I Draw The Line

I have to admit that, even though it’s a lot of work, creating a new blog isn’t half bad. I like going over all the things I’ve done and I welcome the challenge of condensing everything into a few posts. The move to a new blog has also had some residual effects that I didn’t see coming.

Over the weekend I called my dad Roy for the weekly bullshit. He once again asked when I was coming down to NYC to see him, and I told him it’ll probably be in February. He asked how long I’d be able to stay, and I told him that it wouldn’t be for more than a few hours because I have work the next day. Roy started to laugh incredulously and ask why I can’t just take a weekend off. That was it. I went off on the guy, for the first time ever. I ranted about the $3100 for the new furnace. I ranted about the money I lost by going to Nigeria and do NOTHING. I ranted about needing to show responsibility at my jobs by not taking time off every damned week. Hell, I even ranted about non-existent tuition fees, which made me laugh a little bit. Roy said he understood and I heard the dejection in his voice. When I got off the phone… it felt so… it felt right. I didn’t do it to be mean or to be a jackass. I did it because a line needs to be drawn. I blame myself for not drawing the line earlier, but it’s never too late to let people know where I stand. That felt good, and my mom Rita will get more of the same if she pulls her bullshit as well.

I always thought that drawing the line or cutting them off altogether would change my psyche, and that I wouldn’t be the same person. Maybe that’s true. But who says that’s gonna be a bad thing? The only thing that stopped me from doing this earlier was my sense of familial duty, and that Nigeria trip laid waste to all of that. What's the point of familial duty if there's no respect? I'm just gonna sit there and let everyone screw with me while my ambitions go unfulfilled? Ha! The landlord/investor-formerly-known-as-Roger-Dodger isn’t just starting a new blog. It seems that I’m becoming a different person altogether, and I think it’s for the better. Of course, I still plan on treating them with respect. But to put myself in a disadvantageous position again to placate their egos? I respectfully decline.