Friday, August 31, 2007

wheres the music man when you need him?

iowa senator larry craig was arrested for lewd conduct after allegedlly soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in an airport bathroom. he says hes not gay. this seems prevalent in the gay community. "butch" men who only have sex with other "butch" men ~ no matter what their role in the activity ~ consider themselves straight. they dont say heterosexual. they say straight. so its a vocabulary problem. soon-to-be-ex senator craig is saying hes not a girly man, a femmie lala, living in the gay lifestyle... he is not saying he doesnt have sex with men. i wonder if the police officer was "straight" also???!!! i see a film script brewing... coincidentally, the county of boise iowa allowed gay marriages on thursday when a judge overturned the ruling prohibiting it. that lasted about twenty minutes. but twenty minutes of clarity is like a lifetime in some places. if only senator craig had had those twenty minutes of clarity. he could have gotten married before he solicited unsafe public sex from the wrong stranger. his "same sex ~ butch to butch ~ not gay to gay" marriage could have been his savior. if he had been openly gay and had had an "infidelity" it wouldnt have been as tragic for his career. do you really care that clinton was getting blowjobs while hillary was laying the groundwork for a new career? the economy was better and everyone was happy! seriously. everyone was happy. now ex-senator craig wont dare to chance sex with a man for fear of more scandal and will only get sex with his wife. that should be punishment enough.

for t-shirts, stickers, pins against prop 8: http://royanthonyshabla.com

book burning book burning give me a tan

Revolution Rapture by Zero One is a book of ideas that will rock your world, will shatter your concept of reality, will open your eyes to another perspective. it is anarchy and it is redemptive. AND IT IS BEING BURNED! i thought salem oregon was a university town but maybe thats eugene, i thought it was an intelligent state ~ it has the largest bookstore there (powell's in portalnd refused to carry my books but now has used copies ~ new ones i sent for approval ~ for sale on their website) i thought it was idyllic... but it is actually medieval. salem oregon is the center of the new dark ages! revolution rapture was burned in a fit of pique as blasphemous and unbecoming a gentleman... or something like that. go to lulu.com/zeroone to order a copy before its banned completely.

to buy my books: http://royanthonyshabla.com

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

now now

hawaii was a dream. im usually ready to be home after six days on a trip but ten in kauai wasnt enough. the super inter-island ferry launched the day before i returned home but had to return to the kauai port on its maiden voyage because a blockade of surfers and swimmers halted its passage. environmental concerns. this comes at the same time a study is released that says america is the most armed country in the world ~ there are ninety guns for every 100 people in the united states... and those are only the legal ones! well i dont have a gun... and those surfers werent packing! so somebody has quite an arsenal! i suppose its best i dont have a gun since im still dealing with the frustrating nonsense of chase bank and power volvo. i could have a twinkie moment! just as an update on the car lease mess: the "see-you-next-tuesday" supervisor(s) from chase bank who were supposed to return a call within 48 hours still have not called two weeks later. they did however notify the dmv that the volvo is not insured... so i am in more trouble EVEN THOUGH I DO NOT HAVE THIS CAR ~ IT WAS RETURNED TO THE DEALERSHIP THREE MONTHS AGO. warning: do not lease a car. do not deal with power volvo or any other power car dealership. do not deal with chase bank. the better business bureau is investigating. im having computer troubles and clarice hasnt shown up to fix them yet so i better upload this before we freeze and crash. and burn. o btw: i must really be getting on to some important stuff ~ my books are being burned!

Friday, August 17, 2007

chase bank assholes

i just sent a check for $1004.74 via priority mail so my account for the leased car i returned two months ago will not be delinquent. the dealer has the car. the bank will not accept the car (a 2004 volvo suv in great condition) without $30,000+ ~ actually more than the value of the car. so the bank wants both the car and more money than the car is worth... and then they want me to pay for them to auction the car so they can have that money too! the last asshole i spoke with at chase bank threatened to take me to court, threatened to take my house, my earnings, report me to the irs (why?), ruin my credit for life, and was so menacing i feared for my safety. seriously. i felt he was threatening my life and my familys lives. ever wonder what god has in store for someone who makes a living doing that? so i have begun some serious feng shui voodoo. nothing dark at all, nothing bad, but serious. a candle here, a mirror there... if i can get my clients out of major lawsuits without karma i can do it for myself. the funny thing is, this situation seems to be something easily resolved. that is why i didnt begin the feng shui work immediately. but i should have known: at the beginning of the year, i predicted conflicts and lawsuits for the man of the house. and i am the man, the man of the house! and so the game is on. i notified the better business bureau, the chamber of commerce, and all the local newspapers. and tomorrow im off to hawaii! the problem is, in america, with such a poor diet, assholes dont let go easily. maybe i should bring them a pineapple!

for information on feng shui and karma: http://blesstheworld.com

car lease drama

so its been 48 hours and the supervisor from the lease department of chase bank has never called me back. i called them and got a man named don in the lease department. he was equally hard, illogical, and an asshole as mark. he said i owed over $30k and would be prosecuted in the court of law and reported to the irs (returning a leased car has something to do with income?) etc etc. once again i asked for a supervisor and he was reticient to allow me to speak with one. i asked three times and was finally transferred to a voice mail where i left another message. does it seem logical that because i owe six months of a lease, about $3000, that i should pay them $30,000+ ~ does it seem logical that they should expect i would pay that? i said to don that there must be some reasonable way this can be resolved. he said no there wasnt!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

leasing a car is a big mistake

I leased a Volvo SUV from Power Volvo Cerritos in 2004. Chase Bank financed the lease. Two years later (2006), in the course of having the car serviced by the dealership, I spoke with Mr. Kimo in his office regarding the procedure of returning a leased car (I had never leased a car before and wanted the information so I would be prepared). He told me I should return the car early, that it would have lower mileage and less wear-and-tear, and that my turn-in fee would be less because of this. He also said he himself would be happier because he would receive a better car (lower mileage, etc.) to re-sell (or lease). He said any minor scratches etc. would be overlooked and I would only be responsible for overage on my allotted miles (if any). A few months later while leaving the car for another service appointment, I spoke with Mr. Kimo again. He restated the same things and I asked him to tell me what my turn-in fee would be. He didn’t know the answer and said he would call me with the figure. He never did. I travel frequently and was not concerned about this. Again, at the time of another service visit (still in 2006), I spoke with Mr. Kimo a third time about returning the car. I mildly chastised him for not calling me with the calculations as per our last conversation. Our meeting was cut short ~ he had salesmen coming in and out of his office~ but it ended with him telling me to return the car as soon as I wanted (as in our previous meetings) and the mileage would be calculated at that time.

In June, 2007, I called Power Volvo and said I wanted to make an appointment to return my leased car. I spoke with and subsequently met Mr. Eddie. He examined the car and noted the details and mileage on a contract which both he and I signed. He said an appraiser had to come from Chase Bank to evaluate the condition (it was very good) and I would receive a bill from Chase for the mileage and condition. And we were done. I left the dealership and immediately called to cancel my insurance on that car. I bought a new car approximately a week later.

In August 2007, I received a delinquent bill from Chase Bank. It was not a bill for closing costs, it was a bill for the regular lease for the past two months. When I queried Chase, I was told Power Volvo had never notified them I had returned the car. I called Mr. Eddie at Power Volvo who told me he had called Chase and the appraiser was supposed to have arrived in three days. Six weeks later he still hadn’t arrived. I asked Mr. Eddie to look into the problem and report back to me.

Mr. Eddie called later to say the problem was that I still had a year remaining on my lease. I didn’t understand that this was a problem since I had been told repeatedly to turn the car in early, that it was better for everyone especially myself. Mr. Eddie said I owed the money for the remaining year of the lease even though I didn’t have the car. Of course I told him that that was ridiculous, I had bought a new car two months earlier and wasn’t going to pay two car payments, especially one for a car I didn’t have. (When I originally returned the car to Mr. Eddie, I brought with me my monthly lease statement from Chase Bank so he could have the account number and other lease information. The “term” and “months in service” ~ the amount of time remaining on the lease~ are clearly reported. He examined the statement throughout the time of our exchange and prior to our signing of the contract, which was done at the end of our meeting.)

Mr. Eddie said he would speak with the general manager the next day about the problem, that he could resolve it. A week later I called Mr. Eddie because I had not heard back from him. He said I would need to speak with the general manager myself, that he had briefed him on the case but he (the general manager) didn’t see his responsibility.

Mr. Mohammad, the General Manager of Power Volvo in Cerritos, returned my calls the next afternoon. He agreed that Mr. Kimo may have repeatedly told me that it was in my better interest to return my leased car early but he also said that Mr. Kimo was wrong about that and didn’t work for Power Volvo any longer. Mr. Mohammad said that if I didn’t come to take the car off the lot he was going to charge a storage fee.

Before I could think, Chase Bank called me regarding the delinquent account. I started the story from the beginning (again) and was transferred to a very nice, rational woman who put the notes of this case into their computer system. She then explained to me that there is a six-month, no-penalty period for returning a leased car early. What this meant was that I was only responsible for six months instead of a year (the last six months of the lease would be the grace period). Six months of the lease would be less than $3000. While I didn’t feel responsible for this amount, I also felt I would like to be done with the whole business and was willing to take the loss. But she told me it needed to be finalized with another department which would decide if I was responsible for any other fees (such as mileage).

She transferred me to a very hard man (Mr. Mark) who told me that nothing the nice woman had said was valid. I did not owe Chase Bank for six months of a lease; he said I owed them for a year of the lease (almost $6000 + mileage and condition) plus I owed them for auction fees to sell the car at a wholesale car auction (fees unknown as of yet) plus I owed them the balance of the retail price of the car (over $24,000).

He then told me not to raise my voice to him.

I asked to speak to someone else, to a supervisor. Mr. Mark told me a supervisor would tell me the same thing and that I would have to wait 24 to 48 hours to speak with one. I gave him my cell phone number.

Chase Bank
JP Morgan Chase & Co.

800 227 5151 lease department
800 604 1011 lease department
800 242 7396 re-marketing department (Mr. Mark)

Power Volvo
Power AutoGroup
an AutoNation company

Mr. Mohammad (General Manager, Power Volvo, Cerritos CA)
Mr. Eddie (Lease Returns, Power Volvo, Cerritos CA)
Mr. Kimo (Lease/Financing, Power Volvo, Cerritos CA ~ no longer employed)

18303 Studebaker Road
Cerritos, CA 90703

562 207 1200 general number

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

merrily merrily merrily

three times now i have had the same dream: madonna is buying me a loft in downtown la in exchange for me writing her three songs. and they are great songs. and the loft is great. and i am happy! what a dream! i have tried to analyze the dream language, such as does "madonna" mean my mother, does "loft" mean coffin in the sky, does "three songs" mean i wont shut up? sometimes a dream is just a dream. i just got back from my trip to san francisco and still need to unpack. everything went well ~ selling antiques wasnt horrible wasnt stupendous, it was ok. it was nice to see friends. now i need to spend the next few days preparing for the trip to hawaii on saturday, a vacation for ten days with my daughter. wonderful. but for today, the car needs to be unpacked, i have a client this afternoon, and maybe yoga this evening. im a little tired ~ i stayed up late writing the lyrics to two songs. maybe ill be moving soon!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

nuke me baby

i just read an article on the safety of microwave cooking with plastic. it never mentions the fact that microwave cooking itself is unsafe... it never mentions the studies that have proven that microwaves themselves are unsafe. since the 1980s, chemicals which make plastic overtly poisonous were removed from food storage containers. but they still are not safe. the crude testing by the fda allows 100 to 1000 times less the reccomended allowance of toxic chemicals to be transmitted to the food from plastic food storage containers. that means that if you microwave in a plastic container everyday for three months to three years, you are toxic as all shit from the chemicals (let alone the microwaves). this is what the fda allows. and the article was in support of this and called for a stop to the hoax regarding the dangers of microwaving in plastic. you can lead a horse to water and apparently you can safely wrap him in saran wrap and nuke him. you just cant make him think!

for the blessthebody.com spiritual remedy, radiation cleanse: http://blesstheworld.com

Friday, August 3, 2007

jack jack jack

elizabeth called me this morning to tell me my life isnt boring. she had insomnia and got up to read my blog at 3 am... she figured it would knock her out. instead, she was interested and energized. she was however upset that the only reference to her was of sleeping on my couch instead of working... she wanted me to right the record. so: no elizabeth you dont sleep on my couch instead of working, no no thats not you, you would never sleep on my couch in the afternoon instead of working, not you, no never, never. my friend karen also called this morning. she deals in antique tiles (antiquetiles.com) and i know her from pottery shows and pottery friends. she is a witchy woman with a great philosophy of life, she always has a good view of any situation. (elizabeth is also a witchy woman with a great view of any situation... im lucky to have them both in my life.) karen and i talked about family friends and life, shes always a good talk. she had been reading my blog, she also mentioned not being mentioned. doesnt everyone realize that this is about me? me me me!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

hawaii baby

im going to kauai with hadley and little jean and jennifer for ten days. they called and said you wanna go, i said sure... and i dont care how fat i am, im gonna have fun! i travel a lot but i havent been anywhere that wasnt work in a long long time. so to update people, i will be in san francisco next week, home for a couple days, then off to hawaii. that means that this sunday there will be meditation class in my home/garden then no more class for the rest of august (the price for class goes to $16 in september). i can say mele kalikimaka (merry christmas) but i better start studying the carls junior commercials to bone up on the dude lingo. but before hawaii, san francisco (arts and crafts antiques show)... and before that, here and today! im working on my cookbook (allegedly).

for info on my meditation classes: http://blesstheworld.com