I Guess I'm Not a Killer Queen

For some reason, I've had songs from Queen running through my mind for the last week or so. One line in particular, from Killer Queen: "To avoid complications, she never kept the same address..." There was a time when I might have understood the logic, but these days, I find it very complicated to use different addresses.

Ever since I took up the nomadic lifestyle in 2004, I've been juggling addresses. I was rarely in one place for more than six months, so it didn't make sense to keep an apartment. But I had to have an address. Over the years, I've used three addresses in Ohio, two in Arizona, and one in New Mexico. I could have used a mailing service, but I get so little mail it wasn't worth paying for it.

In my travels I've learned that you can't get a post office box unless you have a local physical address (if you have a physical address, why would you need a P.O. box?). And you can't even get a library card without proof of residency, such as a rent receipt or a utility bill (I never had any kind of proof like that). So it has been frustrating.

I bumped up against the complications the other day when I prepared my tax return. In the last couple of years, I've tried to consolidate everything to one address -- Mom's. But as I gathered my forms, I realized I'd missed something. One of my W-2s still had my sister's address, and that's the address I used to file last year. What address do I use to file this year? Here's the thing: the school district where Mom lives has a school income tax. I don't want to pay it, but that address is on most of my accounts and such. I don't actually live either of those places! And I can't use the address where I'm currently staying.

Now, looking ahead. This spring I'll be going to stay with my daughter in California. Yes, another address. Except that it would cost several hundred dollars to transfer car registration and get plates and a new driver's license. So I don't want to become a resident. I'll have to keep an Ohio address and just be in California temporarily.

I like being able to move around when I feel like it, but I'm really getting tired of this aspect. For me, not keeping the same address has certainly NOT avoided complications.