My August from Hell...

I've had some bad years in my life. I've had some bad months too--quite a few, in fact. I've also had some days in my lifetime that have been, well...not so good. Yesterday was one of them. In fact I would go so far as to say that yesterday could have been one of the most stressful days in my entire life! I wouldn't say that it was a bad day, or a horrible day even...just stressful.

First, some background on my August...

As many of you know, I don't live in the best place in the world. My apartment complex is a warn down rat and roach infested hovel left over from the sixties, when people would come to this area for recreation and a place to spend the winter near the beach. I'm not sure that it was even intended to be used for permanent housing like it has been for at least the last twenty years. The places don't even have real foundations! They are just set up on blocks. Anyway, the repairs have been non-existent since that time, and my landlord has just now started getting into trouble with the tenants by them calling the city code enforcement. Of course, like a true slum lord, he's just ignoring them.

Two apartments in particular are in question. One is the one right next door to me. The woman called the city over a month ago and he was told to fix the place then, and that was followed two weeks later by another apartment just across the courtyard from me, just birds eye view away. That apartment is actually posted as uninhabitable now, a big orange tag placed next to the door stating that the landlord has 30 days to make repairs or the city will condemn the place. He's not allowed to make repairs on the place without calling the city and telling them what he is doing either (they are trying to force him to pull permits for the work), and he's not allowed to remove the sticker without paying a fine of 200 bucks. Big whoop, right?

My landlord has one single workman working on these places and he's done a bang up job at taking care of some very simple cosmetic things, but not at doing what the city has requested of the landlord to do. Since the landlord has made these cosmetic changes, he thinks that he can just go ahead and rent these apartments to anyone now, even though they haven't been inspected by the city and the tags haven't been removed. About a week ago, I was standing out on the lawn talking to one of my neighbors when a very drunk man stumbled into the complex talking on the phone intently showed up pacing up and down the sidewalk looking at the fronts of the apartments. He couldn't find apartment six, which was smack dab in the middle, right next to my apt. He kept walking past five and then on to eight, and then back to five again. It took the three of us to show him where apt six was! I later found out that my landlord, in his wisdom, decided to take the first idiot that picked up a phone and rent to him on the promise that he would pick up some money later on that day. What a fool!

The man didn't have the money. He'd told the landlord that he was working at a Walmart construction site just up the street. He wasn't. In fact, he was a homeless guy that had been living in his truck (How he got that I'll never know) under the bay bridge for the past week or two. Unfortunately for us, our landlord is a sucker for helping people in a bad spot. He let the guy stay as long as he would clean the apartment of the mess that the last tenants had left behind.

And this is where the crazy begins...

We noticed that the guy was just strange. He would sit with the door open to the apartment, butt planted on his makeshift bed in the center of the living room (there are two bedrooms!) in his apartment and just stare at the wall, or out into the courtyard. He didn't say squat to anyone, but rather would just sit there and look absolutely nuts.

After that first night, I had a visit from a friend from down the street that I give rides to the grocery store to. She walked up to see me specifically to tell me that I now have a serious crack addict living next door to me, and to watch out because he was very bad news. This guy was so bad in fact, that the local crack house would no longer allow him in because he kept screwing people over! Now we've hit spooky territory! This woman isn't a crack addict herself, but she lives across the street from the place, and the guy that really owns the house speaks to her from time to time, so I trust that she has at least a clue. I decided to call the landlord and tell him about this guy. He's creeping me out, and I need to be able to feel safe in my home, you know? Right now, I'm not feeling so safe!

I call him that night. He shows up the next day and I guess he talks to the guy and tells him to get out. The landlord leaves, and the guy doesn't get out. This goes on and on for a full week. Finally, the landlord realizes that the guy hasn't done anything he's said he would do. He's not cleaned the apartment, he's not given him any money to pay to move in, and so he insists the guy leave the apartment. I later find out that this is because he's found new renters for the apt next to me. The guy tells him fine...I'll go stay at the other place then and clean it up. Mind you...this is the place with the sticker that says it's uninhabitable. My landlord says okay...and tells me that the guy can stay for one night to clean up the place and then he's out of there! I realize that night that Dana has left something outside. I run out to get it and it's gone!! I KNOW where it is, but figure I'd wait until the next day when the guy is out and run over and get it.

The next day the guy leaves in the morning, so I go and get this item. It's in the middle of the living room, just as I expect. I take it home, thinking everything is fine. This guy shows up at about 5pm again, and that's when things start to get really weird. Dana sees him and asks him "Aren't you supposed to be out today?"

"No, I talked to the landlord and he said I can keep staying in that apt."

AND HE HAS THE KEYS! "Oh Darn!" I think to myself, "He's going to go in there and think that I've stolen that item that he stole from me."

This guy starts sitting at the doorway just staring out into the courtyard at my house for hours on end, and really freaking me out! He's made it so we are even afraid to both leave the apartment at once for fear he will break in and kill our dog and steal the rest of our stuff! We have some things worth a little bit in here too, so it's not like we don't have good reason to be freaking out!

Yesterday Dana is coming home and notices that the door to the apartment next door is open. It's right next to our front door, so he looks in as he stops to unlock our front door. The new tenants have been there to pick up the keys, and they aren't the ones in there! He's found another chair and set it in the middle of the doorway there and is just looking out the door...staring into space...saying nothing. Dana explains to him that the apartment has been rented to other people. His response is "I'm just sitting here. I'm not causing any trouble."

Well what do you say to that?

When we left four hours later to go to the store, we realized that he was still sitting in that room, so I decided to stay home while Dana went to the store. We will no longer leave the apt vacant until this guy is gone!

Later yesterday night, I have to leave to go to Mom and Dads. Usually, both Dana and I go over there on Saturdays. Dana does work in the yard to earn extra cash, and I sit and visit with Mom. I went alone last night because of this. As I'm leaving the parking lot, I see the lady I know down the street pacing in the street and waving her arms around talking on the phone. She's seems to be crying, so I drive up to her, slow down and ask what's wrong.

"My Baby has run away!" she shrieks. She tries to explain what happens through gasps of air, tears, and carrying on a conversation on the phone with the police, all at the same time. I gather from the conversation what has happened. She got into a fight with her 10-year-old daughter and her daughter stormed off. I offer to go and look...I still have about a half hour before I have to be at my Mom's. She lets me go.

I drive around the neighborhood, thinking that this little girl couldn't have gotten far in the ten minutes that this woman said since she left. I looked and looked, but didn't find her. Out of courtesy I drove back by her house to tell her that I'd had no luck and to tell her that I was moving on to my Moms house, but that I'd keep my eyes open on the way and on the way home.

Almost 3/4 of the way to Mom and Dads house I see this little girl trudging up the sidewalk. She's obviously a mess...dehydration wise. It's 107 degrees heat index outside and YES, this is the little girl I'm looking for. I pull the car off of the road and run over to her, stopping her.

"Do you know me?" I ask.

"Yes."

"You know I'm your neighbor, and I give rides to your Mom and Dad to the grocery store a couple times a week?"

"Yes"

"Will you trust me enough to get in my car? It's not safe for you out here."

She nods her head and we go to my car.

My first notion is to get this poor girl some kind of liquid and a cool atmosphere. I take her across the street to the Convenience store and buy her a large Slurpee type drink. I ask her where she thought she was going, and she told me that she was going up to her school to see her principal, and then she figured she would play on the swings and calm down before she headed back home. I told her I would take her there if she promised me that she would go directly home with me right after we stopped there, and she agreed. Of course I had already realized that it was a Saturday, and it was also 6:15pm. She wasn't going to find anyone at the school at all! I tell her that she needs to give me her Mom's phone number so I can call her and let her know that she's alright, and that she is with me. She reluctantly does so.

That was about the time I realized my position. Here I am, a 46 year old man, and I've picked up a little girl who had been reported missing to the police! If they caught me with her...OMG! I would not be passing go OR collecting $200!!

I called the number and got her Father. That wasn't good. Fathers tend to react more violently when their children are involved. I tell the man what I promised her I would do, and he says "NO--YOU BRING HER HOME NOW"

Ah crap.

I try to explain that I'm afraid that she'll bolt, but he's too busy hollering at me to bring her home. He's not listening. I have no choice but to agree. I go and get the girl, and get her into the car. I explain what her father has said. I show the girl the clock in the car and explain to her that her principal isn't going to be there. She relents, thank GOD, and lets me take her home.

I'll never do that again!!!

I'm free, finally to go to Mom and Dads! I'm only about forty minutes late for dinner, but I can go! I'm spending time with Mom when she decides that it's time for her to take the dog for his nightly walk. Now mind you, my Mom is in a Hoveround type chair, and she walks this white fluffy Spitz dog named Fritz while riding in her chair every night at 7. Tonight I decide not to go and stay with Dad for a while. After about 20 minutes of being gone, I decide to take a smoke break out in the front yard.

After a few minutes of smoking and relaxing, I look up to find TWO fairly good size pigs walking down the street. One is Black, one is brown. Wow! Wildlife in suburban Corpus! I need to go get Dad! And then it dawns on me...my Mom is roaming around in the neighborhood with this fluffy white dog that thinks he's Godzilla, and if he sees these pigs...Mom could be in trouble! Woot! Another adrenaline squirt heading Mykey's way!

Extremely long story short, because I'm tired of writing, Mom showed up fifteen minutes later. She had to ride across the street from the pigs, but she made it home fine, and the dog remained quiet until he got home. THEN he thought he had territory to protect from those vicious hogs. The police came and followed the pigs back to the wild area at the end of the block. It took them another half hour to walk down two driveways.

The whole thing could have been much worse. The pigs down here can become violent, and they are dangerous. Luckily these weren't.

PS...on the way home that night, my back brakes shattered and I now have metal to metal brake grinding going on. This just doesn't get old, does it?

Holding the Tea Party responsible for the Washington Mess.

I have been patient, and understanding, and as non judgmental as I can be to friends and family who are supportive of the tea party, but today it ends. I cannot believe that you are so blind as to continue to support these crazy ass people that "you the people" have voted into congress. I'm even more shocked that you want more of them.

Because of the tea party, the debt deal will probably not pass through the congress. The result of this not passing is that NOTHING will happen and the US's triple A credit rating is going to go down the tubes. Now, lets get some things straight so that you understand ME.

I think we all agree that something has to be done about the insane spending in Washington. The thing is, we don't have to do something about it RIGHT NOW. We can delay the changes, even make them a priority once this credit crisis has been muddled through. Right now, that HAS to be the goal. If you want, stop everything else coming up on the docket after this and work solely on the budget. What is so hard about that?

I'm mortified with the things that Obama has put on the table as well. Social Security, Disability, military pay should NEVER be compromised. We American's have paid into those programs for all of our lives, and they should NOT be tampered with. I'm hearing that the tea party approves of this, and wants to cut 40% out of our poor and disabled folks' checks. This is NOT acceptable, and I can't believe that tax cuts and loopholes for the rich are going to be afforded on the backs of these poor people. Tea Partiers should be ashamed!!!

I'm so angry that I can't even think straight right now. I need to shut up. Washington needs to do what we pay them to do and quit screwing around with the welfare of the American people. The tea party is wrong...We don't support them anymore.

Nightmares

For about the past six months, I've been having a terrible time sleeping at night. I think I've finally discovered the reason why.

About a year ago, I had what I called a "Demonic Dream". Since that time I decided to keep a Dream Journal and see what comes of it. Looking back over it, I've discovered that the problem is that I have nightmares...lots and lots of nightmares.

My nightmares aren't typical either. Last night I had a horrible dream that was a repeater...I had it three times before I woke up near screaming, and each time was more vivid and graphic than the time before. I'll put it in a nutshell for you....I dreamed that a dog bit the head off of a cat and then he turned on me. I wound up having to shoot the dog, but he wouldn't die. I had shot him in the head twice by the time I woke up, and I was so covered in my own blood and full of holes that I couldn't tell whether I was going to survive or not. There were some stupid "gay" overtones to the dream too, but I don't think that they are worth mentioning...something about having a Gay Beach Day in Des Moines, and making special necklaces out of "Bumblebee Beads"...weird stuff.

I've had worse dreams than this one too. The demonic dreams are tame in comparison, but they scare me just as much and there's usually not any blood and gut involved in those.

It's possible that my nightmares are a product of the medications that I take. If this is the case, then I'm screwed! I am rather dependent on these medications now after having taken them for three + solid years, and it's going to be a bear to drop them!

Anyway, it's not the right time to drop them. I have had something happen recently that's really troubling me. I've lost feeling to the skin on my right leg from the knee down to my ankle. I can feel my foot, but I'm wondering if when I stop taking the medication if that feeling is going to turn to pain, or just stay a numb sort of feeling. That would really suck if it turned into pain. I think that somehow though I've managed to have another disc herniate and this is just the progression of my De-generative Disk Disease, and if I do stop taking the more narcotic medications right now, I'll suffer from even greater pain. I have an appointment with my pain Doc next Monday, and hopefully he'll help me get to the bottom of this pain thing.

I could probably go on and on, but I'm off of the main subject now as it is. I may post other nightmares, but I'm afraid that you all will think I'm a mass murderer in Mike's body or something. A LOT of them have to do with killing people or wandering into situations where people want to kill me. There's lots of blood and guts in them, and they're just ucky.

If anyone has any suggestions to offer to help me with these dreams (aside from praying before bed...I do that already) please drop me a line and let me know.

Thanks!

So much to do and no time to do it in...

The title says it all. I have waaaay to much to do, and no time to get it done in. I'm trying to get the house packed and get ready to move to Corpus Christi, but I'm overwhelmed and it's taking me way longer to do it than it should be.

I think that the big problem is that I really have forgotten how to move long distance. We need to have a sale, but having a sale in the dead of winter is a really big problem! It's going to have to be well advertised, and it's going to have to be indoors. My house is a nightmare! I'm nowhere ready to have a sale! The things I need to sell too, like a refrigerator, and a freezer, and a couple of dressers are all items that I need to continue using for the time being too...especially the fridge. How does one sell things that they are going to continue to need until they leave?? See what I mean? I've totally forgotten how to do it!

The money issues are really starting to make me cave too. I'm going to need a truck, and I only want to rent it for the shortest amount of time that I can. The size truck that we need is the biggest one, and it's going to cost $1200 to use it for a week and return it down in Corpus. That's a butt load of money in my book. Not to mention we are going to need deposit money, and first and last months rent possibly to get an apartment. All of that is stress, and the stress is really getting to me.

I'm open to advice, opinions, and any good ideas. "You should just stay" is not an option, so don't say it. I've already let the house go, so I can't even do that anymore.

Talk to me people!

Thanks!

Attempting to quit Smoking again, but with Chantix.

Monday morning I started taking the stop smoking drug "Chantix". That was three days ago, and finally today I started noticing things that make me wonder just where this drug is taking me. I have to say, it's not necessarily a good thing either. I'm smoking cigarettes, like I'm supposed to be doing for the first week, but today I started noticing that they are NOT satisfying me in the least. The very minute I put one out, I'm wanting another one. So what do I do? I smoke another one, and find that I'm wanting yet another... and so on, and so on.

Not good. My big complaint about the nicotine patch was that when I started using it I was only smoking a pack and a half a day, and when I came off of it I was smoking two and a half packs. I can't have something like that happening again!

I'm going to search around on the web and see if I can find a group of people using Chantix that have formed a sort of support group and try to join up with them. I keep hearing about people having success with Chantix AND support, so there must be something out there somewhere. Maybe I should try to do hypnosis too? This time I definitely want to make it a success.

I'll keep you all posted.

Mike

A New, Potentially Demonic, Case

Last night I got a call from the leader of our hunting group, and he like NEVER calls me. So, I obviously knew from the moment that I saw he number on my caller ID that it was going to be a doozy of a call.

This case takes place just outside of town, and from what I've been told it may possibly contain elements of demonic possession. Apparently one of the homeowners has gone into a trance like state two times in the past month, each of which being caused by some type of emotional upheaval. One of the episodes included her eyes changing colors, and another one was precipitated with a feeling of bugs or flies crawling all over her and another member in the household. In yet another episode, another of the family members almost had physical injury done to him when his hand was gripped by the other so hard that he felt his bones were going to break. He claims that the strength was almost inhumanly strong.

There are rumours about this area of town having been a haven for satanists during the sixties and seventies, but I don't know if that bears any creedence or not as they are just wat I stated--rumours. However, one of the younger members of the household claims that he sees people in the garage and describes them as having horns on their heads. Verrrrry creepy.

I'm not mentally ready to take on a demonic case I don't think, but I guess I'm going to have to get ready to. The last one really gave me a taste of reality that I didn't want to even know about, and I wasn't at all prepared for, even though I really thought I was. It still haunts me in my mind to know that something like that is even out there, preying on fear the way it is. And wow...I really gave that one a serious dose of good eatin'.

I'm going to pray that this one isn't like that, and that it's just creepy things happening that SEEM demonic but really aren't. I cannot do an exorcism, as I think I need to be much stronger before I even consider it. I will try to gather that strength though, just in case, as I can't even begin to imagine the feelings of the poor people who are actually living with this thing.

That's all for now!

Communication

For some reason, I just can't seem to talk to people in the way I want to, and I'm starting to think that I may need to take some kind of communication class or something. People don't know how to take me sometimes. For example...

Today I asked one of my employees if he would mind coming in an hour later tomorrow and working for an extra hour...still the same amount of hours as he would total, and he basically told me that it WAS going to be a problem. Of course I was frustrated because I have things to do on Sat Morning, but I decided to step outside and smoke while I thought about the situation. Apparently he took what I was doing totally wrong, because he stormed out the door while I was in mid-thought, muttering under his breath, and obviously VERY pissed off at me. I tried to get him to stop and come back to talk to me, but he would not do it.

I think he thought that I was throwing a tantrum or something when I really wasn't, but rather I was trying to think of a way to make everyone happy. Since that time, I've come up with something that would have worked...sigh...and he's nowhere to be found. I could call him, but I want to give him enough space.

I hate it that this has happened though. I HATE being misunderstood, and I need to find a way to prevent it from happening as much as it does.