Grievances...

I hope this post finds everyone out there well. I, personally, have had a rough time the past few weeks and, though this post will probably offend several people, I feel like getting some things off of my chest...


First off, health. For those who don't know, I recently had a lens extraction performed on my left eye in the hope of controlling my glaucoma. Two weeks out and the pressure is still sitting way high (18 is normal, I'm at 40) and, though my vision in that eye has been improved to 20/50, it remains fuzzy and generally aggravated. Not to mention that I can't see out of it when I wear my glasses, which are still required by my right eye for the time being. Also, I've managed to put back on about 20 pounds.... I've re-lost 5, so I'm only up 15, now, but it is just so hard for me to control my eating and, especially during the winter, I have NO motivation to get out and exercise. I was able to kick cigarettes but I can't give food up cold turkey...

Secondly, my car... Actually, it's my wife's car if you want to be technical, but she doesn't drive and, as such, my car has been on loan to my Mom for the last year or so. In September of last year, my sister was driving the car and was stopped at a stop light when she was rear-ended. The car already had rear-end damage from before I bought it and, so, when the body shop assessed it for the insurance company, they called it totalled. My sister, obviously, was not at fault for the accident, but between the body shop, the insurance company, my sister and myself, it's taken until this week to finally get a claim processed. I spoke with the insurance company on Monday, they faxed me a final form to sign, I signed it and faxed it back. I was expecting the claim check today, and it didn't show up. I called the insurance company and they informed me they were still waiting on my fax...

As if that's not enough, regarding the car, ever since I loaned it out, my mom and step-dad have expressed interest in buying it but I kept telling them no because I liked having a spare car in case mine broke down and, of course, it wasn't really my call because it is my wife's car. Well, in December, my wife and I finally agreed to sell the car to my mom and she agreed to pay me $200.00 a month to total $1000.00 starting after the holiday season. This week, on Monday after I spoke with the insurance company, she hit me up and asked if I'd take a one-time payment of $900 this Friday in place of the payment arrangement. I had no problem with this and agreed happily. The very next day, I get a call from my dad, telling me that the car wouldn't come out of park and that mom had decided not to buy it after all and that she wanted, instead, to pay me $500.00 toward the repair bill. Now, I understand that she doesn't want to buy a non-running car, I do, but I must say that I feel a bit bent over by the whole situation. As I said, she's had the car for over a year (I think, I've lost track) and agreed to buy it almost two months ago. I really don't think I should get screwed over this... And, that's aside from the fact that she couldn't even tell me herself and had my dad do it. The funny thing is that I did a quick Google search for 'ford escort stuck in park' and the VERY FIRST result, located here has many suggestions on how this problem could possibly be resolved for little to no cost.

Now, in between my doctor's appointment where I got the news that my glaucoma was still uncontrolled and the phonecall from my dad telling me mom was backing out on the car deal, I went downstairs to eat my dinner. We got down there and turned on my six month old tv, purchased for me by my brother six months ago (more on that shortly) to find that the lcd screen had a huge crack in it. It looks like someone threw a baseball at it except that there's no external damage.

So, to recap my Tuesday, so far... Glaucoma and poking and prodding of my eye, followed by burnt dinner (minor, but additive to my distress), then on to the broken television and, finally, the call from my dad.

Let us now back up for a moment and talk about by brother and the tv pre-breakage. My brother bought the tv for me in June '09 under the premise that I would pay him back when I could afford it. In September, his then girlfriend and he were having some tough times so he started bugging me about the money. At the time, I had just returned to work after seven months of unemployment and was NOT in a position to start paying him back but he kept asking me about it every payday none the less. Finally, I started handing him $10 bucks here and there when I could afford it just to try and get him to chill out.

In November, his girlfriend decided to leave him and go back to her home in Texas. After the fight ended, they decided that he'd go back to Texas, too, and join her after he tied up loose ends here in Indiana. To that end, he came to me, asking for a place to stay for a few months because his cut here would be cheaper than living on his own. I immediately considered the fact that I owed him nearly $1600 for the TV so, pending my wife's approval, I made a deal with him to stay here until the end of February, rent and bill free, to cover my debt on the TV. The only things I stipulated was that he had to be out by the end of February and that I couldn't afford to feed him. He loved the idea so I sold it to my wife and we called it a deal.

He ended up waiting several weeks before finally moving in, not bothering to tell us what was going on unless we asked, but no big deal, really. When he did finally move in, I deduced that he was sleeping with my cousin's (separated) wife and, eventually, that the separation between he and his girlfriend was of a more permanent nature than I was led to believe. I didn't really care, except that he missed so much work that they fired him the same week he moved in and, after moving in with his cat, he would disappear for days on end without bothering to even mention to us that he was going, let alone asking us to take care of his cat. When I brought it up right before the holidays a huge blowup ensued. I was told to stop treating him like a child and that I was ripping him off on the TV by expecting him to be out by the end of February.

So, forward back to about a week ago... The thing behind my brother and our cousin's wife had ended badly and he asked to bring some chick from a dating site over for a few days. Being that its his place, too, I agreed even though I really didn't feel up to it (I'd just had my eye surgery, after all and I'm not keen on strangers). She came over and seemed very nice but, the entire time she was here, she was so loud at night that I got NO sleep. I brought it up on the second night but my complaint fell on deaf ears. After four or so days, she finally left and, shortly thereafter, my brother decided he didn't want to date her. OK. Until last night, that is. I don't know the exact details, but after everything I had to put up with yesterday, she was back over here last night. And even though my brother had told her she needed to be quiet several days before (before they broke up) because she'd caused problems when she was over, I was awakened by her and him and slamming doors and a shaking house AGAIN last night.

That's right... After the doctor, the dinner, the TV and the car, I couldn't even get a good night's sleep because of rude people...

Now, I brought up my brother not only because of his girlfriend, but because the story continued on!

For a point of reference, I generally buy a twelve pack of diet cola cans and a box of granola bars that I take to work throughout the week for lunch. On Monday night, my brother, whom I told long ago I couldn't afford to feed, told me that he took some of my drinks and that he didn't figure I'd care. I told him "Yes, I do care. Those are for my lunches." Then, this morning, I got up for work and was making my lunch. I reached into my box of 18 granola bars and there were, roughly, three. I was angry. I posted to my social networking sites that it was pretty sad that I couldn't get a good night's sleep in my own home and that I was getting tired of my food disappearing. Then, when my wife got home from the dentist, she found that he'd left the house and left both doors unlocked and the alarm turned off (the second time this has happened). Then, when I got home, I found out he was playing my Xbox 360 on my BROKEN TV. I didn't exactly tell him he couldn't but it seems obvious that you shouldn't use a broken product to try and prevent it from breaking more? Anyway, I told him I'd prefer he didn't use the broken TV in a firm tone. He came upstairs a few minutes later, talking on the phone, telling the person on the other end about how he was apparently eating too much around here and.... he trailed off as he walked out the door. Shortly thereafter, he stormed out of the house, telling me he was going to my mom's for a few days...

So... For the last few days I've been having a [sarcasm]WONDERFUL[/sarcasm] time of things.

Anyway, that's all for now. Until next time.