Tuesday, October 21, 2014

theEx and Jackass return

It’s been awhile because not too much has happened but it has hit the fan now.  A couple of weeks ago, theEx and the JackAss had taken the kids to Michigan City to the outlet mall.  I received a text from Samantha asking me to come get her and Trevor because the JackAss had gotten out of his wheelchair and chased Trevor in the middle of a store threatening to kick his ass.  So we drove all the way out (an hour or so) and picked them up and brought them home.  TheEx claimed she never saw it but the kids say she was standing right there when it happened.

The next day, TheEx had texted Samantha about it.  I’m not going to post screen caps (I do have them) but it’s not my conversation so I don’t feel I have the right to and I’m not going to ask but I will tell you what it said in my own words.

  • theEx asked why she didn’t come to her instead of texting me.
  • Samantha said she was scared and wasn’t thinking then apologized.
  • theEx asked if she thought the JackAss would hurt her or Trevor.
  • She responded with maybe.
  • theEx said you know he would never hurt you and asked what I was going to do about it.
  • Sam responded with he’s not going to do anything but gave us the option of only going over every other weekend.  She also told her she wanted to see her but the JackAss gets in the way.
  • theEx says that they can stay with me until she decides what to do with the JackAss.  Explains that she doesn’t know what she’s going to do as far as getting a divorce or not and admits to them not getting along and then asked if she would like it if she wasn’t with the JackAss anymore.
  • Sam responds with if that’s what you want, it’s your life but they don’t feel safe around him.
  • theEx asked why.
  • She says he threatens us a lot.
  • theEx asked if she’d be willing to give him another chance.
  • Sam says no.

After that, nothing.  Until the next day when the JackAss sent a text from theExes phone, pretending to be her.  It said, and I quote (except his name) “JackAss and I are  staying together.and if u don’t like tobad.he makes me happy.’' As you can tell, it isn’t hard to tell when he’s texting.  TheEx may be spineless but she can spell and use punctuation.

After that text, I sent this conversation.

Screenshot_2014-10-18-17-50-11

Then nothing for over a week.  The kids stayed with me the following weekend and then on Tuesday of the next week, theEx text Samantha and said that she was taking the JackAss to a doctor’s appointment on Friday but she would pick them up on Saturday for the rest of the weekend.  I talked to both of the kids about their feelings about going back.  Trevor said he’d go back and Samantha said she didn’t want to.  So I sent her a text saying she could pick Trevor up but Samantha doesn’t want to go.  She just responded with ok, I’ll text when we’re back in town. She didn’t even ask about Samantha not coming.

She started to text Samantha again last Saturday asking if she was willing to be around the JackAss, Samantha said she would as long as she got to see her.  TheEx then told her that she would have to leave her phone here and not bring it over there.  Samantha then decided that she didn’t want to go over there anymore.  Samantha got upset and was crying.  She ended up blocking both of their numbers when the JackAss started texting her.

Sunday, I get a phone call from Trevor, I answered, he basically said mom wants to talk to you.  She gets on the phone and asks to talk to Samantha.  I assume that was all set up because they believe that I wouldn’t take a call from her.  I called her out of her room and told her that her mom was on the phone and she said she didn’t want to talk to her.  So I told her, and she said she had been texting her but she’s not answering so I told her that she blocked both of their numbers on Saturday when the JackAss started texting her.

I ended up talking with Samantha after I hung up with her and basically told her that she needs to at least tell her mom why she’s not talking to her.  I asked if she wanted me to arrange a sit down with her and her mom, she said no.  I asked if she wanted Cheri and/or I to sit down with her and her mom.  No.  So I suggested her writing a note and we would get it to her and she said she would.

About half an hour later she came out with a piece of paper.  I assumed it would be about a paragraph but it was a full page and a half.  It was very well written, she explained how much she disliked him and brought up what he does to make theEx miserable.  I was seriously impressed with it, well thought out and worded nicely.  She even said she wanted to be there on Friday to give it to her.

That’s basically where we stand now.  I’m sure I’m getting blamed for Samantha’s lack of communication, but I really don’t have anything to do with it. She has been making her own decisions the whole way.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Reviews

I’ve been reading again so I’ll try to do some more quick book reviews, plus we rented some DVD’s this past weekend as well.

zzz-lawsbookreviews

Collapse (New America - Book 1)

 

Collapse (New America #1) by Richard Stephenson

Between the natural disasters and the middle east launching an attack on the US, this seemed like a completely realistic book.  I like the characters and where the story went.  I’m going to have to put the rest of the series on my wish list on Amazon.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

Exit Reality: A Ray Garret/Lifeline Techno Thriller

 

Exit Reality by Robert S. Wilson

A new drug, so to speak, is killing people, but is it really a drug.  A digital world has got people addicted to the service and it’s all ran by a guy looking for immortality.  I liked this, mainly because it was a lot different than any other story I’ve read.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

 

 

Cinema of Shadows (Harmony, Indiana, #2)

 

Cinema of Shadows (Harmony, Indiana #2) by Michael West

I’ve read another one of his books from this series and enjoyed it just as much as I did this one.  One of the main things I like is the fact that I don’t necessarily have to read them in order as they can be stand alone books as well.  Cinema of Shadows is about a theater with a haunted past and what happens when it tries to take its last victims.

I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and Amazon.

 

As you can tell, I’m reading more again.  My new job has a 20 minute break with a 30 minute lunch that I read on compared to the 10 minute break and 20 minute lunch at my previous one where I barely had time to eat.  I’m getting about a book done a week, it’s nothing compared to the 3 or 4 I was getting done at the job before these 2 but at least I’m reading again.

zzz-lawsmoviereviews

The Other Woman (2014 film) poster.jpg

 

the Other Woman

This comedy was just that, a comedy.  It was pretty funny which with Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz, you would expect that.  Leslie Mann is married to a guy, who is dating Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton.  When the 3 get together, it’s time for some payback.

Cheri and I both gave it 4 stars.

 

 

 

Movie poster featuring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in character

 

the Fault in our Stars

In the words of Cheri, who said this multiple times during this movie “Damn that Nicholas Sparks, why am I watching this, I knew I was going to cry.”  This was a great movie but so very sad.  You cry at the happy spots as much as you do the sad spots.  Being as both the main characters have cancer, it hits me at home.

We both gave it 5 stars but keep kleenex handy.

 

 

Blended (2014) Poster.jpg

 

Blended

What’s not to love when you get Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore together.  This is their 3rd movie together and they are all pretty good.  I’m not a huge fan of Adam Sandler when he does his stupid movies but when he plays a more normal role, and not slapstick, he can be really good.

I give it 4 stars and Cheri gave it 5.

 

 

As you can tell, we had a pretty good evening with the Redbox DVD’s.  That’s probably because we hadn’t rented anything in awhile so there was some decent stuff that we hadn’t seen yet.  Usually we’ve seen everything that we really wanted to so we end up renting stuff that we might like but are just taking a chance with it.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Jobless, or am I?

I wrote out the following couple of paragraphs a couple of weeks ago.  Apparently I never posted it.  I must have had other things on my mind.  So I’ll post this here and then put more afterwards.

If you read my previous post (not the This Week in ADITLOAN, the one before that) than you know that I lost my job.  To put it simply, I got laid off.  I had complained about it being slow so I wasn’t completely shocked, and yet, I was.  I don’t remember ever getting laid off, as a matter of fact, after thinking about it, today is the first time in 18 years, that I didn’t have a job.

I’m angry, I’m scared, I’m all kinds of emotions and I’ve been trying to work through them the last couple of days.  I was at my mom’s all weekend putting up siding on her house.  I was there Saturday morning when I received the call not to return to work.  I was talking with Cheri on Saturday night, and she accused me of taking it personally.  I agreed with her, I was, and maybe still am.  My main issue is I left a job that I had security, I’ve been there for 14 years, I was in the top 40 in seniority in the whole plant, but I was miserable.  I hated it there the last couple of years, things were changing, and not for the better.  The hours were miserable and they effected my life at home.  So when I had the opportunity to switch to where my brother worked, I took it after a lot of thought.  The hours were better, the pay was less but had more potential.  I didn’t mind the job, I enjoyed it because I had to think ahead and plan.  During the 6 months I was there, I knew it was the right decision, mainly because I hated my old job.  Then our main customer was having problems with a new product and our orders slowed way down.  Originally it was supposed to last for a month, but last week, in our monthly meeting, they said it could last until the end of the year.  That was when I started to worry about it.  Then Saturday morning, it happened.

I was at my mom’s house hanging up siding for her when they called and left a voicemail about it.  I called her back and got more information and they had let go a bunch of people and the off shifts were going down to 1 line.

I’ve been weighing my options most of the weekend, and particularly, this morning.  I was never thrilled with the fact that I was going to have to work in factory all my life.  I’m not so sure my body could handle it to begin with.  I still have at least, but probably more than 25 years of work life left.  I’ve wanted to do something more, job wise, but never wanted to have to go to school while I work.  Cheri says it’s because I’m lazy.  That could be, but I don’t enjoy my days being completely filled up with stuff to do, whether it be work or not.  I guess if that’s being lazy, then so be it.  Now that I am unemployed, I’m starting to think about a career change, and that may take going back to school.  It’s an option, I need to ask the right questions and find out what or if it’s even going to be possible.  We shall see.

As I said above, I wrote that a couple of weeks ago, on the Monday after I got laid off.  Here I am now, exactly 2 weeks and 2 days after I lost my job and I started a new job today.  It doesn’t have the potential that my previous job had, but it’s a job.  I’m working in the shipping department so I’m driving a forklift still which is the reason that I was able to get the job so quickly.  That, and my mom just retired from there at the beginning of June so she might have pulled a few strings.

Part of the reason that I jumped into another job so quickly is because I’m still waiting on my unemployment pay so I’ve gone 2 weeks, so far, without any income.  Freaking government takes forever to do anything  It took them almost 2 weeks just to send me the form that I had to send to my previous employer to verify I was now unemployed.  Apparently they pay you on a debit card that they give you, of course, I haven’t received it yet.  Which would be part of the reason I haven’t received any money yet.  It’s not like I’ve been living off the government for 18 years, I’ve been working damn near every day for the money that they need to send back to me.  It’s so stupid.

But, like I said, I am working now so we’ll see how long this job lasts.  It was a decent day today, I did the job just fine and did everything I was asked so as far as I know, I’m doing alright.  I mentioned that my mom used to work there, well she also got my sister-in-law a job there and before I left today, I needed to go up front to turn in my 2 forms of ID.  As I was leaving, I walked through the lobby, I noticed my crotch was a little drafty, I reached down and sure enough, my zipper was down.  What’s even more embarrassing was when I looked up, my sister-in-law was standing there, laughing at me.  I went to the bathroom at 1:30 so at least I only went an hour with it down.  I hope nobody noticed.