Still Alive and Kicking

I was talking to Lois, a friend who wrote the book “Tom the Mouse” which I illustrated. She told me her plight about losing her identity. I joked that she should write about it. She did. And here it is below. Hope you like it.

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This is Your Life – or Death – or Whatever

by Lois McKinney (a subscriber of Raoul’s TGIF Joe)

Let me start by saying that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.  In April, 2018,  I received a letter from my medical insurance that announced my demise.  I took a picture of the letter and texted it to my two daughters with the note “Is there something you girls have been meaning to tell me?”  Their responses weren’t as flippant as my remark.  One said, “Uh oh. This is not good.”  The other daughter responded “We need to fix this ASAP,” and she put her money where her mouth was, spending many hours with me as I made numerous phone calls and accompanying me on my trips to the Social Security office. A SS rep said that this situation usually happens as a result of one of their employees making an error when typing a Social Security number.  One would think that a governmental agency this size would have fail-safe measures to avoid what happened to me.  It was amazing how fast the wheels were put into motion to ruin my life.  My medical insurance was cancelled, my bank account was seized, and it took many trips to the Social Security Office before the deceased status was removed from my records.  Through it all, I tried to maintain my sense of humor.   At one point I asked my daughter to accompany me to the Social Security office so that I could offer to breathe on a mirror.  As she and I sat in the SS office waiting, I turned to her and said, “Consider this a rehearsal.”

For the past ten months, there have been no more reports of my death, so I became complacent.  BIG MISTAKE.  This morning I received a call from American Express informing me that there is a hold on my account because a credit bureau stated that there is a deceased person connected with the account.  Here we go again . . .

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Well, I certainly hope Lois can get this straightened out.  She’s much too frail. I’m glad she can still find humor in all this. She’s an example for us all struggling with the complexities of the 21st century.

BTW, If you are in the Los Angeles area and you want your caricature done, I will be doing volunteer work for the kids at the Hope Central Project, City of Watts, Friday, 6:30 to 9pm and on Saturday at Grocery Outlet, La Habra @ 1pm to 5pm. Please pray for safety and that my back doesn’t hurt like the last time.

TGIF people!

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Peter Paul of South Pasadena, CA for sending this joke.

Video of the Week

Have You Seen My Wife?
Sent by Mike of New York

Don’s Puns

From Don’s collection of puns

Parting Shot

Thanks to Naomi of West Hollywood, CA who shared this.

This notice can now be found in all French churches:

En entrant dans cette église,
il est possible que vous entendiez l’appel de Dieu.
Par contre, il n’est pas susceptible de vous contacter par téléphone.
Merci d’avoir éteint votre téléphone.
Si vous souhaitez parler à Dieu, entrez,
choisissez un endroit tranquille et parle lui.
Si vous souhaitez le voir, envoyez-lui un SMS en
conduisant.

Translation:

Sent also by Ernie of Fresno, CA

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