It all started on Thursday night when I got an email from Jeremy’s ( Daniel’s younger bro) girlfriend. I don’t really know this girl.. In fact I don’t know her at all so I wondered what would make her want to even send me an email. I read the email and she stated that she needed some advice on how to talk to Jeremy and she thought I could help, since I was with his brother and Jeremy and Daniel act almost the same. So, I asked Daniel what I should do, because I really don’t like to get involved in their family drama. He said to email her back and see what was up. So I did. I got another email back later that night, saying that she wanted to talk to Jeremy about something but he always got quiet and didn’t talk to her. I wrote back and said that she just needed to give him some time and when he was ready to talk he would talk to her. Nothing bad at all. NOTHING! I felt bad, for talking about Jeremy behind his back and I was really torn if I should tell him that she even emailed me. So I went to bed

I got up the next morning ( Friday) still torn on what to do. I asked Daniel and he didn’t really give me any advice on it. So I called Daniel’s mom and asked her advice. She said that I should sit down and talk to Jeremy about the whole situation. I agreed. So I texted him and said that we needed to sit down and talk and he needed to give me a time that was good for him to talk. I got a text back from him, asking what he did wrong. I told him nothing was wrong we just needed to talk and that it wasn’t anything bad. I suppose this is where the day began to go downhill.

Obviously, after that text, Jeremy became worried. why? I have no idea especially when I said it was nothing big. He gets out of school, goes home and asks his mom if she knew of anything wrong. She asked how he knew and he said that I had texted him about it. She told him that it was between me and him– she should have left it there. Especially since she said I needed to talk to him. SHE DIDN’T! She began to lecture him about life and how he should keep his friends close and his enemies closer. So at this point he gets upset. I have no idea what is going on at this point. He gets on skype and is mad at me. So of course, I am worried because it all of a sudden got blown way of proportion over nothing. So I tell him I am coming over to talk to him.

I rush over there and talk to him and tell him that the only reason I was telling him is because I didn’t want to betray his trust and if he wanted me to not talk to her, I did respect that. Nothing bad at all. Jeremy said he understood and was just worried at school. I apologized and told him that that was not my intent at all to make him mad/worried/irritated. I told him I just didn’t want to see him get hurt and I definitely didn’t want him to get hurt because of me. I hadn’t seen his mom at this point. so Jeremy tells me he is okay about it and is not mad. He just didn’t understand why his mom blew up on him. I didn’t either. So I think everything is okay; he is not mad at me, nothing. At that moment, his mom comes in and asks if I had gotten anything out of him. I wasn’t looking for any type of answer out of him or what I was trying to get out of him. I told her I talked to him and that he understood where I was coming from. She looks at me and then says, ” Oh by the way, do me a favor and don’t text him in school. Common sense would have told you that.” Then she just storms out. At that point, I felt like complete shit. I thought I was trying to be nice and help but obviously, I was just being a stupid jerk who should have never meddled in the first place. I told Jeremy, on that note, I needed to leave because I was about to cry ( I didn’t tell him about the crying part). I walked out of the house, got in my car, drove off and broke out into tears.

I came home crying. Daniel happened to be home and he asked me what was wrong. I told him and he just said that his mom is a royal B. He told me I knew how she was and I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it did. It really did. It’s like she took everything about me and just made me feel like the smallest piece of crap imaginable. It just makes me feel like no matter how hard I try to be the good guy, I end up screwing something up and making it all crap. I dunno. I have been crying all night… I am still crying about it.

I told Daniel, I was done. With her racist comments and now this. I was completely done. I told him I will/would no longer get involved with anything with this family. I said I would block Jeremy from skype and he could go over to his mom’s house on his own, because I just can’t take it anymore. Daniel told me I should not punish the kids because his mom is so crazy. But the thing is, they live over there. I would just rather not associate myself with his family at all. I’m sure I’m wrong about it, like everything…. I am just so broken…..

I know, I know I have posted many things about it. It seems like this is my very first convention. It’s not, but it is all at the same time.
I have been to the conventions in Atlanta, like AWA and Dragon Con, but when I went to them, the only thing I did was go in the dealer’s room, buy some little things here and there and then go home. Anime Mid Atlantic will be the first con where I actually stay and check out what else will be there.

It seems like a whirlwind of things that I really want to check out. I know for sure, I want to actually stroll down artist alley, and get some art work for the house. I also want to see how Artist Alley is actually run what and exactly the artist do there. I want to get some ideas because I plan on being in Artist Alley sometime soon, not only getting my name out there but also getting some of my art out there.

I also want to take in my first concert, ever. EYE SHINE! I definitely want to sit in on a voice acting panel to learn about it. I also, want to just take in everything a con has to offer. Really experience it.

I think it will be fun. I hope it will be fun! I am just soooooooooooo EXCITED!!!

I don’t know why I sit there and take most of the stuff Daniel’s mom dishes out to me.   The only reason she does it, is because she knows that I won’t say anything to disrespect her in her own house.  So, most of the time I am quiet.  Maybe I need to start being more aggressive and tell her what I really think.

She is a terrible woman and I never thought I would say something like that about anyone.   I never thought I would hate the mother of the person I was with but I hate her with a passion.  I guess it’s true about the mother- in – law thing.  She is rude, offensive and straight out hateful and ignorant.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have many friends but the friends I do have are all over the spectrum of color. I love everyone no matter what race they are.  Period.  But this one has told me that I should be friends with Asians because they smell funny and eat dog.  WTF?!  I mean does she hear herself and understand how stupid she is?  She says Asians are bad and all black women are bitches, but I am different.  WHAT?!  Just to hear that racism that comes out of her mouth hurts my soul and makes me wonder why the world and some people in it are so messed up.

On another note, the other day, she asked me what I plan to do when I have a child.  I asked her what she meant and she explained that when I have a child, she wanted to know what race I planned on putting down on the birth certificate.  I explained to her that I would hope I could put down mixed race as that is what my child would be, and I don’t want to deny my child any part of itself.  She just looked at me and told me that she hoped I put down white, because if I put down anything else, people would think I was going to give the child some ghetto name and the child would never be treated right in society.  Are you kidding me?

Also, just last week, she called me fat.  To my face.  she said she thought she was fat because she has gotten up to 107lbs.  The woman is 50 years old and looks horrible.  You can see every bone in her body.  I told her that if she thought that was fat, I would hate to know what she thought about me.  Just at that moment she started to say,” well I think you are a little ove..” and that is when Daniel jumped in and told her to just stop.  One of the few occasions where he actually stuck up for me or just wanted his mom to shut the hell up.   Those come very few and far between if ever.

I just never thought that when I grew up, I would be subjected to all of this.  I mean I wasn’t wearing Rose colored glasses or anything, but I never thought I would have someone who would attack my character, my friends, my religion, etc on a daily.

Daniel finally broke down and said that we could go to a con in June.  It’s anime Mid Atlantic.  He said we could go because we didn’t have to fly and we ( by we I mean mean I) could drive up there.  It will be about an 11 hour trip. I have printed out the Pre-registration forms and I have to send that in with a check.  I know  a lot of people are like, you must love anime.  I do, but that is not why I am going.  I am going in hopes of seeing a voice acting panel and learning about where I need to start to get this show on the road.  I would love to really do voices for anything.  Everyone tells me that I would be good at it and I think I would too ( which is really a first because I don’t think I’m really good at much of anything).    Also Johnny Yong Bosch will be there and that is a major plus.   I still wish I could go to Anime expo this year so I can see the Power Ranger reunion, but I know that won’t happen.

I am excited to say the least, but still a little mad. It just gets to me how Daniel can say that we can’t do most of the things I want to do because we have to fly and that is just way too expensive, yet it’s no big problem for him to want to drop 300+ on getting his certification.  It’s understandable that he wants/needs to get his certs for his IT jobs, etc.   But don’t tell me that I have to give up on all my dreams because they are just more money than he would like to dish out on something that is not for him.  He makes me so mad.   He is pretty selfish and everyone sees it, but him.  It’s just annoying.

Well let me start from the beginning. Well my brother called my dad the other day and said he needed some money., about 150.00. He said he needed some help because he was going to be put in jail for back child support if he didn’t get the money. My parents have pretty much gone in debt for my brother; from my dad and mom lending him money constantly to my mom draining her retirement to help him out of jail. So my parents and everyone one else is pretty fed up with him. My dad was very mad and hesitant but decided one last time to give him the 150.00, but he told him that if he was lying to him or didn’t pay him back, he would totally disown him and my brother need not call him ever again. I have never heard my dad say something like that so I started to feel really bad. I felt really bad in the first place because my dad said my brother stated, ” he needed help” and my brother has never said those words before.

So Friday, my cousin gives my brother the 150.00 and my dad goes up to the PX to deposit 150.00 in her account to pay her back. As soon as he deposited the money, he got a call from my mom, saying that had put my brother in jail. My dad of course asked why because he had already sent the money in. They said my brother had lied and was supposed to have paid 50.00 a week since October. At that point my dad is pissed. He called me like he always seems to do and tells me he is ticked and that he wishes he could just go some where and blow his brains out. That, of course, makes me sad. He then hangs up and of course I’m crying and I can’t believe ( well I can) that my brother lied so bad this time.

My dad ends up calling back about 30 minutes later and says that my 83 year old grandmother who just had a pace maker put in had walked up to the police station and counted out pennies to get my brother out. Do you know how awful that makes me feel? To have to hear something like that.She ended up having 187.00 and a man at the police station felt bad for her and gave her another 50.00.  All to get my brother out of something he put  himself in.  I would have let him stay there.  So now my parents are dishing out more money to pay my grandmother back.  And what happened to the 150.00 he had you ask?  He didn’t even pay it.  He had it in his pocket…..

My brother has no remorse for what he did. Everyone is pretty mad with him and dad even said he has no son at all and doesn’t want to even speak to him. So, I think right now we are a family broken.

My mom also informed me that since all this has happened, they won’t be able to get me anything for my birthday. which is fine– but my brother sure does know how to fuck up someones day.

When we got home it was raining pretty hard and we decided that we were going to do nothing but play video games and maybe watch some [Mushi-shi].  We had only been home for maybe 10 minutes, when I looked outside and noticed t hat the road was flooded, not only that some houses were flooded.  The water was very close to reaching our house.  So Daniel and I went out side and started to knock on doors to alert people and let them know.   We tried to get to our next door neighbors house but the water was already waist deep.  That’s when I saw, that their five Pitt bulls were in the back yard, tied on 3ft chains and the water was up to their necks.  They were going to drown.  At that point, Daniel and I didn’t know what to do because we didn’t know if the dogs were vicious or what.  At that moment, our neighbor across the street, a couple, came home and ran over to us.  We told them what was happening.  They knew the neighbors better than we did and said the dogs were really nice.  The guy neighbor.must have just come home from his military job as he still had on his fatigues.  He jumps over the fence and starts to unleash the dogs handing them off to us, so we could pass them on to his wife and she could put them in their yard.  The first dog, a beautiful blue pitt bull, was nice and Daniel was able to pass her off with no problem.  The next dog was the only male in the pen.  The guy gave the dog to Daniel.  Daniel held the dog, which was pretty scared and was peeing everywhere.  At that point, a thunder cloud rolled threw and clapped really loud, scaring the dog.  The dog tried to take off , but Daniel was still holding on, that is when everything went in slow motion.  The dog arched his head, turned around, and bit Daniel on the wrist.  I remember Daniel pulling away and then walking away shivering, not because he was scared but because he was cold.  Remember we had been standing out in the rain for about 20 minutes at this point.   The dog then began to follow Daniel, I thought he was going to bite again, but he didn’t.  He stayed next to Daniel and sat there, like he was saying, ”  Hey dude, I’m sorry.”

I, of course, started to freak out.  I told everyone I couldn’t help them anymore because I had to get Daniel to the hospital. I told Daniel to get in the house, take off his wet clothes and put on some dry ones so I could get him to the hospital.  He did and that is when I noticed how bad the bite was.  His arm was all swollen and bloody.  So after he got re-dressed we jumped in the car and as we were leaving, we saw the neighbors who owned the dogs had just pulled up.  They hadn’t been home.  I waved at them as we drove off to try to let them know that we weren’t mad.  How could we be?  I called my parents to have them go check on our three small dogs and get them to safety and they said they were on their way over to our house.

The Er doctor looked at the wound and said it was barely superficial, anymore and it would have been a problem.  So I was relieved but I know Daniel was in a lot of pain.  The doctor cleaned it out, put some dermabond on it and gave Daniel and tetanus shot.  I thought we were all ready to go, but unfortunately,   animal control had to be called.  This is something I didn’t want– I didn’t want the dog to be taken away and I didn’t want the neighbors to get in trouble.   We tried to get out of waiting around for them but they told us we had to stay. So we did.  Animal control finally came about 30 minutes later and we had to fill out a report.  We explained to him the situation and that we didn’t blame anyone and wanted no charges pressed and/or filed ( my parents were very upset about this).  He said that some one would have to come out and assess the dog and make sure that all shots had been given and paper work was in order.    Other than that, we were free to go.  All and all we were in the ER for 3 hours.  Pretty good, I would say.

When we got home, the neighbors were outside to talk to us. The water was gone, just like that.  Our house didn’t flood but I knew their house was in some bad shape.  They told us thank you for saving their dogs and that they were very sorry that Daniel had got bitten.  We told them it was no big deal and we explained to them animal control would be coming out and we had not pressed any charges.  I then asked them how bad their house was since the water had risen so high, and they said that everything was ruined and that he realty company, since they are renting, would not do anything for them. I was shocked about that. Daniel happens to know the man who owns the realty company, and said he would talk to him first thing Monday morning because something should be done.  They told us that RED CROSS had helped them rent a room for 3 days and they wanted us to keep an eye on the house.  That was fine.  They apologized again and told us that we were good neighbors trying to help their dogs and then they left….

So, we are good neighbors, but I don’t feel like one.  I feel like we screwed up some how and their dog might be taken away and killed.  Animal control did come out  after they had already left, he assessed the area.  I hadn’t known that while they were going to be in a hotel, their dogs, who were still wet, were back outside where they were before the whole flash flood started.  No shelter, no bedding, only soggy wet ground.  He told us that their dogs would have to be taken because they were not  being treated properly.  I told him I felt bad, but he told us to think that if it were a child who had been bitten, would I still feel bad?  I do… I feel like I have set dogs up to die.  I don’t feel like such a good neighbor….

On one final note, my parents and Daniel’s parents, feel as if we should ask them to pay our medical bills.  I would feel like an ass if we did that…. More of an ass then I feel now.