Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Times is f@#%king tough!


I don't have to tell anyone who's gone to the gas pump lately that. Times are tough. I fueled up the Jeep Liberty (hereafter known as "Gas-guzzling monster") the other day. Put $40 in the tank. Got just over 11 gallons, about 3/4 a tank. I drove by a gas station on Saturday. The price then was $3.68 a gallon. On Sunday, it was $3.58 a gallon. How can gas prices change so quickly? I believe we're being gouged, my friends. Perhaps we're financing a war no one really cares about anymore. I think we might be. I wouldn't mind so much---IF SOMEONE WOULD JUST COME OUT AND SAY IT!!!! That, and the tragic loss of lives on both sides of the fence.

Anyway, the reason I got on this little bit of a rant was because I just paid my heating bill. I use natural gas, and danged if that ain't through the roof, too. Just like a seedy porno, they're getting us from both ends! I've been shutting the heat off when the kids aren't here and trying to walk to work whenever possible (about one day a week, given my schedule with the kids). I don't know what the answer is here....but there's got to be some relief somewhere. An "economic stimulus check" ain't gonna cut the mustard, fellers....it's just going into gas tanks and heating homes.

On a lighter note, I got a writing assignment from a publisher who's publishing a three-volume set on Global Warming. I put in for seven articles (I needs the money....see above) but they assigned me one article. I reckon they're seeing if the old redneck can cut the mustard as an article writer. Little do they know I've written, at one time or another, for The Southern Illinoisan, the Gazette Democrat and The Carbondale Nightlife. I find non-fiction writing a painful bore for the most part, but it pays better than fiction writing. At least, until I sell the Great American Novel for multi-millions.

Yeah, and gas will be fifty cents a gallon next week.

Times is f#@%cking tough indeed.

Hang in there, my friends. More later, Roger

1 comment:

Misti Sandefur, Christian author/freelance writer said...

Roger,

I agree with you, I too think were being gouged. The price of gas is outrageous! And when the gas prices go up, your grocery bill does too. I can't blame the grocery stores, though, because it costs them more money to deliver the goods, but the price of gas is making it harder and harder for folks to live. What's really bad is when it costs people almost an entire paycheck just to drive back and forth to work. I'm glad I work and make my living from home, but my husband doesn't, and he says it's almost not worth going to work anymore. I tell ya, this world is getting worse every day.

On another note, congratulations on your latest writing assignment! I wish you the best with it and your future writing projects.

Blessings,

Misti Sandefur, novelist/freelance writer