Just Quit

[This entry was scheduled to be posted on Thursday afternoon. See second paragraph. Looks like my spidey-sense was tingling Thursday for a reason. Psycho boss threatened to fire me and a coworker if we "repeated anything he said about us to the other". I merely asked him if he were serious. He then told me to get my stuff and go. Boom. Just like that. I am the eighth person (out of 11) out in just over a year and a half. Nice.]

It figures that during a week in which our country shows signs of coming to its senses, life seems to be trying to beat me senseless. Granted, I deserve most of whatever ill fortune God decides to dump on my head - but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Things at work have been ultra-tense again. I work for a small company that tends to mow through its people with regularity. This place has turned over 6 of the 10 full time office positions since I came on in April of '05. Two of my coworkers appear to be on their way out as well. This place is a veritable slaughterhouse. I've been bringing a lot of my workplace tension home, and I have not been very much fun to be around at all. I have become meaner, with a very short fuse. My plan was to try to stick it out here through the holidays, but I don't think that is in the cards.

We found out last night that our child care situation might have blown up in our faces. Our neighbors and good friends watch the baby during the week - and it is a good arrangement for everyone. They charge us a little less and offer us more flexibility than a day care would, and you can't beat their being right next door. They announced yesterday that they are putting their house on the market (I wouldn't want to live next door to me either), thus putting our situation in the lurch. We had agreed to continue the arrangement for this year based on our assumption that they would be living there through the end of the school year. At this point, we would be hard-pressed to find a good combination of quality, affordability (yeah, right!) and availability. Depending on where they move to, it could put us in a pretty bad spot.

Got a call from my Mom today informing of the results from my Dad's chest CT scan. They found a "nodule" on his lung. Wonderful. Chalk this one under the category of my not being happy about being right. In fact, I have been downright nasty to my parents lately concerning their decision-making - especially their refusal to quit smoking in the face of health problems and not really being able to afford cigarettes. My father has had heart issues over the past 5-6 years that have intensified of late. My mother has emphysema and osteoporosis. Most times when she laughs, it takes her a minute to recover from a coughing fit that sounds like there is a lawn gnome in her chest trying to escape. They just completed their adoption of my niece, the super-kid Gabby. I'm afraid neither of my parents is long for this world. They have no savings. No life insurance. They have their small house - which is in a state of disrepair that I am in negotiations with a contractor to work on, and that is it. I guess I have always known I'd be left holding the ball, I just thought I'd have more time than this.

There was talk in college that I might have been an alcoholic. However, I believe it's safe to say that I have no chemical dependence on alcohol. I have an affinity for meat/bread/cheese combinations, but when I say I am addicted to said foods, I am mostly joking. I have never done drugs, and thankfully I have never smoked a cigarette. I have read about addiction, but I have never suffered from one. I have a co-dependent personality, but that is it. So I can not say with any strength that I have a leg to stand on when I implore people to just quit smoking. I know it is not that easy. If it were, cigarettes would have gone the way of 8-track cassettes. As I have never smoked, I can't for the life of me understand why people continue to do it - even with the well-publicized health risks that come along with the "habit". But implore away I will. If there is some benefit or effect cigarettes bring to the table that I do not know of, then I apologize. But if there isn't, quit. Please. Please just quit. You get one shot on this planet, and there are very few things worth shortening your time here for. There is no way you can tell me that cigarettes fall under that category.

[Currently Listening: Men At Work - "Be Good Johnny"]