Western bacon cheeseburger I bought at a hospital cafeteria. Got to watch the chef make it while ranting on an airpods call about how he can’t afford to take his dog to the vet and “just put Neosporin on it”.

I broke up with my boyfriend on Valentines Day. We met January of last year, and officially started dating July of last year. At first, I was ecstatic. He was my first serious relationship in over 10 years. So, I was excited to find a man who had a job, owned his own house, and seemed to have his life together. We had similar interests, liked similar series, and most of all at first he was very romantic. I thought I was living the dream.  

Then in October, he lost his job. It might have been partially my fault – I didn’t realize he was staying up late to talk/text me and this was affecting his work performance. When he got fired, he told me not to worry, he’ll find another IT job soon enough. Then all the AI layoffs happened. He got job offers, but he kept turning them down for silly reasons like “It’s not work from home”. And that’s when he started pulling away. His text messages took longer to respond. He started hanging out with his friends more. He said he was just enjoying his “funemployed” era. But slowly, his time was taken over more and more with friends and gaming. And we started to fight more – I felt neglected, unprioritized, and ignored. Well, that’s my problem. I’m too clingy. Go get a hobby.

And since then, our relationship devolved into just what he wanted to do. He only wants to talk about celebrities, fantasy novels, or his friend’s gossips. Oh, I’m getting a bit overwhelmed because I don’t care for any of those topics and want to talk about something else? I’m not listening. I’m ignoring him. He’s the victim – yes, during one of our arguments he actually started texting me “I’m the victim here!” It was so bizarrely childish I didn’t know how to respond.

And then his friends, holy shit. When we first started dating, I know his friends mean much to him. But he did say the reason he wanted to date outside his friend’s circle was because he found his friends childish. A lot of them just want to spend the rest of their lives in their parent’s basements doing nothing but playing video games, and he didn’t want that. He wanted to get out and possibly start a family. Well, it’s been 6 months since he lost his job in October. Guess what he’s been doing since – nothing but video games with his friends. He literally became (or regressed) into what he said he didn’t want to be since we broken up. No job, no responsibilities, just game with friends, sleep, game with friends again.

No, I didn’t get along with his friends. I always been a bit reserved and have trouble getting along with people. But his friends are jerks who don’t want to do anything but talk about video games. I went on a double date with a couple, and it basically turned into the three of them talking nonstop while I just… sat there on my phone. The other couple clearly didn’t want me there. And his housemates, holy crap. The house was a biohazard mess with open food containers everywhere, cardboard boxes left lying at every corner, and the other female occupant clearly didn’t want me there (“Oh, that’s just how she is”). And since there was a man living in the living room, the only places I could visit were his bedroom, the gross bathroom shared by everyone, and the front door. I couldn’t even go to the backyard to see his koi pond, which I loved.

So yeah, I’m single again because I’m am “antisocial and don’t care about his friends”.  And the best part – his shit is still at my place and he hasn’t made any effort to get it back or return my things. He accidentally mailed some stuff from Amazon to my apartment. No worries, just send me a return label and I’ll return them for you. That was a week ago, no response since. 

Broke up with BF on Valentine's Day, but at least I get to eat a hospital cheeseburger