Showcase Showdown - a month later.

It's been a few strange weeks overall.

I've been off my happy pills again for the past two weeks, and quite honestly I feel generally apathetic.  Work has been very mundane lately...very mundane.  I'm busy enough, but it's just the same thing everyday.  8 hours of the same thing.  Can a person get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the brain?  That's what it feels like or at least analogous too, if you don't like my metaphor.

Oh, and for those wondering what happened during the Showcase Showdown back from April?  My wife renegged on just about everything we agreed to prior.  Just when I think I couldn't be surprised by her anymore, I will admit, what came out of her mouth both stunned and saddened me.  Even my lawyer had to laugh at her and her attorney. 

See, my wife and I agreed (at least I thought we did), that she keeps her collections and I keep mine.  She keeps her 401K and I keep mine.  She pays for her credit cards, and I pay for mine.  She keeps her car, and I keep mine. See the pattern?

Well, of course when we got down to brass tax she now wants the following:

• My 401K, because she has spent hers.
• The equity in my car....the one that I bought and paid for by myself.
• The king size bed...the one she hated and said she wanted a new mattress before she left.
• My art collection, on top of keeping hers.
• The patio furniture...which I bought,
• The TV...which was a gift to me from my aunt & uncle....which is funny because not only does she have no where to put it, she doesn't even have cable.
• The washer, dryer, stove, and fridge....the appliances I bought...that she didn't.
• She also wants me to pay her Credit Cards.....because she can't.
• Maximum for alimony that the state will allow.
• And the icing on the cake?  My dog.  Yes the dog she didn't walk, didn't buy, didn't train, didn't pay for his insurance or pet bills.  The dog she walked out on when she left me and her daughter.  The dog she never asked about the last 14 months.  Now she wants my dog.  Over my DEAD body.

So there you go.  It obviously didn't go the way I expected.  It floored me.  I think I was in shock the first day or two.  I cried a bit.  I can handle some material objects...giving those up and replacing them even though she didn't invest a stinking dime into them,  But the buck stops at MY dog.  Any emotion of love I was still holding for her died that day.  No I don't hate her.  No, I still don't wish her any ill will.  I'm just shocked and heart-broken that she went back on EVERYTHING we agreed to and I completely felt blind-sided.

Anyway, since then her new lawyer wants to 'talk' to us again.  Maybe, just maybe, he talked some sense into her and feels like we can still negotiate a few things before we go to court.  This will take place sometime in July.  When?  I do not know yet.  But if I walk back into a negotiation meeting again, she better be willing to play ball.  I have no qualms walking in and walking right back out in less than 5 minutes if I feel she's not ready to play ball.  First and foremost, my dog is not negotiable.  Period.  End of discussion.

Now some of you may be thinking, "Dude, it's just a dog!  Is a dog worth the cost of going to court?  Go out and buy a new one."  You have to know me and understand this:  I have no biological children...so my dog is my 'child'.  I raised him.  He is my best friend.  He sleeps in my bed.  And all the times where I broke down and had tears, he was in my lap and kept me sane,  He prompted me to go out and take him for walks when it was easy to sit at home, curl up in a fetal psoition, and drink.  As weird as you may think I am, my dog gave me purpsoe when I was all alone in my house, and has been with me everyday since BEFORE she left.  She is not getting my dog.  I will be with him until he passes from natural causes.  Period.

One way or the other, we have a trial date, before a judge on August 8th.  So as I post this, I have roughly 2 months before I think this may all be finally over.