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spent the day finishing up my taxes. i had the bulk of it done more than a week ago, but today i was applying the final polish, seeing if i could reduce the amount i owe the government. the basics of taxation is actually pretty easy: you tell them how much money you made and they tell you how much you owe. how it gets complicated is when you try to lower how much taxes you have to pay. all these rules and forms and deductions are supposedly to help you save money, but they're so difficult to figure out, it's like the IRS is doing it on purpose, just so you'll make a mistake and pay more than necessary. to its credit though, the government will pay you back if you overpay, but most of the time you get screwed by not knowing the rules, not realizing the little cheats and loopholes you can take advantage of to minimize your taxes. that's why there's a whole industry built around making sense of all this. softwares, tax preparers, accountants - if doing your taxes was really that easy, a lot of people would go out of business.

i managed to lower my taxes by $700, before i realized i made a mistake (forgot to declare my capital gains). nevertheless, i still managed to save $600. i also helped my aunt do her taxes. fortunately it was pretty easy, and i even managed to get her a state refund.

instead of thinning out the tomato seedlings, i transplanted a few to empty cups. since these will eventually live outside, i figured any extras i can just give them away once the weather gets warm enough to plant in the garden. i noticed this a while back, but i think the nasturtium flowers that are developing into seeds, each bundle actually contains 3 seeds. when they'll fully ripen i still don't know, but i hope soon enough so that once my other seedlings start to grow, i can reclaim the shelf space.

tonight was the second episode of BSG. even though it's still early in this final season - dare i say it? - the show is getting sort of lame. it follows a BSG formula: characters talking to imaginary figures in their heads, a couple of emotionally charged scenes, one or two shocker, and then a heart stirring ending that involves either tears or applause. i'll still watch it regardless of the suck factor, but it feels like the final seasons of the sopranos, when the show was totally crap but people kept watching because they were used to it.