In which I’m feeling almost okay! Yay!

It’s payday. I just got a check! It’s not a lot, but it’s significantly more than the $2 I had this morning. (I wrote a rubber check for lunch, knowing it was payday.) I get off work in ten minutes, because I’m out of things to do for the week.

AmmZon’s out of town for the weekend so I have her house all to myself and I’m on catfood/bring-in-the-mail duty.

My blue dog seems to be flea-free for the first time since, oh, June or so. I need to dose Shiva and Stella and the cat… or get B. the cash to do it, if he hasn’t done it himself already.

I still don’t have a phone charger. I texted BoSe to see if I could charge my phone at his place again but he didn’t respond so I don’t know if he even got the message. I feel like a dick just showing up on his porch, all, “Hey, dude, can I come in your house and charge my phone?” *rolleyes*

Maybe now that I’ve got a bit of cash I’ll just pay the bill on and go back to my old phone. (See, all the phones are in my name, but Bread and BoSe are using the Indy phones for work and they’re paying the bill. It’s complicated.)

I’m still house/apartment hunting, because I promised him I’d get my shit out of there as soon as I possibly can. It’s slow going, but I hear there are units at the Broadway Building available and they take dogs.

Call me if you know where I can get boxes.

 

In which my dog is such a good girl!

I’ve had my beloved ACD Bindu with me for a couple of days. Bread let me take her when I saw him at BoSe’s the night before last, and I walked her over to AmmZon’s and bathed her immediately, then poisoned her with flea meds.

I’ve had her at work with me, and she lounges under my desk and naps, or plays with the other office dog, Jamal, who is a gorgeous and friendly brindle pit bull.

This morning Bindu and I walked from AmmZon’s to the square to work. She’s remembered all her training, and heels beautifully. When we walked on a leash this afternoon, she left the perfect amount of slack in the lead. I love that. (A dog that pulls bugs the shit out of me, so I kick ’em in the haunch until they stop.) If she’s off lead and we approach an intersection, she always pulls back and looks at me before we cross. Such a good girl!

Dog love is a beautiful thing.

 

In which I take a moment to review myself.

Mush, I know you think you’ve got a good excuse for writing such lame content lately ’cause you’re a tad bit depressed, but COME ON! A breakup? That’s great shit! You should be totally inspired! You’re seperated, you’re couch surfing, and you’re, like, college-student broke. How can you not have anything to write about? Aren’t all the best albums break-up albums? Aren’t artists supposed to love the torture?

You glossed right over the sheep & fiber arts festival that NLW took you to last weekend, where you took a drop-spindle class and appeared to possess an innate talent for drafting.

You’ve left out the achingly sweet love and support of your friends, the messages and calls from your brother, the moments of transcendent gratitude. You’ve not said much at all about the ego-grinding process of loss and how you’re beginning to think it isn’t pain that brings one closer to God but gratitude.

You haven’t even touched the sleepless hours you’ve spent lying on AmmZon’s couch staring at the ceiling, wondering if you’re actually the biggest bitch in the world… before realizing that you’re not that special and you’re merely a runner-up. I mean, that’s some imagery there! Sleepless nights! The crickets and the breeze and the noise of being in town after five years in the country. Christ, girl, your posts totally suck compared to what you could be writing!

You haven’t gone into any of the great and gory details, either. You’ve allowed all kinds of angry, dick-slicingly pissed thoughts go without even writing them down or posting them on the Internet! If you’re going to break-up and blog, shouldn’t you be quoting him at his angriest and making him look like a total ogre? Where’s the acrimonious, polysyllabic ranting you used to be famous for?

All in all, I have to give you a C. I mean, it’s good that you’re posting, but damn you’re not doing shit with what you’ve got.

I have no idea why you get 10,000 hits a month, girl, I really don’t.

 

In which people are people, and we take the time we need.

Last night I worked until seven because J. breezed in at six and it turned out I’d entered some claims wrong and I needed to fix it. Then Bread called and I went over to see him at BoSe’s house.

He’d gotten paid and so gave me a little cash — YAY! — and I took Miss Bindu. Walked over to AmmZon’s and promptly stuck the blue dog right into the tub and washed her. AmmZon then walked up the street and came back fifteen minutes later with Frontline for her cat and my dog, and we poisoned ’em. Then we bopped over to Taco Bell for some drive-thru which we enjoyed on the living room floor.

I also did laundry and watched three episodes of That 70’s Show. All in all, an okay evening.

Bread doesn’t hate me, and I get to take more than a week to get out of there. He’s just bummed, as am I, and Lord knows I never say anything stupid when I’m mad at someone.

Long and short of it is we’re working through it.

In other news, staying on 2nd street rocks. You can get anything you want on 2nd street. Smokes, whiskey, Frontline, a social life, you name it. It’s awesome.

 

In which it actually sucks more now than it did before.

I left because I couldn’t give him what he wanted and I couldn’t stomach another goddamned fight. A couple days later he realized I was serious, and started asking me, “So this is it? You’re done? You’re not going to try anymore, you’re just going to walk away? You’re just going to give up?”

Never mind that I tried my heart out for six years, never mind that I don’t have any tries left. Never mind that I’m sorry. Never mind his own culpability in this thing, because as far as he’s concerned I’m the one who’s leaving, I’m giving up, I’m the one who killed it. So the worst part is not that I’m poor, homeless, and heartbroken. The worst part is not that I failed as a wife, nor that I made all the mistakes I did.

The worst part is that he’s in pain and I never wanted him to be. The truth is that he doesn’t really want me, not really, what he wants is who I tried and failed to be. But his heart doesn’t know that yet, and so he’s in pain and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.

He gave me a week to get my things and my dogs off the farm, and he wants a divorce right away. He’s so angry he doesn’t seem to want to cut me any slack for the fact that I spent my last $20 buying dog food and the last of my gas driving it out there for him, or that I’m not one of those stupid bitches who wants to take half his shit, or who fucked his best friend in his own bed, or who is petty and vindictive because she feels she’s got a right to be for past harms. The fact that I have no money (with which to rent a house to put my stuff and dogs into) moves him not at all, because right now I’m nothing more than the bitch who broke his heart and left him.

I understand, I do, but it sucks.

Update: We just spoke on the phone and he said, “I read your blog, and I’m not trying to be a dick,” and I said, “I know.” Because I do know. It’s just a rotten damned situation.

 

In which two consecutive nights in the bar are probably more than adequate.

I crashed on AmmZon’s couch last night. She says she’s staying home tonight and watching TV. I think that’s where I’ll be too: on AmmZon’s couch watching TV and not out getting hammered.

I’ve been drunk two nights in a row, and while anyone who tries to tell you that getting drunk doesn’t help is totally wrong, I think my liver needs a break.

I didn’t bring a charger when I threw my bag together Wednesday evening, and now my cell phone is dead. If you’re trying to call or text me and I’m ignoring you, that’s why.

In other news, I might be going to the 27th Annual World Sheep & Fiber Arts Festival this weekend with NLW.

Baa-aa-aaa-aa-ah.

“If evil were a lesser breed than justice, after all these years the righteous would have freed the world of sin. The house wins, the house always wins. You don’t have to be alone to be lonely, you might as well give in.”

– The House Wins, OK Go.

 

In which things have changed.

Separated. I guess that’s the term.

We’ve been talking a lot since he got back from Indianapolis, and Wednesday afternoon after class it all came to a head. One of us had to leave, he said. I don’t blame him; I haven’t been giving him much of anything for quite awhile now. Not only don’t I want to, but I can’t.

So I left.

I packed an overnight bag and drove to town. No money, no job, no place to stay. I parked in the municipal lot next to 2nd Street Coffee and slouched in my seat with my sunglasses on and smoked. Nodded at a few people I knew who walked by. Felt weird and shocked and disassociated.

Finally got out of the car and walked over to the bar because I couldn’t decide what else to do.

I got shitfaced. Stayed up until two in the morning. Slept on the cramped little loveseat in Gorgeous’ basement. Woke up at eight the next morning, still drunk because I’d been drinking on an empty stomach.

Class started at nine. I sat next to him, in the spot I’d been in all week. He was pleasant. I rode with him and BoSe on the ‘field trip’ to see a building under construction. Had lunch with him at Subway.

I guess I need to find an apartment or house I can rent that takes dogs. I need to get a full-time job; there’s more data entry for me to do at WGI but there’s been no discussion about it being either permanent or full-time.

After completing this class, I could feasibly be deployed to do CAT insurance adjusting when/if Ernesto hits, but I wouldn’t be able to go because I can’t afford it. So now I’m qualified for a discipline I can’t work in because it takes money to make money.

It’s kind of freeing, really, having nothing at all.

 

In which I’m in school and remembering school.

I’m taking a basic adjusting class this week. During yesterday’s class, I learned a single thing: the definition of the word subrogation.

You may feel that learning a single word should take far less than six hours… I know I certainly do. *bangs head on desk* In other words, this class is teaching me nothing.

Today I have not yet learned anything. I’m taking this class not because I need the training per se, but because in order to do claims for WG I have to have taken it.

The software class was much more fun because it was hands-on; one of the instructors was really sharp; and I’m a geek. In contrast, this is a lecture class… all PowerPoint slides and hand-outs and reading aloud. I feel like I’m in high school taking personal finance all over again.

Speaking of high school, my best friend from those days — and with whom I have not communicated since, oh, 1989 or so — left a comment on yesterday’s post. How freakin’ cool is that? I emailed her immediately. It’ll be neat to catch up with her.

In other news, my aunt and uncle dropped by Sunday, sat and chatted with me for a few hours, and then left again. It was lovely.

 

In which two people I haven’t seen in at least five years are going to drop by.

Six years ago, my grandfather was dying in the hospital. My mom called and said I needed to go out to Walla Walla and see him one last time. She offered to fly my boyfriend out, too.

So Bread and I rushed to the airport and flew to the west coast, where he was absolutely inundated with my family. They loved him. He loved them. He fit right in.

We got to see grandpa. The next night he died. The night before we left to come back to Iowa, Bread proposed.

That was the last time I saw my uncle Gale.

The following May, we got married and my aunt Kathy came to the wedding and stayed here at the house. That was the last time I saw my aunt Kathy.

This is a brief picture of my aunt Kathy:

Way back when my folks were still married, we were all at the Hall’s for some holiday. Kathy, who works with retarded and autistic people, told a joke with the word ‘retard’ in it. My dad said, “‘Developmentally disabled,’ Kathy, you can’t say ‘retarded’ any more; it’s not PC.”

She cackled and said, “Please. They are retards! They use the word ‘retard’ themselves! They know they’re retarded.”

Kathy’s way cool.

And today they’ll be dropping by! I have no idea what they’re even doing all the way out here, but it’ll be totally exciting to see some relatives! Bread’s out to lunch with his mom, but I imagine they’ll be here soonish. I’d better go tidy up. The house is a stone cold mess, but at least it can be an organized mess.

 

In which I can’t figure out what I want, a condition that’s becoming more and more familiar to me lately.

It’s Saturday and I’m at work. I clocked out at 12:15, went and ate lunch, came back to the office… and never clocked back in. I’ve been playing with templates, trying to make my site look like something I wanna look at.

I’m not getting far. This may be one of those instances in which I need to decide what I want and then go find it, rather than just flailing around hoping I’ll stumble across something that’ll fit.

Guess what: this theme — knowing what I want — applies to more than just the layout of my web site, apparently.

Bread came home last night after living out of town for a couple months. He kept me up until three in the morning because he wanted to talk. It was surprizing. The content was the same it’s always been, of course, but somehow we managed to connect this time and it was really emotional for both of us.

As you may or may not know, things have been pretty bad between us for the past couple of years, and downright shitty for the past ten months or so. We’ve had some really stellar fights this year, the kind that made me shut all the way down and stay that way. In spite of our problems I really do love that human being, but I just don’t know if it’s gonna work… mainly because it never has worked thus far.

But he’s asked me to try again, one more time. Swears that this time’s the charm. And who knows, maybe if we put our heads together we could manage to build some common ground… But in order for either of us to get anywhere from here I have to agree to dig deep enough to make yet another effort, I have to bootstrap myself one more goddamned time, I have to want it and choose it and do something about it.

It’s like finding the right look for the site: apparently I can’t just wait until I see it. I have to decide what it is, and then build it. Christ, it’s turning into a fucking call to action when all I want to do is hold so still that no one will notice me.

I’m so fucking tired.

I’m also the only person in this section of the office and it’s dark because the lights are off and to make things even worse I’m listening to Magnet (aural Valium) and I’m so mellow the coffee isn’t even making a dent in it. I should probably just get in my car and drive home and take a nap.