Tossing Salt Presents:
A Day of Dougie
VA is for Lovers, Adulthood & Cancer Merchants
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

Man, this has been one hell of a week. Long story short, I’ve had my Medicaid terminated, been forced to quit a job that I’ve held for nearly ten years and truly enjoyed, and dealing with the local government is a total pain in the ass. Do you want details? Of course, you do.

I got a letter from our local DSS that my Medicaid coverage is being terminated. I respond and it’s because I make too much money. Really? I got disability for my amputated leg and was still working 6-10 hours a week at my old job at the liquor store just to keep some human contact in my life and stay relatively sane. With the new state guidelines, after getting my disability check each month, I can make about $140 a month extra. After I exceed that amount, no help with the medical at all. I have an amputated leg and my ‘good leg’ is going bad on me pretty damn quickly. But that doesn’t matter. Rules are rules and who gives a damn. Either I give up any extra income or I give up the medical care. Those are my options. Oy vey!

So I made a choice. I love my job and the people I work with, but hanging on to my one good leg and not becoming a human weeble-wobble is more of a priority. Truthfully, it was getting harder to work each day anyhow and I was spending more time exhausted and hurting than actually getting anything accomplished. I weighed my options and made the call. My career has ended and I’m now under the government requirements. All is good, right? We’re talking about government stuff so not really.

After many phone calls that went straight to voice mail and days of the DSS people playing hard to get up with and talk to, we finally managed to speak. There’s a process to reinstate my Medicaid, but we have to have a hearing first to see if the termination was justified. And then, once that’s through, we’ll reapply with my new information and proceed from there. Essentially, it’s just red tape and lots of bullshit. The bottom line is that I have no Medicaid now and had to reschedule my doctor appointments for this week and next week, including a trip to Duke for a consultation for possibly trying to reconstruct my foot. I have an appointment with DSS on Tuesday where I’ll reapply for my Medicaid with my new information, aka no job and living on my disability check only as I struggle month to month paying the bills, and also apply for EBT. A person wants to be self-sufficient and that’s not good enough. Now, I’ll just be another name on the docket and entitled clown depending on Uncle Sam for everything. And miserable as hell because my one small slice of contentment and happiness has been taken away. Isn’t life a cocksucker sometimes.

And that was all way too much information and way too long. I should delete or edit, but I don’t even care. This site, this blog, is the one place where I keep it 1000% all the time. Since I won’t be allowed to work and get my dose of human interaction and customer love, this is where I’ll be now. You’ve been warned. Damn, I’m depressed.

But let’s change the subject and get to the meat of the reason we’re here. It’s a Day of Dougie and that means three topics, chosen at random, from the infamous Magic Bag. I pick out three topics and then, with no warning, preparation, or anything else, write about them. It’s just here’s the topic and go. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. So let’s get the bag, find out what the topics of discussion are, and write. The topics of discussion for today are Virginia is for lovers, Adulthood, and Cancer Merchants. Okay, this won’t take long. Let’s roll.

Virginia Is For Lovers

I have seen this logo on so many license plates growing up and advertised everywhere. Okay, not everywhere, but in and around the state of Virginia. It was the state logo for a while and may still be. I have no idea. But it was a big piece of the promotional package that I remember as a kid to encourage people to come visit the state of Virginia. I’ve visited, throughout my life, many times. I was never all that impressed. It’s a good enough state I suppose, and there was some beautiful country up around the mountains area, but I’m an NC guy and I prefer my state. And I can’t comment about the lovers part because I don’t think I’ve ever had a lover from Virginia. But that being said, I’ve had many from NC and while some were less than great, there were some damn good ones too. So don’t believe the hype. Virginia is for lovers? Not for this guy. I’ll stick with my Tarheel dudes. And if any Virginia guys want to change my mind, contact me and we’ll talk. I’m open to being convinced differently. Just bring it, fellows.

Adulthood

It sucks and I would not recommend it. Too much government involvement and responsibility. I just want to play with my toys, read my comics, and snuggle with a certain sexy young man. The rest of it, blah to it all. Okay, I like my alcohol and driver’s license too, so there are a few good things. But the majority of the concept, it still sucks! ‘Nuff said!

Cancer Merchants

This comes from the Kevin Smith classic movie, Clerks. Poor Dante is fighting off a crowd of angry customers after a gum representative makes a comparison of smoking versus chewing gum and chaos ensues. It’s a great scene that anyone who has ever worked with the public, especially in a convenience store, can relate me. Okay, maybe just me, but still. Customers pelt Dante with cigarettes until Veronica comes in with the fire extinguisher. And one of the names Dante is called is, ‘Cancer Merchant’ for selling cigarettes. You need to go watch this movie. Everyone should watch this movie at least once. It’s called Clerks and from 1985 to this past Monday, this was my life. By the way, smoking is bad for you.

And there you go. My thanks for reading and listening to my woe-is-me sob story. I do appreciate it. Any comments, thoughts, or questions, feel free and drop me a line at Doug28352@yahoo.com or on X at @Doug28352. And with that, let’s wrap things up. I need to go take my meds, get a shower, and then… I have nothing. Damn, I hate this place right now. Maybe I’ll go annoy my new future ex-husband? Maybe I’ll just go back to bed. But shower and meds first. I don’t want to stink or die. Have a great one, my friends. Be well and I’ll see you at the picture show.

Ubuntu!