Hard Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently?

Comments

[unmutual.livejournal.com]

I've been living on my own now for a week and a half. I'm getting used to it. The hardest thing hasn't been doing all the chores that used to be his. I can take the garbage out, I can rake the driveway smooth, I can keep the house running. The hardest thing has been the emotional adjustment to the fact that there's no one there looking out for me now. I've never had that before; I went from my parents' house to college to living with him. And now I'm not.

I need to sell the truck; I've arranged to park it at a local gas station where it's likely to sell fast. Just have to wait for there to be a spot open for me. Thing is, then I'll have to arrange for a ride home, since I can't walk home from there. Sure, I could call a cab or work it out with a friend. The emotional part is that I can't just call home for a ride anymore.

And he wants to take one of the cats.

Alas!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

One of the things that bothers me the most about modern society is how fragmented it has become. There's so little continuity and support left, yet the structure is still largely designed as if there were. I hope you find some new connections soon.

Re: Alas!

[unmutual.livejournal.com]

I'm working on making new friends - which is also a hard thing for me! The couple who just moved into the house next door are around my age, and seem nice, but are also going through a pretty rough time right now as he was diagnosed with cancer and has begun chemo. I have an acquaintance who lives a mile down the road and is someone I could be friends with, but she has three kids so I can't exactly just call her up for a ride without it being a big deal, and she's in the middle of planning a wedding so doesn't really have time to hang out anyway.

Plus, as a serious introvert, putting in the effort to make friends often seems more tiring than it's worth, when I just want to relax at home.

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

I'd been asked to help a friend make her dress for her wedding, and I agreed, making it clear to her that I intended to coach her through the process of patterning, fitting the sloper, and assembling the finished project.

Then she graduated, defended her thesis, and took a job in Rochester, five hours away, and so the notion of her coming over and learning what she needed to know from me just disappeared without comment. The agreement mutated into me making her dress in two months, and scrambling to make the fittings and have the design questions ready to ask in the 5 chances I would have to do face to face fittings with her. Only five.

I pulled the dress off, got it done early, in fact, and she looked great in it. And I never once asked her for money, which, if I'd known that I would be doing all the work, I'd have had decided in the contract before we began. The teaching I was willing to do for free, but I am a professional seamstress, and my work does not come cheap. But she is a friend, of a very nonstandardized body shape that made just buying a gown off the rack impossible, and she was in a corner, without a lot of options on this. So I did the dress gratis.

She then slipped me $500 when she came to pick it up. Which proves to me that karma is nice sometimes.

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I was expecting that story to crash and burn at the end, and instead it's a little mote of hope for humanity. Thank you for sharing.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

1) Said goodbye to my beloved kitty of 15 years.

2) Now teaching a combined class made up of three other classes, imposed on me by the scheduling errors of others. Making win from winlessness.

[mdlbear]

Deciding to rent out the house we've been living in for 36 years, and move to the Seattle area. We were going to have to do something like that anyway in the next five years or so; getting laid off a month ago just forced it.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Good luck getting renters, then.

Re: Well...

[mdlbear]

Thanks! We did have good luck -- a group of friends were looking for a house to rent, at just the right time.

It'll be enough to cover the mortgage plus insurance. But it does kind of mean that we can't easily turn around and decide not to move! Next step: job hunting, for the first time in 19 years.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Friday a week ago; went to temp job interview in the city. Got called while waiting in Starbucks across the street - hiring manager cancelled all interviews. Agency requested I visit, so I talked to recruiter, then went home and took battery of tests.

Tuesday; after doing job hunt stuff, was dealing with massive headache, different recruiter called about three month assignment, so I ran around at top speeds on paperwork, and did tests.

Wednesday; went to scheduled interview with third agency, completed paperwork and battery of tests, took 2 hours longer than expected.

Just... I'm really tired.