URI; Post Pawn Shop; Wednesday; Coins, Down payment on the Saturn; Bankruptcy: Outside - The Standard - More or Less; "Flip It"; Speaking of Southern California - OJ and Kato; Speaking of Southern California - Hollywoodland and Chinatown

As all too usual, I'm in the midst of an upper respiratory infection. Of course, I'm never able to pin down when one starts. About the only sign I can come up with is that when one begins, I feel more depressed than ordinarily. And maybe, a stronger sense of anger. Fatigue, more than normal, might be another. Oh, and the slightest event bothers me.

But these elements are such an integral part of my personality that they are always lurking in some corner of my psyche. I can never catch when one or the other hyperventilates.

If for no other reason than financial, I was hoping I would not have to go to the doctor. Plus, it is such a drudgery.

Saturday morning, I realized something was fairly seriously wrong. I felt congested, very tired, and with a nasty headache. As I waited at the doctor's, I could not even read, by head was bothering me so much.

No temp. Blood pressure 130/90. A slight rattle in my chest. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, a decongestant, and something for the headaches. Bill - $56, which included some past expenses.

At the pharmacy, I picked up these three, plus two additional prescriptions I had called in a few days before. Bill - $103. And I don't think that actually includes the headache pills, since they only had a handful. In fact, I was supposed to pick the remainder up today, but I forgot about it.

I do feel better this evening. The headaches have subsided, and the fluid in the eustachian tube is not as bad.

As you'll remember, I carted off a drill, some CDs, an old TV and a barometer to the pawn shop last Monday. They said the TV was too old and they didn't know what the barometer was. I think that people who work in pawn shops are sent to a special school whose sole purpose is to lower their IQ by 10 or 20 points. (Once their days at the pawn shop are complete, they then will fit right in at Mickey D's.)

I debated trying to add the tv to the potential garage sale, and decided it was not worth dragging out of the car when I got home.

Tuesday morning, I gathered up a batch of mother's old shirts, her walker, commode chair and a bath chair and put them in the car with the tv. There are any number of places that take such donations, but the nearest is the Gateway Rescue Mission thrift shop.

The unloading area is to the right behind a rusted, tilted cyclone fence that looks like it was erected during WWII. The kind of rickety fence that would collapse if a pigeon landed on it.

The drive is part crushed rocks and part cracked, pitted asphalt. The unloading dock is a small section bracketed by two blue gargantuan dumpsters overflowing with unusable donations. No one was around, so I tugged everything out of the car and placed it on one of the carts.

As I worked, a mission van pulled up and backed into the space next to me. Almost oblivious to my car, I first thought. He can within inches of hitting my car. When he got out, he looked spaced out. He didn't see me or the car. And he appeared to be having great difficulty in figuring out how to open the back of his van.

I'm sure last week had a Wednesday, I just don't remember what, if anything, happened.

At the beginning of last week, I finished cataloging the American coins in the coin collection. I then did some cross checking against asking prices at eBay. But I didn't really see anything to get excited about.

In many cases, the asking prices were lower than the standard value of the coins. For example a proof set might contain roughly $2 in coins, but the asking price would be $0.99.

But I still have to catalog the Mexican coins; maybe, they will prove more lucrative.

The people next door have given me a down payment on my Saturday. And I'm told I can expect the remainder this week.

Good news for a change.

Thursday, I received an official document from the United States Bankruptcy Court which states: "It appearing that the debtor is entitled to a discharge, it is ordered: the debtor is granted a discharge under section 727 of title 11, United State Code, (the Bankruptcy Code.)"

Considering that I started this process the first week of February, it feels good to at long last have the matter resolved.

Nothing new to say here. Except that the area I'm dealing with is the most over grown of any part of the property.

By the way, I the lot is 325 feet by 90 feet, which comes to 29,250 square feet, which by the standards of current lots is a very large chunk of property. There are many areas inside Jackson that are this size or smaller with three $300,000 homes on them.

I've been watching "Flip It," a series on TLC about buying houses in southern California, investing $40K - $50K in them, then selling them at a substantial profit. The amazing thing to me is that the properties are tiny (one-third of an acre or less), the houses are in wretched condition and are bought for $350,000 or more. And once refurbished sell for $600 - $700 thousand. The cheapest upgraded house I saw sold for $325,000.

So if I could transport this property to the LA area, I'd be flinging thousand dollar bills into the air.

Speaking of southern California and bankruptcy, I wonered what had happened to OJ Simpson. So after looking at a number of articles, I discovered the following.

I thought he had declared bankruptcy, but he did not. I remember reading about the house and possessions being auctioned off. But that money went to pay the lawyers. (By the way, the new owner, immediately tore down the house and put up a new one.)

He moved to Florida, whose laws prevent a person's house being seized in any civil action. He lives off his NFL pension of $25,000 per month which is also exempt from any civil action. So in terms of his civil suit liability, he has only paid out around $500,000.

Somehow I missed the fact that one week, October 7, 1995, after the murders, the "National Examiner" printed a headline that said:

COPS THINK KATO DID IT!
he fears they want him for perjury, say pals

I was reading some of the articles about "Hollywoodland" which mention that it's in the same vein as "Chinatown."

So I backtracked to read the material at IMDB on "Chinatown." One of the message board users asked about the ending in which Lt. Escobar lets everybody leave. One of the responders indicated that he loved the film so much that he had printed out the third draft of the screenplay from Awesome Movie Scripts and Screenplays.

I had no idea that scripts were available on the web. Especially for a movie like "Chinatown" which is one of the most remarkable films ever made.

I remember how surprised I was several years after seeing it that it was based on true facts. I'd heard of Mulholland Drive but had thought no more about it. I then discovered that it was named after William Mulholland. Who eventually became head of the Department of Water and Power. (Visit PBS - THE WEST - William Mulholland.

I remember when the movie came out that one reviewer said it was like discovering a new Raymond Chandler novel.

From a brief look at the third draft, there are a number of differences. Differences that add to the many nuances of the drama.

PAX!