Angry Mob Spotted at Funky Brown Chick

So, I gather that the Stolie Nation members were just a wee bit angry about my recent April Fool’s Day joke? Judging from the name-calling, "I'll-slap-you" threats, and the concerned emails — I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the general consensus is: “Don’t fuck with us, little girl! You promised us Blog and you better deliver ... or else!” But, please calm down, my sweet little babies. You know that I love you. I would never leave you so abruptly. When and/or if the time to part ever arrives, I’d like to think that I’d give you fair warning. Hell, I’d probably throw a week-long “End of the Blog” party to count down the days to my final post. But, let’s not talk about all of that stuff. Because, right now, the Funky Brown Chick is here to stay. So, let’s use our time together today to talk about some of life’s joyful, little pleasantries. Taxes. April 15, tax day, is fast approaching. I’ve been doing my own taxes for years, but this past year was honestly one of my most difficult tax years. Rewind to the beginning of 2005. In the real world, the story is quite simple. I am employed and pay taxes in Chicago while I job-hunt for opportunities in New York. BlahBlahBlah Inc. eventually hires me. New York City apartments are much smaller than Chicago apartments, so I donate most of my personal furniture, clothing, household furnishings, etc. to a local charity before I move. And, because BlahBlahBlah INC is a small company, I have to pay my own moving costs. Easy enough, right? Well, in the tax world, the above scenario translates as such ... I fill out Form 1040 to file my Federal Taxes. I attach Schedule A to Form 1040 in order to itemize the deductions (or, “claim a credit of sorts”, for my non-US readers) for the: state taxes paid to 2 states, non-reimbursed job expenses, and gifts to charity. Because the gifts to charity total more than $500 in value, I attach Form 8283 to detail each item. I also attach Form 3903 to detail my moving expenses. Federal Taxes, done. Now, State Taxes. I fill out Form IL-1040 for Illinois taxes paid and attach Schedule NR to explain that I was only a part-year resident. I also fill out Form IT-203 for my New York State taxes. But, I live in New York City, and New York City taxes are different than taxes in other cities in New York State. So I fill out Form IT-360.1 to show that, in New York State, I live in New York City. State Taxes, done. Whew! Glad I don’t have to do that again until April 2007. ( ... And, I hope that I’ve sufficiently bored you with the tax form stuff so that you’ve completely forgotten about your anger over April Fool’s Day.)