and money to come get it out of me. I figure if they honestly figure they have the ability to come after it and get it, they will. But if there is any kind of doubt at all they can actually pull it off to get any of the money out of me, I think they would try and do exactly that to me as soon as they could. But if they hesitate, perhaps it's not a sure thing they can actually take money from me. Perhaps, they'll decide to stay away. I have no idea really. All I know is so far I haven't heard from them again.

If they keep coming at me, I guess I'll deal with it best as I can and do whatever lies in my best interest at that time.

I didn't mean to stay away this long and not post. I just got kinda caught up in my situation and faded away for a bit. Then 4 weeks ago I inexplicably lost my incredibly nice cell phone. This really hurt me having any chance of posting over here. I searched high and low for that phone but never found it. Luckily my wife had insurance on the phone but it still cost me $150 to get a new one. I just got it on Monday. So now I can try and get back involved again....hopefully. Problem is I still haven't gotten back into comics in any shape or form, so it kinda makes it a bit hard to post over here.

On a personal note, my work life kinda dominates what is going on with me. I've been working nights now 1 year come August. It's been rough but I prefer it over days. The bad part of it is I took nights because it allowed me to have weekends off. Something I didn't have previously. However, back in December they sprang this company-wide mandatory shift bid on us. I wanted no part of it, but I had no choice. The shift bids went by a rating number they gave everyone ranking from best to worst. I had only been working there 10 months at the time. So it hurt my ranking but I was ranked 105 out of 369. Considering it was my first year, I didn't feel like that was too bad. I felt stressed waiting on the results. A lot of schedules had been eliminated. They gave everyone a list of available choices, and I faired really well. I went from working 11pm - 8am, with Friday and Saturday nights off which is basically the whole weekend because I didn't have to be back at work until Sunday evening at 11pm, to now having to work 8:30pm - 5am now with Saturday and Sunday nights off. This worked out pretty good. I don't care for the job at all but this made it easier to deal with because I at least had a family life and weekends with my wife and kids.

Lo and behold, they are springing it on us again. Although my ranking improved to 95 this time, the bastards basically eliminated my shift. There are now very few desirable shifts to pick from. Far less than last time. Some of the better shifts are now 4 10 hr days with 3 days off. That sounds good on paper, but I dread the thought of having to work constant 10 hr days. I have a hard enough time working 8 hrs as it is. Worse yet, a ton of schedules have what they call sliding shifts. Basically, most of them have 2 10 hr days, 2 8 hr days and you finish up with a 4 hr day. Doesn't sound bad until you realize your starting time changes. For instance your first night of work you might start at 10pm and the next night you might begin at 8pm and some variance from there meaning you get a reduced rest period because you have to come in earlier as the week progresses.

Picks were already made last week and we learn the result on this Thursday the 2nd. Stress levels are high. Also you're more than likely going to have a new supervisor which is always a pain to learn their ways and habits. I'm expecting to lose something that was very valuable to me this time.

And if that happens it's going to really piss me off. I'm not used to working at a place and the longer you work there something gets taken from you or made worse. Just seems to go against my ideals. So lately I've been looking for other work. This place treats people like dogs. The only good thing I can say is it pays decent but if I'm feeling, tired stressed and pissed off all the time, which I am, it's not worth it to me. I would rather sacrifice a few dollars in hourly wages at a place I can't stand for a place I'm more at peace at and happier in my work.

At any rate at this point I'm at mercy with the fate gods. That's pretty much the reasons I haven't been around much lately and this is where I currently stand. I'm crossing my fingers hoping for the best but this time I'm really expecting the worst.