Ghosts Won't Let Me Move On

So last night Tammy offered to let me come over since she actually got a car do I was like, "sure, why not?"

I could feel James smile from another room and Spencer ran in and beginning to rant that "there is no reason to even go to her place or spend time with her! There is no benefit and I'm sure that it'll cause more trouble than is deserved."

And he was completely right. I left anyways. Showered, packed and put lotion on and everything. We had to talk about the drama between us, which isn't really important to the grand scheme of things, but had to be resolved.

Getting there, we talked about Tyra and Dwayen ( hey boyfriend ) and what not. More or less, we talked about a lot of what normal friends talk about while driving. However, she convinced to me that people around her neighborhood were getting nosey and she was worried about Dwayne hearing the wrong things from the wrong person. I told her that Dwayne actually likes me and that I had no intention of doing anything.

We got into the kitchen and we started cleaning and putting things away since she was just dissing out community food before she came to pick me up. And somehow one thing lead to another. I honestly don't know what came over me, whether it was the loneliness or even if was her or me that made the first move but ... things started to happen. You know, the touching and exploring and removal of clothes and whatnot.

We head upstairs and we start going at it ... until I start seeing Jasmine instead of Tammy. I shook my head and tried to keep going. Ignoring it in hopes it would go away and it did ... until it started happening again. 

Tammy and Jasmine don't look anything alike. They have different body types, different voices and personalities ... different everything! Even a age difference!

I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I turn on the lights and bend over the sink to start heaving. Whatever, this was I wanted it out of me. I didn't even want to have sex with Tammy but it was the idea that I wanted to move on. To move past Jasmine. To get over her. If I can't even get intimate with anyone else ...

Then I looked up and I saw AJ! I immediately punched him in the face ... to find out it was the mirror. I was see him in the mirror ... as me! Me!

Tammy came in and asked what happened. I  was too shaken to reply immediately but I told her that I feel into it not thinking.

As she tried to bandage me up, I thought about why I was hallucinating. Jasmine was easy enough. She is still in me. Haunting me about moving on from her. Cursing me for even trying to breaking the family my end ( even though I am sure she is breaking the family from her end ). 

But AJ? Why him? And why him as me?

Then I realized why. Because Tammy was seeing Dwayne and here I am, with a woman taken by another man. Yea, she is not happy or he is slacking but that doesn't give me the right or ... I don't want to be AJ. I don't want to be a homewrecker. That isn't me. Maybe James but not me and I have to stop James from doing that too! Hell, I hated Lynn because she allowed other men to come into her house and do that shit to her.

No! I had to stop this before it started. It has went too far as it. So i told her I was gonna sleep downstairs. That I wasn't feeling this. She was argumentative at first but I convinced her that this was wrong for both her and me. She threw Jasmine in my face and went to her room and locked it. Probably crying.

Gawd, I don't need this. I don't want this. Not really. But I'll get home tomorrow. Some things need changed.

My Weekend Part II

So around 8pm, James was like, "Dude, this is pathetic. Let's go out, have some fun. You know, that thing you don't do, called socialize."


I was reluctant at first but Dad mentioned something today about letting my brothers express themselves more and being more social myself. And it so happen that Kayla and Michelle wanted us to hang out again after the last time was such a blast. Besides, I could ask to spend the night and I can take care of seeing Sam ( my PO officer ) the next day and get that out of the way before I get reported for noncompliance.


So I went upstairs to pack while James showered. On the way out there Dad wanted to play a million questions ( mostly to poke fun at it ) and Nakoma physically latched herself to my leg so that I wouldn't leave. I told everyone my plans ( leaving James to keep quite about whatever he wanted to do ) and in the mist of it all, somewhat of an argument ensued. Kayla and Melissa arrived and I virtually ran out the door to avoid losing the small cool I had left ... forgetting a jacket and my phone charger.


While driving, Kayla and Melissa said that I could stay but that I had to leave at 6 in the morning because then everyone would be doing their own stuff and since I am a new friend I couldn't just stay at their house alone, which was completely reasonable. However, that meant that I had to try to find someone else to hang with until my 8pm appointment.


Well, since I was focused on my thing, I wasn't very sociable. Matter of fact, I might have been more of a dick then initially intended when my attention was requested. So Melissa said that she was dropping me and Kayla off her Kayla's house since I no longer seemed like the "ray of sunshine" as before. James complained a little but I didn't care. Less people and less annoyance, really.


Well, we got dropped off and James and Kayla hung out while I worked on trying to find someone I knew that knew me and actually still lived in the area. I figured that Tammy could help me out but her boyfriend was around and it would looked bad if we just showed up. A few other people were just like "no" and others just didn't bother to reply. One was like, "If you can get 'candy' ( weed ) and then maybe you can". That last person was Jennifer G. I was disgusted and pissed and ... started to scrape the bottom of the barrel.


My ex-girlfriend Chasity said that she might be able to do it, if mom ( her mom but her mom loves me enough to call me son ) would be willing to wake up that early. That was okay but I needed a back up plan. Luckily shortly after that, Brandi and Matt messaged me back saying that they wouldn't have a problem with me coming in in the morning and staying with them until my appointment.


That helped me sleep better.


I woke up a little before 6 and went upstairs to use the bathroom. Kayla and James were no where to be seen. Walking into the bathroom I saw an array of clothing all over the place. Some of them were mine. I guess that James must have worn my clothes prior to leaving. There was blood on the boxers. A lot of it. I could only imagine how it got there as I vomited in the toilet. I went down and got a small trash bag to wrap the bloody clothes into and collected the other articles of my clothes from the floor.


Then I woke up James and which woke up Kayla and then she says we have to leave because her mother was coming home ... and her mother does not like either of us. So he showered ( I didn't ask ) and I found everything that we brought with us and tried to erase our existence there. We left and started walking towards the rendezvous a few blocks away to be picked up by Matt.


Matt picked us us in the Subaru that he has been trying to sell me for 3k. Wouldn't be such a bad idea if I didn't hear from others that he is laughing behind our back about how it is barely staying intact. That it wasn't worth 1k but with the extra money he was gonna get a truck or something. As nice as a Subaru as it looks on the outside, the fact that he tried to pull one over my eyes pisses me off. I'd blow him off if it wasn't for Brandi, his fiance.


Brandi ... well, she is another story all together for another time.


I came to their house and James went to sleep upstairs and I stayed on the couch but soon passed out on the couch. When I woke up, it was just Brandi and Izzy and Izzy was running around being a kid. It was hard to look at Izzy because Izzy and Xavier used to play together a lot and ... well, memories filled my head. So I talked to Brandi, trying hard not to think about the things that I absolutely love about her.


I remember when Jasmine first left, that I got surprisingly really close to Brandi, There was this one time I got low, like really low, and she was there and saved me. We shared a moment there that we both knew that it was but ... just didn't act on it. I was still stuck on Jasmine and she had Matt. And then when I got arrested she came to visit me and ... it killed me and saved me both at the same time.


So it was a struggle to be so close to her and to just ... sit there and talk. Not like we have really done anything else other than that but it was still ... there.


But we did. We talked about our old support group and told her a little of what was going on with me at the time. We talked about how things have changed since back then and how things need to change now. We were hinting at something without coming near to it.


Then we talked about ... how I remembered Xavier when I saw Izzy. Luckily, I don't remember Jasmine directly because she was never really around whenever Izzy was over for a play date but ... remembering Xavier still hurt because I haven't seen him in two years. She seemed to sympathize but by that point I closed everything out to keep my head. She was just Brandi then. Not the woman I loved after Jasmine or the woman who saved me. Just some woman across from me whose name is Brandi who had 3 children and a fiance who is trying to sell me a crap car.


After our talk, I went upstairs too find something else to do. Something that didn't involve people. I found Matt's XBox and tried to play some Max Payne 3 but the disc was missing. Actually, with the games he had, almost every disc he had had the vital disc I needed was missing. I eventually got on his Xbox and played a simulation that was already on the hard drive. I was doing well with it, adapting with plans not failing the mission.


Eventually, Matt came home and we went to a smoke run. When we came back, it was about thirty minutes until my appointment. Gave Tammy a call because I convinced her to give me a ride home even though her boyfriend was in town. At that point, I didn't care about the "ripples". I had to get home because I couldn't stay in Clearfield area any longer. It was starting to make me physically ill ... and I was starting to get antsy looking out the window looking for the "right people".

She was late picking me so I just barely made my appointment and I quickly did what needed to be done and left. I think they were annoyed that I was cutting it close.

The drive one was ... interesting. We talked. We did more than talk ... but not much more. Got home at almost record time ( yea, process that ). But we talked about her boyfriend and what is right ( and wrong ) with him and what she keeps getting confused with concerning me. I stick around her for Tyra because I care about Tyra and I miss her and want to be a good role model to her but being in a relationship with Tammy would be ... well, it would be a lot of headache really for both of us. So we talked about that and she ended up sticking with her boyfriend.

I really need to figure out what I am doing here. I am cutting things close and putting myself through more heartache and headache than necessary. The new year is coming and change has to come with it.

My Weekend Part 1

So, I was suppose to see Candi again on Saturday. We even planned for a week for this because I didn't want anything to go wrong this time around. She said that she had some things to do in the morning but that she would leave around 2pm for the 3 hour drive. Mom and Dad went to a company Christmas Party that I passed up to see Candi. Nakoma went to hang out with her cousins, Tyler left with Bon to do what they do and CJ and Bobby had a friend over and they were gonna be upstairs. I was gonna have Candi to myself to talk, watch movies and ... "stuff". She would see me on Saturday so I could introduce her to the folks when they got home and she would spend the night and then on Sunday spend time with her daughters, then come back until she left Monday morning.

Well, I texted her in the morning and everything seemed to still be the plan so when 2pm came and went without a "I'm out the door and on my way" message, I did not worry much ... until 6pm came and she wasn't here. I thought the worst and sent her a text message. She replied after like 15 minutes saying she was just leaving the door.

Okay, I am sure that whatever she was doing just took a lot longer than expected. No worries. As long as she is still okay and coming down, right?

In the next three hours, I cleared up the kitchen and finished 95% of the laundry, swept and picked up the carpeted living room ( because the broom got out my frustrations ), made everything not smell like dog ( which is a trade secret that people are seriously willing to kill for ) and re-showered and put on some of my nicest ( and most flattering ) clothes,.

So around 9pm, I sent her another text message, asking her if she was okay. Maybe she was in a car wreck or fell asleep at the wheel or something. I was getting worried ... again. She replied back that she was in traffic and it would take longer than she expected. She said she was in Halifax. 2 and a half hours away. Disappointed by not defeated, I kept my hopes up.

Nakoma came home because Emily was being a bully by locking her in the clothes because Nakoma didn't do what she wanted her to do.

So Nakoma and I ate some homemade ( prison taught ) Ramon Noodles and we played Tales from the Borderlands ( I played she gave suggestions to the choices ). Mom and Dad came home and asked where my friend was. Sadly, I said, that she probably isn't coming over, and then immediately launched myself into what they have been doing for the past 7 hours. They helped prep the company party and did some Christmas shopping and got most of the things on the list before actually going to the party. Since the council consisted of all three of us, so even though I wasn't there, I wanted to make sure the things I wanted the boys and Nakoma to get was purchased.

After that, we all watched some TV, where I passed out around ... 11? I woke up around 1 thinking "crap! she could have called or texted and I missed it! She probably went home if I didn't answer." Checked my phone and there was no message ... at all, call or otherwise.

Depression started to actually really set in. I had to talk to someone so I started talking to my platonic soulmate, Katelyn. See, Katelyn ( if you read the the last few times I wrote about potentially seeing Candi ) told me not to give up and not to compare her ( and every other woman ) like she is Jasmine. I have to give them a chance and not be so harsh, she said.

So when I told Kay ( short for Katelyn ) everything and she asked, "Isn't this like the 4th or 5th time she has been a no-show?" I reply, "Something like that."

I was kind of shocked that she replied, "She's a shitbag. Block her number. Go to bed."

I told her I will go to bed but I ( because I am stupid beyond belief ) stayed a wake. Around 2am, she texted me that she just got to her mom's house 30 minutes away and that she was exhausted and that she will see me tomorrow.

I ... I got ... I wasn't happy. Not even in the slightest. So I wrote back that I am glad that she is safe and that she should stay there and have a good weekend ... and then I passed out. Woke up and nothing new until closer to the afternoon where she was like, I understand that you are upset but if you want me to come over let me know.

I replied, "You know my address, come if you want". But I didn't rearrange my schedule or tell anyone to expect someone. I worked on the computer so that US would have a terminal here in T.O.W. since the laptop is gone in the wind ( because of Lynnanne ).

You know this ain't ...

So, yesterday, Candi was suppose to come down from Camp Hill. We talked about it and she said the latest she would leave her place would be around 2-3 pm. Magnum was hosting a party for their employee and even though I am not officially on their payroll, I have done a lot of work with Dad so they invited me to socialize and bump elbows with the other employees of the company.

But I wanted to actually hang out with Candi, and since it is 3 hours from where he is to where I am and Mom and Dad were leaving around 2-3 pm to prep for the party at 7 pm, I felt I had plenty of time to get showered and dressed, clean up the living areas of the room and finish the choirs I got and herd the boys where they would be comfortable and out of the way.

Estimated time of arrival, 5-6 pm. However, 6:30pm I text her asking if she was okay and she replied that she was and she was heading out the door now.

Really? But hey, things happened. She told me that she was going Christmas Shopping prior so I can kind of understanding that things at malls and whatnot probably didn't go according to plan. Hell, my other friend, Kayla, said she was going to go Christmas Shopping today for 6 hours to get everyone on her list on one day but that it was kinda crazy today so she didn't even bother.

So, I kept myself busy. Mom and Dad were gone doing their own Christmas shop and help prep for the party so they were gone, Tyler were in and out with Bon, Bobby and CJ had a girl over and they are ... I don't know. Or really care. They were out of my hair and I already got a earful from Spencer about the little fight he had with Dad about Spencer working on his own computer. Longer story in another post probably on his WordPress ( ProfSimonSpencer) I am sure.

So, all around, I was annoyed and getting mad so I started getting things done . Laundry, dishes, sweeping and cleaning and trying to get Bobby to help with the computer (to appease both Spencer and Dad) but he was too busy with his guest so that one task kind of crawled. Spencer in my ear telling me that people time and time again will let us go and depending on any of these T.O.W. inhabitants is a complete waste of time. Especially, trying to have something happen with this "Candi woman" is destined to fail like my marriage to Jasmine.

Trying to push him aside to not punch and throw everything took a lot. Also, the thought that whatever mess made would have to be fixed and cleaned up by me before anyone noticed. There have already been a few things I had to throw away to keep myself calm and cleared from any suspicion.

Zach and Matt ( his friend ) came over to drop off Nakoma. She seemed to have gotten into it with our cousin Emily. Emily seems to be slapping Nakoma and throwing her into closets to keep her from reporting her to her parents. Nakoma told Zach ( her older brother ) and Zach is pretty good on laying down the law with his siblings so I figured that I let them handle it within house. But I told Nakoma if Emily does it again, then I will have to take action. Then Nakoma started talking about her real dad and her feelings about him. I tried to be as supportive as I can and I made her some "Chill" Ramon ( because she had tooth taken out and she needed softer food ). We talked for a little bit and we played Tales from the Borderlands ( Xbox 360 ) together until Mom and Dad came home.

"Where is your friend?" they asked.

I was lost on what to say but honestly since this wasn't the first time that she didn't show up but the 4th time, I figured that I had this coming after the 2nd time.

I shrug and say, "I am not worth seeing, I guess", and I continued helping them get stuff in and talking about what they did while they were out Christmas Shopping and how the party was. Then we all came to the living room and while they watched midnight TV, I must have passed out.

I woke up around 1 in the morning, cursing that I slept and checked my phone. No phone call, no text message. I talked to Katelyn ( platonic soulmate ) and she was the one who told me the first time when she just disappeared when she was suppose to have came up to see me, that not everyone is Jasmine. I need to be understanding. But when I told her that this is the 4th time she just didn't show up she said ( and I quote ) " OMG! The fifth time? Go to bed. Block her number. She is a shitbag."

Sadly, I stayed up until I got a message from her:

I just got to my mom's house. I'm dead exhausted. I'm going to sleep for now n I can come up early am if u want if not I'll understand ;(
Really? REALLY?! 8 hours for a 3 hour drive?

I told her that I was glad that she was safe at her mom's and to stay there and to enjoy her family and daughters since she came to see them and to 'take care'. My version of saying "Bye Felicia" without being a bitch. Then she said that if I still want her to come in tomorrow she can if I don't have any plans.

Today is Bobby's birthday. Not that that means much because he is going to hang out with his girlfriend but I ... I broke down that this isn't the first time or the second time and honestly I shouldn't have let there be a third time but this is fourth ( or fifth honestly because now that I think about it there has to have been another time ) and I told her that ... that it hurts and that it wasn't fair that I change not just my own plans but my family's plans and work plans ( breaking my own rules with priorities ).

She replied:

I know and I understand completely there is no execuse I'm sorry that's all I can say if you decide u want to see me I'll be in until Monday around 10:30-11am

Paris once told me that I have to not let people have priorities over the priority of me. I honestly shouldn't have let it have gotten this bad. And she has made like no effort to either see me or comfort me about not being here multiple times. If someone cares then they make the effort and if they can't but want to, they will try to make up for it. If they don't or won't then they'll keep giving excuses and give minimal effort.

I think it is time to move on.

Being Haunted

So, dad and me are driving around picking up Christmas gifts from sponsors of Magnum Broadcasting and that had us eventually to State College. We are delivering the gifts to the Youth Service program out whatever and while getting the gifts from the SUV, I saw a couple walking by. 

Nothing strange about setting couples together. I see couples all the time. All the time. And it was not really seeing this couple that has me shell shocked or on the verge of an panic attack or a PTSD incident.

The girl ... instant memories of Jasmine. The girl didn't even look like Jasmine in the face but the body type was spot on and even if her face didn't look like Jasmine, she looked like a Jasmine.

And this doppelganger had a guy that the original Jasmine ( my Jasmine ) would have dated before me. 

Probably the type of guy she is dating now.

My phone was in the SUV so no pictures but it wouldn't have mattered really because I don't anyone rise would have seen what I've seen. Hell, maybe I didn't really see it. For all I know I might have imagined it. All in my head.

But then again, isn't everything?

Now I'm shaken and stirred. Haunted again like I was in jail. Seeing her in people, at places ... things reminding me of her. Haunted once again. And it kills me that the cycle is starting again.

This might be one of the reasons I don't explore outside. The previous versions probably had the same problem. Something traumatic happened and they couldn't handle it so the opted out.

Tamika and friends with Theo was they most obvious.
The MadImageInc Crew and this Aurora girl with Michael.
Teresa with Spencer.
The project community with Danny.
Even Seth had Sakura and his daughter.

People from our separate past lives that lays behind us as reminders of failures and heartache.

And yet they got to leave. Go back to Haven

Dreaming of Eternity

Ever had a dream about an ex that shakes you? You wake up feeling that something is missing and then it hits you that what is missing is them.

That's what happened to me this morning. I woke up by dad telling me that I had to be up for the Renovo trip for work. I went to brush my teeth and I looked at myself in the mirror and went I snapped back into reality I saw tears in my eyes.

Then I got angry. How dare I think so lowly of myself to want her back. To dream of her at all after what she done to me.

But, God forgive this fool, I miss her and there is a part of me that honestly hopes she thinks of me ... of us. Of what we used to have.

Of the promise of eternity.

December Budgeting at Better Me Committee Meeting

So on the first, my case worker came over to where I work to have a meeting with me, mom and dad since that was where we all were. I was running late though because about an hour prior to the meeting I had to take Josh to work and I thought I had enough time to run him to with and come back.

When I came back to work, I had fifteen minutes left available for the meeting so I decided to talk about the main thing that I wanted to talk about, which was the December Budget. The December Budget that mom and me developed with the main source of income. 

To say the least I was proud of myself ... oh, and mom too.

Me and mom have been working on it for about a week or two and I felt it was kind of solid enough to present to dad as a goal for the month.

The meeting started off week enough but then dad started pointing out obvious holes in the plan. That the budget must have had unforeseen expenses and that unlike all the money the rest of the family makes, dad's money ( the biggest contribution ) was unknown and sporadic. We could estimate how much he'd get but not when he'll get it. 

That makes posing actual bills more difficult because even when based on everyone else's income we can pay all the bills and have plenty left over, the time the bills are due and reported that becomes irrelevant.

Then there is the idea that actual money is spent on food do that we can make it until assistance comes. And then there is the random, unknowable stuff like last month we had to buy spark plugs and the nee rotor. And then there I'd the cigarettes/snuff and random work meals.

However mom and me already considered much ( not all ) of these and we knew that showing dad the spreadsheet would require his own input.

He turned the spreadsheet inside out and in traverse but he couldn't figure out house we got our numbers because according to the spreadsheet we should have extra money at the end of the month but each month ... well we don't.

Nikki suggested that we make an actual account of what goes in and out of the household financially..

Walking Nikki to her car I spoke to her about dad's resistance to the work that we've done. Also, informed her that dad already pulled out three hundred dollars in cash from an account. I'm sure it went towards something that was needed or why else. I was already aware that under half of it went to food for the family.

I think we ( mainly mom and myself ) have to keep track of where they money goes and what not.  My thoughts are my own but I think mom suspects that dad is up to something.

Spencer suggested that U.S. have an exit strategy because this it's looking very simular to the Lynnanne situation. I'm going he's wrong ... but there is no harm in planning.