I haven't been around much, as those who follow my diaries may have noticed. Things have been progressively worse of late, and I didn't want my diaries to turn into the "How Life Sucks More Today" digest, so I've stayed away and worked on art.
Here's what's happened, and where things are now.
So back in April I was notified that I was losing Medi-Cal because I failed to renew my paperwork.
Except I had.
As Medi-Cal eligibility is what qualifies me for aid care and thus pays my live-in care provider, this meant I was losing that (and she was losing her paycheck) as well. I went down and filled out the paperwork again in the Social Services office and handed it in personally. Reassured that this would resolve everything, I went home.
In early June I got a notice from In Home Support Services that my aid care was going to be terminated June 22nd as I was no longer on Medi-Cal. After banging my head into a wall for several minutes, I called in and asked the Medi-Cal office what the fuck was going on. They said I never renewed my paperwork.
You know, the paperwork I'd now filled out twice, including in person.
After a half hour of searching, they found my (unprocessed) paperwork from when I went in back in April, and said they'd process it and renew my services.
In the meantime, my aid care still terminated June 22nd, shorting my aid a third of her hours for the month. My IHSS caseworker said she'd get a timesheet sent for the missing hours with the last, shorted check, and would reinstate my aid care. The shorted check came, but there was no timesheet. In addition, I was notified that I was being terminated at the end of July, and they didn't give us timesheets for July at all even though I wasn't to be termed until the end of the month.
I called Medi-Cal again, and they said I was enrolled and had no idea why IHSS didn't know. I called IHSS and my caseworker wasn't even aware that I had been dropped again and that the timesheets never came. She has no idea who terminated my aid care this time, but immediately reinstates me and says she'll have timesheets sent, but that it'll take 5 to 10 business days for us to get them, after which we have to fill them out and mail them back, then wait another 5 to 10 business days for checks. A third pay period (at least) will have passed by then. Yes, they'll owe us around $1100 (possibly more), but it will be about 6 weeks (maybe 8) since we received a paycheck.
I just called as I type this, and found out someone dropped the ball yet AGAIN, and timesheets weren't being sent because nobody told the person who handles them. Unbelievable! They're being sent NOW, but wouldn't be if I hadn't followed up, and it just further delays them. This would be almost funny if it wasn't so hard on us.
Some how, we have to survive the next few weeks with no income until the checks come. If the damn timesheets are even sent.
In the meantime, I've been back to work on art as I have my new pen for my tablet. I've done the (I think) last few caricatures I still owed, but I'm not entirely certain as my laptop died and I'm on an old one without all my records and files. If I still owe you art, PLEASE tell me!
I've also been working on my comic books - HOLLOW, which I make with my wife, Danielle (I write and draw it, she paints it), and a solo project I'm doing called OTHER ZOEY. Here are some samples!
A page from HOLLOW (my wife hasn't painted it yet)
And the first two pages of OTHER ZOEY
So that's how I stay sane - I do a comic about a serial killer.
Thanks for reading.