Staying focused

So let me tell you what happened to me this week. As you all know I have been on a total mental and spiritual high in regards to my book and its impending release. I have been consistently happy, content and enthusiastic and i have taken that energy wave and applied it to everything i have been doing the last few months.

Last Saturday I got a letter in the mail from the rental management office that oversees our buildings. Grenadier realty was looking for $994 that they claimed we owed and stated that legal proceedings would begin if we did not pay. (legal proceedings, aka eviction)

Some background. After the economic collapse of October 2008, my boss at the time Jerry Mcaward suggested that one of his employees would have to go on unemployment cuz he could not afford to pay both of us. I decided to go off the payroll because my coworker has 3 kids and a mortgage and I am a single dude in an apartment taking care of his mom.

I filed for unemployment in early 2009. I would say resisted doing it until February of that year. I got the letter from the dept of labor in late Feb/Early March. At the time, our rental management company was Wavecrest. I went to the office with my letter from the Department of Labor and notified Aamanda Sanchez or Rivera or whatever the hell her last name was of my unemployment status.

Now for those of you who don't know, our building complex (Magnolia PLaza apts in Bed Stuy Brooklyn) is a section 8 building for low to middle income families. Your rent is based on your income. So if you lose your job, your rent is adjusted to reflect your new income.

I gave Amanda my letter, she tells me she is going to look out for me, and sends a handwritten note to the house telling us we can pay $696 a month. We were to pay that amount until our new lease agreement which took place in April/May of 2009. I was grateful. My mom was grateful. We had the unemployment checks coming in, we got our rent lowered, we could breathe.

What happened?

This absolute fool of a woman Amanda DID NOT MAKE THE ADJUSTMENT ON WAVECRESTS' RECORDS!! so even though we were faithfully paying $696 as we were instructed, their computers were still saying we owed $900 bucks a month in rent. The money began to pile up. We were going to the rent office every week trying to figure out what the hell was happening and we got absolutely no movement or assistance from the people at Wavecrest.

In December of 2009, we were told that Wavecrest was getting the boot from the firm that had hired them to manage the building. (I heard stories of racism and incompetence from the two muppets that were working there.)

No fucking shit.

Grenadier realty came in about January of 2010. they took our records, gave us new leases and promised to look into any nonsense created or left over by the two spastic colons that fucked up our rent in the first place.

Month after month, Grenadier claimed that they were looking into the matter of this past due money and that we would have nothing to worry about. And so we continued to pay our monthly rent on time and in its entirety and we continued to disregard that $994 amount that they kept saying was past due.

that was until last week when they sent that bullshit card.

I wanted to fight it of course, but mom was against it. She was tired, she was happy and she didn't want to jeopardize her apartment or deal with any possible court proceedings.

We did not have to pay this money. This was a pure fuckup from the original rental agency. If we were such deadbeats, how is it that we have managed to pay our rent on time every damn time it was called for? how is it that no one came to me to ask or investigate or even look into the matter? Their only solution was to pass it on to us? Why should we pay for money we did not owe? We did not instruct ourselves to lower our rent, and we damn sure don't work for Wavecrest to update their computers to reflect the new situation.

And so...that sat in my head all damn week. mom was unhappy. my energy level was sapped. It was if though nothing with the book had happened at all. there was no preview copies of the book shipped to my house, no well wishers from my family and friends, no photo shoot with my adorable niece and her cute, perky friends, no planning for a book signing party, no plans to visit the New York Comic Convention in October.

it was as if though i was nothing and going nowhere all over again...and then an amazing thing happened..wow. an amazing, astonishing revelation and reminder that when a person is at their lowest, God puts inspiration and energy in front of you..and yes GOD DOES WORK IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

You wanna know where my inspiration came from?
You wanna know what it is I heard and saw that made me realize that I have the true inner strength within me??

get ready..you wont believe this shit..


HBO'S HARD KNOCKS..(TRAINING CAMP WITH THE NY JETS)

woo..I was so stunned that this was where the reminder came from, but let me explain.

the episode that i saw took place right after the week when the Jets played the Giants in the pre season game. the Jets lost that game and the defensive coordinator is in the room with his second string defensive and rookie players. He was giving them a pep talk, and it was that pep talk which really blew my hair back. It was what he said and how he said it.

He told his rookie players a story and that is how i will close out this week's blog.

The Devil was moving to another location. He was packing up all of his tools and objects of misery and evil and a person walked into his shop. the Devil explained to this person that he was moving and could not take all of his items with him and that they were on sale at very cheap prices. The person then asked Satan what was his most effective yet cheapest tool..

this last part i will capitalize cuz i want it to hit you the way it hit me.

Satan looked at the person and said "OH, THAT'S EASY. MY MOST EFFECTIVE TOOL IS DISCOURAGEMENT. BECAUSE WHEN A PERSON IS DISCOURAGED, ALL OF MY OTHER WEAPONS WORK."

read that line over and over again and think about how you have ever felt or sounded in your life when you were discouraged. when you thought you could not achieve something..think about what can possibly happen to a person when they become discouraged..

I will leave it there. love you all.