Drugs Bug Me

We had an interesting visit last night, from a drug addict?

I put the question mark there as to hopefully not wrongfully incriminate an innocent person, but I'm pretty sure he is a drug addict. It's just such a harsh term to throw around, I wish I knew for sure. But I'm pretty sure, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this here and now.

Anyway, if he was not "high" he was probably under the influence of something, because I don't know too many people who would show up at your house, irate, about something that happened ?days? ago, especially when his own idiocy is to blame?

Here's the scoop.

Our neighbors hired Drug Addict 1 to shovel off their roof. Drug addict (in question, anyway) never showed up to do the job he was hired to do, so our neighbors hired a second drug addict to do the job the first failed to do.

Are you with me so far?

Well, before Drug addict 2 could get to the job, drug addict 1 had already started the job. But Drug Addict 2 had already been PAID for the job, so when my mom saw Drug Addict 1 shoveling, she informed him that he was not going to get paid, as DA 2 had already been paid.

Well that was fine, until 9 O'clock at night when DA1 showed up all upset about not getting paid.

Now, not helping the situation is the fact that the original "supervisor" of the neighbors roof is also under the influence of something, and has a hard time getting stories straight to begin with. So what happens when all this goes down?

My mom calls and screams at the neighbor, who is listening to regurgitated stories from a drug addict and delusional individual, and I spend all night sleeping with one eye open, just in case the pissed off drug addict decides to come slash my tires or something.

What a fun world I live in!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I just had to get that out there because I feel like screaming.

Have you ever talked to someone who just irritates the hell out of you? You may feel as though they take random stances because they know it will set you off? I have this one Uncle who always gets into it with me on online "debates." But his definition of "debate" means ignoring your side and just telling you what he feels, all the while trying to be humorous by throwing out lame, and insulting jokes.

Imagine arguing with a textbook.

"Is it going to snow today?"
"On this day in the 15 hundreds it snowed."
"Yeah, but is it going to snow today?"
"Snow is white and cold form of precipitation that falls from clouds in the form of ice crystals"

Excuse me while I go and spontaneously explode out of sheer frustration.

A Crazy Awesome Day

Last night I didn't get much sleep. All I remember is having an odd nightmare about the DOP. Not sure of the DOP is an actual governmental organization, or anything, but it my dream it was sort of like the DOD, but instead of defense it was protection. Anyway, I dream that I am sleeping in my old house in Everett, and this old black guy knocks at my door. I half hear the conversation he has with my mother, but regardless of the dire urgency there is to get us out of the house, I continue sleeping.

"You need to evacuate right away!" he says, "There is a problem with the water."

I think I actually got up and looked at my cell phone at this point, because I consciously remember reading "3AM" on my LG chocolate. About an hour later, the man appeared again and said, "YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW!!"

It had been exactly one hour on my clock, so either I woke up at 4AM or dreamed that I looked at my clock and it said 4AM.

As if this was not a weird enough dream, I apparently had another which I do not seem to recall at all. The only reason I know I had it was because my mother informed me I disrupted her sleep screaming, "RACHEL* IS THE KILLER!! RACHEL HAS THE KILLER'S FACE!!!!!!!!!!!"

*Rachel is a pseudonym for my stepmother's name. Apparently I convicted her of murder last night.

Well, by the time my alarm clock went off, I was dreading the day ahead. The ride in to work was rough, with all the snow we had just had from our latest snowday. If that isn't a horrible enough way to start a new day, then how about this one. I put my coffee on the roof so I could reach in and get my bag, and what does the coffee decide to do? Well, it sat perfectly on the roof until I stuck my head in the car to get my things. Probably a half a minute AFTER I placed it on the roof, it comes spilling down on my jacket! My newly washed, white jacket.

After work, I also had (what I consider anyway) my first real date. There has been some controversy about that. I suppose prom does count, even though I spent half the night trying to avoid the guy I went with. But anyway, Cheesepuff guy invited me out to a Thai food place around the block from where I work. So, of course, I'm trying to kill some time, and I head to the copier to make some copies. (I am currently looking for a fish sitter for our class fish. If anyone is interested, please call 555-2893 {please note, that is a fake number so please don't actually call it.})

But, seriously, I don't want to bring the Beta home over vacation, as I live so far away, so I was making copies of a letter home to see who would be interested in watching the fish over vacation. Murphy's law says that BOTH photocopiers are broken. So I try to fix one. I get the paper out, but can't find the switch it is telling me to fix. I look at my coworker who is struggling with the same issue on her end. I showed her what I did to get the paper out of mine, remove her jammed paper, and the same error message pops up.

"You're on your own from here, I can't find that little thing." I tell her; Most of the parts are labeled A, B, C1, but this was just a little tab they wanted us to switch. She found it quickly, which made me feel quite dumb. Still didn't fix the issue, though. We kept working at it until my pants were covered in toner, or ink or something, and I sit back and think, "I have to go on a date. I am covered in coffee and ink. Who the hell cares?"

On my date, I was quite honest. I even told Cheesepuff guy, "The last time I tried to impress a guy, I wound up in the ER." (Please see, The Snake Snack for more information) All and all, I think the date went well. We talked for about 3 hours!! It only ended when I looked out the window and said, "I should get going." Then we talked a bit longer until I said it again.

I just hope I didn't talk too much. I can do that, sometimes.

Apparently I'm a bitch.

I'm sort of confused.

Imagine a big, fancy vase on the edge of the table. This isn't just any vase. It is one-of-a-kind, and priceless. You jump, and see it wobble. You continue to jump, regardless of the fact you KNOW something bad could happen and the vase falls and shatters to pieces.

Mom walks in, and _______________________.

Can you fill in the blank?

Apparently, I'm a bitch. My blank does not include, "going easy on the kid who makes a stupid choice." My blank includes accountability, and responsibility. The "kid" should have known better and taken steps to insure the vase would not get broken.

I should probably fill in a little more details. The "kid" is not really a kid, but a 50+ year old man with a drinking problem. The vase is more or less his relationship with his children, and the thought of jumping is actually the act of really pissing me off. More specifically, having a major pissing contest with yours truly, the designated driver. So now the question is, what do I do?

I talked to a cousin last night who basically told me I was being too hard on him. I suppose I'm slightly offended. If the kid knows there is a chance jumping will break the vase, and still the kid continues to jump, are we really supposed to look the other way and make excuses for this kid? Or do we hold him accountable? What is the lesson learned from looking the other way? Am I supposed to just let things slide? Until every vase I own is smashed to pieces? Is it my job to be more careful with my glassware? When this kid refuses to stop jumping, do I just ban him from my house?

I guess I haven't thought much about it until now. Not sure why it's stuck in my head now. I guess I've just been too busy with life to figure it out. That and the fact I had a nice, hour-long conversation with one of my aunts about just how much my family sucks. It's stirred up a lot of thoughts I'd rather suppress.

I actually started thinking ahead. I can't have a phone conversation with him. Tried and he just pissed me off. Started blaming everyone else for the choices he made. That is a peeve of mine. Thought to the best advice I've had so far, and that is simply to avoid him when he is drinking. Then I started to wonder, when exactly will that be? First thing in the morning? I don't wake up early. In fact, I don't feel like doing much of anything until late afternoon. Maybe we could have lunch, but I can't see that happening. He would just have another macho pissing contest. I would say, "I won't go out with you if you drink," and he might agree, but what if he decides he has the "right to drink" as he has told me time and time again it is his life and he can do what he wants with it? Then what? I never go to lunch with him again?

I tried picturing what talking to him would be like, this summer. We're together in the kitchen, and I can't even think of what to say to him. I just don't know what to do. I just want to stop thinking about it.




















You make a stupid choice, and

Today was PJ Day at work.

I figured it was a school-wide thing, but when I got out of the parking lot and saw several of the other teachers in their normal attire, I started feeling out of place. There was me, in my froggy PJs and bathrobe... Yup. The lazy, new girl who didn't feel like getting dressed.

Most of the people stared at me; a few told me they were jealous; and a few others just asked, "PJ Day?"

"Yup."

I will admit, it was very hard to sit at the breakfast table and look down at my Pajamas. I kept telling myself, "YOU NEED TO GET DRESSED!! Oh wait.... IT IS TIME TO GO!!! YOU ARE STILL NOT DRESSED.... Oh Yeah.."

If that wasn't hard enough, imagine my reaction when my boss came in and told me I needed to go to a PBIS training.. My eyes grew wide and I looked down at my outfit. Seriously, you know those bad dreams where you find yourself naked in school?? It was just like that. My boss came in and told me I had to go to a meeting, and so I took off in my Princess Sorority PJs.

So, off I walked into the wrong meeting, and sat in my PJs until I was told to go to the smaller conference room. Fortunately 3/4 of the others in the room were also in the wrong conference room, so I was able to get all the awkward stares and questions (and jokes) out of the way before moving to the right room.

Yup. So that was my fun day!!!

What else? I almost ripped the steering wheel off my car on the way in this morning. Yup. I was just imagining it was the radio announcer's head. Was listening to the moron praise Charlie Sheen's pathetic life. Like, literally, this is what he said on the radio this morning.

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"You'd never guess what Charlie Sheen's done now! It is so amazing! Every guy in the world is going to be jealous! He is like a god, or something. So what did he do? He had a brief case of cocaine. Yup! A briefcase! Full of cocaine!! He knows how to party!! And that isn't all! He was watching porn. With Porn Stars. How amazing is that??"

Uh, yeah, that womanizing bastard is a drug addict and should be thrown in jail. Anyone else would be in jail, but why not him? And why is that soo amazing and sooo desirable? ME+HEARING THAT+SOMETHING IN MY HANDS= DECAPITATED RADIO ANNOUNCER.

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..What else? I know there was something else... Hm.

Oh yeah. Cat fight in work.

This has been going on for quite some time, and it is starting to get on my nerves. There are these two people who get along like oil and water. Fortunately for me, they are the two people I work closest with, so, yeah, big ball of fun. I just want to go in and do my job, not have to pick sides and play counselor. But every day they come to me and complain about the other. I just listen, nod, and shrug. I've got it down to a science, and I try to stay as neutral as I can, but today I was really annoyed.

One of them actually said to me, "Sorry to put you in the middle. I know you like ___. I just really was bothered." And I listened, nodded, and shrugged. I was actually surprised when A went to talk to B about her feelings and B shut down and stuck to her guns, which pissed A off, and I was just like... Why didn't I just go straight home???

Uggh. I was so tempted to give them a pair of gloves and have them duke it out, just so they could be done with it. But then if I had said, I'm sick of you both putting me in the middle of your crap, I would have upset them both. A would be mad that B talks about her, and vice versa. And then they'd be mad at me for betraying their confidences, and madder at each other for knowing they'd been talked about. Whatever. People clash. At the end of the day, what matters is the kids. GRR!!!!

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Final laugh? Well, I wore my PJs today and got pulled into a last minute training with the state REP for PBIS as well as some other people I had never seen before. Fun, fun. But the topping on the cake was when I realized I had to go shopping for my Scentsy party tomorrow. Oh boy. Me. Pjs. Walmart. Never a dull moment!

Ok, So Is It Me Just Being Me?

Really, I need to know. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but what if I'm not?

As you all know, my dating life is pathetic. And I am apparently intolerable as far as internet dating goes. Though, in all fairness, I'm not entirely to blame for my lack of dates. For instance, take Soysauce guy. Really cute, really funny, real potential. Until I look him up on facebook. Status: in a relationship.

Hmm, just call me home wrecker. Or did I miss a memo? Is that the new thing these days? You can officially break up with your girlfriend once you've secured a new one? Or maybe he thought he was cool enough to keep us both in the dark. Uh, not in this day and age buddy.

Then there is Creep-o. I felt bad for him, up until he admitted to me that he hated his parents so much he'd kill them if he ever saw them again..... Yeah, conversation ender there!

Then there is the guy who drives me crazy. Every time I sign on, he starts talking to me, but he doesn't say much. In addition, he likes to argue. So if I told him, "I had yesterday off because it was a workshop day." He would sit and argue with me about it. Forgive me, but I think I know a thing or two about MY LIFE.

Then there was this last guy, who had a lot of potential. I really liked him, and was just waiting for him to ask me out. Never did. We were swapping horror stories about our lives and he tells me, "My girlfriend jumped off a building to get back at me. It was pretty messed up, so I have trust issues."

Ok.....

Well, I said "I wouldn't blame yourself because anyone who does that to themselves to hurt someone else is clearly unstable and needs help. " Apparently, something about that was wrong because he never wrote me back afterwards. I don't get it.

So that ship has sailed, and out of nowhere this other kid e-mails me. I will call him Cheese Puff. (Story to follow). I sort of like Cheese Puff. We have a lot in common. In fact, we have so much in common, I've asked him twice if he is plagiarizing my profile. Doesn't drink, sort of shy, on track with his life, wants to have kids before he's old. We both like the Red Sox. I say I like Orlando Cabrera, he likes Orlando Cabrera. I say I loved Kevin Millar, he loves him too. It's like I'm talking to a mirror. So creepy.

Everything I like, he likes too. It's like he is my twin. My opposite-sexed twin. Is this humanly possible? He's afraid he is too boring for me because he likes to hang around and play board games..... ..... (More ellipses for effect)... I AM BORING AND LIKE BOARD GAMES!! Except, it isn't boring when I'm hanging with the right people.

This guy would be almost extremely perfect, except for the fact that I feel like he is fake. The conversations are so real it is pretty awesome, but every now and then he says something that strikes me as fake. Like he keeps telling me I'm the coolest person he has talked to....it is almost like he is coaxing me up, and then today he writes:

"I'm guessing you would want to meet at a public place, so I was thinking maybe we could meet somewhere to eat and I'll get us some lunch or dinner. "

I am probably over reacting, but that sentence just stuck out. Like in a creepy way. Maybe he was just being nice, but maybe he is a serial killer. You never know. SOMEONE TALK SOME SENSE INTO ME!!!

Black Friday Shoppers

Just a warning from my personal experience: Don't buy Kodak, or you will probably regret it like I do.

So disgusted with this company, it's not even funny. We purchased a $500 printer a few years ago, and it never worked properly. Would have been more adamant about getting it replaced if we hadn't been burnt out of our house at the time. Not that it would have mattered. I'd asked twice for them to take it in for repairs, but they just told me these things "happen" and would have to send me a new print head, free of charge.

Fine. I could print my homework in approximately 7-10 business days....

This issue was constant. If I did not use my printer for more than a week, I would need to replace the print head to get it up and running again. Major pain in the ass, if you ask me, but at least I didn't have to pay for it, right?

Well, conveniently, my printer is now out of waranty and they want me to pay for the print heads. Seriously??

Thanks a lot Kodak, you suck!!! Called customer support, they refused to transfer me to someone who could help, then the IT guy actually hung up on me.

Hmmm, will I ever trust your company again? What do you think?