The form says "actual" or "estimate." I always pick "estimate." Actually, it should say "rough estimate." That would relieve a lot of tension.
The instructions state "must file by April 1." I pressed the submit button reluctantly on March 22, earlier than usual, held my breath and hoped for the best. My hope is that the state of Minnesota thinks the numbers on this report I have to do for my library job are OK. You see, numberphobes are never quite sure. If the numbers look too nice and tidy, the person who reads the report might think you cheated or lied or made them all up. And, ironically enough, we phobes also worry that if the numbers are too quirky, they will think the same thing.
It's a nightmare. All those numbers. Those damn numbers! They all have to make sense! If the computer thinks they don't make sense, little red flags come up all over the place.
The little red flags fly in your face when the computer thinks the number is too big or, for heavens sake, too small. Can you believe this? Then, adding insult to injury, little green boxes come out of the blue and you have to explain WHY the number was too big or too small. ( This is compared to last year's number, of course.) The computer just wants to see some words of explanation in the little green box. Any gibberish would satisfy it, but since I have been called on the phone about this report by an actual human being several times in the past, I suspect a real person actually looks at it. So, you have to compose a real explanation like " more books were checked out last year than the year before because more people checked out books last year" and that's that.
In college I avoided anything to do with economics or accounting but years later I took a college accounting course. I completed part 1 attending the classes at the university. And I did OK. Then I attempted part 2 on my own. I had seven, yes seven, years to complete the course but I did not. I paid tuition year after frustrating year and the "incomplete" cost me a fortune. Accounting seemed all backwards to me anyway and I would never attempt it again.
My number-filled numbing annual report is now in cyberspace and I haven't heard any complaints about it, yet. I am happy for the time being.. Now I have to get busy before the IRS deadline is here. And I pray that those numbers make sense and flags don't fly in my face and, and - oh the anxiety!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Book Visions
I just finished reading "Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby. It wasn't flat out marvelous like "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" but it was light and fun and it was about music and aging, two of my interests at the moment. (The latter, reluctantly.)
And I'm reading it, to borrow a phrase, because he had me at Minneapolis. I live in Minnesota, you see, and the book begins in the past when Tucker Crowe, a famous, Dylanesque, singer-songwriter, goes to the men's room during a gig at a Minneapolis club, has some epiphany, comes out, ditches the show and the band and becomes a recluse in Pennsylvania.
"Juliet, Naked" refers to the naked as in unplugged version of the Tucker Crowe album called "Juliet." And Juliet was the love of his life, an actress/muse person who lived in San Francisco.
Nick Hornby is also the author of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy." Both of these books became movies and this one's gonna be a movie, too, and that's what drove me crazy the whole time I was reading it. I couldn't read a word without thinking of the book as a movie and my mind wandered on every sentence as I tried to cast the characters.
Who would play Tucker Crowe, the aging, reclusive ex-folk/rock star? I'm seeing Jeff Bridges fresh off another music character in "Crazy Heart." And who's going to play Duncan, the tiny town Brit obsessed with webbing and blogging to keep the flame lit for an addicted world wide group of Crowe fans? He, of course, will be played by Hugh Grant. Who else? Grant stared out at me from every page and it was most disconcerting.
That leaves Annie. Who will play Duncan's girl friend who becomes Tucker's girl across the pond friend? It could be Renee Zellweger as in Bridget Jones since Hollywood will probably choose an American who has to do a British accent the whole movie .But it probably won't be Julia Roberts since that would be too much like "Notting Hill," wouldn't it? I think Kate Winslet or Minnie Driver would do a great job but maybe Andie MacDowell will get the part and have to do the accent so at least it would not be exactly the same as "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
God! Do you see what I mean? This book was so good and so frustrating all at the same time but the good news is I've already seen the movie!
And I'm reading it, to borrow a phrase, because he had me at Minneapolis. I live in Minnesota, you see, and the book begins in the past when Tucker Crowe, a famous, Dylanesque, singer-songwriter, goes to the men's room during a gig at a Minneapolis club, has some epiphany, comes out, ditches the show and the band and becomes a recluse in Pennsylvania.
"Juliet, Naked" refers to the naked as in unplugged version of the Tucker Crowe album called "Juliet." And Juliet was the love of his life, an actress/muse person who lived in San Francisco.
Nick Hornby is also the author of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy." Both of these books became movies and this one's gonna be a movie, too, and that's what drove me crazy the whole time I was reading it. I couldn't read a word without thinking of the book as a movie and my mind wandered on every sentence as I tried to cast the characters.
Who would play Tucker Crowe, the aging, reclusive ex-folk/rock star? I'm seeing Jeff Bridges fresh off another music character in "Crazy Heart." And who's going to play Duncan, the tiny town Brit obsessed with webbing and blogging to keep the flame lit for an addicted world wide group of Crowe fans? He, of course, will be played by Hugh Grant. Who else? Grant stared out at me from every page and it was most disconcerting.
That leaves Annie. Who will play Duncan's girl friend who becomes Tucker's girl across the pond friend? It could be Renee Zellweger as in Bridget Jones since Hollywood will probably choose an American who has to do a British accent the whole movie .But it probably won't be Julia Roberts since that would be too much like "Notting Hill," wouldn't it? I think Kate Winslet or Minnie Driver would do a great job but maybe Andie MacDowell will get the part and have to do the accent so at least it would not be exactly the same as "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
God! Do you see what I mean? This book was so good and so frustrating all at the same time but the good news is I've already seen the movie!
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