This Old Car

It was the end of October that I received an email from the crazy man with an attachment showing that he was trying to transfer ownership of an old car we had into my name before donating it to PBS. The DMV assured me that this would not stick until I signed the form and paid the requisite fees.I was thorough in my explanation to him that 1. I would not get an additional tax credit on a car we had previously claimed as a business deduction, 2. you can't simply can't transfer a car without signatures and fees paid, 3. this created an unnecessary complication in donating the car and could potentially confuse the DMV to have two changes of ownership in a 48 hour period of time and 4. I would relinquish any rights to any value on that car. Apparently, he did not go through with the donation as he called last night and asked if I had received the title! Um, no : )

Manipulation Gone Wrong

My chief complaint about myself is that I continually underestimate the manipulative capabilities of the crazy man. In this scene he has sent an email to the eldest to try to establish communication as she has been incommunicado since Dec. 18th. The email was a bit saccharine with all the predictable "I miss you and I'm hear for you" things and the eldest's immediate response was "Does he think this is a soap opera?" Well, certainly not as exciting as any Spanish soap opera we've seen. In this email he also wished her luck on her upcoming interview/audition for the high school of the arts. Oops. This caused what we call in the tech world a fatal error. The morning of this appointment the eldest woke up in an incorrigible mood and refused to go to said interview/audition. After 2 days of prodding I finally got a solid response which was that she didn't want to go just because he wanted her to. She had completely lost site of her personal interests in the school as this is the high school he has been actively pushing. Mind you, he's done nothing to support her preparation for this interview but it is the high school he's been advocating for. Tween backlash resulted in her not wanting to do anything that would please him.

You always say I don't listen

One of my many mantras with the crazy man is that he doesn't listen, I mean really listen. He claims I always say that when I'm not happy with what he's said. This is part true because usually his response is so disconnected from what I've said, it's clear he hasn't heard what I am saying.

He called last night to let me know he had made an appointment with a family therapist he is considering going to with the eldest. He asked me to recap what the issues are with the eldest. Now, after a solid week of talking to him every day about this, how could he not know what the issues are? Well, simple isn't it, he wasn't actually listening.