this year is officially surreal

I forgot to mention that when my mother called her boss to arrange for not going to work last week, she found out that the company that owns the store she works for declared bankruptcy and is closing the store next week. 50% of my nuclear family is now losing its jobs, and my mother's job is (of course) the one with the health insurance.

I really wish I knew how to get bad things to stop happening to my family members. It's making me not want to answer my phone any more, because it seems like every time I do, there's a new catastrophe on the other end of it.

no, I am not a hypochondriac...

My landlady came to see about taking away the light fixture in my kitchen (it's a track-light bulb holding up a faux-Tiffany lampshade, and she wants to put the lampshade back on its lamp). In the course of conversation I mentioned that I hadn't noticed the heat on since I got back yesterday, and she said something to the effect of "well, that's funny, I had it set for 53 like usual when nobody's home." It seems that when nobody's home and on weekdays it's 53, and at 5:15 it turns on headed for 60-something (I forget what exactly).

No bloody wonder I'm always freezing. If the third-floor (and only) thermostat is set for 53 most of the time, and heat rises, it's probably 48 in here.

I looked up the Massachusetts tenants' rights, and apparently it's supposed to be at least 64 in a rented apartment between September 16 and June 14. So the question is whether I really want to get into this with her (the instant answer is no, because it will put me on the wrong side of her and I'm dealing with enough already), or whether I want to bring her attention to the 11 degrees of heat I'm entitled to.