ok, joyce.

oh. my. God.

my roommate just totally tripped out on me. i live with a 60-year-old woman who rents a room in her house to me. great situation actually. rent is low, utilities are free, no charge to use washer, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, cabinet space. for the time i've lived there, i have pretty much kept to myself. learned to be reasonably quiet since she sleeps light. while i'm doing the college thing, it's ideal. this lady has been kind, so i've taken up tasks like looking after her cats, fixing computer problems, running errands in town, and other such neighborly things.

today's eruption of a disagreement was a surprise because aparently she was frustrated that she had to tell me too many times to take out the garbage and that i never do a thorough enough job. whoa! "tell me"?! sweet lady, yes. but she's got it twisted. whenever i take out the trash, it's a favor. hence my indignance at her lambasting my work as unsatisfactory. now normally when issues like this arise, i am actually the more likely one to be pushed out of shape, raising my voice, and more emotional than rational about the situation. but this time it was actually her and she really took it all the way there. i was so taken aback!

she claims we had an agreement that i was supposed to do certain chores around the house, and the truth is, there is no such agreement in effect! all we have is a month-to-month rental agreement. apart from that, i wanted to just blast her with a classic Thespian reading of the time-honored "i ain't got to do a [fill-in-the-blank with appropriate curse word(s)] thang, you sorry [optionally add choice incendiary pejorative epithet]."

i would likely not take such issue with her indignance if it wasn't wrapped up in a tortilla made of "i say you have to do this, and that's all there is to say"! that's just the absolute wrongest way to approach me to get me to do something. she could have asked nicely that i do these things for her. especially so in light of the fact that she's still on the rebound healing from a surgery she just had.

the silver lining on it is that, while she was giving full vent to her frustrations, i didn't lose my cool. i actually got to be the voice of reason for once. i had plenty of things i could've said, but after awhile, it was pointed that she wasn't interested in solving the issue. she just wanted to do all the talking. i started using what my Papa told me was the secret to how he kept his marriage happy for so long. he said, "son, whatever the woman says, just say 'ok.' and 'alright.' now, you might not actually do it, but just say 'ok.'" that's what i did, and that's the end of it for now. i don't even want to re-open the case later, but i'm sure at least she'll be calmer. when i asked her to lower her voice and calm down, she said "i don't have to calm down! i can get upset if i want to!"

in parentheses, i thought: "you can get upset if you want to, but you are so not taking me there with you." but instead, i just said said, "ok, joyce. ok." and i left. so whadaya know. this "love" thing is good for something afterall. ;-)