One foot in front of the other

Well this has been a stressful month for me, but things are finally improving. I got approved for an apartment, which means no more roommates and no more living with my oldest daughter, aka, Satan. Seriously, this child is not my best work. It's been a very hostile living situation for a while. As if life isn't stressful enough. My oldest daughter reminds me a lot of my mother, actually. She berates me constantly, never has a kind word to say, and is just generally unpleasant. She's a very 'what's in it for me' kind of person - and as soon as my car broke down again, I was of no use to her. My younger daughter, on the other hand, is a princess. She's sweet and loving and does everything she can to stay out of her sister's way. We all do, really. It's just been such a nightmare. But having been evicted when I lost my job last year, it has been extremely difficult to get approved for a place to live. I found an apartment locator who worked hard to find a place for me, and I'm so thankful that I found him! If you're ever in need of that kind of help, please call him. Bryan Williams at Apartment Dispatch. You can find him if you google.

So the car is still sitting in Richardson at the shop. I've gone back and forth on the 'offer' I got from the Russian guy. Is $500 worth of auto repairs worth losing my dignity and self respect? I really haven't decided yet.

Work is incredibly stressful. I've been put into a role that I'm not good at - hardass. I'm such a nice person, and everyone is doing a great job, just not great enough. We're all paying for the mistakes made by the previous workers, and suddenly we're expected to do a 360 and make it all work when nothing or no one did for over a year. I've had a month with the new staff, and things are getting better, just not fast enough for management. Dammit. I love this job and I'm not good at being the bad guy.

I don't have any shows scheduled at the moment. Probably a good thing, as I have a lot of other stuff to take care of in the next couple of weeks. My bass player called and apologized for being such a shit to me. He's stressed out too. Performers can be so dramatic. He may be coming to see me soon, but I'm not making him any promises. For all intents and purposes, I'm still officially single.

And I've been watching a friend basically drink himself to death. He's way too young to be so far gone and it kills me. I've tried to talk to him about it and he brushes me off with the usual, "I can handle it, don't worry about me" bullshit. Fine. I've decided that we just can't be friends anymore. The final straw was Saturday morning, when he called me at 7 AM and asked, "Where's New Braunfels?" Near Austin, I said. "Oh, well that's where I am. I don't know how I got here." Great. Enjoy your slow and painful death, buddy.

One day at a time, folks. One foot in front of the other. I'll make it. We all will.