Much of my day was devoted to preparing my New Yor state tax forms -- with the fed requirement having been dispensed with the aid of Tax Act software -- a free download that doesn't install annoying ad-ware like those assholes at Turbotax and Taxcut. But, being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't purchase any of Tax Act's premium options, such as support for state filing. So I decided to do that part the old fashioned way.

What a mistake -- the design of the New York state forms is perfectly awful (and I'm not even thinking about the money involved -- that's a whole other rant, one that I must actively block mentally lest my head explode).

Many a profane oath was uttered today as I attempted to follow the opaque directions contained in the sizeable booklet that had arrived in the mail so many months ago. Even trying to figure out whether I could use the short form took me almost an hour. It turned out I could not -- but an online search to locate the answer to the booklet's form-riddle first led me to believe that I could... Wasting more time. So I crumpled up my half-completed IT-150 and tackled the long form IT-201. Each form was supported by a dizzying/infuriating array of unintuitive instructions, each of which was further embroidered with encyclopeadic references to arcane exceptions, exemptions and who-knows-what-else that (probably) didn't apply to my situation.

As my forms neared completion I heard the mail carrier clattering at the boxes in the vestibule. I went to fetch my junk-mail, wanting a break from the torture that was being so merciless inflicted upon me by the Empire State. What I got instead was a jury summons -- they want me to show up at the state court in White Plains on May 1, no doubt to further demonstrate to me the wondrous efficiency of state-designed process.

Let's see, will I still be a resident of this august jurisdiction as of May 1? I must be careful about how I answer: they might make me fill out a bunch of forms.