Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Well, it did finally happen

Yesterday, when I came home, the power was off. Also, the cheque I'd been waiting for from the medical reimbursement had not arrived. I went on over to a friend's house and called work for the number of FlexBen (the company for reimbursement), and after bouncing around several places, I wound up tranferring over to Dwana, who was kind enough to track it down for me.

Turns out they never got my fax, even though the transmission did go through okay and I got a verifying report. :( This means no cheque is on the way, I have to dig around in my purse (I'm carrying my satchel now) to figure out what I did with the paperwork, and resubmit. It also means that the earliest I can expect it will be about the time I get my two paycheques, and the dire need will have expired.

On a positive note, a friend got me some cat and dog food, so the animals are in good shape. I was even able to squeeze some regular cat litter out of the amount, so they have clean litter, although Darius isn't particularly impressed.

Also on the food front, yesterday I wasn't going to eat lunch, but Dwana gave me a couple of dollars and I got a little tuna, cottage cheese, a couple of pieces of bread, an apple, and Cheetos. Later I had some peanut butter sandwiches over at a friends, and then he took me out to eat a Perkins last night. Today I remembered to bring the talipia fish and brussel sprouts I'd had in the freezer and the and yams I had in the fridge. I fixed some of the fish in the microwave with some of Upsorn's yummy Athenos basil pesto dressing (she keeps it for general consumption amongst the group) and had it and the yams, then scraped enough change out of my pocket for a roll. All in all, I've had much better meals in the past 24 hours than I have in awhile. And, I realised I still had a coupon for a free loaf of bread from Great Harvest, so that and peanut butter and the stuff I brought in to work should keep me for awhile.

The only truly bad thing about last night was not really being able to sleep. First, I'm used to the CPAP, and I also keep a fan on me at night, and neither of those were possible. I forget how awful my allergies get without the mask. Also, Cerys and I were both kept awake by fleas. I finally moved out to the recliner this morning around 7am and slept much better as a result...I'm definitely going to do that tonight.

Otherwise, despite the fact that this is the lowest I've been, well, probably ever, financially, I'm doing okay. It's only for another week, after all. Then I can get the electric back, get some money on my phone, take care of the fleas, hopefully, that kind of thing. In the meantime, I'm getting a dish drainer through FreeCycle in a bit and doing laundry/spending time with Dwana tonight, so that's pretty nice.

Odd thing about yesterday: a woman we hadn't heard from in 5 years called out of the blue, apparently both at the office (but didn't leave a message) and at a friend's. I'm not exactly sure why; usually in the past she called due to major anxiety issues or when she was on various meds. But, she was one of the craziest people I ever knew--and I've known some doozies--and it sounded like she was her old, borderline, psycho self. Since I've spent that amount of time divesting myeself of crazy people (and a good bit of my own craziness), I don't really feel like talking to her. I'm glad for the warning. But Deborah, if you happen to be reading this, um, well, there's a reason why people call blocked you. You were a lying, treacherous person who sucked the life out of everyone around you, who manipulated just to stir up trouble. You tried to interfere with a committed relationship, get between them and break them up. You obsessed on people in an almost stalking kind of way. You were extremely attention-seeking. You threw up in my backyard (because you didn't want any of us to hear you in the bathroom; I'm assuming due to bulimia) but then denied it, even though we heard you anyway. You threw a wrench into the game, totally ignoring the premiss and causing all sorts of problems. You poisoned several people at the game (although that may have been an accident--thank goodness I don't care for pasta salad). The guys wouldn't be alone with you in the same room because it was quite possible you'd cry rape. Actually, most of us tried to keep a witness on hand. That's not friendship. That's toxicity. Funny, I've had other relationships with toxic people, and I could always remember something good--even with the guy I married. Not so in your case. And the only reason we didn't end things sooner was that we thought it was our duty to help you. The sad thing is I could never tell if you believed the lies you told, or just didn't care about anyone else. I admit that you might have changed, especially if you've gotten counseling. But otherwise I don't think any of us really are up to chatting, and I'm just glad I got some warning before you called me at work. As far as we're concerned, we hope that you will have a long, happy life far away from us, like, say in Taos. I doubt that death cult is still after you, since I also doubt it ever existed.

Friendships tend to 'happen'. People click. But I've noticed that the best friends are people who aren't afraid of seeking professional help and who aren't completely self-centred. I think I'd like to keep my friends (and even acquaintances when possible) coming from that category, and I'm in it as well, and hopefully have learnt to be a better friend, too.

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