Ordinarily I don’t use real names. I prefer initials and aliases. But I am so going to post her real name because I feel I should warn folks. The homeless woman’s real name is Melissa Rushing. She might be blond but she’s dyed her hair a good bit and the color I saw on her was funky, though consistent. She’s around 40 I think, but she’s lies (more later) and she is obese. There is nothing keeping her tied to this place so it is very possible that she could appear in any part of the US. Now you are warned.
I met Melissa at work and people treated her badly and made fun of her and since I didn’t know her at the time I thought people were just mean to her because she’s fat. I thought this was unfair and she seemed okay whenever I talked to her so I became her friend.
The first clue I had that anything was wrong with Melissa was when she cheated the plant manager. She was a temp and she worked on Christmas Eve for a few hours. Those four hours were all she worked for the whole week and Blaine felt sorry for her so he gave her 4 hours of holiday pay (time and a half). Except payroll messed up and gave Melissa 40 hours of holiday pay.
She kept it.
Now I can sorta see her point- I’m poor myself so I would loath to give up a big check. But she had to know that someone in accounting would catch that mistake and they did and they demanded that she give the money back. Melissa felt that since the company made the mistake she should be allowed to keep the money even though she hadn’t done anything to actually earn it. Besides, she couldn’t pay it back because she had already spent it. Blaine solved that problem by taking a percentage out of her pay every week until he got it all back. This royally pissed Melissa off and I heard this story because she was complaining about how unfair Blaine was and she’d never again do anything he asked.
Had I been the supervisor, as soon as I got my money back I would have called the temp agency and told them I didn’t need the thief anymore. But in the interim the production manager hired Melissa permanently. Obviously he didn’t check with anybody before he did it. Melissa had been a temp for nearly two years and had worked in almost every department and it just seems strange that no one ever hired her.
So now I knew that Melissa was not too honest. I still didn’t know she was crazy. I decided she could just be a work friend, one of the people who you talk to at work just to have someone to hang out with on breaks but you never see them outside the office. I’m really glad now I made that decision because if Melissa knew where I lived she’d probably stalk me.
The problem with crazy people is on the surface they seem fine. You don’t know how bad they are until you get in deep and then it’s a little too late to make them back off.
Melissa’s done so many crazy things I don’t even know where to start this story. She claimed to still be a virgin. I asked about this and she told me she’d had sex once in the ‘80’s and it was such a bad experience that she decided to never do it again. I can’t really grasp that concept. I love sex. My first time wasn’t great either but I decided I could do better so I really wanted to try it again, not give it up forever. Melissa says she swore it off, but really she was more preoccupied with sex than a nympho. One morning Allen (alien bait guy) came into work and went to boot up his computer. It was already on. The screen saver was on. Thinking he just forgot to shut it down, he moved the mouse and got a picture of a chick in black leather underwear holding two very large dildos. Allen freaked and started shutting the computer down while looking over his shoulder every five seconds to make sure the boss wasn’t coming.
He ranted and raved about it. ‘Some freak on nights is using my computer to look up porn!’ At work when the computers are rebooted the screen name of the last user appears on the log on prompt. It was Melissa’s user id. Allen started locking the computer but his coworker Bret wasn’t as careful and he came in early one day and caught Melissa looking up porn. That happened 3 more times (Either Bret was slow or he liked looking at porn, too.) The last time he caught her she was trying to print it out. Except she couldn’t figure out which printer to use, so instead of sending her porn to the regular desktop printer she sent it to our label maker. It wasn’t on at the time so nothing happened until 10 am when Bret tried to make box labels and got a whole roll of naked ladies.
I’m sure you’re wondering how she got to be homeless. I think I’ll just go with that story and not say more even though I could write a whole book on Melissa. But truthfully I’m a little worried that if I keep mentioning her she might appear. That happened once after she was (finally) fired. I was doing an odd job on night shift because I really need the overtime and I saw Melissa standing in the hallway. She was standing by the time clock and looking around with interest like she wanted to see what had changed while she was gone. She had on a lab coat and a hairnet and I think she intended to go on the production floor (we do make containers for food and have to abide by FDA regulations). She might have already wandered around the plant, though I don’t know why I didn’t see her earlier. Anyway, she was on one end of the hall and I was on the other and I was staring, unable to believe she actually came back when it occurred to me that Melissa might look up and see me. And then what would she do? I hurried into the lab, anxious to avoid trouble.
Melissa got fired for insubordination. That’s the official reason. There was a lot of other stuff going on and since I worked so closely with her someone asked me about it every day. Sometimes I think all that talking manifested her. You really got to be careful about what you say because your actions follow your thoughts and so does the course of the Universe. If you worry about bad stuff all the time it comes true. I’ll have to make my next post about magick so I can explain all this properly.
After Mark hired Melissa and gave her a raise she decided she needed to move into a better apartment. She was living in what used to be an old hotel on a state highway. The hotel had been remodeled into ‘efficiency apartments’ I’m not really sure what that meant, but I assumed it still looked like a cheap hotel room. She told me she was tired of living in a cramped space and she wanted to get away from the mental patients.
Huh?
This remodeled hotel was like a halfway house for people who had been released from the mental hospital. They lived on their own there to determine if they could make it in the real world. Let’s think about that for a minute. If you were a sane person, why would you chose to live in the same building with people who had been declared fruit loops? And why would you even be able to rent one of those apartments? Wouldn’t the only renters be people from the county mental ward? I think Melissa was locked up at some point and that’s where she was sent. I can’t come up with any other logical reason for her to rent that apartment, no matter how cheap it may have been.
So Melissa moved into a real place. That was right after Thanksgiving. Just before Christmas she paid off her car. Now the car was a Volvo station wagon and quite the lemon. She didn’t like it and I understand that because it left her stranded several times. But what she did was extremely stupid. The week after she paid off the Volvo she bought another car, a champagne colored Sebring.
Everybody told her not to do it. We all tried to talk her out of it. We all said she needed to wait a little while and save some money first. She wouldn’t listen. Melissa HAD to have another car. So she ignored good advice and bought that car from the same dealer she got the Volvo from and it was the first car she looked at and she didn’t test drive it. The dealership ran her credit and that’s when the bill collectors started calling.
I hate to do this, but it’s late and I still have a lot of story to tell. I’ll post more later.
The Witchcraft of FreeDragon
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Out of the Woodwork
I realize that since I mentioned AJ's ex the crazies have been circling like buzzards. So I'll do the post about John and then I'll post about Melissa. I may have to do several posts about Melissa because she is someone whom I believed SHOULD be locked in the padded room and she may of been, but I'll get to that later.
So John...
This is one where I'd actually like some feedback because the whole time it was happening I couldn't believe it and looking back now I still can't believe he did it so if some of you could tell me that I'm not imagining things I'd feel so much better.
AJ and John never married but they were together on and off for several years. I'm really not sure what she saw in him. AJ herself even said that John had more rules than God. She described their sex life once and it went like this:
John had a lake house and every Friday they would drive up for the weekend. There was no sex on Friday night because he was tired from the drive. On Saturday they slept in and then spent the day on the water. Saturday evening he grilled steaks. He always burned them (I've ate 'em, I can testify to the crispiness) because he enjoyed sitting outside in the dusk drinking his scotch and water and John enjoyed it so much that he didn't want to come in. After dinner there'd be a movie and after the movie a shower and THEN they could have sex. They couldn't have sex on Sunday night because not only was it Sunday but he had to drive back that afternoon and of course he would be tired and have to go to work the next day. I'm not sure how the rest of the week went because at this point in the story I interrupted AJ to ask why she wanted to stay with a man who was so rigid and she said that when John finally did get down to business it was good. And I said it'd hafta be damn good and that pretty much ended the conversation.
I can't stress enough how important rules are to this man. You are not allowed to sit on the arms of his recliners. You may not sit on the floor (that's what the chairs are for) No one is allowed to eat before him. I take offense at this one because it's not just at his house and it's not being polite and waiting for everyone to come to the table. I mean that if John has a plate of food he eats. If I get a plate of food before he does he expects me to wait until HE has his food before I eat. It doesn't matter to him if anyone else has food or not. I used to rush in the kitchen and make a plate just to annoy the man.
He doesn't buy cheese because it costs too much. He has some mathematical formula of how much food should cost per pound and cheese is over his limit so he doesn't buy it. He didn't object if AJ bought cheese and he'd certainly eat it if she served it to him, but he wasn't about to waste his money.
Once I irritated to him to no end because we were out on the lake and I really had to go to the bathroom. I told M and he said, Can't you just go in the water?
I was shocked. GROSS. No I couldn't. Just ask John to take me back or you get the boat keys and you take me to the house.
Oh...no. Can't we're all out here on the lake.
I really didn't understand. It was a simple request. I needed to pee. I just couldn't go in the water and I really wasn't comfortable stomping around in the woods looking for a tree. It wouldn't take 10 minutes, just get in the boat and let's go back. M warned me that John would be mad and he was because I disrupted his routine.
He felt that once on the water one would stay there until it was the appropriate hour to return. John did take me back, but he made me wait and he made everyone go back to the house and he made sure that everyone knew I was the cause of the ruined afternoon. Of course when we returned he complained about the waste of gas.
So with all these rules and regulation what he did just shocked me down to my core.
AJ and John used to break up and get back to together on a monthly basis. During one of the off times M took me to the lake and we spent the weekend with John. I had been bitten by a dog in the park. I had a big nasty bruise and puncture marks all over my leg that weekend. It didn't really hurt, but it was ugly.
The 3 of us were sitting in the dinning room and John was drinking his scotch, which may have contributed to what happened. He asked about my leg. I held up my leg so he could see better and the man actually took hold of my foot, placed it in his lap and began to rub my calf.
I couldn't talk. I was VERY uncomfortable. He was wearing little black shorts and my foot was right there by his package and he was shirtless and he was staring. And I didn't know what to do as I sat there in my swimsuit. I felt very naked and the whole thing seemed really intimate, like something a husband would do.
M was beside me not saying anything. I kept looking at him, waiting for him to speak up and defend my honor. But he didn't do anything, did even seem to react, so I thought maybe I was imagining things.
Except John wouldn't let go of my foot.
I literally had to pry his hands off me and ask for my foot back. M still didn't say anything. Then John started asking me all kinds of questions like I was the most interesting thing in the world. It was all ordinary stuff- hobbies, family, my thoughts on politics. Since it seemed harmless and I didn't want to be rude and since M didn't seem bothered, I tried to answer all those questions. This went on and on and on for a couple of hours. I felt like I was under interrogation but no one had bothered to tell me what crime I committed. John had never shown this much interest before (I always got the impression he thought I was stupid) so it really puzzled me.
Then around 11pm M announced he was going to bed. He walked out so suddenly I didn't have time to follow. And John was still talking. Suddenly I was trapped with this weird middle aged man at night and I felt naked all over again.
With M out of the room John asked more personal stuff. How many men had I dated? What kind of man did I look for? I decided enough was enough and I faked a big yawn, said good night and ran upstairs as fast as I could go.
The next morning I made the mistake of waking up first.
I went downstairs and John was sitting at the table wearing the same little black shorts and nothing else, just like the night before. The laptop was in front of him and I don't know what he looking at but he was rubbing himself. I realized that after I walked in and he looked up quickly and saw me before I could run out. He stopped rubbing, but gave me a big smile and invited me to sit.
No way in hell.
I don't know what I said, but I ran back upstairs and stayed with the sleeping M. Later he got up and we went down together.
At this point John was of course ready to go out on the lake and I tried to pretend that all was normal. I found my sun tan lotion and John offered to rub it on my back. I said no thanks, I got it, and then I turned around and asked M to apply it to my skin. I was hoping if I drove home the point that I was dating John's STEPSON he'd leave me alone. The rest of the day was a blur of awkwardness and I have never been so glad to go home.
After 3 days it bothered me to the point that I just couldn't stand it no more so I blurted it out to AJ while M was in the room. She did not look surprised, so I had the awful feeling something happened before. And finally M spoke up and said yeah, John did seem to be hitting on me all weekend. I started screaming. I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY AND IMAGINING THINGS AND YOU KNEW???!!! WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!
And M told me that he knew I could handle it and anyway, I'd never cheat on him. So you now you know one reason why I'm not with the man anymore.
So John...
This is one where I'd actually like some feedback because the whole time it was happening I couldn't believe it and looking back now I still can't believe he did it so if some of you could tell me that I'm not imagining things I'd feel so much better.
AJ and John never married but they were together on and off for several years. I'm really not sure what she saw in him. AJ herself even said that John had more rules than God. She described their sex life once and it went like this:
John had a lake house and every Friday they would drive up for the weekend. There was no sex on Friday night because he was tired from the drive. On Saturday they slept in and then spent the day on the water. Saturday evening he grilled steaks. He always burned them (I've ate 'em, I can testify to the crispiness) because he enjoyed sitting outside in the dusk drinking his scotch and water and John enjoyed it so much that he didn't want to come in. After dinner there'd be a movie and after the movie a shower and THEN they could have sex. They couldn't have sex on Sunday night because not only was it Sunday but he had to drive back that afternoon and of course he would be tired and have to go to work the next day. I'm not sure how the rest of the week went because at this point in the story I interrupted AJ to ask why she wanted to stay with a man who was so rigid and she said that when John finally did get down to business it was good. And I said it'd hafta be damn good and that pretty much ended the conversation.
I can't stress enough how important rules are to this man. You are not allowed to sit on the arms of his recliners. You may not sit on the floor (that's what the chairs are for) No one is allowed to eat before him. I take offense at this one because it's not just at his house and it's not being polite and waiting for everyone to come to the table. I mean that if John has a plate of food he eats. If I get a plate of food before he does he expects me to wait until HE has his food before I eat. It doesn't matter to him if anyone else has food or not. I used to rush in the kitchen and make a plate just to annoy the man.
He doesn't buy cheese because it costs too much. He has some mathematical formula of how much food should cost per pound and cheese is over his limit so he doesn't buy it. He didn't object if AJ bought cheese and he'd certainly eat it if she served it to him, but he wasn't about to waste his money.
Once I irritated to him to no end because we were out on the lake and I really had to go to the bathroom. I told M and he said, Can't you just go in the water?
I was shocked. GROSS. No I couldn't. Just ask John to take me back or you get the boat keys and you take me to the house.
Oh...no. Can't we're all out here on the lake.
I really didn't understand. It was a simple request. I needed to pee. I just couldn't go in the water and I really wasn't comfortable stomping around in the woods looking for a tree. It wouldn't take 10 minutes, just get in the boat and let's go back. M warned me that John would be mad and he was because I disrupted his routine.
He felt that once on the water one would stay there until it was the appropriate hour to return. John did take me back, but he made me wait and he made everyone go back to the house and he made sure that everyone knew I was the cause of the ruined afternoon. Of course when we returned he complained about the waste of gas.
So with all these rules and regulation what he did just shocked me down to my core.
AJ and John used to break up and get back to together on a monthly basis. During one of the off times M took me to the lake and we spent the weekend with John. I had been bitten by a dog in the park. I had a big nasty bruise and puncture marks all over my leg that weekend. It didn't really hurt, but it was ugly.
The 3 of us were sitting in the dinning room and John was drinking his scotch, which may have contributed to what happened. He asked about my leg. I held up my leg so he could see better and the man actually took hold of my foot, placed it in his lap and began to rub my calf.
I couldn't talk. I was VERY uncomfortable. He was wearing little black shorts and my foot was right there by his package and he was shirtless and he was staring. And I didn't know what to do as I sat there in my swimsuit. I felt very naked and the whole thing seemed really intimate, like something a husband would do.
M was beside me not saying anything. I kept looking at him, waiting for him to speak up and defend my honor. But he didn't do anything, did even seem to react, so I thought maybe I was imagining things.
Except John wouldn't let go of my foot.
I literally had to pry his hands off me and ask for my foot back. M still didn't say anything. Then John started asking me all kinds of questions like I was the most interesting thing in the world. It was all ordinary stuff- hobbies, family, my thoughts on politics. Since it seemed harmless and I didn't want to be rude and since M didn't seem bothered, I tried to answer all those questions. This went on and on and on for a couple of hours. I felt like I was under interrogation but no one had bothered to tell me what crime I committed. John had never shown this much interest before (I always got the impression he thought I was stupid) so it really puzzled me.
Then around 11pm M announced he was going to bed. He walked out so suddenly I didn't have time to follow. And John was still talking. Suddenly I was trapped with this weird middle aged man at night and I felt naked all over again.
With M out of the room John asked more personal stuff. How many men had I dated? What kind of man did I look for? I decided enough was enough and I faked a big yawn, said good night and ran upstairs as fast as I could go.
The next morning I made the mistake of waking up first.
I went downstairs and John was sitting at the table wearing the same little black shorts and nothing else, just like the night before. The laptop was in front of him and I don't know what he looking at but he was rubbing himself. I realized that after I walked in and he looked up quickly and saw me before I could run out. He stopped rubbing, but gave me a big smile and invited me to sit.
No way in hell.
I don't know what I said, but I ran back upstairs and stayed with the sleeping M. Later he got up and we went down together.
At this point John was of course ready to go out on the lake and I tried to pretend that all was normal. I found my sun tan lotion and John offered to rub it on my back. I said no thanks, I got it, and then I turned around and asked M to apply it to my skin. I was hoping if I drove home the point that I was dating John's STEPSON he'd leave me alone. The rest of the day was a blur of awkwardness and I have never been so glad to go home.
After 3 days it bothered me to the point that I just couldn't stand it no more so I blurted it out to AJ while M was in the room. She did not look surprised, so I had the awful feeling something happened before. And finally M spoke up and said yeah, John did seem to be hitting on me all weekend. I started screaming. I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY AND IMAGINING THINGS AND YOU KNEW???!!! WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!
And M told me that he knew I could handle it and anyway, I'd never cheat on him. So you now you know one reason why I'm not with the man anymore.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Today brings...Nothing
First of all I want to thank everyone for the kind comments and offering of sympathy. I was feeling very much alone because I wanted to talk to someone who knew AJ and there's no one left. (Kev only met her maybe three times and I lost touch with everyone else and I'm not calling her ex- there's a weird post) While I've never met any of you in person all of you helped me to feel less alone- and I thank you.
I told M to send the box to my parents because I really don't want him having my address. When I talked to him last week he said he would be shipping it 'some time next week' which I took to mean this past Monday or Tuesday so the box should have been waiting for me today.
It still hasn't arrived.
I am concluding that M is still lazy and irresponsible. I'm sure he has all the best intentions of doing what his momma asked, but...he forgot. Or he can't find a box. Or he can't get to the post office. Or he doesn't have the money to ship it.
I spent a lot of time worrying and dreading the box and finally I got past all that and suddenly this morning I realized what day it was and my stomach clenched with nerves. So I was a little relieved that the box hadn't arrived but I'm also afraid M won't send it until March when I've written it off as a loss and then it will hit me like a bullet train.
Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh.
I told M to send the box to my parents because I really don't want him having my address. When I talked to him last week he said he would be shipping it 'some time next week' which I took to mean this past Monday or Tuesday so the box should have been waiting for me today.
It still hasn't arrived.
I am concluding that M is still lazy and irresponsible. I'm sure he has all the best intentions of doing what his momma asked, but...he forgot. Or he can't find a box. Or he can't get to the post office. Or he doesn't have the money to ship it.
I spent a lot of time worrying and dreading the box and finally I got past all that and suddenly this morning I realized what day it was and my stomach clenched with nerves. So I was a little relieved that the box hadn't arrived but I'm also afraid M won't send it until March when I've written it off as a loss and then it will hit me like a bullet train.
Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My Favorite Dragon Exchange
This is from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
‘You have nice manners for a thief and a liar,’ said the dragon. ‘You seem familiar with my name, but I don’t seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?’
‘You may indeed! I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air I am he that walks unseen.’
‘So I can well believe,” said Smaug, ‘but that is hardly your usual name.’
‘I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.’
‘Lovely titles!’ sneered the dragon. ‘But lucky numbers don’t always come off.’
‘I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I come from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.’
‘These don’t sound so creditable,’ scoffed Smaug.
‘I am the friend of bears and guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,’ went on Bilbo beginning to be pleased with his riddling.
‘That’s better!’ said Smaug. ‘But don’t let your imagination run away with you!’
This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don’t want to reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don’t want to infuriate them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise.) No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.
By the Power of 3
This seems a bit silly to do since I just posted 50 things about myself but what the hay- I could use a little silliness.
3 Jobs
1.) Cashier, age 17 (this was my first job)
2.) Cotton warehouse, age 19 (had to quit because during cotton season I was always late to evening classes)
3.) Day care teacher, age 22 (taught 3 year olds, loved the kids hated the adults I worked with)
3 Places I've Lived
I've only lived in three houses and they are all in a 25 miles radius.
1.) My parent's house
2.) M's house
3.) This house
3 Places I've been this week
1.) Work
2.) Gas station
3.) Post office
3 People Who Send Regular Emails
1.) Autumn Moon
2.) Fierce Leader
3.) Uncle Joe
3 Favorite Foods
1.) Chocolate chip cookies
2.) Fried chicken
3.) Kevin's steaks
3 Favorite Books
1.) A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle
2.) The Lord of the Rings
3.) Zoo by Ogden Nash
3 Places I'd Rather Be
1.) The Tallapoosa River
2.) Egypt
3.) Stonehenge
3 Friends Who May Respond
This would have to be people who read my blog. I'm going to guess Muddy Waters, Nefaeria, and some reader I do not yet know the identity of
3 Things to Look Forward To
1.) My truck is almost paid off
2.) Winter is almost over
3.) ?
3 Jobs
1.) Cashier, age 17 (this was my first job)
2.) Cotton warehouse, age 19 (had to quit because during cotton season I was always late to evening classes)
3.) Day care teacher, age 22 (taught 3 year olds, loved the kids hated the adults I worked with)
3 Places I've Lived
I've only lived in three houses and they are all in a 25 miles radius.
1.) My parent's house
2.) M's house
3.) This house
3 Places I've been this week
1.) Work
2.) Gas station
3.) Post office
3 People Who Send Regular Emails
1.) Autumn Moon
2.) Fierce Leader
3.) Uncle Joe
3 Favorite Foods
1.) Chocolate chip cookies
2.) Fried chicken
3.) Kevin's steaks
3 Favorite Books
1.) A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle
2.) The Lord of the Rings
3.) Zoo by Ogden Nash
3 Places I'd Rather Be
1.) The Tallapoosa River
2.) Egypt
3.) Stonehenge
3 Friends Who May Respond
This would have to be people who read my blog. I'm going to guess Muddy Waters, Nefaeria, and some reader I do not yet know the identity of
3 Things to Look Forward To
1.) My truck is almost paid off
2.) Winter is almost over
3.) ?
Yield to the Lite
Last night I went to Joe's Grocery and got beer and a BBQ sandwich. Then I drank a beer while I ate my sandwich and played computer solitaire. Then I drank another beer and listened to music while I played solitaire. Then I sang along. I finished my beer in the bath tub and I slept like a rock and I feel better now.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Pandora Is on the Horizon
I’m feeling out of sorts. I keep making mistakes, writing down numbers wrong, forgetting things, stuff like that.
I miss my friend and I feel like an ass for not staying on speaking terms.
Kevin IS being an ass and he’s not there for me. Avoidance is how he deals with stress. Just pretend like it’s not there and it will go away. I can’t pretend like that and my being down and absent minded is getting on his nerves and his total lack of compassion is getting on mine.
I am DREADING the box because I know it will make me emotional again. I cried while writing my last post and when I open the box I’m going to cry again. I wish M would send the box overnight so I could be done with it but he is irresponsible with good intentions so it will be a month before I have to open that box, if he sends it at all.
Since I worked so hard at getting M out of my life I don’t want him worming his way back in. But he has the box! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!
I am trying to learn something from all this but all I see are things that I have been blind to, so what I learn can only be applied to other situations instead of making a change in current situations and quite frankly I don’t want to be in the mess again.
I HATE when things are beyond my control and I have to just let things happen. I so cannot stand it when I have to wait for others to take action. A part of me wants to drive to Texas even though that won’t really accomplish anything worthwhile.
I have to just wait and trust and the whole thing has me on pins and needles. I am really angry that no one bothered to tell me what was going on. I’m mad at myself for not seeing it, I’m mad at AJ for not telling me, I’m mad at M for not calling me sooner, I’m mad with my parents for waiting a week to let tell me M called, I’m mad with Kevin for being an ass…I AM SO ANGRY I WANT TO SCREAM AND CRY.
And I want my box, but I don’t want it either. I don’t want to cry, I don’t want to miss my friend, I don’t want any contact from M. But I want answers and all the answers are in a box in Dallas.
So I’m waiting. But I don’t like it.
I miss my friend and I feel like an ass for not staying on speaking terms.
Kevin IS being an ass and he’s not there for me. Avoidance is how he deals with stress. Just pretend like it’s not there and it will go away. I can’t pretend like that and my being down and absent minded is getting on his nerves and his total lack of compassion is getting on mine.
I am DREADING the box because I know it will make me emotional again. I cried while writing my last post and when I open the box I’m going to cry again. I wish M would send the box overnight so I could be done with it but he is irresponsible with good intentions so it will be a month before I have to open that box, if he sends it at all.
Since I worked so hard at getting M out of my life I don’t want him worming his way back in. But he has the box! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!
I am trying to learn something from all this but all I see are things that I have been blind to, so what I learn can only be applied to other situations instead of making a change in current situations and quite frankly I don’t want to be in the mess again.
I HATE when things are beyond my control and I have to just let things happen. I so cannot stand it when I have to wait for others to take action. A part of me wants to drive to Texas even though that won’t really accomplish anything worthwhile.
I have to just wait and trust and the whole thing has me on pins and needles. I am really angry that no one bothered to tell me what was going on. I’m mad at myself for not seeing it, I’m mad at AJ for not telling me, I’m mad at M for not calling me sooner, I’m mad with my parents for waiting a week to let tell me M called, I’m mad with Kevin for being an ass…I AM SO ANGRY I WANT TO SCREAM AND CRY.
And I want my box, but I don’t want it either. I don’t want to cry, I don’t want to miss my friend, I don’t want any contact from M. But I want answers and all the answers are in a box in Dallas.
So I’m waiting. But I don’t like it.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Good-bye, Good Friend
Today I learned that an old friend died of lung cancer. I had no idea she was sick. We lost contact a few years back when she moved to Texas.
I used to date her son. I became friends with her and when I broke up with M, I kept talking to AJ. I guess most friendships wouldn’t have survived something like that, but it was an odd friendship to begin with being that there was so much difference in our age. Or maybe it wasn’t odd because we were actually very much alike.
I feel horrible. Two years ago I tried to contact her and didn’t have any luck so I just dropped it. I wish now I had tried harder.
I am angry with M. Wide Lawns has her Evil Ex, M is mine. In fact AJ and I did not part on the best of terms because of M.
AJ decided to move back to Texas but she didn’t want to sell her house. She offered it to M, but he wasn’t interested. She then asked me if I wanted to rent it and maybe later buy the house. I was thrilled. When I first started dating M we lived in that house. I didn’t work then, I just kept house. I woke M up every morning for work and I stayed home and cleaned. The house had the most wonderful deck and every day I swept the leaves off. I was very content. I read a lot. I took long walks in the woods. Then M would come home and we were together and I was happy. On weekends M chopped wood and I stacked it for him. I just lived.
But some people thought I was wasting time and not applying myself, so I went to college and then I got a job and I’ve never been as happy as I was in 1995.
So I was overjoyed to have that house because to me it represented a small piece of happiness. As soon as M heard about it he moved in. AJ and I fought and she moved away without speaking to me. I got this house and then M moved away and my dream home sold. The people who bought it love it and I am happy for them but boy am I ever pissed at M.
Every time I think I’m done with the man for good he reappears. He called my parents last week to tell them about AJ and he wanted to talk to me but my father wouldn’t give M my number. My daddy loves me very much.
So M left his number and my mother really pushed me to call and I was afraid if I didn’t M would keep calling and then Mom might break down and give him my number and that would upset Kevin. So being wary of caller id I called M from my parents’ house.
AJ died a month ago. She left me a box. She also wanted me to have some books. M said there was a stack of books by her hospital bed and one night she went through them and laid several on the bed. She didn’t open them, so M put them back. She restacked them again. He put them back again. She got them again. This happened three more times before he finally asked her what she was doing. “I’m getting books for Free.”
I don’t know why M didn’t call me before AJ died. I would have liked to talk to her. I feel like this is one more thing he’s screwed up just to spite me.
Another friend thinks AJ moved to Texas because she was already sick. She thinks maybe AJ didn’t want to burden me. Looking back on the events with that thought in mind it makes sense. She was going to the doctor a lot, but I put that down to the fact that she hadn’t been in years and doctors love to test for everything when a patient skips several annual visits. I never questioned why she went to the doctor in the first place. And she had talked about moving back home for years. There was actually no reason to do it then; she lost her job and then announced she was going back. I thought she moved because the job tie had been cut. And then before moving she took a cruise to Alaska. I thought she was going because her mother planned and paid for the trip, but why would she do that? They had never traveled anywhere before. Was that a dream that needed to be fulfilled before it was too late? And the party. AJ threw herself a going away party and invited people she hadn’t seen in years, even people she wasn’t on good terms with. Was she saying good-bye to all of us forever?
Since I have all these questions I can’t ask her I’ve decided to use this post as a letter to AJ. Maybe her spirit will understand.
AJ-
Thanks for teaching me how to cook. I’m still not a great cook and I still don’t like it very much but you ensured that I wouldn’t starve and I now have courage to try new things. I eat a lot healthier now. I was afraid of cooking before. I thought I would mess up. You taught me that if I ruined a dish I could throw it out and start over. Thanks. BWT, I’ve only needed to throw out two dishes.
Thanks for sharing books with me. I already loved to read, but I didn’t have a taste for sci-fi and mystery until you loaned me Isaac Asimov. Thanks, too for knowing the story I was describing was Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder.
Thank you for showing me quilts. Of course I grew up sleeping under the quilts my grandmother made, but I never knew they were art. You changed my perception of quilts so dramatically that you might as well as been the first person who showed them to me.
Thanks for being there when my father had his emergency triple bypass. You helped me so much then.
Thanks for listening when I ranted and raved about how horribly M treated me. I know you understood as a woman, but I know that as his mother it must have hurt you deeply.
I’m so sorry we fought about the house. I wish you had told me what was going on. I wouldn’t have been mad then; it was just a house.
I wish I had gotten to say good-bye in person or at least over the phone. I miss you.
Love,
RG
I used to date her son. I became friends with her and when I broke up with M, I kept talking to AJ. I guess most friendships wouldn’t have survived something like that, but it was an odd friendship to begin with being that there was so much difference in our age. Or maybe it wasn’t odd because we were actually very much alike.
I feel horrible. Two years ago I tried to contact her and didn’t have any luck so I just dropped it. I wish now I had tried harder.
I am angry with M. Wide Lawns has her Evil Ex, M is mine. In fact AJ and I did not part on the best of terms because of M.
AJ decided to move back to Texas but she didn’t want to sell her house. She offered it to M, but he wasn’t interested. She then asked me if I wanted to rent it and maybe later buy the house. I was thrilled. When I first started dating M we lived in that house. I didn’t work then, I just kept house. I woke M up every morning for work and I stayed home and cleaned. The house had the most wonderful deck and every day I swept the leaves off. I was very content. I read a lot. I took long walks in the woods. Then M would come home and we were together and I was happy. On weekends M chopped wood and I stacked it for him. I just lived.
But some people thought I was wasting time and not applying myself, so I went to college and then I got a job and I’ve never been as happy as I was in 1995.
So I was overjoyed to have that house because to me it represented a small piece of happiness. As soon as M heard about it he moved in. AJ and I fought and she moved away without speaking to me. I got this house and then M moved away and my dream home sold. The people who bought it love it and I am happy for them but boy am I ever pissed at M.
Every time I think I’m done with the man for good he reappears. He called my parents last week to tell them about AJ and he wanted to talk to me but my father wouldn’t give M my number. My daddy loves me very much.
So M left his number and my mother really pushed me to call and I was afraid if I didn’t M would keep calling and then Mom might break down and give him my number and that would upset Kevin. So being wary of caller id I called M from my parents’ house.
AJ died a month ago. She left me a box. She also wanted me to have some books. M said there was a stack of books by her hospital bed and one night she went through them and laid several on the bed. She didn’t open them, so M put them back. She restacked them again. He put them back again. She got them again. This happened three more times before he finally asked her what she was doing. “I’m getting books for Free.”
I don’t know why M didn’t call me before AJ died. I would have liked to talk to her. I feel like this is one more thing he’s screwed up just to spite me.
Another friend thinks AJ moved to Texas because she was already sick. She thinks maybe AJ didn’t want to burden me. Looking back on the events with that thought in mind it makes sense. She was going to the doctor a lot, but I put that down to the fact that she hadn’t been in years and doctors love to test for everything when a patient skips several annual visits. I never questioned why she went to the doctor in the first place. And she had talked about moving back home for years. There was actually no reason to do it then; she lost her job and then announced she was going back. I thought she moved because the job tie had been cut. And then before moving she took a cruise to Alaska. I thought she was going because her mother planned and paid for the trip, but why would she do that? They had never traveled anywhere before. Was that a dream that needed to be fulfilled before it was too late? And the party. AJ threw herself a going away party and invited people she hadn’t seen in years, even people she wasn’t on good terms with. Was she saying good-bye to all of us forever?
Since I have all these questions I can’t ask her I’ve decided to use this post as a letter to AJ. Maybe her spirit will understand.
AJ-
Thanks for teaching me how to cook. I’m still not a great cook and I still don’t like it very much but you ensured that I wouldn’t starve and I now have courage to try new things. I eat a lot healthier now. I was afraid of cooking before. I thought I would mess up. You taught me that if I ruined a dish I could throw it out and start over. Thanks. BWT, I’ve only needed to throw out two dishes.
Thanks for sharing books with me. I already loved to read, but I didn’t have a taste for sci-fi and mystery until you loaned me Isaac Asimov. Thanks, too for knowing the story I was describing was Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder.
Thank you for showing me quilts. Of course I grew up sleeping under the quilts my grandmother made, but I never knew they were art. You changed my perception of quilts so dramatically that you might as well as been the first person who showed them to me.
Thanks for being there when my father had his emergency triple bypass. You helped me so much then.
Thanks for listening when I ranted and raved about how horribly M treated me. I know you understood as a woman, but I know that as his mother it must have hurt you deeply.
I’m so sorry we fought about the house. I wish you had told me what was going on. I wouldn’t have been mad then; it was just a house.
I wish I had gotten to say good-bye in person or at least over the phone. I miss you.
Love,
RG
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Here's 50!
41.) I have all recesses traits. I discovered this in a college biology class. I went home and explained to it my parents and discovered they had dominant traits. This means they both carry dominant and recess genes, but I only carry recesses genes. That makes me a somewhat of a freak of nature.
42.) I am an earth sign, but both my parents are water signs.
43.) My father is the oldest of three children and my mother is the youngest of five. I am an only.
44.) This is the way my parents met- My father built three houses for his first wife and she didn’t like any of them. After he divorced her he put the last house up for rent. My mother’s job transferred her to the next town over and she needed a house closer to work. Her father already knew Dad (Papa knew EVERYBODY) and he told her about the house. My mother rented the house and after living there for a year, my dad asked her out. A year later they got married. Two years after that I was born. My parents grew up in the same town and went to the same school and never met before my mother rented the house.
45.) My parents almost didn’t get together because on the night their first date was scheduled my mom’s nephew died in a car accident. Mom called to cancel and Dad was in the shower so his sister took the call. My aunt did relay the message, but she just told him his date canceled, she didn’t say why. Dad thought Mom just didn’t want to go out and Mom thought Dad was some kind of asshole for not offering condolences.
46.) Both sets of my grandparents were married over 50 years. My parents have been married 34 years. I have never been married.
47.) Despite having a BA in English I am terrible at spelling.
48.) My favorite movie star is Marilyn Monroe.
49.) I have never done drugs and I don’t smoke.
50.) If I could be anything in the world I would still choose to be me.
42.) I am an earth sign, but both my parents are water signs.
43.) My father is the oldest of three children and my mother is the youngest of five. I am an only.
44.) This is the way my parents met- My father built three houses for his first wife and she didn’t like any of them. After he divorced her he put the last house up for rent. My mother’s job transferred her to the next town over and she needed a house closer to work. Her father already knew Dad (Papa knew EVERYBODY) and he told her about the house. My mother rented the house and after living there for a year, my dad asked her out. A year later they got married. Two years after that I was born. My parents grew up in the same town and went to the same school and never met before my mother rented the house.
45.) My parents almost didn’t get together because on the night their first date was scheduled my mom’s nephew died in a car accident. Mom called to cancel and Dad was in the shower so his sister took the call. My aunt did relay the message, but she just told him his date canceled, she didn’t say why. Dad thought Mom just didn’t want to go out and Mom thought Dad was some kind of asshole for not offering condolences.
46.) Both sets of my grandparents were married over 50 years. My parents have been married 34 years. I have never been married.
47.) Despite having a BA in English I am terrible at spelling.
48.) My favorite movie star is Marilyn Monroe.
49.) I have never done drugs and I don’t smoke.
50.) If I could be anything in the world I would still choose to be me.
50 Things About Me 21-40
21. I grew up in the house that Jack built.
22. The house had no air conditioning.
23. I ran away from home when I was 18.
24. I taught myself how to drive.
25. I got my first job when I was 17.
26. In high school I was in the drama club. I was stage manager.
27. At work I am the only female in the department.
28. I love to go to the river. If I stay away too long the river calls me.
29. This is the worst thing I ever did to get even- When I was 15 my boyfriend broke up with me for another girl. That was bad enough, but she bragged about ‘stealing’ him from me. Two years later I became her friend just so I could meet her current boyfriend. I then stole him from her and as soon as she knew about it I ditched the guy.
30. I like to sit on the porch and sew. If the porch was covered I’d stay out there a lot more.
31. It really bugs me when people don’t know the difference between its and it’s, and they’re, there, and their.
32. I used to live with a boyfriend who snored terribly. I would wait until he went to sleep and then I would go sleep in the spare room. In the morning when I heard his alarm clock go off I would come back to bed. I got away with that for a month before he caught me.
33. My sewing machine is a 1927 Singer and a blind woman gave it to me.
34. I can read 100 pages in an hour.
35. I have migraines.
36. I think people who litter are lazy and nasty.
37. I used to steal tennis balls for my dog.
38. I think squash is the nastiest tasting food on earth.
39. I drink my coffee black.
40. I’m near sighted. I wear contacts so no one will know.
22. The house had no air conditioning.
23. I ran away from home when I was 18.
24. I taught myself how to drive.
25. I got my first job when I was 17.
26. In high school I was in the drama club. I was stage manager.
27. At work I am the only female in the department.
28. I love to go to the river. If I stay away too long the river calls me.
29. This is the worst thing I ever did to get even- When I was 15 my boyfriend broke up with me for another girl. That was bad enough, but she bragged about ‘stealing’ him from me. Two years later I became her friend just so I could meet her current boyfriend. I then stole him from her and as soon as she knew about it I ditched the guy.
30. I like to sit on the porch and sew. If the porch was covered I’d stay out there a lot more.
31. It really bugs me when people don’t know the difference between its and it’s, and they’re, there, and their.
32. I used to live with a boyfriend who snored terribly. I would wait until he went to sleep and then I would go sleep in the spare room. In the morning when I heard his alarm clock go off I would come back to bed. I got away with that for a month before he caught me.
33. My sewing machine is a 1927 Singer and a blind woman gave it to me.
34. I can read 100 pages in an hour.
35. I have migraines.
36. I think people who litter are lazy and nasty.
37. I used to steal tennis balls for my dog.
38. I think squash is the nastiest tasting food on earth.
39. I drink my coffee black.
40. I’m near sighted. I wear contacts so no one will know.
50 Things About Me 1-20
1.) I have a lot of seven’s in my life. I was born 1-7-77 at 1:27pm and the hospital’s address was 106. There are 7 letters in my first name and 7 letters in my last name. My father’s first name has 7 letters and so does my mother’s maiden name.
2.) I stutter.
3.) I graduated from a cow college. (It’s not really, people just call it that.)
4.) My grandfather was illiterate. I am the first person in my family to graduate from a four year university.
5.) I paid for most of my education myself. I never accepted a student loan.
6.) The largest object I ever manifested was a pool table.
7.) I have 2 mixed breed Labradors and neither one looks like a lab.
8.) I cannot resist when my dogs beg.
9.) I am a descendant of William Weatherford. To find out who this is you will need to Google Chief Red Eagle.
10.) The farthest away from home I ever traveled was to Dallas, TX. I have never been outside the South.
11.) I am a somnambulist.
12.) I’ve had poetry published in small presses.
13.) I once made a very ugly scrap quilt to be auctioned for ovarian cancer awareness and it sold immediately.
14.) The most beautiful quilt I ever made was for my aunt’s birthday.
15.) I am very bad at math.
16.) I come from a family of witches but they don’t think it’s witchcraft.
17.) I have a green couch.
18.) I have a white truck and I am very proud of it because it was my first brand new car and I paid for it all by myself.
19.) I sleep on a featherbed that my great-grandfather built.
20.) I am allergic to latex.
2.) I stutter.
3.) I graduated from a cow college. (It’s not really, people just call it that.)
4.) My grandfather was illiterate. I am the first person in my family to graduate from a four year university.
5.) I paid for most of my education myself. I never accepted a student loan.
6.) The largest object I ever manifested was a pool table.
7.) I have 2 mixed breed Labradors and neither one looks like a lab.
8.) I cannot resist when my dogs beg.
9.) I am a descendant of William Weatherford. To find out who this is you will need to Google Chief Red Eagle.
10.) The farthest away from home I ever traveled was to Dallas, TX. I have never been outside the South.
11.) I am a somnambulist.
12.) I’ve had poetry published in small presses.
13.) I once made a very ugly scrap quilt to be auctioned for ovarian cancer awareness and it sold immediately.
14.) The most beautiful quilt I ever made was for my aunt’s birthday.
15.) I am very bad at math.
16.) I come from a family of witches but they don’t think it’s witchcraft.
17.) I have a green couch.
18.) I have a white truck and I am very proud of it because it was my first brand new car and I paid for it all by myself.
19.) I sleep on a featherbed that my great-grandfather built.
20.) I am allergic to latex.
Getting Close
I'm coming up on my 50th post so I decided to list 50 things about me. Since this is post 47, I've got to divide it up. I think I'll do two groups of twenty and one of ten. If you see anything interesting post a comment and I'll elaborate.
I other news the campers have moved out of the tent and into the house. They have electricity now, the porch light is on.
My basil seeds went moldy. I planted them 2 days ago and this morning noticed a little blue-green color. At first I thought they were sprouting already, but closer inspection revealed that last night's rain washed away the dirt and each seed was covered with fuzz. Bummer.
I other news the campers have moved out of the tent and into the house. They have electricity now, the porch light is on.
My basil seeds went moldy. I planted them 2 days ago and this morning noticed a little blue-green color. At first I thought they were sprouting already, but closer inspection revealed that last night's rain washed away the dirt and each seed was covered with fuzz. Bummer.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
It Was A Dark and Stormy Night When My Dog Saved My Life
Here's the post about the attempted break-in.
It was about three or four years ago in December. It was very cold and raining. Back then I still had my really sucky, stressful Quality Control job so all I did each night was eat and go to bed.
So it was about 8:45 when I heard my dog making a god-awful sound.
I never heard her make a sound like that before and I haven't heard her do it since. I can't really describe it except to say it sounded like a growl from the hounds of hell.
Not comprehending the situation, I got up and went check on her. When I reached my living room someone rattled the door knob.
To this day I still don't understand that night. A sensible person would have gone back and got a gun or the phone. I walked into the kitchen looking for my dog.
She was standing in front of the window and all her fur was raised. Her teeth were bared. She was growling fiercely.
Not thinking at all, I walked up to the window.
When I stepped in front of the window, a man jumped off the porch.. Finally I was scared. Somebody was on the porch!
It freaked me out. My heart pounded and I started to sweat and shake. I was so scared. I called 911.
It took the sheriff's department FORTY-FIVE minutes to show up and I live 15 minutes away from the police station.
When the cops did get here they didn't do anything. One of them stood by the car and the other one stood on the porch and talked to me. I told him how the dog alerted me and I was trying to give him as many details as I could, which wasn't much. I said it was a white man and he was wearing a t-shirt. "What color was the shirt?" I looked at the cop blankly. He shone his flashlight around the edge of the porch and said that if anyone came back to sic my dog on 'em. Then they left.
I couldn't sleep at all. I got the shotgun and sat up in the sewing room for most of the night. From my vantage point I could watch the window, the backdoor, and the hallway. I sat up and watched and petted my dog and told her she was a good girl. Maybe even the very best girl in the whole world.
As I sat there holding my gun and I realized the shirt had been light gray. He was wearing jeans. He had white tennis shoes because I saw his feet. He had short hair. He had a bread. And the thing I thought about over and over was that he was wearing a t-shirt. In the rain. In the cold.
I think he must live close by. How else could he stand to be in cold with no jacket? He could have been dropped off, but he ran around away from the road, toward the woods. Who knows the woods? Why D of course, that was his escape route every time the cops tried to pick him up for spousal abuse.
It was about three or four years ago in December. It was very cold and raining. Back then I still had my really sucky, stressful Quality Control job so all I did each night was eat and go to bed.
So it was about 8:45 when I heard my dog making a god-awful sound.
I never heard her make a sound like that before and I haven't heard her do it since. I can't really describe it except to say it sounded like a growl from the hounds of hell.
Not comprehending the situation, I got up and went check on her. When I reached my living room someone rattled the door knob.
To this day I still don't understand that night. A sensible person would have gone back and got a gun or the phone. I walked into the kitchen looking for my dog.
She was standing in front of the window and all her fur was raised. Her teeth were bared. She was growling fiercely.
Not thinking at all, I walked up to the window.
When I stepped in front of the window, a man jumped off the porch.. Finally I was scared. Somebody was on the porch!
It freaked me out. My heart pounded and I started to sweat and shake. I was so scared. I called 911.
It took the sheriff's department FORTY-FIVE minutes to show up and I live 15 minutes away from the police station.
When the cops did get here they didn't do anything. One of them stood by the car and the other one stood on the porch and talked to me. I told him how the dog alerted me and I was trying to give him as many details as I could, which wasn't much. I said it was a white man and he was wearing a t-shirt. "What color was the shirt?" I looked at the cop blankly. He shone his flashlight around the edge of the porch and said that if anyone came back to sic my dog on 'em. Then they left.
I couldn't sleep at all. I got the shotgun and sat up in the sewing room for most of the night. From my vantage point I could watch the window, the backdoor, and the hallway. I sat up and watched and petted my dog and told her she was a good girl. Maybe even the very best girl in the whole world.
As I sat there holding my gun and I realized the shirt had been light gray. He was wearing jeans. He had white tennis shoes because I saw his feet. He had short hair. He had a bread. And the thing I thought about over and over was that he was wearing a t-shirt. In the rain. In the cold.
I think he must live close by. How else could he stand to be in cold with no jacket? He could have been dropped off, but he ran around away from the road, toward the woods. Who knows the woods? Why D of course, that was his escape route every time the cops tried to pick him up for spousal abuse.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Mystery of Lot 3
I used to have two neighbors I call D and S. Back in October D committed suicide. Or at least I was told that he did. I think she killed him and I don’t blame her at all. D used to beat her.
I haven’t seen S in a long time. Some people were staying in the house and I figured that was her family helping her until she felt better. Then those people left and new ones appeared. Then that set left and a woman began cleaning up.
D and S were in the salvage business so there’s a lot of junk. In fact he once beat her up because of the junk.
They had various kitchen appliances in the front yard and the park gave them a notice- clean up or get out. Neither of them actually got the notice because they were not home when it was delivered. The park manager gave it to S’s son’s girlfriend.
The next day (at 9 in the morning) they headed to the corner store for beer. Another neighbor works in the store and she heard D ranting and raving. ‘It’s my house and I’ll do as I damn well please!’
But of course, it is NOT his house. It’s S’s house. She bought it while he was in prison for theft. (I think D may have been the one who tried to break into MY house, but that’s another post)
So S got tired of all this fussing and she left him at the store. Which means that 1.) He had to pay for the beer. 2.) He had to carry the beer home. 3.) He had to walk four miles. 4.) His foot was broken.
It took all day for him to get back home. I am assuming that not only was the long was the walk made longer by his hobbling on a lame foot, but that at some point he sat down and drank all the beer.
Around 3:30 he finally got back and he was so annoyed that he beat the crap out of her and she ran outside. It was a very nice day so everybody was outside milling about their yards while waiting for the school bus. Around 20 people saw her run out with him in hot pursuit, yelling and screaming until he caught her in the driveway where he delivered a few punches. Then he realized people were watching and he hauled ass for the woods.
Someone called 911. Around here it doesn’t matter what the caller asks for, the dispatcher sends everything. Within minutes we had a fire truck, an ambulance, and the sheriff’s department.
S denied any abuse. She claimed to be diabetic and when her blood sugar dropped she collapsed. It was utter bullshit, but D couldn’t be found and S wasn’t talking so the EMT’s treated her and left. The fire truck disrupted traffic and left. The deputy questioned a few people (including me) and left.
So I think she killed him and now she’s left town. I think that because it’s sort of what I would do if I killed my husband. I’m not saying murder is acceptable, just that I think you must defend yourself. I don’t know why she married him to begin with. They lived together first and he beat her then and she married him anyway. It would have been different if he had been sweet until after the wedding. But no, she went in knowing what was coming.
Last night Kevin was outside smoking and he stuck his head in the door and told me to get some clothes on quick and come out.
Thinking something was wrong, I jumped up, fumbled with a t-shirt, put my underwear on inside out and grabbed a dirty pair of pajama pants out of the hamper and put them on backwards because I couldn’t figure out front from back in the darkness of the bedroom. Then I breathlessly stumbled down the back stairs.
Kev had finally noticed the campers. There’s not really anything exciting about it, he was just shocked to find someone camping in February.
Kev, “What’s going on behind S’s house?”
Free, “Oh. People living in a tent.”
Kev, “What?”
Free, “Some people. At least two. They live in the tent and every night they build a fire and pull the car around back so they can use the headlights.”
Kev, “Why don’t they stay in the house?”
Free, “I think the electricity got cut off. I saw a man putting a notice on the door.”
Kev, “How long have they been there?”
Free, “A week.”
Kev, “You mean they were out here when it was 16 degrees?!”
Free, “Yup. Had a big fire.”
Kev, ‘Who are those people?’
Free, ‘Don’t know.’
Kev, ‘You were home ALL DAY and you didn’t find out?!’ Kevin can’t stand to not know something. He is very disappointed with my lack of information. He told me to find out how D died and I never did and that’s bugging him too.
This morning when I walked the dogs there were clothes hanging over the fence. I don’t know how the heck they did laundry. With buckets, I guess. Since water is included in the rent I assume the campers are going in to use the toilet and such. The clothes offered no clues and while I am slightly curious none of this is worth getting my panties inside out for.
To mollify Kev I decided to make something up.
D got drunk late one night and beat the crap out of S when he ran out of beer. She shot him and made it look like a suicide. She then left for work the next day like normal and called the house several times. When she didn’t get an answer she voiced concerns to her co-workers until they encouraged her to call 911. The cops find the body and she has an alibi. S then dyes her hair and moves to another state.
That doesn’t explain the campers though. Hhmm. I’ll have to work on it some more. In the meantime I promise not to get my underwear in a twist.
I haven’t seen S in a long time. Some people were staying in the house and I figured that was her family helping her until she felt better. Then those people left and new ones appeared. Then that set left and a woman began cleaning up.
D and S were in the salvage business so there’s a lot of junk. In fact he once beat her up because of the junk.
They had various kitchen appliances in the front yard and the park gave them a notice- clean up or get out. Neither of them actually got the notice because they were not home when it was delivered. The park manager gave it to S’s son’s girlfriend.
The next day (at 9 in the morning) they headed to the corner store for beer. Another neighbor works in the store and she heard D ranting and raving. ‘It’s my house and I’ll do as I damn well please!’
But of course, it is NOT his house. It’s S’s house. She bought it while he was in prison for theft. (I think D may have been the one who tried to break into MY house, but that’s another post)
So S got tired of all this fussing and she left him at the store. Which means that 1.) He had to pay for the beer. 2.) He had to carry the beer home. 3.) He had to walk four miles. 4.) His foot was broken.
It took all day for him to get back home. I am assuming that not only was the long was the walk made longer by his hobbling on a lame foot, but that at some point he sat down and drank all the beer.
Around 3:30 he finally got back and he was so annoyed that he beat the crap out of her and she ran outside. It was a very nice day so everybody was outside milling about their yards while waiting for the school bus. Around 20 people saw her run out with him in hot pursuit, yelling and screaming until he caught her in the driveway where he delivered a few punches. Then he realized people were watching and he hauled ass for the woods.
Someone called 911. Around here it doesn’t matter what the caller asks for, the dispatcher sends everything. Within minutes we had a fire truck, an ambulance, and the sheriff’s department.
S denied any abuse. She claimed to be diabetic and when her blood sugar dropped she collapsed. It was utter bullshit, but D couldn’t be found and S wasn’t talking so the EMT’s treated her and left. The fire truck disrupted traffic and left. The deputy questioned a few people (including me) and left.
So I think she killed him and now she’s left town. I think that because it’s sort of what I would do if I killed my husband. I’m not saying murder is acceptable, just that I think you must defend yourself. I don’t know why she married him to begin with. They lived together first and he beat her then and she married him anyway. It would have been different if he had been sweet until after the wedding. But no, she went in knowing what was coming.
Last night Kevin was outside smoking and he stuck his head in the door and told me to get some clothes on quick and come out.
Thinking something was wrong, I jumped up, fumbled with a t-shirt, put my underwear on inside out and grabbed a dirty pair of pajama pants out of the hamper and put them on backwards because I couldn’t figure out front from back in the darkness of the bedroom. Then I breathlessly stumbled down the back stairs.
Kev had finally noticed the campers. There’s not really anything exciting about it, he was just shocked to find someone camping in February.
Kev, “What’s going on behind S’s house?”
Free, “Oh. People living in a tent.”
Kev, “What?”
Free, “Some people. At least two. They live in the tent and every night they build a fire and pull the car around back so they can use the headlights.”
Kev, “Why don’t they stay in the house?”
Free, “I think the electricity got cut off. I saw a man putting a notice on the door.”
Kev, “How long have they been there?”
Free, “A week.”
Kev, “You mean they were out here when it was 16 degrees?!”
Free, “Yup. Had a big fire.”
Kev, ‘Who are those people?’
Free, ‘Don’t know.’
Kev, ‘You were home ALL DAY and you didn’t find out?!’ Kevin can’t stand to not know something. He is very disappointed with my lack of information. He told me to find out how D died and I never did and that’s bugging him too.
This morning when I walked the dogs there were clothes hanging over the fence. I don’t know how the heck they did laundry. With buckets, I guess. Since water is included in the rent I assume the campers are going in to use the toilet and such. The clothes offered no clues and while I am slightly curious none of this is worth getting my panties inside out for.
To mollify Kev I decided to make something up.
D got drunk late one night and beat the crap out of S when he ran out of beer. She shot him and made it look like a suicide. She then left for work the next day like normal and called the house several times. When she didn’t get an answer she voiced concerns to her co-workers until they encouraged her to call 911. The cops find the body and she has an alibi. S then dyes her hair and moves to another state.
That doesn’t explain the campers though. Hhmm. I’ll have to work on it some more. In the meantime I promise not to get my underwear in a twist.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Shhh...Dragon Sleeping
Last night the heat went out again. Fortunately we are having a warm spell so the house was chilly when I woke up instead of unpleasantly cold.
I called in (boss said ‘good luck’) and headed over to the office to leave a note for my landlord as I don’t have his number. The office doesn’t open until 10am and closes at 4pm. He makes banker’s hours seem like a 12 hour shift.
Then I waited. And waited and waited (I got up at 5am so I had a good long wait) At 11 I went back to the office and the wife met me on the porch. Apparently they are afraid I’ll go postal because she wouldn‘t let me in the office. Was informed that the landlord himself wouldn’t be working on anything today because he threw out his back (convenient) A handyman would be over at some point.
So I wait.
Finally one shows up. They never listen to me. The pilot is out and won’t relight. Of course he tried 25 times before he conceded that I may be correct.
He leaves and I began the wait for handyman #2.
During all this waiting I cleaned my kitchen cabinets and the stove. I got a bill straightened out. I walked the dogs four times. I made the bed. I washed dishes. I checked my email. I called Fierce Leader (my boss) and gave him an update. He wished me more luck.
Handyman #2 shows up around 1ish. He admits to not knowing much about furnaces. But he does clean it. There was a big nasty pile of rust, dirt, and dust in the bottom. He vacuumed all of it out and eventually got the pilot relit. He also discovered the source of one rattle (loose bolts) and fixed it. He gave me his cell number in case it goes out again.
Handyman #2 also identified the Bottle Tree Thief. Landlord’s wife thought my tree was tacky and sent handyman #3 to remove all the bottles. Handyman #2 told her not to do it because it was unique art. Handyman #3 was reluctantly did as he was told. 2 told me everybody else in the neighborhood liked my tree and that makes me feel better. But I wish she would have just told me so I could have taken it down myself instead of wondering what awful thief steals ghost repellent.
So now the furnace is very quiet. It still wants to cycle on and off several times before it finally makes up its mind. But I think, for now, that the dragon is sleeping.
I called in (boss said ‘good luck’) and headed over to the office to leave a note for my landlord as I don’t have his number. The office doesn’t open until 10am and closes at 4pm. He makes banker’s hours seem like a 12 hour shift.
Then I waited. And waited and waited (I got up at 5am so I had a good long wait) At 11 I went back to the office and the wife met me on the porch. Apparently they are afraid I’ll go postal because she wouldn‘t let me in the office. Was informed that the landlord himself wouldn’t be working on anything today because he threw out his back (convenient) A handyman would be over at some point.
So I wait.
Finally one shows up. They never listen to me. The pilot is out and won’t relight. Of course he tried 25 times before he conceded that I may be correct.
He leaves and I began the wait for handyman #2.
During all this waiting I cleaned my kitchen cabinets and the stove. I got a bill straightened out. I walked the dogs four times. I made the bed. I washed dishes. I checked my email. I called Fierce Leader (my boss) and gave him an update. He wished me more luck.
Handyman #2 shows up around 1ish. He admits to not knowing much about furnaces. But he does clean it. There was a big nasty pile of rust, dirt, and dust in the bottom. He vacuumed all of it out and eventually got the pilot relit. He also discovered the source of one rattle (loose bolts) and fixed it. He gave me his cell number in case it goes out again.
Handyman #2 also identified the Bottle Tree Thief. Landlord’s wife thought my tree was tacky and sent handyman #3 to remove all the bottles. Handyman #2 told her not to do it because it was unique art. Handyman #3 was reluctantly did as he was told. 2 told me everybody else in the neighborhood liked my tree and that makes me feel better. But I wish she would have just told me so I could have taken it down myself instead of wondering what awful thief steals ghost repellent.
So now the furnace is very quiet. It still wants to cycle on and off several times before it finally makes up its mind. But I think, for now, that the dragon is sleeping.
Friday, February 6, 2009
No Loitering, I think
I just came back from emptying the trash and there was a big sign on the dumpster-
NO LOITERING.
I rarely see anybody else at the dumpster. In fact there is not much of anything there beside the dumpster. Last week I saw my neighbors from the end lot. The dad was teaching the son how to shoot a bb gun and the little girl was riding her tricycle. Since it is a big round patch of pavement surrounded by a cow pasture and since the dumpster is practically in their yard it seemed like a reasonable place to do both activities. That is the most action I've seen at the dumpster in the 5 years that I've lived here.
Maybe the sign is supposed to read No Littering.
NO LOITERING.
I rarely see anybody else at the dumpster. In fact there is not much of anything there beside the dumpster. Last week I saw my neighbors from the end lot. The dad was teaching the son how to shoot a bb gun and the little girl was riding her tricycle. Since it is a big round patch of pavement surrounded by a cow pasture and since the dumpster is practically in their yard it seemed like a reasonable place to do both activities. That is the most action I've seen at the dumpster in the 5 years that I've lived here.
Maybe the sign is supposed to read No Littering.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
A Corporate America Rant
Wide Lawns is the inspiration for today’s post because she wrote about people with strange ideas so I decided to write about work.
I work for a major plastic manufacturer. I can’t tell you the name but we make plastic vials. We make the vials for the mini version of the candy that melts in your mouth and not in your hand. We also make diabetic testing vials, the ones you put the little strip in. That’s our main money maker and the one I have been the most involved with. If you have ever been to a major league ballpark and bought a drink that came in a 16 oz hard plastic cup with a cool logo on it that was probably one of ours. We used to make sippy cups for a very well known baby product company but they started putting ‘made in China’ on their boxes which we objected to because the cups ARE produced in the US of A. So we quit making the sippy cups and we have to wait a year before we can make more for another company.
And it is the sippy cups which probably is the cause of what I’m about to write. You see, one whole room is idle. No machines are going. No one has been laid off, which I greatly appreciate, but one whole room is idle so therefore we MUST conserve money.
I understand and indeed, it is perfectly reasonable for a company to want to save money while production is down. It’s the way we’re going about it that pisses me off.
If I were running the company I wouldn’t make my employees bear the brunt of the savings. But work has decided the best way to save money is by going from a weekly pay period to a bi-monthly system. The simple fact is the money is in an interest drawing account and the longer it sits in said account the more interest it can accrue. Work asked us to ‘vote’. They then bribed us with $250.
It went this way- if the majority voted for being paid every two weeks then we would be paid $250. If the majority voted no, we got nothing. I am told the issue passed. I’d really like to see the actual votes.
I voted against it. To begin with I HATE being paid every two weeks because I’ve only got money coming in twice a month. Once before I had the misfortune to be the paid this way and my hours didn’t go 40, over time, another 40. Oh no, it went 80 hours then overtime so they worked the hell out of me one week and sent me home early every day the next week.
Also I feel that if the VP is willing to give every full-time employee $250 then he could give us a lot more. I would have been much happier with a $500 Christmas bonus.
Second (and now we come to the reason for today’s post; you thought I wasn’t ever going to here didn’t you?) there are better ways to save money.
I wrote all of this down, btw, when I turned in my vote. It was ignored.
First we have lights we never turn off. Actually they can’t be turned off, they just burn 24/7
We have ten engineers working on one project that might require, maybe, one engineer.
Our head of house-keeping orders $500 worth of cleaning supplies every week and the plant is NASTY!
We have four janitors. They clean the bathrooms, the break room, the main hallway, and a few offices and that is all.
Whenever a pallet is made we tag it on all four sides with a sheet of paper. This paper contains the pallet id number, the date, how many boxes are on it, and the customer name. One box is then taken off the pallet and checked for defects. The pallet is then either placed on hold or released. It is tagged again with white paper. At the end of the day, the quality manager reviews the paperwork from all the pallets verified and assigns a color. The second set of tags is ripped off and colored ones go on. So ONE pallet gets 16 sheets of paper. We make about 20 pallets per SHIFT, so that’s 40 pallets in 24 hours or 640 sheets of paper. How much do you think that costs?
We store junk and pay to do it. There are things we will never use again, like equipment purchased for customers we no longer have. The smart thing to do would be to sell that equipment, but not us, we store it on a trailer. Did I mention we don’t own any of these trailers? We rent them for roughly $100 a month. There are currently 60 storage trailers behind our plant. That is not counting all the other trailers we rent to move our current stock from warehouse to warehouse.
Finally we have too many people doing one job. We have a parts room attendant (that’s me), a purchaser, and a shipping and receiving manager. So our purchaser orders hoses, the shipping and receiving manager determines that yes, they may go to me, so he gets them off the truck and gives them to our purchaser, who takes them to me and then I take them out of the box and hang them up. I love my job (it’s very easy) but a far more efficient method would be a purchaser tending to a parts room who also manages all shipping and receiving.
Oh and that $250? There’s a catch. It will be added to the gross pay which means my bonus will be taxed, so I’ll actually get around $200 which I think is just adding insult to injury. I know some people voted for it because they thought they were getting extra money, but really we’re getting screwed and the $250 isn’t the KY jelly, it’s a stick to bite while the ass is getting torn up.
I work for a major plastic manufacturer. I can’t tell you the name but we make plastic vials. We make the vials for the mini version of the candy that melts in your mouth and not in your hand. We also make diabetic testing vials, the ones you put the little strip in. That’s our main money maker and the one I have been the most involved with. If you have ever been to a major league ballpark and bought a drink that came in a 16 oz hard plastic cup with a cool logo on it that was probably one of ours. We used to make sippy cups for a very well known baby product company but they started putting ‘made in China’ on their boxes which we objected to because the cups ARE produced in the US of A. So we quit making the sippy cups and we have to wait a year before we can make more for another company.
And it is the sippy cups which probably is the cause of what I’m about to write. You see, one whole room is idle. No machines are going. No one has been laid off, which I greatly appreciate, but one whole room is idle so therefore we MUST conserve money.
I understand and indeed, it is perfectly reasonable for a company to want to save money while production is down. It’s the way we’re going about it that pisses me off.
If I were running the company I wouldn’t make my employees bear the brunt of the savings. But work has decided the best way to save money is by going from a weekly pay period to a bi-monthly system. The simple fact is the money is in an interest drawing account and the longer it sits in said account the more interest it can accrue. Work asked us to ‘vote’. They then bribed us with $250.
It went this way- if the majority voted for being paid every two weeks then we would be paid $250. If the majority voted no, we got nothing. I am told the issue passed. I’d really like to see the actual votes.
I voted against it. To begin with I HATE being paid every two weeks because I’ve only got money coming in twice a month. Once before I had the misfortune to be the paid this way and my hours didn’t go 40, over time, another 40. Oh no, it went 80 hours then overtime so they worked the hell out of me one week and sent me home early every day the next week.
Also I feel that if the VP is willing to give every full-time employee $250 then he could give us a lot more. I would have been much happier with a $500 Christmas bonus.
Second (and now we come to the reason for today’s post; you thought I wasn’t ever going to here didn’t you?) there are better ways to save money.
I wrote all of this down, btw, when I turned in my vote. It was ignored.
First we have lights we never turn off. Actually they can’t be turned off, they just burn 24/7
We have ten engineers working on one project that might require, maybe, one engineer.
Our head of house-keeping orders $500 worth of cleaning supplies every week and the plant is NASTY!
We have four janitors. They clean the bathrooms, the break room, the main hallway, and a few offices and that is all.
Whenever a pallet is made we tag it on all four sides with a sheet of paper. This paper contains the pallet id number, the date, how many boxes are on it, and the customer name. One box is then taken off the pallet and checked for defects. The pallet is then either placed on hold or released. It is tagged again with white paper. At the end of the day, the quality manager reviews the paperwork from all the pallets verified and assigns a color. The second set of tags is ripped off and colored ones go on. So ONE pallet gets 16 sheets of paper. We make about 20 pallets per SHIFT, so that’s 40 pallets in 24 hours or 640 sheets of paper. How much do you think that costs?
We store junk and pay to do it. There are things we will never use again, like equipment purchased for customers we no longer have. The smart thing to do would be to sell that equipment, but not us, we store it on a trailer. Did I mention we don’t own any of these trailers? We rent them for roughly $100 a month. There are currently 60 storage trailers behind our plant. That is not counting all the other trailers we rent to move our current stock from warehouse to warehouse.
Finally we have too many people doing one job. We have a parts room attendant (that’s me), a purchaser, and a shipping and receiving manager. So our purchaser orders hoses, the shipping and receiving manager determines that yes, they may go to me, so he gets them off the truck and gives them to our purchaser, who takes them to me and then I take them out of the box and hang them up. I love my job (it’s very easy) but a far more efficient method would be a purchaser tending to a parts room who also manages all shipping and receiving.
Oh and that $250? There’s a catch. It will be added to the gross pay which means my bonus will be taxed, so I’ll actually get around $200 which I think is just adding insult to injury. I know some people voted for it because they thought they were getting extra money, but really we’re getting screwed and the $250 isn’t the KY jelly, it’s a stick to bite while the ass is getting torn up.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Dream Journal
After what feels like a long time of not dreaming, I finally had a very vivid dream last night and I posted it at DreamJournal. You can view my journal by clicking on the DreamJournal link at the right. Just search for freedragon.
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