Good news / Grating news

First, the good news: I'm getting that car loan! According to the credit union I signed up with today, there's only one small blemish on my credit report that is keeping me from approval on a car loan. It's a simple $75 outstanding payment that I can make over the phone. The only other downside is that due to my lack of any new debt over the past couple years, they say I'll need to keep 10% of the loan amount in savings at their bank at all times. Oh, well, no Wii for Fritschie in the near future.

That good news more than outweighed something that's been bugging the shit out of me for the past day and a half. This weekend was the Goonies at the midnight movie. I talked to a friend of mine on Friday, making it clear that I was going on Saturday night. Saturday night came, and she was a no-show. So, Sunday morning I get a call from her, and she proceeds to huff and puff that I didn't call her Saturday to remind her.

Hell, even the most formal gathering only require ONE confirmation. Besides, since when have I been known to flake out on plans to see a movie?

At that moment, I made a decision...OK, it was after she hung up on me...but I made the decision to not make any time in my life for people who cannot accept responsibility for their own lives. Up until recently, that was more of a guideline, but now, I make it a rule.

This particular friend I speak of has had kind of a rough year, and I understand that. A bitter breakup, unemployment, depression, you name it. But lately, she has become increasingly paranoid that all of her friends are turning on her, even though she's making no effort to rectify the situation(s). She bitches and moans that no one wants to hang out with her, gets pissed off about not getting invited to parties that don't necessarily require invitations, and when anyone partakes in an activity that she didn't get called about, she pulls this "Et tu, Brute?" bullshit. Not to mention the fact that her name has been dropped a few times in my quest to find out who started that damned rumor about me.

Yes, a lot of her friends, myself included, have been hanging out with other people, but what she fails to realize is that we've been making time for people who have been making time for us. It's a two-way street. There's no reason to bitch about someone not calling you when you make no effort to call them first. And, if we make plans to do something, and you flake on us, they don't call us the next day and make us feel like it's our fault!

I have no time for that. Not any more. I'm not a social secretary, nor am I a switchboard to interpersonal networks. Friendships are like any other relationship, you only get out of it what you give into it. No tickee, no laundry.

I like to consider myself a super nice guy, but I do have my limits, and I'm no longer tolerating people who wish (consciously or otherwise) to push those limits.