I will be the first to admit that I’ve been fairly crappy about updating the blog lately, but I’m here now (just before crawling off into a nice hot bath prior to grabbing some sleep) and feel like writing a bit! 
Sweetie and I (as well as our adorable babies, Penny and Stormy) continue to enjoy having escaped Abilene and are grateful for the opportunity that we were given, which ultimately resulted in moving to the beautiful state of Maryland. However, there’s still a bit of “growing into” this new scenario that lies ahead (for example, as some of you already know, we were literally just 2 or 3 weeks away from homelessness on the morning that I had the final interview via Skype with my now-current employer…we have therefore incurred around $15,000 of credit card debt in the course of closing various accounts in Abilene, opening new ones in Rockville, financing the relocation, and adjusting to significant cost-of-living differences in light of a decreased salary). How are we handling everything? Pretty damn well, I must say! I will be the first to admit though that Sweetie is the primary stabilizing force behind it all. 
My personality tends towards extremes when faced with stressful situations of the sort that we’ve been faced with since last November, yet he is (and always has been) the trustworthy anchor of logic in the relationship that keeps me at least semi-grounded in the realm of reality, and for that I am truly grateful…I don’t think I actually convey that to him enough though, so I hope that he reads this post soon and understands what I am trying to say.
G’night for now; I’ll catch you again over the wonderfully long weekend!
Oh, did anyone figure out what it is I’m holding in my hand in the photo above? Just checking…it’s a random treasure I found while unpacking stuff; I’ll share some more photos relating to it in future posts!
I have for a few years now enjoyed listening to the many and varied topics presented on this radio show/podcast.
Their motto is “We present, you decide”.
I think it’s very fitting.
Keep an open mind, but think for yourself.
Enjoy!
That is all for the moment. 
For readers who may have missed it, Part 1 of this post is just a short scroll away (or simply click here if you prefer to do so) and rather bluntly summarizes two recent cases in which longtime friends of mine and Sweetie respectively took shits on us. So much for lifetime relationships with the majority of folks in this day and age: it seems that many would rather cast friends aside once they no longer “serve a useful purpose”. Just how fucking sad is that? It surely doesn’t say much of a complimentary nature about either of the guys described in Part 1, both of whom are equally guilty of doing just this.
Rather than dwell exclusively upon those of the asshole persuasion in Part 2, however, I want to use this post instead to highlight a very common theme among those who have most rocked my world over the years…and they continue to do so.
I have spent a great deal of time over the years playing around online, long enjoying blog writing, participating in forums, IRC, and so forth. Online communication of just about any form has been a terrific and rewarding hobby: many awesome people have crossed my path electronically that I am considerably closer to as friends than anyone else. Though some folks just don’t “get” the concept at all of being faithful and interactive friends with others who may live halfway across the country or even the world and you have never even met in person (a case in point occurred when someone once informed me that my electronic friends are not “real life” friends), all I can do is smile when I hear nonsense such as that. Hell, after all, Sweetie emerged from the beautiful pool of folks I’ve met online…and I think you’re all aware of how wonderfully things has been evolving.
THERE EXISTS NO DIFFERENCE in the definition of or the joys and responsibilities inherent to friendship whether you became acquainted with someone in so-called “real life” (I actually think that more proper terminology than this is “in the flesh”) versus by internet-related means. I feel incredibly fortunate to know that there’s an amazing and diverse network of people out there who count me among their friends…as I likewise regard them. “In the flesh” folks motivated more by material value than open and honest communication don’t stand a chance against us.
I’m off for the night (or morning, since it’s around 12:30am right now) but will post again soon!
Oh, and for anyone interested in the funky knife set pictured in my kitchen above, a very dear friend knew how much I adored it and sent it to us as a gift last year not long after I was laid off from my job; you can find it here at ThinkGeek.
I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts here last night/this morning with regard to fake friends, and though I’d fully intended to continue this evening with Part 2, I have simply been too tired this evening to do so. Heh, it seems that since (for the first time in my life) I have a job that only entails working during the week, the opportunity to actually relax and spend my time as I wish on the weekends now leaves me quite draggy on Mondays; I’m not complaining but simply stating the apparent new order of things now! Part 2 will thus have to wait until tomorrow night. In the meantime, I love you folks, as does Sweetie (y’all know who you are)!
It has been becoming more and more clear to Sweetie and me that the landscape of our circle of friends seems to be changing drastically…and not in a manner that was at all anticipated.
Last weekend, someone whom I thought was very near and dear to me (for the past decade, mind you) made a total asshole move of cutting the friendship off abruptly due to the fact that his wife had a difference of opinion with both Sweetie and myself regarding Michelle Obama dragging her fat ass across Spain on the taxpayer’s dime…MANY dimes actually, considering the immense expense of the Secret Service fleet (between 50 to 70 folks at that!) accompanying her, among other things. Without bothering to even discuss the topic in a rational manner with us, this friend’s wife (despite being a young and, as I now clearly see, naïve media wannabe who works for a small central Texas news agency with the hope of eventually being a famous national reporter) refused further comment, whined to my friend, and he instantly cut us off as a result. A legitimate news reporter with future employment aspirations anywhere other than highly-scripted and celebrity-heavy fluff such as Radar Online or TMZ would never be so unprofessional (then again, she did cream her panties not long ago when god-awful Tony Romo showed up at the station one day, so perhaps that is her true calling after all). Why did her husband, my friend of numerous years, also cut things off immediately and not bother to utter a single work stating a damn thing one way or the other? I’m really interested to hear what he has to say about it, but the silence speaks volumes…and even if he were to attempt communication at this point, I doubt I would care to listen. The damage is done. I realize that he hasn’t held a steady job and has been maintained by his mother in the form of a house, utilities, health insurance, and a monthly allowance of a size well above what most folks bring home as personally hard-earned wages, but that may be drawing to a close as he approaches 30 years old; perhaps he must rely on his wife and her somewhat pretentious family now to support him?
This weekend, a very old friend of Sweetie’s once again (it’s been a snowballing issue over the past year) dissed him by not making personal contact but rather just including him as a recipient of a mass email (sent to everyone Bcc, of course) updating the superficial goings-on in this so-called friend’s life; the guy never responds at all otherwise. They met ages ago when Sweetie was in college, but while Sweetie has to be one of the most fiercely dedicated individuals I’ve ever seen when it comes to friends and family (he’s been significantly more hurt by the continual slights he’s been subjected to from this asshole than I was by events of the prior weekend regarding my former friend), it is beyond clear than a lot of people simply are NOT. This “friend” of his hasn’t personally contacted Sweetie since last year…and THEN it was only because he was freaked about having knocked up some woman that he’d dated a few times; he was primarily seeking advice on how to either: (i) convince the woman to have an abortion, or (ii) weasel his way out of paying child support in the event that she chose to continue with the pregnancy. Gee, what an upstanding guy, huh? Sweetie was supportive in providing a non-judgmental sounding board at that time (I honestly don’t know if I could have done such a good job) but did make it clear, when his opinion was solicited, that the guy needed to man up and take responsibility regardless of whatever choice the young woman made. It didn’t seem to be the answer that the slimeball was looking for, however, and he (Mr. Slimeball) only made things more unpleasant by then admitting that he started screwing Sweetie’s ex-girlfriend within weeks of their break-up a few years back and that he impregnated her as well.
Wow.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
The world is an unstable and often scary place to live in during current times of economic and social upheaval; friends are needed by everyone now more than ever, yet selfishness and deception are prevalent!
Unfortunately, though I have much more to say here, it’s now 1:00am and the alarm is set for 6:30am (which always seems extra early on a Monday). I’ll leave you to ponder this post and continue in the evening after work…
This afternoon was rainy and overcast, so rather than go out, Sweetie and I stayed home with the furry babies…I busied myself primarily with unpacking some of the half-jillion boxes of odds and ends in the bedroom/office that I haven’t gotten around to sorting through yet. Woe is me, however, as this is what I was stuck looking at through the window the whole time:
How DARE the environment be so green, leafy, and pretty! It’s not at all like the dry brown hell I lived around in fucking Abilene for seemingly an eternity.
Incidentally, I just wrapped up my FIRST MONTH at the new job this past week; I’m loving the hell out of it and continue to be grateful for the opportunity that was offered!
While on the road fleeing Abilene last Friday, Sweetie and I realized that…had we continued on to reach our destination…we’d be landing in the DC area right at rush hour. There’s no way in hell that we wanted to deal with that, so we crashed out in Salem, Virginia with only 250 miles to wrap up our trip on Saturday morning. Though I’m not amazingly picky about accommodations while on the road (all I really ask for is pet friendliness and reliable wifi!), I seriously never imagined that we’d be treated to such a beautiful view as captured above from a fucking HoJo, of all places. 
HOWDY all!!! Yup, long time no post, but hey…Sweetie and I have been furiously juggling relocation plans and complications with the movers (let me just stress that U.S. Van Lines hasn’t been the most helpful, and I only selected them because they were the only option available that could accommodate our tight schedule) lately, so I think you can understand what’s up.
As you can see from the most recent photo I took while Sweetie was behind the wheel this afternoon (as he has been for >98% of the trip so far, as he is a much better driver than I am, and I feel safer with him at the helm!), Abilene and Texas in general are now far behind us; we’re currently holed up for the night on the eastern outskirts of Knoxville and should arrive at our destination either late in the day tomorrow or…should we care to relax a bit…early Saturday.
There’s just so much going through my head right now that I’m not able to completely spill everything I’m feeling: the last 8 months of being unemployed have definitely been the hardest that I’ve ever experienced in my life, yet I do think that there are some positive lessons that I’ve been able to take away from them. More on this later, but for now I’m going to finish sipping a bit of wine and relaxing prior to tomorrow’s leg of the journey to Rockville.
The local paper, the Abilene Reporter-News (known instead by quite a few disgruntled individuals under a broad spectrum of creative monikers), ran an article today about locals affected by the fact that Congress has allowed extended unemployment compensation claims to lapse. One rather consistent asshole who regularly posts to the online edition commented (after saying that people need to “just get a job”):
I saw the signs yesterday at WingStop they are hiring and so is Taco Bueno on Buffalo Gap Rd.
Others go on and on for more than 50 comments after this doing little more than accusing one another of sucking up to either Democratic or Republican party intentions (the majority, however, representing hardcore though vastly…and obviously…undereducated conservative mindsets who in actuality could no more afford to align themselves with steadfast Republicans than anything else). Having experienced unemployment in this godforsaken place that I actually began to think I might be better off dead in for approximately 8 months total, I thus submitted the following comment under an alias; the local paper is very choosy (heh, imagine that) about what they will and will not post, however, so I suspect that it may not ever show up there:
Wow…what a compassionate (and may I also add articulate) bunch the majority of posters here are.
I will be leaving Abilene next week and do not intend to look back. The rednecks among you will simply say, “So long, don’t let the door hit you in the @ss on the way out”, but that response is old, beyond tiresome, and sadly reflects nothing but the leftovers of a dying town.
Back in early November, I was laid off from an incredible job here, which I specifically moved to Abilene to take, due to not only local but global economic circumstances. Unfortunately, having a Ph.D. (in addition to a B.S. and an M.S., and being required by law to reveal all educational degrees obtained, let me just assure the doubters and/or clueless among those who have posted that – INDEED – Walmart and Taco Bueno among others will definitely call and tell you that you are overqualified for what they do offer, which is AT BEST 10 hours a week at minimum wage; no 40 hours offered, obviously, or they would have to pay benefits), I could find no work here.
As far as I can tell, unless this town (in terms of population it *should* be a city, but the general mentality has a lot of room for productive growth that should take place) ACTIVELY tries to improve on the business front rather than blindly rely on Dyess AFB…which may cease to exist anyway if the B-1 bomber is rightfully phased out of existence as recently discussed…and a jillion supporting burger-flipping jobs for existence, there is no happy ending. Quit pointing fingers at one another and various political parties and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN if you actually like Abilene.
If you don’t like it here, then I wish you godspeed in finding a way out as quickly as possible; it’s definitely not a pleasant place to be unemployed in if you are qualified to do more than punch a cash register or wash dishes.
