Can A Clean Freak and A Dirty Bird Be Best Friends?

The story is long and full of petty drama. In a nutshell my friendship of ten years has ended with someone who I thought was one of my very best friends. I left NYC I and came back to Dallas (Oct 2008) temporarily – just for a few months. If I had known that unemployment benefits were going to be extended I would not have made the same decision. I wake up everyday living with my poor decision. Im on a mission to do anything to get things back on track. I was scared because basically I was alone in NYC with no source of income. I looked for a job for six months and didn’t find one so I chickened out and ran to my friends dad’s house for what I thought was a little break to get my head together. Instead I have experienced a serious of set backs… one after another. These set backs have been heartbreaking ones and I often find myself wanting to sit down, throw my hands in the air and give up.

After six months at my friends Dad’s house we decided that we needed to get our own space. We found a duplex that was really cheap, a bit of a fixer upper and lots of potential. My number one concern regarding the move to the move into the new duplex which I addressed immediately was the cleanliness factor. I am super clean and organized complete with color coding and my friend is about as clean and organized as the Tasmanian devil. After several conversations she gave me her word that this would not be an issue. Her mess and clutter would stay in her room. I even gave her the bigger bedroom so she would have more space for her clutter.

After spending the last six months living at her dad’s house in an environment that made me miserable I knew that I would be making up for lost time. At first when I moved in with my friend at her Dad’s house I spent almost eight weeks cleaning and organizing their house from top to bottom with her Dad’s girlfriend. When we were done the house looked amazing. A lot of hard work went into this project and felt like it was a good trade for my long term visit. Once the excitement wore off things went back to the way they were. I was always cleaning but couldnt keep up and I felt like a maid. My friend had no desire to changer her ways. There was not one room unaffected by her clutter and uncleanliness so I viewed this as a slap in the face for all the work that went into the reorganization project. I talked to my friend about my feelings but no changes were made to accommodate me so I just gave up. It wasnt my house – I should be thankful that I have a place to stay. This environment put me in a depression. I had never felt so defeated in my entire life. I am sure I was no fun to be around.

In a desperate attempt to get myself out of my funk I agreed to move into the duplex and hoped that my friend would keep her promise to me that she would keep all common areas clean and clutter free. I wanted to focus on getting my life on track. Her father didn’t want her moving into a rental alone so he was supportive of our move into the duplex.

We wanted to paint this new place because it was old, dirty and a bit lifeless. We both knew that some bright colors would really help bring this place to life. Her ex is a painter and owed her a large sum of money so she arranged for him to paint in order to settle the debt. She buys the paint and our landlord agreed to reimburse for paint and supplies. Her ex of course backs out and refuses to do anything. I told her to take the paint back because it didn’t matter that much but she was on a mission. I had an old friend over one day I have been friends with him since I was a teenager who I can talk to about anything. Apparently, she felt the same way about my friend because she was comfortable enough after three interactions with him to ask if he would be willing to pay for painters. Of course he agrees for me, he thought it would make me happy. I knew this was trouble but before I knew it painters were scheduled and the cash was in my hand.

After the painting it was time to clean… she cleaned for a couple of hours one night and then I spent the next two weeks dedicating my time to deep cleaning, finding furniture, unpacking and decorating. I feel taken advantage of so when she leaves her mark in one of the rooms I had just finished cleaning, polishing and decorating I know I have officially reached my breaking point…

This opens the floodgates and in comes all the resentment I had been holding onto for the last several months. I am so mad that she broke her promise to me and I confront her. This is not acceptable to me because I will not be treated like a maid when I pay half the rent. If she wants me to be the maid then she should be offering me a salary. Its not acceptable to her that I am taking a stand after keeping my mouth shut for so long. Words are exchanged via text message. The words are not friendly. I say very ugly hateful things.

I needed to blow off some steam so I leave the house for the first time in three weeks. I was in desperate need of a drink. I also had an audition the next day and needed to change my mood. With everything that was going on an audition was the last thing i wanted to do. My friends made me go and did not rest until I had everything I need to attend this audition prepared. I’m so glad i went to the audition because even though i didn’t get the part it reminded me what I loved doing… I am finally hopeful and feeling like a new woman.

I am on the way back from the audition and my phone rings and its my neighbor. (read below for some background about this neighbor)

(My neighbor is someone I was not happy to have as a neighbor. I knew 8 years ago because he tried to hook up with me but my hated towards him made that unsuccessful. He then began dating my best friend at the time. I didn’t like it but she was my best friend so I tried to be supportive. He quickly showed his true colors and proved that my gut instincts about him were completely accurate. He was a total psycho and in the end he tried to kill my friend while driving her home in a drunken rage. My friend never spoke to him again after that night but we had heard that he went on a trip to rehab. Had i known he was living next door to me i would have never agreed to move into the duplex next door to him.)

So back to the phone conversation… my crazy neighbor was calling to advise me to move out of the apartment. My head is about to spin around like the exorcist I cant believe what I am hearing. He wants to know if I have somewhere to go? If I had somewhere to go I would have gone there long ago believe me. Its really hard for me to keep my cool. It has been so long since I have had to endure this ridiculous kind of unnecessary drama. I tell him that my personal life is not any of his concern and ask that he never get involved in things that do not concern him. Then he wants to know if I want to come over for spaghetti. Are you kidding? He kicks me out of my apt and now this – it was so sweet of him to coordinate my move and plan my going away party? Don’t you agree?

I go to a hotel for a few days of quiet time and room service. While I am away I find out from my friend who paid for the painters that all of my belongings had been thrown into a storage facility. All this manual labor by the very girl who cant muster up the energy to pick up her dirty clothes from the floor. She and her boyfriend (I am sure the neighbor boy) took it upon themselves to move me out while I am not there. No packing was involved in this project just throwing everything into a pile. I just finished unpacking. I just spent so much money on this apt and so did my friend and she gets to benefit from my hard work because I am not on the lease and out on my ass.

The turn around time for my move out project is very impressive. It amazes me how quickly she was able to coordinate moving all of my stuff in just one day. I am shocked. My friends saw this coming and have never liked her. They warned me but I never thought for a second they were actually right about this one. She used me as a way to get out of her dads house. She needed a roommate, a house cleaner and a decorator and used me to get what she wanted. She used me to cash in and get her apartment painted as a bonus. An agenda fueled hate by a spoiled brat is a dangerous mixture. She made sure she got everything she wanted from me then threw me out with the empty moving boxes.

A few days later she randomly she texts me to contact this man regarding a job. It was a job as a topless maid. Apparently SHE has been working as a topless maid and she is one of their “feature girls” and they want to meet me at the Dallas Observer Music Awards. This event is great networking for me (total nonsense) I have been to these awards and its all people I already know. To sweeten the deal they want me to present an award with her – on stage? OHHHHH Hell no! AND they expect me to do this all for free. Enough is enough.

I have applied to a comedy/improv program in NYC that 6 months of training and coaching. I think its perfect for me because it will get me back into my creative mode. After completing this program i will be ready to take on this comedy thing and give it 100%. The tricky part is that I must raise a large sum of money to pull it off and be in NYC by the end of Sept.

Maybe I should have picked the padded room option…

This story is so much more sad and pathetic in written form. I have really been trying to do better at not allowing these negative people into my life and once again It happened. Once again I am surrounded by people I know bring nothing to the table and only cause negativity in my life. I walked away before and think its the best solution this time around. I am so disgusted that I have wasted so much time going backwards.

When am I going to get a god damn clue?