Stress�

2001-10-17

The last few weeks have just been way too stressful. And while I am including going the WTC attacks and going to war in with that stress, they just aren�t the major factors. On a personal level, there was the whole thing with my dad having a stroke in China and us not being able to talk to him. Turned out to be not anywhere near that serious, but pretty much a whole weekend spent in high level worrying.

Then my nineteen-year-old stepson moves in with us because he can�t pay for his apartment. He did all right when he had a roommate, but the roommate left and he couldn�t be bothered to find someplace he could afford. In a last ditch effort to pacify his parents; he tries to find another job. He finds a job, selling vacuum cleaners. He leaves his other crummy, but paying, job without notice, without a phone call. He�s going to be with us forever.

Stepson decides to come home at two in the morning. Husband is awake and worrying. Calls several times on his cell phone. No answer. He�s sure stepson is dead. Finally at two he comes in and the argument about the cell phone begins. Sleep remains a far off hope.

I really want to take a few days off. I�m tired and my shoulders feel like they�re strung with piano wire. But since I was acquired by a new boss, I�m looked at as a traitor if I take a day off. He may want to dedicate his life to this company, but I don�t. They don�t pay me enough to do that; I want a life outside of work. I�ve got other things to do, even if it�s no more than sit on the patio with a glass of sherry.

No list today, it's game night, but on the to-do for tomorrow:

Dust office

Clean bathroom

Start working on code for diary re-design

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