
Happy Friday the 13th from deep within the bowels of The Mad Macedonian Broadcasting Network Compound and Think Tank, in Houston, TX.
This is a serious post (long, too!), but one brought about by an email I recently received and the resulting phone interview I had this afternoon.
I had not planned to discuss something here, or on Facebook, until things were more concrete and I had more information to share, planning-wise, but God works in mysterious ways, I believe, and so here I am.
In an update to my Christmas Day post about why I don't think 2016 was a complete and utter failure... thanks to donations and extra money from a Christmas Day Bonus in my paycheck, this week, I was able to pay bills and just added $100 to my Bus card.
The bad news is that Aetna finally processed 3 claims on appointments going back to Sept. and Harris County Health just sent me the bill for $205.40....due Jan. 27.
Most of my next paycheck (1/26) will go to rent and rent insurance, so I may not have enough for even one of the 3 amounts that are part of this bill.
I plan to go to my local food pantry and the Food Bank, next week, to supplement the small bit of shopping I did yesterday which included some food (Boxed Mac & Cheese rules!), household needs and cat food and litter.
Now on to the big news....
I receive emails...but not one similar to this one since 2005 when I had only been blogging 3 years and a local weekly newspaper in the OC got curious enough to do a story on local bloggers...
1/10/17
Hi Kiril ... I'm Phillip Reese, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, a 250,000-circulation daily newspaper ...
I'm writing a story about how, for the 15th year in a row, California lost more residents to other states than it got from them.
In researching, my story, I came across your blog post from a couple of years back.
Would you be willing to speak with me sometime this week for my story?
Best,
Phillip Reese
Sacramento Bee
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As I replied to him....
Dear Mr. Reese....
Um, wow...glad I'm not sitting and holding a cup of hot chocolate near my lap...your email caught be by surprise to say the least.
That my old piece held your attention enough that you thought it worth reaching out to me is something I am honored by.
--------------------
An award-winning, Pulitzer nominated, journalist doing a simple Google search for "Left California For" had come across my essay (#2 out of 27,300 results!), found it representative of a type of people leaving the state and the type of work they found elsewhere, not to mention my being in the most popular state for relocating, and was impressed by it enough to want to talk with me for his story...again...WOW...
In accepting his request I invited him to read 3 more recent updates on my life...
September...a Time to Celebrate and Plan Amidst Difficulty - On 4 years in Houston
As I write this post the, hour long, interview is over...and Mr. Reese has gone on to other interviews for his story. The piece he will write will appear in both the print and online editions of the paper and I look forward to reading it and sharing it here and on Facebook.
It appears it is going to be a more in-depth piece than a brief one he did in 2015.
We chatted about the good, bad and ugly of my personal and creative life since I came to Texas, why I left my life in SoCal and why I thought others were doing the same.
We also talked about something else, something very important...
This interview forced my hand about publicly revealing something under discussion with my sisters, in SoCal, since the end of Sept, almost a month AFTER I wrote my 4th anniversary post linked above...
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