"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Tuesday, January 7
Hello Again
It's been quite a while since I've written. The entire second half of 2002 was eaten by personal problems, problems that (I hope) have mostly been worked out by now. As frequent readers (ha!) may recall, I lost my job back in June. Due to a variety of reasons, my wife and I decided to move from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Dallas. She got a job working for a local telecom equipment maker and I started looking for work. It was hard. For example:
Her: "Honey, why haven't you been able to find a job yet?" Me: "Well, Dear, the economy is in the toilet, more people are hiring than firing, and there are more qualified guys than me who haven't worked in over a year." Her: "I think you overlooked the fact that you're A FUCKIN' BUM! What are you sitting around here for! Get out there! Get a job! GO! GO! GO!"
And that was when we were lying in bed at midnight.
I finally started getting job interviews, then I was called back for some follow-ups, and finally, I got a job.
I got a job! I got a job!!! I got a job!!!!!!
I could go on, but you get the idea. Anyway, on my first day on the job, my wife got called into her boss' office and was told they would no longer require her services (as I said, she worked for a telecom company). The first clue they were in trouble: she was the accounts payable clerk, and there WAS NO accounts receivable clerk.
But I was working, and so we had at least stopped the bleeding. Our house, however, continued to sit on the market like a giant while elephant. A giant double-amputee white elephant. A narcoleptic double-amputee white elephant. The thing just wouldn't move! Eventually we decided that she'd move back to Shreveport and concentrate on selling the house, while I'd get a cheaper place here and concentrate on making money.
That's when fate stepped in, in the person of my dog.
On the last day of the year (December 31st for the calendar-impaired), our apartment manager called and said that our large black dog had bitten the maintenance man, and we'd have to move out immediately. To which I replied, "Our large black dog? You mean our MINIATURE SCHNAUZER?? Who have you got working here, elves? Can you really describe a breed as 'large' when it has 'miniature' right in the name?" But they agreed to let us out of our lease without penalties, and since this worked for our plans, we didn't argue much.
So now I'm looking for apartments. Yesterday I looked at a place in Euless (between Dallas and Fort Worth) that was pretty inexpensive, and that's the nicest thing I can say about it. The rent is $440 per month, but they're running a special right now: $35 for the application fee, deposit, and first month's rent. After seeing the apartment, I can say without fear of contradiction that the deposit is right on the money, as no one could do more than $35 worth of damage to the place no matter how hard they tried. When I told my wife about it and how much it cost she said, "Hmmm. That's just too much." So today I'm looking into a cardboard box by the highway.
