I Shall Return... UPDATED

I just don't know when.

It's been damn near a month since I posted last, and that wasn't much of a post anyway.

Work's been a bear. We went from a month of seven twelves on one job right into five tens on the next. And I'm sure that we'll be into six tens eventually. I'm one of the lucky ones, I know. From what I gather, we have more work in the works; a year's worth, maybe more. It's been a hard eight years under Dubya and his refuckyoucan rubber stampers, watching job after job go to companies overseas... bidding work on the slimmest of margins (if not at a loss), just to keep the doors from closing. The owners hung in there though.

Life at home's exciting too. Looks like we'll be raising the grandmonster for the ... well... who knows how long. The wife and I feel like we're too old for that kind of shit, but we gotta do what we gotta do for the kid. We're at least on the same page with regard to the big picture. We'll see about the details as time goes on. It's going to be a big challenge for me, as I've never really wanted kids -- too much responsibility -- but the bar's not set very high: Frozen PBJs? I can make 'em from scratch. Seriously though, the kid was dealt some pretty shitty hole cards; I hope I can help him out on the flop here.

We re-fied the house. It's too big for just the two of us... ooops... three of us, but then again, we have room to get away from each other when the need arises. And, I bought a truck: A 2006 Dodge Dakota. I was debating the possibilities of fuel efficiency versus towing capacity for the pop up camper we've talked about for a few years now, and finally decided -- or did the wife do that? -- on the truck. So we've done our part, or part of it, to spur the economy. Speaking of which...

The economy is on its way up? Iiiiiiii donnnnnnn't knowwwwww about that. Just because there's a few people out there like me, who have a job and some cash to take advantage of plummetting prices -- I'm wonderring if I bought the truck tooo soon -- doen NOT mean things have turned around. It would be nice if it were more than just a temporary uptick, but until there are some major changes to the structure of the country's economy ie people going back to work making shit... It's just more Bush shit: Borrow and spend. We as a nation have spent our savings; we've spent the equity in our homes, we've spent the sailboat fuel offered us so we could buy houses and other shit.. ALL made in China.

And the tea baggers? All those planning to join this manufactured crusade are exactly that: Tea baggers. Sucking the scrotes of the Hannities and the Gingriches and Limbaughs and the McCains and the Roves and the... lame ass fake plumber fuck whose name isn't even Joe of the Refuckyoucan conservatard movement. Stupid fucking moron tools. Gotta give credit where credit is due: The term is quite fitting.

SHIT I forgot to mention last night:

Been waiting for over a week for Suzie the Mini-Dach to drop her puppies. Well last night/early this Morning, she did. 3 of 'em. Two males and a female, I think. After she had the first to, we were worried that she was going to reject them, but turns out she had a third in there, and after she pooped that one out, the mom in her took over big time. The other dogs look at her and she goes all fierce. Pics will be coming soon as the wife gets them loaded up.

I gotta admit, I kinda feel guilty. With all the people geting thrown out of their jobs and homes and having to give up pets, well.... Hell the step daughter has two cats that are going to have to join the ranks of the homeless. We had them here once before and they terrorized our cat who's much older and more timid. Not to mention they tore up shit all over the place. Little fuckers would chase and charge over the top of us all through the night.

Cuzz of the pups, I took the day off: NO sleep last night. Zero;Zip;Nada. Good way to find myself sucked into a machine at work. Sleep today and I'll be fucked up for the week. Got to hear Obama's speech this morning. "We need to make things." Gee, who else has been saying that?

Our economy for the past 8 years (and even longer) has been a complete fraud, disguised by smoke and mirrors, running on nothing but sailboat fuel. I'm not very happy about the new debt and deficits, but as long as we're getting something in return, and I don't mean wars, death and destruction, I can think of them as down payments.. purchases. For all of the spending done by Bush and his refuckyoucan rubber stampers, we, the people, the country, got NOTHING in the end. It ALL went to multinational corporations and the top 1-2%. The rich became super rich.

Now if Obama could just muster the balls to let the justice system take over and prosecute the Bush Syndicate's crimes against humanity...

Moved...

but not done. Damn the wife and I are getting too old for this shit.

It was all I could fucking do to get up and down the stairs this morning to get the dogs out: Knee, back and feet all competing for the "I hurt him the most" award. Yes, we have a dog door, Yes they lived here before, NO I don't trust them not to (re) christen the carpets; especially George. (No he's not named after Dubya; he just acts like him sometimes) And we hired young bucks to move the BIG shit. You know you're getting old when you trust someone else to move your flat-screen TeeVee.

Odd: We hadn't really intended to complete moving this weekend; we were just going to take it easy and haul small(er) shit "for now." We got into it and on Friday I convinced the wife that we should just go for it and get it done. Living in two houses.... what's here? what's there? really sucks. We weren't sure we could get a moving crew at the end of the month on one day's notice but we did. Got two young (compared to me, anyway) guys who got right to it and finished in just over 5 hours with only one short break for water and a couple of Satsumas.

They spent about one whole hour, or more, trying to get a work table and a hutch piece out from the old basement. I have no fucking idea how the other movers got them down there, but these guys and I could NOT figure out how to get them out. And of course I'd already moved my tools. We gotta go back and clean carpets, so I can take the work table apart and see what I can do with the hutch. It's old, and we scratched it up, but it's solid pine, not particle shit. I hope I can save it.

Clean the old place; unpack at the new/older place; wait for cable. Damn! None til Wednesday. Had the 'puter moved yesterday when I was listening to how Dub-Fuck was going to address the nation regarding the crisis in India. Like he'd have anything to say that a thinking person would want to hear. And Jennifer Anniston left Brad Pitt for me. Riiiight. Maybe someday I'll figure out remote posting, but for now, that shit just seems so "step-daughterish." To much of a bad taste in my mouth from bailing US out from HER $4-500 cell phone fuckups. Combine "Trivial Pursuit" with cell phone/'puter technology and you have her life style in a nutshell; heaven forbid she miss a girly giggle, or a "you're hot."

With that I'll quit before I ruin my day.

WelI, I Thought I Was Back

The wife and I went from busting our asses to get ready to go on vacation, to busting our asses cleaning up undone crap from our time away, to relaxing..? Hell no; now we're moving. Back into the house we were trying to sell. I remember when we moved out, I was in mourning so to speak, saying I would likely never live in a house that nice ever again. Our neighbor reminded me of that the other day: Not only a house that nice, but the same house.

I doesn't make sense to make two house payments, with one sitting vacant. It doesn't make sense to keep dropping the price, especialy during a panic. The wife and I are both working (still): She for a health care non-profit think tank/association/bureacracy/lobby shop... and me for one of the last manufacturers in Seattle, Washington and (with all due respect to Driftglass) the US (at least so it seems), but in this economy...? I don't count on anything.

Oh we did have at least one offer that I know of: It was a total fucking insult. I was talking to my sister (Another fucking story here but), who lives and with her husband owns a few houses in Reno, and the same thing's happened to her: The vultures come by and hoping you're in an upside down situation, make an offer that's 10-15 cents on the dollar. The redistribution of wealth that the refuckyoucans ignore (because it's the one THEY want), but that happens in every recession/depression, is certainly happening now.

I knew if I got started, there'd be no stopping me....

Who am I kidding? If I had a few hundred thousand in disposible bucks I'd be making offers too.
There's only so much land out there, and they ain't making any more; if the climate keeps warming, we'll have less. I'm not going to kid myself that, I'd buy houses and renegotiate things to keep people living in them. Maybe I would in the beginning, but greed is universal, and I'm not a fool enough to think that one, two, three.... more houses would be enough. I'd want to make money and buy more, and to do that would mean I'd need to rent at a profit, and to do that would likely mean there'd be people who'd be out of the house (and on the street) no matter what happened.

Is it possible that we all have this same warfare going on inside us? A war between our "do-gooder," bleeding heart Liberal and the greedy, rapacious conservatard?

My sister used to be a liberal. I love her dearly, respect her in many respects, but she gets scarier by the day. I will say this: Sh called me last night and she's not pouting. She says she's all behind our new president and hopes his administration will be successful. At digging us out of the hole, our fratboy, fucktard, preznit select and his Refuckyoucan minions have put us in...? She won't go that far.

We didn't get into the pros and cons of why it's OK for working taxpayers to foot the bill to keep mismanaged banks and investors afloat, but automakers should be on their own.

That's what's distressing to me. To me it's as plain as the nose on my face. This country has been stood on it's head (During reagan, bush I) and stuck in a bucket of shit (During dubya), but she thinks I'm full of shit (her term was bovine excrement) when I point out the obvious: Our present economic state is the DIRECT result of conservatard hands-off, free-market, deregulatory policies and practices. Just like back in the Republican (Great) Depression, the Republican Panic of 1870 and the Reagan Recession(s). To her, that's bullshit? History is bullshit? FACTS are bullshit? ???

I damn near cry when I get off the phone with her.

I saw truly bad things happening to her back in 2000 when she expressed her "hope" in dubya saying, "Maybe now we'll get some conservative judges." ec-fucking-scuse me? ??? Of nine Supremes, Six were refuckyoucan appointments and you want Conservative judges? "Are you sure you don't mean Nazis?" <== yes, I asked her that. "Good conservatives." "If there Were some, maybe, we'd have some."

The republican party has lost it's way: It's not conservative enough.

She considers going libertarian. "Ron Paulism: Slash and Burn?" Pick an arbtrary date, like say 1860, turn on your way-back machine and get rid of every position that exists now, but didn't exist back then? ??? Why stop there? What was wrong with government in 1812? or 1790? ??? Was 1860 the last time we had a Dept of War as opposed to Defense? Maybe that's what Libs believe is "honesty in governement."

Talking to her hurts, sometimes.

The problem with "the housing bubble" is the people who took out loans/mortgages they couldn't afford. Forget, I guess, that requirements/regulations were changed to the point of absurdity, to fuel an economy of smoke and mirrors: retail buying and flipping properties. Never mind the unregulated "non-insurance" "credit default swap" market created to innoculate the greedy assholes who sold and bought "Mortgage Securities." Now THERE'S an oxymoron if I ever saw one: Mortgage security. Smoke and mirrors.



She was shocked at how little documentation was required during her last house purchase. Because she had bought houses before and had higher expectations. As opposed to your average first time buyer; I have NO fucking clue what's required to buy a house. All I know is to ask them/myself, "Can I make the payments?" Problem with that is: ARMs; Adjustable rates that often were hidden from buyers. Problem is that some banks/lenders will not reveal what the payment will be untill the loan is accepted, and YES I ran into that once, when I considered a bank loan to replace a dealer loan on a truck. I had sense enough to assume that a 2-yr loan would have payments twice as high as a 4-yr loan. So I walked. And listened to, "You're going to be paying SOoooo much more in interest if you don't change loans." And having your truck repoed is better?

Some times things really are a simple as they seem.

The wife is packing; I better go. Anyway....

Anyone know of a research project looking for an antidote for conservatardation? One I can donate to?

PS Happy Thanksgiving (Turkey Day) everyone.

Yesterday the car....

Today it was back to Clearwire. No, they didn't interrupt me posting; there was nothing to interrupt. They were down all together. No morning vitamin P... No morning news... No morning post... Now it's going to take days to get my hit count back into the 30's.

There's Always a First Time

So we went to breakfast this morning: Me, my mom, wife and our former next door neighbor. I order -- "I'll take my chances on the Larry's scramble, since I'm not really sure what it is from your description" -- my mom orders poached eggs and corned beef hash -- which is how it's printed on the menu -- my wife gets Eggs Benedict and the neighbor says, "I want exactly what she ordered," as she points to my wife. Oh, Mom and I asked if we could substitute fruit for our toast and we were offered strawberries, which we said was OK. So...

The food comes. Notice I didn't say, "Our food." I got my scramble, which as far as I can tell was some chopped up sausage in scrambled eggs, with potatoes thrown in rather than hash browns on the side. My fault, I should have risked sounding rude and insisted on a better description... "Is it written down somewhere...?" Our friend/neighbor gets her Eggs Benedict. Mom gets her corned beef hash, but her eggs aren't poached, they're over easy. And my wife, who was the first to order Eggs Benny, gets the same as my mom. Oh and the fruit gets placed in front of my wife and mom, instead of me and mom. Whoa....

So... Back goes my wife's food. My mom's food? It sits on the table getting while her poached eggs are being made. So when the redos come to the table, my wife gets hot food, while my mom gets hot poached eggs to eat on top of cold corned beef hash. Sweet.

Not.

Then we get the bill. After waiting... after asking for it.

We get charged for the strawberries. Not cool. I've never been charged like that; it seems like standard practice to substitute.

The waitress: "Well I thought you could do that, but I was told you couldn't." Why didn't you tell us?

Fuck it... Time to find a manager. We tell him about getting charged and that in addition there 's the fucked up order we aren't happy about, and he says, he'll fix it. Thing is it takes about another 15 minuted to get back the bill that should have taken 15 seconds to redo.

No apology...

No card saying 1/2 off or $5 off the next meal there... we talked about walking out without paying, but...

For the first time in my life I walked out without leaving a tip. We left the exact amount to the penny.

I'm not sure we'll be going back.

And that may just be fine with them.

Bracket Update

As we go into the second round, I stand at 23-9. I went 13-3 on Thursday, which was great, except for George Mason. Anyone who's followed the tourney over the years knows that the 5-12 matchup gets weird. I think last year was one of the few where no 12th seed pulled the upset. The Zags have pulled it off a couple of times. So I screwed up and picked Mason, and missed it by not picking Villanova or WKentucky.

A note on some of the matchups...:

Seems that, especially the past two years, the selection committee in a desire to prove their own misguided logic that the so-called mid-major teams don't belong in the tourney because they don't perform well, have again made matchups like Davidson-Gaonzaga, Butler-So Alabama, and Drake-WKentucky. Matchups between two mid majors which do nothing but pad their stats. Last year one of the matchups that really pissed me off was Butler-Old Dominion. Every year fewer and fewer small schools get chosen, because in the eyes of the NCAA, They don't perform well. Fuck 'em...

put the Zags against Baylor, Davidson against Purdue, What the fuck was So Alabama doing as a 10 seed anyway? Put Butler against someone like oh... Arizona, and Drake against Villanova. Mid-major schools against the big league schools. If a St Mary's gets whooped by a Miami, I can live with it. 'nuff widat...

10-6 yesterday wasn't so good, but for some reason it usually works out that I do much better one day than the other, or much better with morning games than late games. Go figure. Still, my brackets aren't severely busted. I didn't lose my championship matchup, or anything like that.

Yet.

Two years ago Mason broke damn near everyone's bracket by making the Final Four, and I think it was the year before, that Marquette went the the FF with Dwayne Wade. I think my entire FF was wiped out in the second round that year. Big worries today are Pitt-MichSt and Wazzou-NotreDame. Most experts are picking Pitt in the first, and I can't get any points no matter who wins the second, since I'd picked Mason to get there and win. Because I "picked the wrong upsets" I'm in the same boat tomorrow with 'Nova-Siena and WKY-San Diego. so...

Who do I like/want in those matchups? Wellll... I gotta root for the Cougs since I can't resist (historic) underdogs. Before the Bennetts arrived, the Cougs would have improved if they'd sucked. They're solid in some ways; they tend to not beat themselves, but I don't think they can match up against ND's big guy, Whatisface. I go with the Irish. 'Nova's tough, obviously. You don't come back from being down 18 other wise. I had a feeling about Siena, backed up by a wee bit of fact, but still, they beat a Vandy team that had lost 7 of their last 10. They believe in themselves though, so I go with them. I'm going to take SD too, for the simple reason that they're coached by Bill Grier who was a 'Zaga assistant for a shitload of years. In his first year he knocks off the Zags in the WCC finals and bumps UConn who was an 11 point favorite.* We could just possibly find out that he was the man behind the man and the one who made that program hum for the past 10 years.

There you have it; My schpiel. Now let the beer flow and the games begin.

Shit...

Gotta go look at houses. Speaking of which, Ms Thang found an apartment. Free, free, We're free at last!!! This'll be the first time the wife and I have lived totally by ourselves since we've been together. Once we get settled that is. And if we don't kill each other in the process.

*reminds me that Kelso is a professional, and I never tried to check to see who he's picking. He seems to know his shit.

Another Thing that'll Make You Go Hmmmm....

Got this from Dale the other day and I have to say I find the coincidence(s)? fascinating. To think for one that all these ... well fuck. You read it and decide for yourselves if it's strange or not:


Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a
little over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico. This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal Agencies and organizations.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following
people were born:

Albert A. Gore, Jr.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
John F. Kerry
William J. Clinton
Howard Dean
Nancy Pelosi
Dianne Feinstein
Charles E. Schumer
Barbara Boxer

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?


CLEARLY someone out there is NOT following the Prime Directive as we know it.

Just as clearly, someone is not happy with our (lack of) democratic leadership, and one of them would be, Dale. I guess it just shows that advanced technology and intelligence can't solve the basic problem of Conservatism. Actually...

Even more clearly...

Sheep genes or no...

Feinstein was a looker in her prime and I'd still do a tumble with either Boxer or Pelosi (come on guys, you would too), so there seems to be definite advantages to incorporating alien DNA into our own. OK...

nothing's foolproof...

Bill and Chris M can have Hillary.

Sometimes You Gotta Ask, WTF? ???

And it's not always cuzz of something a Refuckyoucan does either. I'm going to apologize to this guy in advance, because I don't want him to get the idea that I think ill of him, by introducing him in a post where I also mention the dregs of society.

I ran across this guy by a convoluted process: I was reading comments on one of DCup's posts, and found one by the Angry Ballerina. Somehow from her blog, I was led to this guy. I wanna say right here that all three of these people can write. And write well. And be interesting while doing so. So anyway...

While I don't necessarily hit these folks every single day, I know of them when I see one of their comments. So it was just a bit ago that while reading comments to a post of JP's, that I found a link to this one by the Minstrel Boy. I mean, I've heard of truffles. I've heard of live blogging. For some fucking reason, Live Truffle Blogging... WTF?

BTW...

Ms Angry

Mr Minstrel

Welcome to my humble abode and blog roll.

Just so You Know

I haven't posted much in the past week or so. I've always been bad about responding to my commentors, and that trend continues. Finally responded to Dcup's note from last Friday. Of course if I knew what the hell I was doing, I guess I would have a widget or something set up to alert me to such things. This time I have an excuse: I've been working OT; 7 - 10s until further notice. Gets better though...

I have upcoming carpal tunnel surgery. Not sure exactly when that'll happen, but hopefully soon. My doc faxed off the paperwork to the worker' comp people (L&I or LnI here in WA) to get approval. I'm tired of walking around feeling like my thumb and first two fingers are stuck in a light socket. This operation will only be for the right wrist. The left is going to need it too though and that's going to mean a new claim; fun, fun. And then let's hope that the problems are limited to my wrists.

To make a short story long, I won't be able to post for a while while I recover.

How's that Bush Health Care Policy Working for You, Tony?

So Tony Snow needs to make more money, eh? His fight with colon cancer continues, but for some reason it's the money issue that's making all the press. Does Bush pays his cronies in peanuts, or what? I remember Tom Ridge had to resign from Homeland Stupidity, because he needed more money to put his kids through college. Does Tony have college age kids? Seriously, Why does he need more money?

OK, so maybe that's a dumb question. Hell, I want more money, and probably would even if I didn't have real reasons like a wife who had to quit work to look after her Mom who has dementia, with a freeloading recovering stepdaughter, and grandmonster, in the house, and Carpal Tunnel surgery on the horizon. I might want more money even if I had as much as the average Bush crony/contributor/spokesliar. Still My mind keeps coming back to the cancer issue, wondering what kind of insurance the bush White House offers its minions. Does it cover pre-existing conditions? Does it have caps? Copays? Deductibles? Or is the White House the model for Dub's proposed "health care savings accounts?"

Maybe he just wants to go wild before he dies. Traveling; partying; building a sex dungeon?

Gone So Long, I Forgot a Title

Damn, it's been a long time since I posted anything, and longer still since I posted anything worth reading (if I ever did.) That whole bullshit thing at work, with the time clock, threw me off much more than it should have. Then there was the visit by the wife's niece and nephew ( the Republican's kids) and an overlapping visit by the cool brother-in-law from New York, with his partner. Things are almost back to normal, or as normal as they ever get around here (or in any household): the Mother-in-law is parked in her usual spot playing solitaire at the dining room table, looking out at Greenlake -- which she likes to point out is actually blue -- and the mountains, while the wife plays sudoku at the counter and answers her repeated questions about where she lives, for how long, with whom, and when the kids and her son are going to get here to visit. That's right, her son just left and she has no clue he was here. Sad; really sad. The grandmonster was running around making enough noise for an army, as many 7-yo boys are prone to do, but now he's picked up a dust mop and is busy cleaning and frightening my dog; she hates any kind of contraption, no matter how simple. I don't think Ms Thing poking her head out of her cave for a sec to scold her kid had much to do with him quieting down; I think he just needs a variety regarding whose nerves he irritates. Me? I'm just sitting here being my boring self. one thing...

Back on the Fourth of July I announced that I was going to attempt to quit smoking, using Chantix. Well as of midnite-ish tonight, it will be one whole week without. The week before last,I went nearly four days without (95 hours, and yes, I was counting.) It's taken a long time, but hopefully I've done it. Some of the toughest hurdles were: Not having one first thing in the morning; Not having one just before bed; Not having one during the drive to or from work; Not having one while on the crapper; Not having one after eating; Not having one while having a glass of wine; And on and on. A step at a time, a day at a time, blah blah. Which makes me wonder: When will I be a non-smoker?

The 12-steppers seem to have this thing about "being in recovery," or always being a "Recovering _____," (fill in the blank yourself), as if the job is never done, the struggle is never over, as if there is no such thing as success... as if they were once dependent on some thing or substance, and now are dependent on the group/program. Maybe they're right. After all, I did once quit for 8 1/2 years only to start again and smoke for 20+ yrs. But then what about positive thinking? "I think, therefore I am?" If I always think I'm quitting, will I ever truly quit? Will I ever think and believe that I am a non-smoker? that I truly no longer smoke? that I will never smoke again? When will I (be able to) quit counting hours, days, weeks, months... without? When will I be able to ditch the toothpicks?

I don't want to become a self-righteous anti-smoking Nazi, nor do I want to forever have to wear the scarlet S and walk through life as if I need forgiveness for the horrible sin I've committed.

Whatever the hell happens, it'll be nice to be able to walk up a fight of steps and carry on a conversation without reaching the top, gasping for breath.

Smart Questions; Stupid Answers

Someone put up a sign where I work not long ago that merely said, "Fuck it." I noticed a few days later that someone added to it, "OK, but you're it." Not in the same way at all, but Jess has decided I'm it. This is a first for me, but here goes. My answers to five questions of which I've never thought:

1. Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008. Our side won! How do you celebrate?

Hmmm.... Call in sick to start. Bang the beejeezus out of the wife. Double shots of Irish Cream in my coffee. Host a barbecue for the neighborhood.

2. Are you on a boat or are you a land lubber or do you soar?

I live in a house, on land, but I love being on the water. I fished and crabbed when I lived in Southeast Alaska, and there's nothing like falling asleep on a boat at anchor. It's just like being rocked to sleep in a cradle. Of natural DD boobs. on a different note, I consider myself a fairly down-to-earth logical person. Not highly imaginative, unless the subject is a bit perverse. Fairly predictable, unless in mixed company and expected to behave.

3. What was the last mistake you wished you could cover up?

Probably that time I was wrong. Actually, I can't really think of one, and that's not meant to imply that I'm at all perfect. There's no real need to cover up honest mistakes. It's intentional lies, law breaking and outright stupidity that need covering, like Vitter's shit, or giving over your credit card in a titty bar.

4. Are your omelettes fluffy?

Shit. I haven't attempted one in about ten years. Now I'm going to have to go make one to find out.

5. When was the last time your paradigm shifted?

"Paradigm: 1: model, pattern 2: a systematic inflection of a verb or noun showing a complete conjugation or declension." Riiiiight... Hmmmmm... Welllllll... Since being married and having a step-family, it seems like things are constantly shifting. Dealing with my mother-in-law's dementia is always a challenge. It's gotten to the point now, where she doesn't know where she lives most of the time. Then there's life with the step-daughter and grandmonster. They recently moved in after she decided to kick her oxycontin addiction. She and I NEVER got along, but she's been taking her treatment/recovery seriously and is undergoing some real changes. I hope that she continues, but I fear that she won't. She's earned a bit of my respect, and I've actually come to kind of like her. I don't have to put up with her; I can enjoy her company and conversation. Sounds easy, right?

Life was easier when I hated her. I never gave a rat's ass what she did, or if she got into trouble -- except with regards as to how she would pawn off the consequences to my wife and I. Now I worry. I don't want to see her relapse into the bitch-queen she was, who thought that acting grown up and accumulating things, was the same as being grown up and earning your place in life. She wants to act like a teenager and I want to slap her silly and ground her even though I know that neither would do her any good. She talks about guys and instead of me worrying about them knowing what they light be getting into, I worry about her getting her heart broken or just feeling used and thrown away. I'm not used to that. At all. It's like being a fucking dad or something.

There. Done.