Insert ear-piercing shriek here.

This was one of those high-definition days where everything seems to have an extra dimension and reality is a little too real. I’m sure part of it is the fact that I’m trying to adjust to the time change, but the biggest problem I have right now is the stress of not having enough money to do business. I worried about it all day until it felt as if it were eating me alive.

Why is it that after the clocks get set back an hour I don’t get to sleep any earlier at night? And yet, I do wake up earlier in the morning. This doesn’t make any sense to me, but I’m not thinking clearly enough to make sense of anything anyway.

I knew as soon as I pulled the car out of the garage this morning that I shouldn’t be driving. I also knew that I was probably panicking for no reason, but I still had a hard time dealing with the slow horse trailer in front of me and the maniac flashing his headlights behind me. I did what I was supposed to do. I settled in and concentrated on surviving until I could find a place to turn off or pull over.

One of the things I had to do today is the one thing I hate most. I had to make a lot of phone calls to get questions answered about the two problems I was facing. I got the wrong sales tax information, filled out the form and mailed it, and then, after I got back from the post office, got the right information. I tried to find a way to file an amended or corrected form on the state web site, but when I couldn’t find one I made up my own and paid the difference.

That meant a second trip to the post office, but by that time I’d given up on making any sense out of this day. I felt as if everything I tried was going to have to be done over at least once. I don’t believe in curses or hexes or jinxes, but I do seem to have a run of bad luck like this every so often. If you think of it as a random series of unfortunate coincidences, it makes it a lot easier to take. If I don’t think I’m being victimized on purpose, I can get through it and get over it and get up the next morning.

I do have to say that the last thing I wanted to do at just about the time school was letting out on Halloween day was get back in my car and drive back to the post office. I dodged the bullet the first time out, and I didn’t want to have to dodge a bunch of mini-goblins the second time around.

But I survived, and when I got back I dealt with the other thing. I phoned the Boss and whined about money until he promised to send me some. He thinks we’re going to get paid on a state job by the end of this week. I’m a lot less optimistic about the timing, so I kind of insisted that he lend the company some money out of his ample personal reserves.

If he weren’t rich, the company would have folded long before it ever got the chance to be as successful as it is now. Today it’s doing well in every facet of business except collecting money in time to pay bills, but that’s pretty much a constant situation in the contracting business.

I should be used to it by now, but instead the last two years of flush bank accounts have spoiled me a bit. Reality check time hits hard when it comes so suddenly. (Like an hour earlier than last week.)