Thoughts on a Sunny Thursday, Continued

This is SO not what I want my life to be. I find myself daydreaming, lately, of a farmhouse in Wisconsin, with big airy bright rooms and grassy fields all around--where I can leave the windows open at night and hear the crickets. Don't get me wrong--I still love my city--but I really need to get away.

I want my house back. I am tired of running a Motel 6, complete with amenities--towel service, mini-bar, and technical assistant to put your personal ad up on BlackPlanet.com. I am tired of LJ's friends, and I am unspeakably tired of Tim's cats--oh, I never DID blog about THIS development.

When the contractors called me and told me that the windows would be ready in about a week, I e-mailed Tim (because I didn't have his phone number) and told him that he needed to get his cats out of my house, because I was having work done. I also told him that I was pissed because he hadn't contacted me since New Years, even though he'd said back then that he planned to have an apartment the first of February. (I didn't care that he didn't HAVE the apartment--I just wanted to be kept up to date on the plans, and I made that clear.)

A couple of days later, I get a voice-mail from Tim. Among the highlights: "Well, I didn't know that you were having work done on your house!" Of course you didn't know, asshat--you didn't call for TWO MONTHS. "And I didn't know that you didn't have my number..." Not that it matters, but it's not MY responsibility to check in with YOU--you're not the one who's doing the favor for ME, it's the other way around!! And all of this is being said with a definite attitude of incomprehension at why I might possibly be annoyed. "So I'm really confused about this e-mail, and I've been really busy, and..." Don't be confused: I'm angry. You didn't call for. TWO. MONTHS. I have had your cats for a YEAR AND A HALF now, and I am tired of them, and I am ready to take them to the pound. Is that clear enough? Not confusing? "...So give me a call when you get a chance."

I still haven't called him, because I still haven't calmed down enough to be able to have a reasonable conversation with him. Nor do I have the time, emotionally, to listen to his ranting and raving about his life and all the obstacles it's presenting him--obstacles which are largely of his own creation, if he would just look at his actions critically. And HOW could someone not understand this very basic premise: If someone is doing a favor for you--an ongoing favor which requires more than a little of their time, effort, and energy--it is a very, very basic tenet of good manners to keep in touch with that person, no matter how "busy" you allegedly are? ESPECIALLY when, in the past, you have had no problem calling them collect, or at work, or in the middle of the night, just because YOU needed something from them??

I am DONE with Tim. I am beginning to see why people become jaded and stop doing things to help their fellow human beings--because of people like Tim, who mess it up for everyone. Right now my main goal is to have all interlopers--both two-legged and four-legged--out of my house before the summer is over. I need some peace, and I need to feel like my house is my own. Right now I have neither of those things.