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Edit made 2/1/2019

Squidward awoke from his deep slumber to the sounds of Spongebob screaming " I AM RED-EY," over and over again. He groans to himself, angered that he can no longer find solace in sleep and must start a new day. Squidward rose from his bed and approached his window, ready to yell. Spongebob you Knuckle Head McSpazz-a-tron! Knock it off! He thought. But as he looked down towards Spongebob's front door, he saw Sandy Cheeks talking with SB. The two of them had recently started dating. While Squidward thought that SB and Sandy were just going through a quick fling, looking down at them from his window he could see the spark of love that was real. Squidward's face went from one of anger to melancholy. He looked to the ground sadly, but smiled after a moment. At least the kid found someone to spend his time with, he thought to himself. For the rest of the morning, Squidward wistfully got ready for work.

Work for Squidward was the same as usual. Dealing with Spongebob's antics and Mr. Krabs' greedy nature became too difficult to give energy to day after day. Since winter began, Squidward came to the realization that the things that angered him were the only things that kept him going through the day. The things that annoyed him helped him to enjoy that which he loved. But with that hate gone, everything became dull. Maybe it's an early midlife crisis, he pondered. Since Santa personally thanked Squidward for spreading Christmas joy the very first Christmas Bikini Bottom ever had, Squidward was very pleasant during the holidays. This year, however, Squidward didn't feel the joy he's had in the past. In fact, Squidward felt lonely whenever he thought about it. Spongebob and Sandy were going out of town as it was their first Christmas together as a couple. Patrick and Mr. Krabs were spending the holidays with family. Even Plankton and Karen were hosting all 6,000 of Plankton's cousins. Squidward was going to be alone this time for the holidays. He thought a good christmas party would get him out of his slump, but unfortunately it wouldn't happen this year.

As Squidward was thinking of this, a customer came up to the register. Squidward could tell it wasn't the usual customer as he was dressed in a fancy suit, with pamphlets and briefcase in hand. Here we go again, Squidward thought as he got ready to greet the businessman. "Welcome to the Krusty Krab, what do you want," Squidward sneered. "Well young laddy, get me one of those krabby patties with extra krabby HAHAHA" the businessman said. "Ha. Sir, is that it," Squidward retorted flatly. "That'll be all… Well not really sonny. See, I'm part of a pyramid sche- I mean a legitimate business, and I have to meet my quota with two more people at least. All you gotta do is give me some money to go on a great trip to a ski lodge just up the ways. You can take a nice 3 hour drive up there and mingle with all the other vacationers for the holidays,It'll be fun. But part of this sweet deal is that you do have to attend some meetings to invest in the company, but I promise, this company is going to go places! So, what do ya say kid?"

Squidward could see through this scam the minute the business man opened his mouth. But looking through the pamphlet he could see that the prices were pretty fair. Upon further inspection, he could see that the company owner also owns the ski lodge so that's probably why the prices are so low. Also, you do have to indulge into their pyramid scheme a little, but hey, a nice vacation makes it seem worthwhile. The payment includes lodging, 3 meals a day for 1 week during Christmas, and access to all that the ski lodge has available. Squidward had no other plans for the holiday season, so he agreed and paid the low amount. "Thanks buck-o! This'll be the greatest decision you ever made! Lemme just get some of your information… Ah, do you have a license I can see?" asked the businessman. Squidward handed his driver's license to the businessman. "Thank you kiddo. Lets see here…. Oh gee kiddo it seems like your license is expired. It expired two weeks ago." Squidward swiped back his license and verified this information for himself. "Wow, I didn't even notice it had expired. Will this be a problem for the trip?" asked Squidward. The businessman shook his head, "Not at all sonny, your spot can still be secured, you just need to put down a down payment of 60 percent NO REFUNDS!" Thinking that this wasn't a big problem, Squidward paid the man his money, received his business card and receipt, and delivered his Krabby Patty.

After the businessman left the restaurant, Squidward looked over the window behind him and glanced towards Spongebob, who was happily flipping patties. "Hey Spongeboob, you go to boating school, right?" Squidward inquired. "Sure do!" exclaimed Spongebob, "What do you need?" Squidward explained his situation to SB and SB nodded his head in understanding. "Well you're in luck friend! Mrs. Puff is keeping her boating school open up until the week before Christmas! That should be enough time to get your license and head up to that lodge!" Spongebob explained. Squidward thanked SB for the information and continued with his work for the day.

After getting home, Squidward sat in front of his fireplace, swirling scotch around in his glass. The liquor was all he could feel lately. Even his clarinet couldn't bring him joy. Instead, he thought back to the memories he had of his overreacting to SB's shenanigans. He missed those days of caring. He took a swig of scotch, and let the burn creep down his throat. He sighed, realizing his drink ran low. He groaned as he got up to get his refill. Unfortunately, he was out of Scotch and had nothing else. Well, I'll leave today's problems for tomorrow's me, he thought to himself. Squidward went to bed, and remembered he had to work towards getting his driver license. He groaned at the thought but believed it'd be good to switch things up a little. Maybe this roadblock is just what I needed.