[Previous entry: "Social Breakdown"] [Next entry: "Procrastination Tip #79"]

I don't know about you all, but it seems to me that there's a permanent full moon shining over Tampa. In the past month, I've had people telling me how much they want me around--until I don't react exactly as they want me to, and then there's hell to pay.

Recently, I've been receiving not-so-subtle propositioning from a (former?) friend of mine. Explaining that I am very recently out of a relationship (which apparently she took as her cue) and since I was unwilling to just jump into something new, I declined politely. And then a few days later, I did the same. When politeness failed, I rejected her advances more directly. This was followed by a set of bitter, angry text messages, saying that she hates me and never wants to talk to me again.

This morning I received a new barrage of messages from this same person, this time without the angry tone. Each was laced with pseudo-explanations and prima facie invalid justifications of her behavior--but not one word of apology for the shitty things she said (written?). To me her reaction had been unjustified and I told her as much, still pissed off at her initial reaction. This resulted in an about face, again peppering me with hostile myspace messages telling me what a horrible person she thinks I am.

It seems improbable that someone can claim to care about you and then, like the flip of the switch, hate you in the next breath. It makes no sense to me. But it seems to happen to me a lot. I'm not sure if I'm attracted to the crazy ones or if I make them crazy, but something's gotta give.

And given that I've been trying to downsize the drama around me, this came at an really inopportune time. So, I'm announcing a new zero-tolerance policy in my life for drama. No longer will I go out of my way to give people the benefit of the doubt, but rather I will avoid those who only seem to contribute negatively. I think, in principle, that will mean a self-imposed prohibition on dating until I leave Tampa next summer.

All the better--this interpersonal horseshit just distracts me from my work.

UPDATE (8/30): Two months later, and yet still more crazy messages, from the queen herself. Suprised? I'm not.