sarchasm

2001 - My Year of Drama

This has been one helluva of a year - glad it's almost over.
Somewhere around February it went careening out of
control... let me explain.

I'm a graphic designer and promotions guy by trade and had
a unique opportunity to do some freelance work as
an "audition" to a full-time position with a company I
consider "it." They work they did was cool, their offices
were cool, the guy who fronted the company was a rebel in
his field and his message really meant something to me.

Problem was, the offices were about 2 1/2 hours away from
where my Wife and I of 10 years (11 years on Oct 7) lived.

I wanted to move, but she didn't. They loved my work, and
the offer came thru - but it was for just about the EXACT
amount I was currently earning (actually, a little less)
and I couldn't convince my Wife to move. Money isn't
everything -- I hated my current job and wanted a change --
but I just could not convice her to move. SO... I asked
for a higher amoutn of money on the counter-offer (a magic
number the Wife said she would move for) and got rejected.

They said they really wanted to work with me, but just
couldn't afford me at the moment - they were gonna go with
a "newbie" - but wanted me to keep in touch for future
projects.

That was in Nov/Dec of 2000.

Early 2001 I'm completing several freelance projects for
this "dream company" and I start getting sick. Doesn't
really hit me until late January and early February - but
it turns out I have pneumonia.

Now (the Wife) she's a nurse -- do you think I might get a
TLC in my time of need? -- I rarely got sick, and even then
it would normally be a few hours in bed and I felt great
the next morning -- not this time. Miserable for WEEKS.
And got nothing but abuse from the Wife. YELLED at me
because I would "groan" -- a small sound would escape my
lips as I sat foggily in the living room chair -- and she
would verbally assault me for it! I should have KNOWN
something was up!

She wouldn't get off her ass and get me any juice. I about
BEGGED for some Jell-O -- but NOOOOOoooooOOOOOOO!

Not a bit of sympathy or assistance from this woman I loved
for ten years! I had to practically draft her into service
to even drive me to the doctor's office! I even had to
drag my dead-ass out of my seemingly deathbed and go get my
own prescriptions filled... no help at all.

Then, when I'm finally able to go back to work - MY
POSITION HAS BEEN CUT. That's right -- laid off right
after I turned down a job and returned from death's door.
But they tell me not to worry -- there's an 8-week
severance package. I figure puh-lenty of time to find
another job and keep the difference, right?

WRONG.

So what happens?
I get sick again. The pneumonia returns, I knocked out of
commission for another week.

When I finally get my first severance check, I am surprised
to see it's only for a couple hundred bucks when I had been
expecting over a thousand.

I call and ask -- "What happened to my pay?"

The bastards took out my sick days!
Since it was the beginning of the year I hadn't earned my
sick or vacation time yet (it accrues during the year on
their *brilliant* program) -- so they docked me! I wasn't
my damn fault that they laid me off before I had earned the
days! If I had known that I wouldn't have the days I would
have shown up to work everyday and infected the managerial
muttonheads. I thought I would be considerate and not be
one of those cubicle-coughers who ends up infecting all the
other workers... see how THAT got paid back?

So, I figure I'll have a new job in a couple of weeks...

Nope.

A couple of months LATER -- severance checks bit the dust
almost an entire month before I finally found a job. I had
to take a job delivering pizzas so I could feel useful and
actually bring in a paycheck.

**The job hunt is another story -- I just want to get the
ground work laid for my point of view... sorry this entry
is so long -- the others won't be anything near this
length.**

ANYWAY...
I accept the new job -- for substantially less than I was
earning at my previous job, and of course, less than the
job offer I turned down because of the Wife -- but that's
okay because Wifey is making good bucks as a nurse and
she'll be able to make up the difference while I look for
another job.

But just a couple days after I accept the job offer - and a
week before my actual start date - Wifey tells me she needs
to talk.

She says:
Perhaps I've noticed how distant she's been lately. She's
not happy. (no, not really. figured it was another of
her "moods" - and besides I'd been a bit preoccupied).

The gist is, she wants a "trial separation" -- what the
hell is that? Sounds like she wants a vacation -- me too!

She wants three months apart to decide what's going on in
her life and figure out why she's not happy. I got the
whole "it's not you, it's me" thing. She even told me she
was afraid of never finding someone as great as me again.

Wow. So I'm great. You're worried about losing me. And yet,
you would still rather risk it all to go mope for three
months instead of talking to a counselor. I offered to go
with her, or let her go alone -- whatever she thought was
best -- but got flatly turned down.

To make a long story "less long" -- she moved to a friend's
house within a week of that conversation and waited for a
studio apartment to become vacant. She took the apartment.
Left me with all the shit in the house to take care of
(except for taking ALL the furniture I wanted and leaving
me with the crap) and even left the house full of pets we
had acquired -- 2 dogs and 3 cats -- now all my
responsibility. I'm working a job that doesn't pay my bills
(actually two jobs because I had to get a part-time one to
help make ends meet) and a house full of animals that are
now lonely because I'm working all the time.

And what is SHE doing???
Well, she just got back from a beach vacation, We had
bought tickets to a concert before the split and she used
both of those, she bought two more tickets to a rock
concert (she never showed interest in those bands before,
why now?!), she's planning a trip to Hawaii in another
month, and I just found out she's racked up three thousand
dollars in credit card bills since our split!

I think she her multiple personalities finally took over.
From here on out, in this journal she will forever be
referred to as SYBIL.

More on the load of crap life has dumped on me later...
there's so much more to vent...

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