I am off today, and I am spending the day alone. My cell phone is off, and I will only answer my land line if it is someone worthy. Basically, that's everyone except for Julie the Loudmouth. So far, I have slept later than usual, walked, finished my Christmas cards, eaten 870 calories (trying to get back on track on a day off is not easy), and did nothing else.
On Tuesday, Beth put me in a position that made me very uncomfortable. When I was out with Justin, she sent me a text message asking to borrow money. She has been out of work for almost three months, and has had to go to desperate measures to pay her bills, including pawning jewelry. I explained to her that I really didn't want to do this; I believe that this is the sort of thing that destroys friendships.
Fortunately, her unemployment money came through, and she didn't have to borrow it after all. This is a relief. But Beth has this history of her friends sponging off her, and this is why I am so leery of Robbie freeloading off her. She assures me that he is paying his share. I just don't want to see her get hurt. The worst offender is her friend Terry the Gay Druggie. We used to think that he was pretending to be gay to keep people at arm's length emotionally, but he is now having unprotected sex with some HIV+ guy. That, plus the drugs (every kind imaginable, but mostly tina these days), and the fact that he owes Beth a good deal of money, is bad news. He has been on this self-destructive path ever since Beth met him. I have a feeling that I will get the phone call from her sooner than later that he is no longer living. An earlier episode about Terry is found here. As you can read there, he could have been there the day I met Justin.
I have always said that this is why Beth keeps me around; she needs one sane, semi-stable friend to try to keep her grounded. Of course, I can't keep her grounded if she disappears as often as she does.
She and I did go to Freddie's for a burger and a couple rounds of bingo last night. I haven't gotten any time alone with her since Robbie waltzed into her life, so it was nice to see her.
Yesterday, at about six in the morning, I went online and canceled my subscription to Us Weekly. That magazine was not worth the paper used to print it. All it contained were photos of people I have never heard of yet the editors deemed them to be "celebrities" or "stars" worthy of our adoration. That money can go to something more worthwhile, as soon as my refund comes through.
It is time once again for me to complain about our Secret Santa nonsense at work. As you know, I don't like Secret Santa as a concept, but making it worse this year is that I had to draw the one co-worker who has been my biggest challenge this year, Petunia Gray. But I am going to be a good sport about it, spend the minimum, and keep my mouth shut about it. Even before I picked a name, I didn't want to participate at all, but that would make me look like the bad guy.
I will sign off for now, and if anything else happens today, I will be back.
Eric Out.
No comments:
Post a Comment