| Tuesday March 19th 2002 I'm pleased to announce that even my wife's inviting over a new male friend while I'm still in the house has not driven me to drink. The idea was he would only be there while I was killing time at the club, but to be on the safe side I went to a bar (and played NTN trivia next to a gallon of soda pop, so you get the picture) for an additional hour, dropped by the grocery store afterward, and didn't get home until nearly 11:30. He was still there. I want to be totally fair about this situation. It's over between us, like I've said before I'm not too sorry about it, and we're both moving on. But this was like, the worst invasion of privacy I've ever experienced. This is still technically speaking, my home we're talking about here, and here's this guy... hard to describe. I'll just summarize by saying it was a very bad night for me and I want to move the heck out as soon as possible. I really didn't want to go to chess club last night. I'm not enjoying it, or the thought of it anyway, like I used to. When I signed up last fall, it was something to do, a reason to get out, something to look forward to on a Monday night. Last night it felt like a hole in the ground I didn't want to get caught in. Till I got there, anyway. Chess is soothing on the nerves; you can't afford to think about anything else and I didn't, for three solid hours. Now that was something I definitely needed, and I was grateful afterwards that I had it. It isn't New Year's, but I'm making a resolution anyway; to expand my social circle as wide as possible, make new friends, and treat the ones I have like gold. In a big city where you have no relatives and the person who was closest to you is now the one you want to be farthest from, they're a lifeline. Just having somebody to hang out with can make a world of difference. So all you folks I've been doing that with lately, thanks a million. Writing here is pretty cathartic too, almost as good as talking about it. I'd find more to say, but I'm getting absolutely buried in phone messages and email today - typical financial year end mess here at work - and my lunch hour's up anyway. |