Angry
So, I've failed to update LJ again for a while. Shocking, right? Anyway, right now I'm fuming, and I can't think of any place else to post my rant, so here goes.
So, I've been staying with my friend Trent, his girlfriend, and her daughter for a year now, trying to get things sorted out here in Kansas City. I haven't quite managed yet, and wouldn't be able to get by without their help, but neither could they get by without mine. It's a mutual support thing, at the moment. I've been looking forward for a while to the time when I finish tech school and get a decent job, so I can move out, though damned if I know what they're going to do without me. Needs done, though, because we're getting under each other's skin. Like tonight.
See, I took in a cat a while back. That is to say, Nicci took in the cat, and he chose me as his person. That's great, except that there was already another male cat in the household, and they don't get along. After the initial nastiness, they did okay, nothing more than scuffle with each other, unless they're really upset.
For instance, having the house completely turned upside down around them as Trent and Nicci take out the carpet and finish the hardwood beneath it. The furniture is all over the place and moved around as we need to get to stuff, the smells of the carpet are gone and replaced by chemical fumes, and there's hammering and scraping and the melodious sound of power sanders going on all the time. I think you can reasonably expect cats to object to this.
Well, tonight, we go out to a movie, and have a good time. When we get back, we find that Nicci left the door to the attic I'm living in open when she was applying polyurethane to the landing right before we left, so the cats weren't separated. So they went downstairs and peed on a few things, to express their feelings about the situation. Of course, when Trent finds out, he's pissed off at me about it.
Why? I don't know. I'm not the one who left the door open, so that's not my fault. Yes, my cat tends to mark things more than his cat, but his cat is the aggressor and instigator 90% of the time. But that doesn't matter to Trent, because his cat was here first, so that makes everything he does legitimate defense of his territory, and my cat is the one in the wrong, regardless.
So here are a few points I'd like to express. Probably won't, directly to Trent, because that might lead to a fistfight. But I need to say these things anyway.
1. Trent thinks he's decent with animals. He's not. No matter what kind of horseshit he tried to pull about what he knows about cats, it's stupid horseshit he thinks he knows due to observation, when he doesn't watch anything closely or systematically enough to have a basis for this. He loses his cool when animals don't behave exactly the way he wants them to, and lashes out in an aggressive and stupid way every time. His own dog is very sweet, but gets the bare minimal care, let alone time and attention. Her puppies are also sweet, but they're puppies, also untrained and largely neglected. He wants to keep some of them, God knows why, because he sure as Hell doesn't have the time for the dog he's got, and money is an issue. My heart breaks to think of those dogs, but I can't afford to care for them myself, either. Trying to find a no-kill shelter that will take them.
2. Trent tried to make the cat pee issue into one about his kids, who are coming up for the summer this week. He doesn't get to do that. He may love his kids, but he doesn't want to spare attention for them any more than his dog. When his ex-wife was letting his kids wallow in their own filth and cry about being hungry, guess which of us noticed and got angry? Me. Not him. Me. And it's over cat urine, of all things. Its stinks, but it's sterile. I know damn well that the kids are exposed at both homes to things a lot more disgusting and legitimately toxic than urine. I've seen it. I know Yolanda. I know Trent. I know Nicci. Nicci's probably the best of the lot, but she's scatterbrained and lazy, and has a hard enough time parenting her own one child, let alone Trent's four, and Trent doesn't help.
3. Trent takes advantage of me. All the time. Yesterday, Trent felt like going out for breakfast, but he didn't have the money to pay for it, so he stole a day's lunch budget from this week. Which was enough to cover the menu price of his breakfast. I offered to cover the change. What does he do? Order a soft drink too. They charge for those things, you know, and I don't have a whole lot of cash either. After all this, he has the nerve to get pissed off at me, to the point of swearing and throwing things, because his girlfriend let my cat out. And yet he continues to want to lean on me to protect his bank account. I'm so goddamn angry about this, I don't know what to do.
So, I've been staying with my friend Trent, his girlfriend, and her daughter for a year now, trying to get things sorted out here in Kansas City. I haven't quite managed yet, and wouldn't be able to get by without their help, but neither could they get by without mine. It's a mutual support thing, at the moment. I've been looking forward for a while to the time when I finish tech school and get a decent job, so I can move out, though damned if I know what they're going to do without me. Needs done, though, because we're getting under each other's skin. Like tonight.
See, I took in a cat a while back. That is to say, Nicci took in the cat, and he chose me as his person. That's great, except that there was already another male cat in the household, and they don't get along. After the initial nastiness, they did okay, nothing more than scuffle with each other, unless they're really upset.
For instance, having the house completely turned upside down around them as Trent and Nicci take out the carpet and finish the hardwood beneath it. The furniture is all over the place and moved around as we need to get to stuff, the smells of the carpet are gone and replaced by chemical fumes, and there's hammering and scraping and the melodious sound of power sanders going on all the time. I think you can reasonably expect cats to object to this.
Well, tonight, we go out to a movie, and have a good time. When we get back, we find that Nicci left the door to the attic I'm living in open when she was applying polyurethane to the landing right before we left, so the cats weren't separated. So they went downstairs and peed on a few things, to express their feelings about the situation. Of course, when Trent finds out, he's pissed off at me about it.
Why? I don't know. I'm not the one who left the door open, so that's not my fault. Yes, my cat tends to mark things more than his cat, but his cat is the aggressor and instigator 90% of the time. But that doesn't matter to Trent, because his cat was here first, so that makes everything he does legitimate defense of his territory, and my cat is the one in the wrong, regardless.
So here are a few points I'd like to express. Probably won't, directly to Trent, because that might lead to a fistfight. But I need to say these things anyway.
1. Trent thinks he's decent with animals. He's not. No matter what kind of horseshit he tried to pull about what he knows about cats, it's stupid horseshit he thinks he knows due to observation, when he doesn't watch anything closely or systematically enough to have a basis for this. He loses his cool when animals don't behave exactly the way he wants them to, and lashes out in an aggressive and stupid way every time. His own dog is very sweet, but gets the bare minimal care, let alone time and attention. Her puppies are also sweet, but they're puppies, also untrained and largely neglected. He wants to keep some of them, God knows why, because he sure as Hell doesn't have the time for the dog he's got, and money is an issue. My heart breaks to think of those dogs, but I can't afford to care for them myself, either. Trying to find a no-kill shelter that will take them.
2. Trent tried to make the cat pee issue into one about his kids, who are coming up for the summer this week. He doesn't get to do that. He may love his kids, but he doesn't want to spare attention for them any more than his dog. When his ex-wife was letting his kids wallow in their own filth and cry about being hungry, guess which of us noticed and got angry? Me. Not him. Me. And it's over cat urine, of all things. Its stinks, but it's sterile. I know damn well that the kids are exposed at both homes to things a lot more disgusting and legitimately toxic than urine. I've seen it. I know Yolanda. I know Trent. I know Nicci. Nicci's probably the best of the lot, but she's scatterbrained and lazy, and has a hard enough time parenting her own one child, let alone Trent's four, and Trent doesn't help.
3. Trent takes advantage of me. All the time. Yesterday, Trent felt like going out for breakfast, but he didn't have the money to pay for it, so he stole a day's lunch budget from this week. Which was enough to cover the menu price of his breakfast. I offered to cover the change. What does he do? Order a soft drink too. They charge for those things, you know, and I don't have a whole lot of cash either. After all this, he has the nerve to get pissed off at me, to the point of swearing and throwing things, because his girlfriend let my cat out. And yet he continues to want to lean on me to protect his bank account. I'm so goddamn angry about this, I don't know what to do.