I never thought I'd need it...but here I am

Last year, two people who found me on LinkedIn asked me to start GoFundMe projects for them...one an evangelist from Pakistan, the other an auto mechanic from Gambia.

But here I am...a retired factory worker-turned-screenwriter from the United States. And seven days ago, I launched my own GoFundMe effort.

If you're getting ready to toss your monitor, laptop, or cell phone across the room, wait...here's what happened:

The company I spent 1-26-2004 through 10-5-2022 with is an employee-owned business that offers its employees what's called an Employee Stock Option Program. In the program, company workers receive shares in the business...and that means they can eventually take a payout, start an IRA, etc. Well, the last time company officials made a stock declaration was October 2024. A month later, I called the financial group that works with my previous place of work to seek a payout in response to the stock declaration, and the payout arrived in my bank account on 1-2-2025. Did everything right...I set aside 5% of my monthly income (stock money plus Social Security payments) to put in my savings account for emergencies. I didn't try to splurge...in the meantime, I waited to hear from the factory and the financial group to see if a stock declaration would take place in 2025.

When I came to realize no declaration would happen in 2025, I went looking for at least a part-time job where the money would supplement my Social Security income. Three months later, I'm still looking.

I applied for a job with a company I worked for from 1980 to 1986...an inventory firm.

First day back on the job was supposed to be 1-2-2026...except I received an email from a company manager. The email stated that a computer glitch fouled up the information four other applicants and I put online (info about taxation, Direct Deposit, citizenship, other goodies)...and that the company wanted us to fill out the info all over again. After I put my information back in, I haven't heard back from that manager. Phone calls and emails have proven fruitless.

America's biggest furniture store (it's here in Omaha) turned me down, too. And I haven't yet heard back from a used book store or from a thrift store.

I'm not giving up the search...and I'm not giving up on a screenwriting-TV writing career. (Even reached out to a local firm, Fallen Giant Films.)

Just want to get back on my feet and make sure I can get ALL my bills paid.

Right now, I receive $1,399.30 a month from Social Security...and pay $785.00 for rent each month.

Presently, each month, I'm paying $165.35 for Medicare Senior Supplement, $121.34 for car insurance, $78.66 for utilities, $55.63 for cell phone use, $49.99 for Internet use, $42.92 for dental insurance, $28.62 for landline phone use, and $15.17 for renters insurance. Those eight other bills come due before I even see my SS money (and that dough comes on the third Wednesday of every month).

I've found a cheaper rate for car insurance...but I can't act until I see any new money. And I've cut back on groceries...now spending $365.00 monthly, and that's $87.00 less per month than what I'd been shelling out.

If you're able to donate to my own GoFundMe effort, just go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-jims-journey-to-financial-stability.

Here's wishing you and yours all the VERY BEST for 2026...and beyond.

Tomorrow, 1-30-2026

That's the day a general strike will take place all over these United States to protest the nation's move to a fascist government.

That means, if you're able to do so, you refrain from going to work, going to school, and going shopping...all to protest DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

If you can't walk off the job or attend demonstrations tomorrow, you can boycott large corporations that support the antics of the current White House...and that includes major retailers among those big businesses. (But if you've got to shop, small local businesses are okay.)

Think of all the major companies whose support of the former host of TV's "The Apprentice" in 2016, 2020, and 2024 helped lead to (among many other things) the drive to annex Greenland...tariffs galore...erasing non-White men and women of all colors from the American history books...to say nothing of masked ICE agents kidnaping, raping, and killing innocent people.

Maybe you can write letters (online or physical) to elected officials...especially Congressmembers. Urge them not to give any more loot to DHS and its ICE arm. Signing petitions and engaging in online political discussions is okay, too.

People on Facebook and on Instagram have sounded the call for a general strike...and you can also go to https://NationalShutdown.org for more information.

If this is the only way to get Corporate America's attention, well...so be it.

It just isn't there...for some of us

The holiday spirit, that is.

You know about the last six weeks of every calendar year...the so-called holiday season.

The season to be jolly.

If you're jolly right now, that's fine. If you don't feel any jollity at the moment, that's all right. And if you're someplace in the middle, it's okay.

I grew up in an alcoholic household...a house of constant faultfinding, constant shaming, and constant belittling. (Hint: I turned 18 years old on 11-11-1973.) Mom was the alcoholic...and she, more often than not, battled her sisters (my maternal aunts). And that wasn't when Mom battled my maternal grandmother.

The battles were tiresome to hear (let alone watch)...and I wanted to hide instead of getting involved. Just wanted the fighting to end, once and for all.

One such confrontation happened in December 1974...and it was between Mom and one of my maternal aunts. It eventually got to the point where Mom demanded I take sides: "As the man of the house..."

I just wanted to be alone.

Memories of these feuds, plus taking a look at how the accent this time of year is on the corporate side of things (after all, QuickBooks said that holiday spending accounts for about 47% of American small businesses' annual revenue...and the National Retail Foundation predicts Americans will spend an unprecedented $1 trillion here in the 2025 cycle), have caused me to feel that this time of year isn't so wonderful.

Instead, to me, it's the most critical/crucial/pressure-filled time of the year.

And I didn't even mention the antics that have taken place in Washington, DC ever since 1-20-2025...or the pressure I feel I'm on ever since two people asked me to launch GoFundMe projects in these two people's names.

I know...them's fightin' words (especially to Edward Pola's and George Wyle's survivors). And writing this post might end up stepping on way too many toes.

All my life, I've been asked- told- to exhibit feelings that aren't real to me (especially during the last six weeks of each year).

I JUST WANT TO BE REAL WITH MY FEELINGS.

Well, it's time for me to get off this soapbox...time for me to hear from you. And here's hoping you're in a safe place to express your REAL feelings...all year long.

The most unlikely champion

It's been a while since I last posted anything about my version of the NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs. (That's what happens when you're asked to take on different things in life...such as a couple of GoFundMe projects.)

Anyway...I actually DID play the 2023 version, and I've been itching to post that. Well, here's how it turned out:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Boise State (24) 63, James Madison (9) 44/Oklahoma (16) 38, Penn State (17) 24/Iowa (20) 27, Miami (OH) (13) 14/Louisville (21) 38, Tulane (12) 20/Mississippi (19) 45, Toledo (14) 31/Notre Dame (22) 36, Troy (11) 13/Missouri (18) 48, SMU (15) 34/Oregon (10) 42, North Carolina State (23) 27

SECOND ROUND: Washington (1) 63, Boise State 38/Oklahoma 24, Ohio State (8) 14/Texas (5) 34, Iowa 10/Florida State (4) 38, Louisville 34/Alabama (6) 28, Mississippi 17/Notre Dame 42, Liberty (3) 21/Georgia (7) 45, Missouri 31/Oregon 35, Michigan (2) 28

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Washington 45/Florida State 37, Texas 21/Notre Dame 38, Alabama 21/Georgia 28, Oregon 17

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Florida State 42/Notre Dame 45, Georgia 37

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Oklahoma 41, Notre Dame 24

MVP: Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel...in the title game, he went 16 for 25 for 232 yards and three touchdown passes. Not only that, but he also ran 24 times for 163 yards to lead all rushers that night. What made the 2023 Sooners the most unlikely of the "shoulda-coulda-woulda" champions?

They were the lowest seeds EVER to win it all in these playoffs. (UCLA was seeded 13th out of 16 entries when it won it all in 1988...the same seeding USC drew when the Trojans won the 2003 playoffs, two years after the 1-A playoffs went to a 24-team format.) Oklahoma wrapped up its time in the Big 6/7/8/12 by winning these 1-A playoffs for the first time since the Sooners three-peated in 1985-87. Funny thing: This time around, Michigan had a chance to duplicate the Sooners' 1980s effort...but in the second round, Oregon's Bo Nix took matters into his own hands (23-30-217-2 TD passes plus 16 rushes for 88 yards and 2 TD runs) to end the Wolverines' two-year reign in these playoffs.

I used Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football to do these playoffs...and now, I want to slow down to see just what the 2024 D-1-A playoffs would've looked like.

I know...it's tempting...

When I'm not blogging, or when I'm not putting videos on YouTube, I'm still writing movie-and-TV scripts. And nine years into my second wind as a writer, I'm still plugging away...even at a time when artificial intelligence has made tremendous strides.

AI has been able to do more things for people than it could even two years ago. And one of those things is...it can, with just the right prompts, write an entire television script or a screenplay.

Yes...it's tempting to go to ChatGPT or Gemini or some other source and have it turn out a script.

And I'm not going to go there.

Now...I actually feel more comfortable feeding a screenplay of mine (or my one teleplay) through a site like https://screenplayiq.com or https://ScriptReader.ai and getting back an analysis. Last year, I started turning to ScreenplayIQ and ScriptReader out of curiosity...and to get one perspective or two as to whether I'm on the right track in this journey I'm on.

Of the 31 scripts I've written (or revised from my first try at screenwriting...the 1980-1994 period), all but three have earned at least one "recommend" from ScriptReader.

The other three picked up "considers" across the board.

I don't mind using the pitch trailers I get from ScreenplayIQ...and, in fact, I've been able to upload them to YouTube. (They don't look too bad...even with those little or not-so-little quirks.)

Both sites have helped me make better written pitches: ScriptReader and ScreenplayIQ shine at identifying script themes, script moods, and character arcs.

That all said...there's still absolutely NOTHING like the TV-and-movie-script evaluations (paid or not) you can get from flesh-and-blood human beings. The AI evaluations help...but the final word comes from scripthousing sites like Stage 32 and Script Revolution.

If anything I've ever written resonates with people on Script Rev and/or Stage 32, I'm happy.

And if you've ever read any script I've written...thanks so very much for putting my stuff to the test.