New Found Respect

I was talking to my Mom this morning on the phone, looking to catch up on happenings. Everything was pretty much status quo. Mom as usual was griping about some things. She noted how much tighter my Dad has been with the household money. He pretty much controls all the finances in the house and gives my Mom money for groceries, bills, and other miscellaneous things my Mom sneaks in the house. My Mom wrote her first checks ever around Thanksgiving 2003 when my Dad was sick for three weeks with a stomach virus with my assistance. So she's been pretty much dependent on my Dad for money.

I do agree with my Mom regarding my Dad and money. He's still working part-time at our Church as a "consultant" of sorts to what he quotes as an "incompetent building manager". From what my Dad told me and from what I've seen, he's telling the truth. Actually my Dad was the building manager for almost 20 years before retiring in 2002, though it's more like a semi-retirement. Unfortunately the little pension that he gets goes to insurance for my Mom and him. He has a bit of money saved, I think it may be a little over $100 grand though I'm not 100% sure, but he doesn't feel it's enough to stop working.

In a way he may be right, which is something that's hard to explain to my Mom since she doesn't really deal with the finances. On the plus side, my folks don't have a mortgage, so that's money that's not going towards that. Also his car has been paid off for several years, though he's spent money here and there for numerous repairs that have cost maybe approximately $2500, still I guess cheaper than a note in the long run. Plus two of their three children, yours truly included, are living outside of the house.

On the flip side, unfortunately since they live in Detroit, insurance for the car and home are very high. Even though my Dad dropped collision on his car, his insurance bill still is close to $2000 for the year. Home insurance is about the same. Let's not even talk about health insurance, which I touched on earlier.

Speaking of home insurance, my Dad decided to drop it when the insurance company wanted to raise it even higher. That's gotten my Mom quite upset for the obvious reasons. In a way, my Dad's playing russian roulette but at the same time I understand totally where he's coming from. Besides if push came to shove, they could always come live with me. That'd be a party, especially since my sister "Octavia" may be part of the package, but that's what children should do for their parents.

So I totally feel my Dad on still working. I pray if/when I get around his age, deity-of-your-choice willing of course, I don't work because I have to. My folks should be enjoying their retirement instead of worrying about money.

I do try to help out every now and then, especially since you know, my folks helped me get to where I am. But obviously there's only so much I can do since I have my own bills to worry about, including a $12,000 credit card bill, which I don't even wanna talk about. Yet. Okay fine, let's just say, over half of it is borrowed money that I've used on stocks that haven't quite materialized to their full potential. Let's just say the credit card companies love me. Incidentally if you wanna save me, buy lots of DNAP.OB and NCDP.PK. *LOL*.

So hey, back to my phone call with my Mom. Inevitably the conversation turned to my younger sister "Trina". As you may or may not remember, Trina expressed interest in visiting me with her guy. Her guy as it turns out is her store manager at her job. The 411 on this guy is that he is/was married w/kids, may/may not be involved in crime, really stellar fellow to say the least.

Obviously my Mom doesn't like the guy and has expressed her displeasure to Trina. Trina, of course, has a different opinion on the matter. So my Mom was complaining about the situation while I silently listened. From experience, I've learned it's a losing battle trying to reason with my Mom.

It's not to say I don't agree with my Mom, if the things I've heard about SM is true, as I've never met him. The thing is, though, especially since Trina moved out of the house last year, is that Trina obviously has to live her life the way she sees fit. In a way, I have a new found respect for Trina, since she does what she wants without giving a shit what anyone thinks, including my parents. I don't necessarily care much for the situation but I have to give Trina credit where credit is due.

Unfortunately when Trina left, she left behind her kids, basically the two cats in the household. So that unfortunately has fallen on my folks, with my Mom doing the brunt of the work taking care of them, which pisses her off to no end and I always have to hear about whenever I talk to her.

The cats were basically a birthday gift from one of Trina's friends three or four years back. Wow does time fly! My parents reluctantly went along with it, probably knowing that they'd wind up being stuck with the responsibility of caring for the cats. Technically though, even when Trina lived at home, my Mom usually took care of them because Trina would always be "out with friends". So actually not much has changed.

Scary thought, would I have to take in the cats too if something happened to the house. Neither cat can stand my guts and the feeling's pretty mutual. But as much as my Mom complains about the cats, she definitely loves them. That's why once in a blue moon when I come to town, I may bring cat food along. I may hate the cats but they're a part of our lives so I just have to deal the few times a year I do visit. Because that's what families do. Deal.

So changing the subject...again...it's less than a week to my Florida trip. Part of that trip is in regards to one of those stinker stocks I've been stuck in for six years: DNAP.OB. The symbol is basically for DNAPrint, a up and coming biotech firm based in Sarasota, FL. Check out their website for more information about them. The biggest issue is that they want to do a reverse spilt, which is generally the kiss of death to a stock, unless they have some "blockbuster news" like finding a cure for AIDS that'll make it skyrocket. If you want to see some lively discussions on DNAP.OB and actually NCDP.PK, a recent stock I've entered that actually has a lot of potential despite being in the pink sheets, check out here and here.

Oh well. I have to get ready for the weekend. I don't have any plans yet but I'll be doing some housework in the morning. Fun times indeed. Until next time. Ciao.