Still at the Duplex (now with Patty)…

The lady next door has already begun moving in. When I got up at 4:30, I saw her van here along with a utility truck. I don’t know how long she was here before I awoke, but I don’t think she’s got any furniture here yet or that she’s staying overnight, unless she pulled her van into the garage where I can’t see it, and is sleeping on an airbed like we are. All I saw her bring in were some clothes.

I don’t see why she’s got the handicap thing hanging from her rearview mirror. She seems to be able to walk, though I haven’t seen her walk enough to know how well she walks.

I hope she doesn’t keep the back light on all night once she does get settled. Light on one side is enough, though if she’s got her blinds open and her place lit up all night (which she doesn’t strike me as the type to do), then at least the patio blinds will filter some of it. I only have blinds in that window. If I had another wool blanket, I could put it up there, but I doubt I’ll need to.

Anyway, I only caught a quick glimpse of her and thought she was closer to 40 with her hair dyed blond, but Tom, who caught a glimpse of her when he was coming in, said her hair was all gray and she looked closer to 50. One thing we do agree on is that she’s big. Probably bigger than Bev.

We’ve only heard a few bumps and bangs so far which mostly seem to be cabinet doors. We don’t think she’ll be a problem, although it could be a couple of weeks before we know that for sure. The reason I don’t think she’ll be a problem is for one, I have no bad vibes. Secondly, we’re no longer trapped here. If we were, then she’d probably be a problem, and although this could really be a calm before the storm, I think it’s a peaceful sign of the “end times.” We’re now certain that after sticking to a weekly budget of $40 a week for groceries, we can give notice in June. So, our agreement is that if things are bad, we definitely give notice then and get out of here in July. If not, we can stick around to take our time so we can be a little pickier as to where we go, though I’m not that worried about that. I just want to get detached from others and away from next door’s doors. I don’t want a nice place because a nice place would cost more money and delay the move to California. I don’t mind taking a place in a neighborhood that’s not as nice as this one as long as people don’t force their daily happenings on me and include me in them. I hate it when people make me a part of their lifestyle! It’s not as customary here, so I’m not worried about dogs being outside 24/7, kids screaming constantly, etc. The worst we may get is someone coming and going with a loud stereo. This is a nice neighborhood that consists mostly of older people, so that’s why none of the houses around us have anyone coming and going with that. If we get in a poorer, younger neighborhood, then we’ll get that, but I’ll deal with it. So, as long as we don’t end up next to a pack of freeloaders, I don’t care where we go. I would still prefer a busy street. Tom can get a temporary license for the truck or rent a U-Haul if we need to, but he’s decided we’d be better off keeping it because California is strict when it comes to registration and all that, so we’ll sell it there.

Not surprisingly, I haven’t received anything for the contest, though we’re more convinced that those coupons had nothing to do with them. Tom checked online to see if anyone ever complained about them and was unable to find anyone. I think it’s just a case of the usual bullshit where I have to fight to get things through the mail, so I’ll email them Thursday and begin the work of getting the prize to me.

The fact that Mary’s letters have slacked off makes me think it’s either because she’s upset that she can’t use me, or upset that I’m not like her on issues like abortion, the pope, etc. Maybe it’s a case of both, but tough shit, as I always say. I can take her or leave her, so next Friday, I’ll let her know that that’ll be my last letter to her until I hear from her if I don’t between now and then. Who knows, though? Maybe it’s not a sensitivity issue or a case of her feeling I’m worthless to her and not worth writing if she can’t enclose any favors. Of course, it could also be that Martha reported receiving fewer stamps and envelopes than she should have, but again, tough! With all I’ve done and spent on her, I think I’m more than entitled to what stamps and envelopes I kept.

Later…

Although I slept 8 hours, heavily falling hale hitting the bedroom window woke me up at 3 PM, along with thunder.

I got up to find that Tom finally got his bike for $50. It’s a red men’s bike with spots of blue and silver. So Bob practically took my incense money and bought him a bike with it! How kind of him after all the waiting and screw-ups I had to deal with. So next up is the washer, getting out of here, getting my teeth taken care of, getting me a bike, and then getting the bed. I would like for the mannequin to come after that, but if I haven’t gotten one yet, what’s to say I ever will?

I got my so-called “gift certificate” from the contest, and was quite disappointed. No wonder I won and got the thing. It’s just a certificate for $50 off their overpriced and boring items that can be made up with anyone’s picture you choose. That person will then get a few bucks of royalty payments. Of the 3 rat pictures that made it, and I’m shocked to say that it doesn’t look like Bailey and Barbie made it, he likes the one of Scuttles holding a piece of carrot in his hands best. You can get pictures made up on calendars, tote bags, sweatshirts, puzzles, greeting cards and stickers. Tom thinks it’s cool because it’s free, but hey, if someone handed me a piece of dog shit, I ain’t about to be appreciative simply because it may be free.

I got a letter from Mary and was stunned to read that she should be gone in less than two months. She didn’t elaborate on any details, but according to our online research, the sick cock was going to use the insanity defense only to change his mind. It looks like now it’s a question of whether or not he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison or on death row. I guess this means he’s going to plead guilty, in which case Mary won’t be needed to testify. What I don’t get is how a mother who allowed her child to be murdered could possibly walk, as much as I want to see her do so, after just 5 years. Another thing I don’t get is that while she was given 15 years for the Arizona case, which would mean she’s got to serve 5 of it like she has, just what is it that she was supposedly sentenced for in Florida in ’03? We read this online, though it provided no details. Maybe her being “gone” in less than two months really means gone to prison, though I doubt it. I think she’ll be out soon which would be pretty damn close to when I predicted she would be.

The only other thing Mary told me is that she’s “taking a close walk with God.” That’s her problem right there. Nothing up there loves her. You don’t have the child of someone you love killed. You just don’t do that. While it’s easy for me to say that if it works for her, great, should she really be kidding herself with the idea of a loving God? There is no loving God!

She also says she’s been focusing on court and to please understand that she may be a lousy pen pal because she’s so busy. Nonetheless, she thanked me for taking the time to write to her. I still think she isn’t writing much because she can’t send José letters to me to send to him. That’s another thing; she says she doesn’t want to talk about him because he weighs too heavily on her heart. That’s okay. She’ll just get out of there and pick up with her old ways. There’s nothing to say she’s really changed as far as that’s concerned. I think she’s going to pick up one loser after another that she’ll think she’s so in love with, and go back to spitting out kids like crazy. That’s what Mary G does. She takes up with women-beating criminals and has kids with them.

Tom says the woman next door had been moving in with the aid of a couple of guys in a pickup that seemed to be in their 30s, and was surprisingly quiet, though after I got up, we heard scattered bumps and bangs that you really can’t avoid too easily when you’re moving in/out. Even so, one of the guys she had over walks like an elephant. I hope to hell he doesn’t visit much, but judging by how old he looked, I’m sure he’s her boyfriend and that he’ll be over twice a week or more till he convinces her to marry him. At least she’s dogless, though it’s too soon to say whether or not she’ll blast music and have kids over raising hell. I’m a little worried she’ll have a lot of company, though. This is because she’s got the patio set up much like Bev had it with a grill and chairs. In fact, she’s got two grills. Tom, however, pointed out that that’s just how everyone here sets up their patios, and well, Bev never did any barbecuing after we moved in and next door probably hasn’t barbecued more than half a dozen times. I just feel like I have no privacy when people are outside around here what with my room being right smack in the middle of the lot.

From the sound of it, she probably has a washer, and whether or not she has a dryer too, I’m sure she’ll hang clothes out back every few days. I had a few fleeting moments where I wished Bev hadn’t moved simply because I knew her and her habits. Well, I’m not stressing with bad vibes over this one. Especially since I know we’re not trapped here, but this is bullshit. It’s total fucking bullshit. I was supposed to have left this turnover stress behind in late ’99.

Anyway, Big Mama (she sure looks like she’s had kids) and the elephant were out chatting on the patio for a few minutes. I was worried she was going to leave the light on all night. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if she had, but I prefer it off. The elephant left around 10 PM, then she shut the light off and left about 15 minutes later and made me think she wasn’t coming back tonight. But she did return not long afterward, and when I looked out my bedroom window across to hers, I saw that her light was out by 11:30. So one of my two vibes seems correct so far. I sensed she would be the early-to-bed, early-to-rise type, but 11:30 isn’t that early. However, I was right in sensing she’d park in the driveway and not the garage. That van just may be too big to even make it in there. On the other hand, a lot of people don’t bother to park in their garages when it’s not too cold or too hot.

I just hope she doesn’t have a lot of company, blast music, and live out back, though if all goes well we should have just 60 days left here! Then all we’ll have to do is hope we can find a house without someone else’s driveway right outside the bedroom to make up for next door’s door-slamming. We may be more likely to get screaming kids and barking dogs, but at least they won’t be attached to us and I can blast my music all I want.

We know better now, so when we move to California, we’re going to rent a motel by the month and not by the day or week (this is the part I’m not looking forward to) until we can get into what will hopefully be a house and hopefully after not too many months in the motel!

Oh, to have single neighbors who work second or third shift, who sleep all day, who have no kids or dogs, who rarely have company, go outside or blast music!

Oh, Marilyn, please get one of my letters! And please write back! This would be pretty awesome if she did. Her, Mary, Rosa and Misha were definitely the best of the cellies.

An article I read says black chicks have a higher likelihood of heart problems if they’ve been discriminated against, or think they have been anyway.