Nemesis

Nemesis
noun
1. The inescapable agent of someone’s or something’s downfall.
2. Something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.:

There have been many battles, with many opponents (big and small), in my 38 years of life. Public transportation; Limits (in Calculus); work hours; INR spikes; Gibberlings, annoying little cretins from the Baldur’s Gate PC game series; and my right foot, just to name a few of the more noteworthy opponents. While I haven’t always come out on top against them, I have had my share of wins (or stalemates), enough to keep my “record” “above 0.500”.

There is one opponent, however, that, despite all efforts, continues to drop loss after loss after loss on my head, with any victories being few, far between, and brief.

My Nemesis.

Money.

Specifically, lack of money.

My dealings with Money are basically summed up by this picture:

The big difference is that, more offer than not, Money also has 2 extra Knights and a Rook, while my King is only allowed on the board when I am down to 4 Pawns. I can hear the Washingtons and Lincolns snickering now, at the idea of them, and maybe even a Hamilton or 2, residing in my wallet or bank amount for more than a few brief moments. They know where their next true destinations are (side eye at utility, Internet, and phone bills).
I might have a new ally in this decades-long fight….

I start a second job on August 22nd: a part time job (20-24 hours a week; possible overtime) basically monitoring highway traffic in town. The key: almost 175% of the pay of my current job.

By the end of September, with the new job marching along, and perhaps some hours at my current job, will I have recorded possibly my first “victory” of 2016 over Money: catching up one of my bills? Will Money actually be in the account, instead of the Lack of it causing 3 and 4-Alarm infernos in the account? Or is it a trap, where Money heads towards me, only to stop and throw razor-sharp debt-darts at my face, while backpedaling and giggling?

I do know that my King has been put into Check time and time again, over the last few weeks. The new job will bring a few Knights and Bishops with it in 10 days; maybe I can get a Pawn advanced far enough to promote it to a Rook or Queen, turn the tide, and win this latest game by the end of next month…!