02 March 2010

Communication

The contractor and I have communication issues. I'm told he is "rough around the edges" but he gets the job done. In the end that's what's important. However, I get emotionally charged up from his unsociable, rude and disrespectful manners. That he is like this with everybody is no consolation. Where do people get off thinking they can act this way? I've been advised to stay off the site until 4:30. This will be no problem for me.

Dealing with crumungins angers me. When I'm angry, I cry. Is there a woman who doesn't? Women cry. I am a woman. Frustrated by not being able to honestly express myself, I came home, took a couple of Xanex to relieve the anxiety, laid down, fielded a couple of messages (in my sleep) and woke up at 11 pm. This is what I mean by a debilitating condition. I was overcome by sheer exhaustion by the stressful encounter.

I woke up this morning fully refreshed and ready for another day. Everyone is stressed-out about money these days. I'm no different just on a more marginal scale. I've reached the tipping points within the System. This is the point where there is no return on working because there is a loss of health-care benefits. Last semester I earned $46 a month too much. Can you imagine? Making the calculations in my head and seeing it on paper is confronting. I turn it over to the Divine One. I'm not crafty or sophisticated enough to try to "beat" the System. Those individuals I deal with treat me with dignity and respect because I of who I am. A white woman with a college education who is dependent on the System for subsistence survival.  There is no boo-hoo-ing here. Just facts. "You can't judge a book by its cover."

I am not normally the face one associates with poverty. It has afforded me a different perspective on life and people. I wouldn't give up what I do to earn this extra pocket money because I love what I do. For the past year things have become doable with what once prevented me from being socially engaged or having a savings account.

Now I fear a return to the food stamps and financially-imposed isolation just for the privilege of driving to one of the most fear-inducing cities in the Commonwealth to teach immigrants English? Am I just getting the ridiculousness of all this?   Welcome to my life. What's next?

                      -D

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