a taxing effort

it's the least wonderful time of the year.

on an annual basis, i find myself really disliking the fact that i'm a 1099 employee at one of my jobs. however, while my inner voice is fussing at me for not putting my foot down and either insisting on being converted to a regular employee (as everyone else is this year) or finding something else to do with my time, the competing voice of my biological clock is pointing out that i could easily have a little deduction by this time next year, thus lessening my tax burden.

by the time i finish figuring out my taxes this year, i may be giving some serious thought to that latter point. (i'm already pretty much set on the former....once i raise enough moolah to pay this year's tax bill. you know- once i'm finally able to figure it out.)

i've been at this for an hour so far and, aside from my semi-neat* piles of paper, this is as far as i've gotten:

as you can see, where there should be a form, there is a mostly blank screen. when i click on "file", in the upper left hand corner, the program taunts me by showing me the theoretical option to "create new return", which is greyed out. in fact, the only option i can actually select on that tab is "exit". awesome. (i think i know what you're going to suggest and, believe me, i have already restarted my computer twice, with no such luck.)

since i have already had to have a lengthy discussion with my computer regarding its dvd-rom drive's refusal to acknowledge the h&r block cd's existence**, followed by three attempts at installation***, i'm beginning to wish i'd bothered to pick up the paper forms.

.....not that i can actually file on paper, mind you. my tax situation gives "complex" a whole new meaning.**** i could, however, roll up the forms into a nice little tube and then beat the crap out of my recalcitrant computer with them.

my inner wesley snipes is now drowning out those other voices, insisting that this is a sign i don't have to do my taxes this year.

i'm not listening to it yet, though i am considering picking up a short term gig as one of those dancing statues of liberty, in the hopes that my employer will figure out my taxes for me for a lot less grief and money. (plus, all that dancing around should leave me with some pretty gorgeous gams. sounds like a "win-win" to me!)

*my furry assistant, setzer, has been "helping" to "organize" my carefully sorted piles.

**i told it i once knew a texas instruments machine back in the mid-80s with more functionality than it was exhibiting. strangely enough, it decided to start reading my cd after that. 

***it kept aborting the installation, insisting it was installing something else. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE TO INSTALL!!!!!

****four jobs last year, multiple bank accounts, stocks, and some other income- all leading to my making too much for most tax breaks/deductions and too little for the rest. argh.