Well that didn't take long.
Yep, screw christmas, I'm done.
We had a pretty good time at our annual christmas party last night, though really it's just the usual inter-family chill session with some presents added in. Today, however, has been less than ideal.
I went downstairs to get christmas stuff going, and we started getting the presents out just in time for my mom to get a phone call from one of her most depressing friends. He's a vietnam veteran with a million problems, and every time he calls he sucks the energy out of everyone at the house. It's nice to hear from him, but every call is a litany of one bad thing after another. The most recent is that his exposure to agent orange while he was deployed has recently caused him to become a diabetic, so on top of all his other issues, he now has to manage diabetes. Also he's working on Christmas, out on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean.
So, that sucked a bit of the life out of the room, but after that was done, we got back and started unwrapping presents. We got about two presents in, and our roommate came walking up the path to the house and started swearing at the top of his lungs. My mom went out to make sure he was okay, and he fell through the front door and landed face down in the entryway. We all stood around for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, while my mom tried to get some sort of answer out of him about how he was or if there was some problem (besides him being drunk and face down on the floor). He alternated between crying and saying that he just needed to go back up to his room, and after a few minutes we hefted him upright and he somehow managed to navigate up the stairs to his room, where he passed out on the bed. We wiped up some blood from a cut on his forehead (probably from falling through the doorway) and eventually went back to open christmas presents finally, though my mom spent the whole rest of the day stewing.
He was up and around after a few hours- his sister came over to pick him up for another family dinner that he had to get to. Oh, my mom told me later that apparently he threw up all over the bathroom too. Probably in his room too, though we won't know about that until he comes back and tries to surreptitiously ask about where the cleaning supplies are.
I'm not too wigged out about it... not nearly as much as my mom. She's already thinking that he's pretty well worn out his welcome. His mom died after a lifetime of ill health just last week, and it's christmas. As far as I'm concerned, that's a get-out-of-jail free card for something like today. In general he's been drinking less and seemingly trying to be less of a fuckup. He always pays the rent on time, and hardly uses any of the house. He doesn't generally make much of a mess, either. The only problems so far have been booze related- this and a few other times he's been over-sauced, and the liquor in our liquor cabinet that disappeared after he moved in (though at this house we have yet to have a roommate who doesn't at some point help themselves to our booze without asking). I would disagree with kicking him out based on today. Then again I'm 25, and having people I know pass out and throw up on themselves is somewhat more understandable. He's nearly 60, and less responsible with himself than anyone I know was, even back into their childhood.
Having had both an alcoholic husband and father, my mom is pretty sensitive to anything involving someone drinking to the point of incoherency. As I mentioned, she's already simmering about it, even if I think she's a little bit on the unreasonable side. As I mentioned, his mom just died earlier in the week, and it seemed like he was really trying to improve his general life. If he can unfuck himself somewhat or at least keep his alcoholism inside the four walls of his room and do his decomposition in there, he's a fine roommate.
We'll see what happens from now on. He'll probably be sequestered at his family's for a few days, since my mom mentioned what had happened to his sister when she came to pick him up, and the family will hopefully do their best to impress upon him the need for him to straighten up, or at the very least keep an eye on him for a few days to try to give my mom a chance to simmer down.
So yeah, christmas over at that point. Fortunately I got pulled away to see Vanessa's family, which is normally something I'd sweat, but it was certainly preferable to sitting around talking about the roommate situation all day. The rest of the day was pretty good- TV had a Mythbusters marathon and played all of the Pixar shorts, followed by The Incredibles, which they stretched out to three hours with commercials.
So yeah, now I can do something fun- like working a million hours this week in the post-christmas rush, which will at least get me out of the house.
Oh, also my cat has worms, which I discovered the best way. (Having a worm crawl out of his butt while my girlfriend is squeezing him with hugs.)
So, long story short: :|
We had a pretty good time at our annual christmas party last night, though really it's just the usual inter-family chill session with some presents added in. Today, however, has been less than ideal.
I went downstairs to get christmas stuff going, and we started getting the presents out just in time for my mom to get a phone call from one of her most depressing friends. He's a vietnam veteran with a million problems, and every time he calls he sucks the energy out of everyone at the house. It's nice to hear from him, but every call is a litany of one bad thing after another. The most recent is that his exposure to agent orange while he was deployed has recently caused him to become a diabetic, so on top of all his other issues, he now has to manage diabetes. Also he's working on Christmas, out on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean.
So, that sucked a bit of the life out of the room, but after that was done, we got back and started unwrapping presents. We got about two presents in, and our roommate came walking up the path to the house and started swearing at the top of his lungs. My mom went out to make sure he was okay, and he fell through the front door and landed face down in the entryway. We all stood around for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, while my mom tried to get some sort of answer out of him about how he was or if there was some problem (besides him being drunk and face down on the floor). He alternated between crying and saying that he just needed to go back up to his room, and after a few minutes we hefted him upright and he somehow managed to navigate up the stairs to his room, where he passed out on the bed. We wiped up some blood from a cut on his forehead (probably from falling through the doorway) and eventually went back to open christmas presents finally, though my mom spent the whole rest of the day stewing.
He was up and around after a few hours- his sister came over to pick him up for another family dinner that he had to get to. Oh, my mom told me later that apparently he threw up all over the bathroom too. Probably in his room too, though we won't know about that until he comes back and tries to surreptitiously ask about where the cleaning supplies are.
I'm not too wigged out about it... not nearly as much as my mom. She's already thinking that he's pretty well worn out his welcome. His mom died after a lifetime of ill health just last week, and it's christmas. As far as I'm concerned, that's a get-out-of-jail free card for something like today. In general he's been drinking less and seemingly trying to be less of a fuckup. He always pays the rent on time, and hardly uses any of the house. He doesn't generally make much of a mess, either. The only problems so far have been booze related- this and a few other times he's been over-sauced, and the liquor in our liquor cabinet that disappeared after he moved in (though at this house we have yet to have a roommate who doesn't at some point help themselves to our booze without asking). I would disagree with kicking him out based on today. Then again I'm 25, and having people I know pass out and throw up on themselves is somewhat more understandable. He's nearly 60, and less responsible with himself than anyone I know was, even back into their childhood.
Having had both an alcoholic husband and father, my mom is pretty sensitive to anything involving someone drinking to the point of incoherency. As I mentioned, she's already simmering about it, even if I think she's a little bit on the unreasonable side. As I mentioned, his mom just died earlier in the week, and it seemed like he was really trying to improve his general life. If he can unfuck himself somewhat or at least keep his alcoholism inside the four walls of his room and do his decomposition in there, he's a fine roommate.
We'll see what happens from now on. He'll probably be sequestered at his family's for a few days, since my mom mentioned what had happened to his sister when she came to pick him up, and the family will hopefully do their best to impress upon him the need for him to straighten up, or at the very least keep an eye on him for a few days to try to give my mom a chance to simmer down.
So yeah, christmas over at that point. Fortunately I got pulled away to see Vanessa's family, which is normally something I'd sweat, but it was certainly preferable to sitting around talking about the roommate situation all day. The rest of the day was pretty good- TV had a Mythbusters marathon and played all of the Pixar shorts, followed by The Incredibles, which they stretched out to three hours with commercials.
So yeah, now I can do something fun- like working a million hours this week in the post-christmas rush, which will at least get me out of the house.
Oh, also my cat has worms, which I discovered the best way. (Having a worm crawl out of his butt while my girlfriend is squeezing him with hugs.)
So, long story short: :|