I originally wrote this Monday, September 27, 2004 3:03:27 AM. I put off posting it until I was done helping Marc and his mom move.

I've been volunteering a lot to help Marc and his mom prepare to sale their house. I never asked for payment, and I turned down the money they offered last week. It's just one of those things you do for a friend. All I ask is that the people I help return the favor to someone else one day. Like that movie Pay It Forward. I've been like that since way before that movie came out. When I stopped to help a stranger on the side of the road and they offered me money, I told them not to pay me. I said, "I hope one day you will help someone in need." That's just the type of person I am.

Let's skip to another semi-related topic real quick to provide background. Marc used to give Matt rides quite often. Marc's mom even gave him some rides when Matt stayed in their house for a while. Apparently Matt got too comfortable with the arrangement. According to Marc, Matt stopped asking for rides and started telling them "I'm ready to be picked up." Marc told me that this would upset them cause he seemed to be taking advantage of their good nature.

Where is the hypocrisy? Saturday night Marc told me to help his mom today(Sunday). I can't remember exactly what he said, but it didn't sound like a request at all. It was something about how he said it. All I could think of is how he bitched about Matt telling him to pick him up. On top of that, I had already promised to help my mom with something. It really didn't upset me for more than a minute. It was what happened tonight that has me pissed off.

I got up this morning and went over to my mom's house as planned. I was helping her clean out her garage. I had told Marc that I would try to make it over to his house when I got done helping my mom. Well, we had my three-year-old nephew "helping" so it took a little longer than it should have. I spent a good couple hours distracting my nephew while my mom packed away some of his old toys. We started around 10:30am and didn't finish until almost 6:30pm. Marc called just as we finished up and asked why I hadn't showed up at his house yet. At that point I had forgot about helping his mom. I told Marc that I forgot, but it didn't make a difference because I was just cleaning up. Apparently Marc missed the second part even though I said it twice. He told his mom that I didn't show up cause I forgot. Even after I got there and explained it to his mom, she was still stuck on the fact that I forgot.

It's not like I went home and went to sleep. I didn't go to a movie or something. I was helping my mom clean out her garage the whole time. Even if I remembered, I would have still been cleaning out the garage. All this still didn't piss me off for more than a minute.

So what pissed me off? I got pissed when Marc's mom said I should have put my mom off. I don't put people off. When I make plans with one person, I don't ditch that person for someone else. Especially not family.

No one event got me upset, but all this added together really pissed me off. I can't say anything more on this. I'm too pissed right now.

Update: I feel I should say that I have since accepted payment for my help; only because I skipped work a few days to help them. They also used the money to bribe me to provide more help than I originally intended.