Good Mornthing! [20190315]

[blissmorgan]

I've spent some time earlier this week and this morning learning all about Massachusetts' Motor Vehicle Excise tax, as well as excise tax in general. I hit the age of majority in NY and spent the entirety of my 20s living there, and when my marriage went womp-womp and I moved back in with my folks and couldn't get a regular job that still allowed me to be available to parent my Spawn, my parents took care of a lot of stuff on my behalf - up to and including the excise tax on my vehicle. Finally, FINALLY, I am employed and dealing with paying for my own shit the way I wish I could have been doing all along, and so I wanted to find out what I could about this tax I had never heard of when I was living in NY. I learned quite a bit, actually, including the fact that although here in MA people talk about "the excise tax" like it's just this one tax levied on our vehicles, excise taxes are actually built in on a number of goods and activities. I'm still mildly unclear on precisely how it differs from a sales tax really, but I do like that at least the excise tax on vehicles in MA is collected by the town and goes into the general fund for unrestricted use; it's sort of like an emergency fund for my immediate community.

It's Friday, it's My Day! Off, that is. It's one of those days where it feels like I'm running out of time and I look at the clock to discover that mere minutes have ticked by.

I intend to use my time wisely today, which means that I have started a load of laundry, have a roleplaying post to finish and put up for an RP partner, and am going to rescue a project off the pair of knitting needles I accidentally snapped before then trying out my umbrella swift for the first time. I'll probably watch some visual media, too. I'm torn between continuing Community, continuing The Librarians, or diving into Umbrella Academy. I'll decide when my ass is in the chair, I suppose.

I've also got two pen pal letters to which I need respond, and... ::squints at screen:: ....probably upward of fifty open tabs right now, so expect a Linkdump at some point today or tomorrow.

I think I'll also go make that post on the Ploos that I've been avoiding, letting everyone know where to find me elsenet and under what names. And then maybe daydrink a martini or something so that I don't have to feel all those feels too sharply.

Hello, Blisstopia. <3

Comments

[phantastically]

I lived in Massachusetts for four years and never really "got" the excise tax. You pay it annually based on the value of your car, so I suppose it's similar to real-estate taxes, and that would be great if it took the place of gasoline taxes, but there are also gasoline taxes. I was all grumbly about paying it but thankfully I had shitty cars while living in the Commonwealth so it never actually hurt that badly.

Hooray for daydrinking! I'm a big fan and this week REALLY feels like a martini party in my cubicle would be called for. Besides, it's super nice! Daydrink outside if you can!

[blissmorgan]

It's currently raining here, and 53 degrees; alas, I will not be partaking of my poor liquid life choices in the hammock. QQ

I too am lucky in that my vehicle is now a decade old. The valuation formula drops the percentage levied each year after a vehicle's production until the 5th year, at which point it's 10% of the vehicle's original MSRP, and you pay $25 per $1000. Even if my car is valuated at the highest end for that model year, it'll still be less than $50. Which is now affordable instead of panic-inducing. YAY JOB YAY PAYCHECK

[johncomic]

May all your feels be round. <3

[blissmorgan]

I don't know what that means but at the same time I want it on a sticker

[johncomic]

You said you don't want to feel your feels too sharply -- ergo....

[blissmorgan]

I get it now. XD

[wa_bob]

Heh - May your feels be round sounds like something that would look interesting in Circular Gallifreyan.

Feels are going around and probably will be for a while. It's both an end and a new beginning so I look at it that way now. It still hurts, but not as much as a total break away from everyone. I am grateful for that.

I hope the weekend continues in an upward way, (((HUGS)))

[blissmorgan]

The internet is more naturally liminal than the meatspace world, so I think that while there are more frequent large-scale changes it's still something we all struggle with when those changes meaning we are losing a place we considered a "home".

[wa_bob]

Home can be where we hang our hat. And I have to look at it as much as a place as a time for my own brain to make sense of it all.

I will continue to be a weird friend in all the other little corners of it we continue to be at home in

[shredded_paper]

I've been meaning to pop back into G+ to see everyone's g'bye messages to see where everyone is going, thanks for the reminder.

Also, I'm stalking you. I'm sortofblue on reddit and just added you as a friend (feel free to run screaming into the ether). Now I have to figure out what that actually means, haha.

[blissmorgan]

Found you and followed you over there, woo! I still don't quite know what it means either. Although it's worth mentioning that I had the "Follow" option rather than a "friending" option and IDK if they're just the same thing we're using different terms for.

[shredded_paper]

I have no idea. I'm still using the old reddit layout so maybe it's a redesign thing?

[blissmorgan]

Maybe? I also got hit abruptly with my account on Reddit being locked for "suspicious activity" which I still don't grok but I hadda make a new password.