Jenny's Jottings

it is snowing here today 9and my left shift key isn't working0 but we are supposed to get sleet and ice on top of several inches. They canceled the heavy snow warning we had. Fortunately, neither molly nor i had anywhere we had to be today too desperately. molly has an appointment, but we don't have class or work and she isn't trekking up to Cleveland.

On the 3rd of February, my sister had a fairly major car accident in iowa, but Thank God! she is okay! There had been ice, and it was snowing quite heavily on top of that. She was heading up the interstate from osceola to indianola, when she slid into the median and rolled her car. Fortunately she didn't slide into oncoming traffic or off the steep incline on the right side of the road! i guess her car is totaled, but Christy on had sore muscles, a few tiny cuts, and a bump on her head from hours in a neck brace at the ER, where they checked her over pretty thoroughly. it was a nerve wracking afternoon here, while i waited to hear any updates. The accident could have been so much worse. Christy knows her guardian angel was watching her!

here in ohio, we are back in school. it is the last semester for molly and i!!!! Because of some financial aid mumbo jumbo snaffus 9maybe i'll write about that sometime0, neither of us have the federal loans we use for living expenses while we are in school. We can only get federal aid for class that are degree requirements. Since i technically finished my degree requirements in December, finishing up my year of Greek isn't covered. Grants are covering tuition, but the rest is somewhat up in the air. i am taking the second semester of Greek and an independent study on Jesus and nonviolence in the New Testament. All molly has left for her mDiv is her field ed., so all she has this semester is that class every other week, 10 hours in Cleveland a week, and whatever pittance of hours she can get at the library. i am at least getting a few more hours at the library, but hoping 9as always0 to find something else. my independent study is really interesting.
So far i am really reading a lot about the social and historical setting of Jesus and the nt. The book i read this week was Richard Horsley's Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus -- very interesting and helpful in terms of giving me a lot of background on what was going on, its roots, and why it was happening. Now to place Jesus, his teachings, and his actions in that context.

molly only has cpe and a practicum left for her macm degree. She plans to work on that next year. After graduation, i hope to find gainful employment 9ideally library work9 for about a year, while i apply to phd programs in biblical languages. i would like to teach eventually. And if i can find gainful employment before graduation, that would be great to help with the financial situation. i've got a few applications in the works.

Well, that's a bit of an update from here. i've just had lj writer's block, which is really sad. Added to spotting wireless at home, and you just don't get me posting as often. now i am off to see if i can fix the shift key 9i hope this hasn't been too annoying for you. i'm not sure how annoyed i would be reading this.0

here are a few more quotes from the collection. ( enjoy! )

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 10% Conservative, 90% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Well, I found out yesterday that I didn't get a job I applied for on campus, primarily because one person in the administration didn't want me to have it. The staff people where I would be working all wanted me, but another candidate was chosen over their preference. To add insult to injury, the announcement about who was getting the position was emailed out before I had heard anything from anyone about not getting the position. I got a hasty form email after I made a little noise about that. GRRRR. . .

Plus then I got a bunch of crud from my insurance company (provided by the school). Now that they are finally looking at my claims instead of vaguely requesting information and looking like illiterate morons, they are paying minimally. Turns out instead of me paying my deductible and them paying the rest, they pay their maximum benefits of $25,000 and I am left with the rest, which is so far over $80,000, which I obviously don't have. Which is partially why I was applying for the full time job on campus -- so I could stay in school part time and get a semi-living wage in a job I KNOW I would do great in. Now I am not sure what to do. My medical bills are so huge. Fortunately the largest bills, the hospital bills, are covered under a program called HCAP, where the hospital will write off 100% of what my stupid insurance won't cover. That is some relief. But what kind of insurance is it that only covers up to $25,000???? Who has little catastrophic illnesses? Now I am having catastrophic medical bills! I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll have to drop out of school and work full time to try to pay the bills. Then student loans come due. They've already been rustling at my door because I wasn't enrolled this semester, so I had to do MORE paperwork to show I wasn't having any income while I was in the hospital and recovering and that I plan to re-enroll in the fall. GRRRR . . . The job on campus would have been great, because I could have still taken 1-2 courses a semester (one of which would have been free) as part of the benefits of the job. But someone got it in his head that I needed to concentrate on my degree and academics instead of survival or, golly gee, knowing my own mind and life, and decided despite all evidence to the contrary that I shouldn't have this job.

I am so tired of having to call the insurance, call the student loans, call the medical billers, etc. It is never ending and frustrating. Now I have to go back to work as a student employee and have my new supervisor be the one who got the job instead of me. Slap on a brave face.

Anyway, sorry for the rant . . . not much else I can do.

Blech! GRRRRR!!!!!