Holy stranger in the manger. Found out today from a friend in the industry that a close mutual friend and strategic business partner has been playing us and our spouses in a decade-long campaign of financial and psychosexual manipulation by deception and disinformation. This revelation has made today Day Zero, one of the weirdest days in memory. I need formal counterintelligence training to function in this new and terrible secret war. Neither Mossad nor Shin Bet would take me because I'm crazy, but I am grateful that I am hands-down the craziest participant in this hot mess: my wife is not to be underestimated, but my extensive experience in emotional trauma should serve me well on defense, and I maintain a monopoly on psychotic aggression, which has its uses. I wish I could describe the situation, but it would require at least 2000 words (I never use emoji) and probably get me booted from the forum and/or arrested. My enemy is my friend; I must keep my friends close, but my enemies closer. Figuring it all out should feel like a victory, but I still feel as if I may barf. Before everything slipped sideways today I managed to put in some good work on a horror story, and if certain friends continue to act like the weirdest psychopaths to walk the earth, it can only help my writing. Day Zero was another station on the path to becoming a full-fledged lunatic. Bipolar disorder gets worse.