(Last updated: 7-24-2024)

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Welcome to my crappy website. It truly is a bootleg bunch of crap, but I don't care. Not at all. I'm not doing it just to entertain you scumbags; I'm doing it because writing is fun but I am too lazy to actually write a real book. Don't laugh because I'm serious.

If you want to know who the hell I am and why I spent my hard-earned $18.17 to register this domain and to share my thoughts with the world then you can click here to find out. I have no update schedule so if you don't like it then you can ggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt oooooooouuuuuuuuttttttttttttttt!

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: Why are you still here? Chances are pretty damn good that I WILL insult you in some fashion if you choose to continue beyond this point. The purpose of this site is to entertain me, and I am often entertained at the expense of others. Therefore, prepare to be slandered. A lot. It's still not to late to leave with your feelings intact!

Wednesday, 7-24-24: Surgery, my one and only carpentry job in 2024? Oh, a kid in a trash can hehe.
My awesome wife who occasionally pisses me off (not so much lately hehehe) is having her right knee replaced in less than one week. Wednesday next week around this time I'll be with her as she's *hopefully* home and recovering. The surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday the 31st in the morning. After that a lot will change, especially at work, because she's the heart and soul of the place and she won't be able to be there for quite some time. The doc says this will be a difficult surgery since that knee has been worked on before and parts have to be removed before new parts can get installed. She'll be boinic!

I shouldn't joke around because it's really awful. She's not even 50 years old and will have new knees in both knees, and it will be very painful and arduous for her. I really hope things go well and she can be ahead of schedule as far as recovery. It could be months before she can go back to work again. What a bunch of crap! Obviously that will be a financial strain, but more importantly I want her to be okay. At times (even recently) I've wanted to haul on her and reboot my entire life, but I still love her and want her to be well.

When my knees and/or body gives out what will I do? I'm lucky because I'm ok still, but that will change as I age up towards eventual body-failer. Right now I think I'd just say "fuck it", drink a lot, and go die. Depends on how bad off I am I guess. With no health insurance at all despite being an honorably-discharged Navy veteran I think the checking-out option would be a lot better than the "Spend a shitload of money" option that I currently don't even have since having a lot of money is a pipe-dream. What a bunch of crap!

I am NOT convinved we can keep the restaurant afloat without Kat. We went to a place that went out of business today, and that was a sad thing to see. Queen City Cinema Club in Bangor couldn't make a go of it so we stopped in to buy some stuff that was on sale. Nothing huge, some to-go containers, kitchen containers, small stuff. I taked a little with the management there and it seems they put in the work but it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe they also had a shit landlord like we do? That seemed to be the case, but after only a couple minutes of taking I wouldn't post that as fact. A bad landlord surely does make it harder to succeed as we know.

I still don't really want to do the restaurant, but I will do what I can to keep it going until Kat is well enough to get back to it. Even after that I plan to help as much as I can so we don't lose the place. Selling would be great, but that's not a thing we are sure we can even do. I don't want our failed restaurant/bar to be a giant yard sale for a few days if we do close, but who knows? Sales last week were great for this time of year, but so far this week they're lackluster. However the Bangor State Fair is in town now so that always hurts our sales. Plus there are A LOT of Waterfront Concerts in the next couple weeks.

Thaanfully but maybe not thankfully we have two HUGE events this weekends. A 100-person "Celebration of Life" Friday during the day will bring in some much-needed precious... precious revenue. Another huge Saturday daytime event will help and we also have a smaller Sat night event. Forecast is great, fair in town, more Waterfront Concerts, so those events might carry us through to a halfway respectable week of sales. Maybe? Hopefully!

Last week I finished what might be my only paid carpentry project of 2024. Mike's front steps:

It wasn't a huge job, but it did take a total of 13.5 hours including getting supplies there, removing the old steps, the dump-run, etc. I am happy with the final product and it looks great. I enjoyed doing it and I got a little more tan. Too bad it was so fuckin' hot, though. I was soaked in sweat working on that thing a couple weeks ago and I didn't even bother with it some of the days due to the extreme heat. Thankfully the heat broke and it hasn't been so bad over the past few days. More heat next week, though...

The steps and little porch wouldn't have taken as long had there been a ledger-board attached to the house. I could have done one, but I would have had to remove a lot of siding and there goes precious... precious time. So I just built it as a free-standing structure separate from the house, same as what was there before. However, I couldn't use what was there before as much of a template because the installer(s) of the previous one did a terrible job. What a bunch of crap! Pretty sure no one used a level at all because it was all-bad and epic failer.

I gotta to down to the midcoast tomorrow, my last trip that way for several weeks, for Hawke's 5th birthday. After that we get decimated at work all weekend thanks to being short-staffed. What a bunch of crap! This weekend will suck. A lot. Beautiful weather and I'll barely be able to enjoy any of it. Maybe a quick jog if my friggin' left calf doesn't cramp up again. That's been a bother lately here and there. I have a mild strain again, but it didn't bother me today playing two EPIC games of racquetball against Gavin. They were absolutely fantastic games, and two games in over one hour of playing is really something. Usually we can do 3 or 4 but it was a war today. We had one series of volleys in game 2 that I would pay money for a video of. Sadly no video exists, but Gavin was diving all over the place, I was diving all over the place, and we were totally exhausted and still played 20 more minutes haahahaha. Gavin made some truly amazing plays to keep that thing going. He won game 1, I won game 2, but I told him the score in game 2 didn't even matter because we were both so tired. It was great and I'm glad we played!

In a perfect world I'd play rball once every 5 days or so (too much and I get worn down and/or get tennis elbow) but my trash-can life doesn't allow for that. The last time we played was 10 days ago. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Why didn't I play more? Too much work gods damn it. I lose probably 75% of the time, but I really enjoy going to play. We were both wasted like DOc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket after we played today. I feel better now, but still worn out. I should eat more cookies hehehe.

I was gonna stack some wood for Mom and Dad tomorrow, but it's been a rainy couple days and Dad doesn't want to put it all away in their cellar wet so nevermind. I told them I can't help until September because I'll be busy and Kat will be getting a new knee and she'll need my help so we'll see how it goes. They are getting a new propane heating ssystem installed next month so they don't have to use wood so much. Their days of going up and down the cellar stairs for wood are numbered, and it makes me sad writing that but it's true. No one can beat time. Ever.

Speaking of time, Biden dropped out of the presidential race and VP Harris is taking his place as the candidate for 2025 and beyond. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SHE FUCKIN' SUCKS. She makes Biden and Obama look like saints. Biden was basically forced out due to being mostly mentally checked out from everything in life. He has one foot on a banana peel and one foot in the grave, and he's seemingly a bad person so goodbye. Too bad we're stuck with him as president until next winter unless he kicks the can for good before then. More on that in future bootleg updates that no one will ever read...

I didn't have to work too many hours today so that was great. We were going to do something fun outside until the weather epic failered. Rain, drizzle, crap. Oh well, not gonna complain because 72 degrees > 92 degrees. So we stuck around town, did some shopping, had a nice lunch, put the grandkiddo in a trash can because why not?

^I edited out his face to stay compliant with local laws hehehe. Naw just kidding but I didn't want his parents getting mad if I did put his face on the Interweb. No one really comes here, but one never knows... He's a good kid, 2.75-years old, and for the record that is a brand new, presumably clean trash can. Plus he was having a blast so why not? It's a huge trash can he looks so tiny in there!

Okay back so suck-city for my worthless life. Kat wanted to go out and party I guess, but F that I didn't want to go anywhere. She just got home from work all pissed off at me for not wanting to go. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! HAVING A WIFE SUCKS WHEN CAN I JUST BE SINGLE AGAIN AND BE ALL BY MYSELF WITH NO ONE AT ALL? I would enjoy going out from time to time, but WE WORK AT A FUCKIN' KARAOKE BAR WE WORK EVERY DAY NO DAYS OFF WE CONSTANTLY SEE PEOPLE SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY ASS WANTING TO STAY AT HOME?! Plus going out costs precious... precious money and we need to be cheap, especially since we did already drop $50 on lunch earlier today plus we gotta be back at work in the morning because there are always things to do and it's 2300 now and past taps. Gods damn it!

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Wednesday, 7-17-24: Keeping it... for now. Oh, stupid ridiculous dew point.
Kat and I talked at length both Sunday PM and Monday, and we're back on the same page for now. I definitely, 100%, want to sell the restaurant/bar. However, she still loves doing it so what's the harm in keeping it going a bit longer? Either way I'm off the schedule come roughly rifle deer-hunting season. I'll help when I can ON MY OWN TERMS if that is a viable option. If not I'll be at another job somewhere so we can actually pay our bills. She agrees if things start to go sideways we need to try to sell ASAP.

I'm glad my wife still enjoys doing the restaurant because I don't. At times it's a good gig, but that feeling is fleeting. If I can stay focused on a narrow area of responsibility then great, but I end up scattered all over the map and nothing is ever 100% done. What a bunch of crap! My desk right now is all covered in paperwork that I need to deal with tomorrow, if I can. Today was a textbook example of what's wrong with my bootleg life. I started off going to Deno's to work on his front steps that should have been done last week. I spent close to 3 hours on that before it got too hot and I had other things to do. Then it was off to the restaurant to do janitorial work for a while. I also had two event-room meetings, emails to respond to, payroll to process, and a sink faucet to repair. The faucet repair would have been done until a tailpiece broke. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

In the very recent past I would have been totally overwhelmed with the amount of things I had to do today, but I didn't let myself flip out and try to quit my entire world for the 100th time this year. I came close, but I kept my shit together. It's also Katherine's birthday so we had to do her dinner before trivia. We did end up just closing yesterday due to the heat and today was just as hot but we opened anyway and I'm glad we did because we've had a GREAT day of sales. Trivia was fantastic. It's a bit too hot, but there are two things we can do about that: nothing and like it.

We had a staff meeting Monday where we laid options on the line: make some changes to how we operate or close/sell this fall. Our payroll is embarassing as a percentage of our sales and we have too much product waste. Thankfully we've proven that we can pull it off and over the past few days we've been killing it. I truly believe we have the best staff we've ever had. It's not perfect, but we have a lot of great people. We had a family come today who are tourists on vacation here and they said they came due to our great Google reviews. We also got a lot of new people over the weekend as well. A LOT. Oh Jesus, hell ya!

We closed yesterday and sales today alone are better than they were both Tues and Wed combined last week and last year combined as well hahahaha. I wish we could just close Monday and Tuesday, but I think that's a sign we're failing because no restaurant is closed two days a week. Right?

This fuckin' heat is ridiculous and is a serious turd in the punch-bowl of my mid-summer life. It's too hot to go for a jog most days lately. What a bunch of crap! Here is the dew point at 2200, taps taps lights out in a former life:

^OMG ALL I WANNA KNOW IS WHY? WHY DID MAINE BECOME THE TROPICS ALL OF THE SUDDEN?! WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! A dew point of 70+ is seriously tropical and incredibly humid. Any dew point of 60+ around here is considered humid and we've non-stop had that since roughly July 4. It's really hard to sleep with no AC because it barely cools off. So far in our area it's the warmest summer since the 1930s. Epic failer! Dew point of 70+ all night = pwned and we've had a bunch of those lately.

Thanfully tonight a front comes through and we get relief. Temps still in the 80s but dew points back into the 50s. I really believe all this heat has cost us some business as well as what will surely be a very high electric bill trying to run the heat pumps to cool the place off. IT FUCKIN' SUCKS. I told Kat I'm already looking forward to winter how sad is that?!

Other than Mike's front steps I've been picking away at some things at the restaurant as time permits. I got a new urinal installed in the event room last week with Bruce's help installing the thing:

^I ripped out the old one as well as the old, moldy sheetrock and I installed 1/2" ply and FRP. Bruce did the urinal and I did the trim work:

^Looks great! The old one was decades old and I took a piss in it many times when I'd go to IWE shows in 2008-2009, etc. This is what I truly belong doing, but I don't know if that will ever be a reality. Do taxes in the winter and hit that hard then do some carpentry stuff and misc side-jobs the rest of the year. I'm still doing taxes now hahahaha! Just finished a tax return Monday for a July 15th deadline for Knox County. We had HUGE storms tear up the state last year and early this year so the deadlines were all over the place based on your county in the state. Here in Penobscot the deadline was June 17. Up north away from the coast it was April. Knox county where I grew up and have a few clients was July 15. OMG RIDICULOUS!

I like doing taxes and some carpentry. I don't like being a manager at the restaurant. I'm going to focus on doing things I like so I can survive. Seems reasonable, right? Maybe? Hopefully!

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Sunday, 7-14-24: $400 and Trump got shot OMG.
The restaurant that I don't want to own anymore ate up most of my precious... precious time yesterday so I was oblivious to the headline news of the day, an assasination attempt on former president and leading Republican candidate Donald Trump. Thankfully he wasn't killed or severely injured, but he's a fuckin' badass for the aftermath and I need to find a picture of it...

^FUCK YEAH "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" LIKE A BOSS!

A bullet clipped his ear, got him bloody, someone died, it was a shit-show, and Trump was still trying to rally the crowd. I want him as the boss of America, please. He's a dick with all kinds of personal flaws, but that was awesome and shows the man has brass balls. He has my vote.

American politics this year has been a circus. It's incredibly entertaining, but it's a bunch of crap all rolled up into one. These past couple months have especially been fun to follow with the Democrats all in-fighting over whether or not Biden needs to drop out of the race.

So I was the event-room bartender for both Friday night and yesterday. I made $400 in tips over the two days. GREAT! It's about time I actually made a little money from that place, and I should do it more. However, we're probably going to sell the place so nevermind. I'm not a real bartender and I had a sign up that said there was a limited menu of bottled beers, shots, and simple cocktails. I sent people to the front bar for fancy stuff that I don't know how to make. Long Island Iced Tea? Nope, go out front. Titos and cranberry? Yup let's effin' go. It worked out well enough and I was able to take care of most people. On Friday night a guy wanted 6 "Green Tea" shots, I said I'm not a real bartender, he said he would rather have me do it so he told me the ingredients and I accidentally made all 6 perfectly so that was awesome.

Yestrday was a wedding that I thought was going to be totally ghetto, but it worked out well enough. Within the first 5 minutes, before the ceremony itself, a guy came over and was talking to me. He was friendly enough, bride's side of the family, and he told me she "hitched her wagon to the wrong horse." HAHAHAHAAHAHA! He said the groom was fairly worthless, couldn't keep a job, and was stuck in video-game-land. It's funny because I met the groom and he was talking about how much he loves video games. HAHAHAHAHA

Later on in the afternoon/early evening (1500-2100 event) some person came up to my bar whom I thought was a guy. Nope, it was a chick who had a couple drinks in her but wasn't drunk enough to be shut off just yet. She was hitting on me in a ridiculous way so I had to point out my wife who was the DJ and in the same room. Then this chick went over to Kat and was telling Kat how she wanted me. Shortly thereafter this chick came back to the bar to tell me she was probably going to fuck some older guy who was tall and who must have a big dick because he was tall. AHAHAHAHAHA! I said "Isn't that your family at that table?!" but the one tall guy was just a family friend, or so she said...

The place was packed last night on the restaurant/bar side so I stayed to help some; I got home a bit before midnight. We had our best single day of July sales, ever so that was great. Sadly we had TERRIBLE sales Tuesday through Thursday. Tuesday we only did a little over $500 for the day. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! That's a fuckin' joke. Plus it's been stupid-hot so our systems are greatly struggling just to keep up. The two ice machines can't make ice fast enough since it's 95 degrees in the back hall area. All 4 heat pumps are on constantly so the next electric bill is going to suck. A lot.

The place is on a path to failure if we don't change things up, I'm burned out and don't want to be there anymore, but Kat does so that's just sad. I met with the business brokers on Friday regaring the valuation of the place, we have a number I can live with and that's actually a bit higher than I expected it to be, and they asked me "On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being you love doing this and 10 being you hate it?" My response was immediate, no hesitation, a 10. I should have said 11, though. What a bunch of crap!

I'M TRYING TO QUIT MY OWN BUSINESS AHAHAHAHAAHA.

Oh wait, it's not really funny. Might as well laugh about it because moping around sucks even more, and I already do plenty of that.

This extreme heat has really hurt things this month, and it makes my poison ivy that I still friggin' have on half my bootleg body itch still because I sweat so much. It's healing, but if not for this bigtime heat I think it would be done by now. I'm ready for winter already gods damn it!

We're probably not even going to open Tuesday with a forecasted heat index of close to 100. All we do is lose money on Tuesdays anyway so closing for the day is a win.

It has been a decent day so far today. It's 90 outside, but the dew point is "only" in the 60s instead of the 70s where it's been the last 3 days. That's still a stupid-hot number, but it's all relative. Right? Gavin and I played 4 games of racquetball and split them 2-2. Great workout, lots of sweat, but I'm in front of the fan right now so that helps. Soon Kat will get home from work and her and I can *hopefully* talk about the future of the place. Katherine just told me we're down a cook so we're already on limited menu at 1545 before dinner. How fuckin' sad is that?! Yet another nail in the coffin of the place that seems to always cost us precious... precious money that we barely have anymore. What a bunch of crap!

Right now it looks like we only have two options: try to sell or just close for good later this summer or early fall. We're going to do 1.1 million in net sales this year (if we kept it going all year) and still barely break even or lose a little money. WHAT A PATHETIC BUNCH OF CRAP!

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Thursday, 7-11-24: I should sleep in the cellar. Stupid housing prices.
It's been a hot summer so far and there is a lot of it left. The bedroom with no A/C = very hard to sleep without some booze and/or an edible. What a bunch of crap! I think this should be our last summer without any A/C, but I've probably written that before on this bootleg piece of shit site that almost no one ever reads. I should sleep on an air mattress on the floor in the cellar in the bootleg little gym I have down there. It's "only" 70 in the cellar and I have the dehumidifier going so it's not too bad as far as moisture in the air.

I bought a new air mattress today, but I don't think I'll use it because I've had a few drinks and I'll eat an edible and just sleep/pass out in the bedroom. Who knows, maybe I'll use it tomorrow, next week, next month, all of the above? I have more than one reason to consider it...

Sales at the restaurant have been a bunch of crap so far this week. Most of the year we're up substantially year-over-year, but we're down a bit this week as compared to last year same time period. What a bunch of crap! Of course we still have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to rally and we do most of our business over the weekend so we'll see...

We have a VERY important meeting tomorrow with the guy who has professionally evaluated our business. This meeting will likely and *hopefully* change the course of my dog-shit life. I want to sell the place, and I'm very strong in my conviction. However, a lot of things have to come together for that to happen including the right price and a willing buyer. I'm mentally checked out of everything but awesome 80s music, which of course I have on now as I often do when I update this bootleg site. I was listening to Crowded House Something So Strong and Don't Dream It's Over and now comes Starship Sara. I was going to listen to Crowded House last night, but I rolled with the Pet Shop Boys before an ABC song came on. It plays some of what I select then it goes random, but it often plays things I've listened to recently. In this case YouTube seems to know my half-drunk patterns hehehe.

Oh hey, check this out this is very interesting and might matter soon if things stay in the toilet in my useless life. Here is a house for sale within eyesight of where we live:

^It's 1165 square feet of living space, 1/4 acre lot, very basic and small 3br 1 bath for $299,900. OMG THAT SHIT IS FUCKING CRAZY FOR SUCH A SIMPLE HOUSE! The interior was remodeled so it looks nice, but it's obviously not super fancy, rooms are small, and the living room is also small. Our house > that house by a lot. A LOT. I'd guess, based on that list price, our house is worth at least $350 and probably $400k. Tempting to try and sell? FUCK YEAH!

Sell the restaurant, sell this house, leave? It's on my radar as a possibility. However, the cost of living seems to be ridiculous everywhere so buying a new house or even finding a rental for a fair price is nearly impossible. What a bunch of crap! I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet, I have no solid plan B, but something better than what I have going on now will happen soon because it's hard to get much worse. Maybe? Hopefully! Hauling on the restaurant is priority #1 right now and everything else comes after that. EVERYTHING. I have nothing else I can give emotionally and I'm totally empty right now with no refueling station on the horizon. What a bunch of crap!

I need a fuckin' year off.

Oh hey, another fantastic song. Tina Turner We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) from the amazingly awesome movie Mad Mad: Beyond Thunderdome. There's a new Mad Max movie out, but Mel Gibson isn't in it. It might still be a good movie, though. The Mad Max: Fury Road from a few years ago was totally awesome and Mel Gibson wasn't in that one. Beyond Thunderdone is definitely the best Mad Max movie of them all. WHO RUNS BARTERTOWN?! Turns out it's a midget and a lot of pig shit hehehe. It's not a cinematic masterpiece, but it rules all. the first Mad Max movie ever made was actually kind-of a turd in my humble opinion...

I still have fuckin' poison ivy on half my bootleg body. What a bunch of crap! I got it about 8 days ago, but I didn't really notice its effects until Friday last week so I guess it's really been 6 days. It's starting to improve but it's still gods damned annoying. Another nail in my shit-life coffin. Oh, I just checked sales at the restaurant and I wish I hadn't done that because OMG it's TERRIBLE. This has been one of, if not the worst, 3-day stretch for the place all year not including closed days for holidays and snow in winter. In the past I would have been quite upset about it due to always worrying about money, but now I care less because it solidifies my need to sell or just close. I can't handle the stress of it all anymore, especially the financial stress.

Kat's knee replacement got moved up from Aug 5 to July 31 so in 20 days she'll have a new right knee and won't be able to work for quite a while. That pushes me to want to sell even sooner because we can't run that place the right way without her. Not even close. The kids said they'll step up, but they're lazy so I really don't belive it. We do have some good people on the staff, but the bad ones cancel them out so it's a push. Hard times are to come for sure so all I can do it take it day by day.

All I wanna know is why? Why is one of these stupid fuck-stain cats meowing and scratching at the bedroom door? It's Schroeder, and he represents all that is wrong with my life. A couple years ago Kat wanted to get another cat (no pun intended), I said NO, she pushed for it, I eventually said yes, and now we're stuck with this needy, missing-chromosome shitbag of a pet. Fuck this.

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Wednesday, 7-10-24: Back to carpentry today on another really hot day. Oh, my life still fuckin' SUCKS.
I got to do some carpentry for most of today. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Doing carpentry > working at the restaurant that I now hate and can't wait to either sell or quit. One of those two things will be happening this year, and hopefully sooner rather than later. I have A LOT of things going on now so I won't have time to write about them all. Plus some things shouldn't be shared on this bootleg site yet.

The carpentry was a relatively simple job over at Mike's replacing his front steps. There's also a landing that was installed horribly so getting it all level (okay, mostly level) and correct took up a little extra precious... precious time. Plus it was HOT today. Again. Mid-upper 80s, working in the sun for half of the day, and incredibly humid. Like, tropical humidity with a dew point in the low 70s. Sweat was flowing and I had to come home and change all my clothes at lunch due to all the sweat. What a bunch of crap!

^When he was buying the place there were no front steps at all so they hired some hack to throw some half-assed, bootleg thing together just to get it sold. They used interior-grade 2x4s for the balusters hahahahaha what a bunch of crap! As you can see it didn't stand the test of time very well at all. Nothing level, nothing done truly right.

^Six total hours of work, but some of that was a trip to Lowe's and loading up tools/planning everything out.

I did have to go to the restaurant today to help host trivia and, before trivia, to help Bruce some for replacing the urinal in the men's event-room bathroom. It seems stupid to do that when we're probably selling the place soon, but it was on the list and we had traded off some work so might as well see it through. Who knows, maybe it will add a little value to a potential buyer?

So what is the value? I do have a little clarity on that, but until a Fridat 1400 meeting I won't know for sure. I'm hoping to finalize some decisions ASAP so I can get out of my toilet-stained life that I did to myself. Everything sucks and now it's hot as balls and we don't have A/C. I might just move into the basement. What a bunch of crap!

Instead if living in my parents' basement I'd be living in my own basement. As long as I'm not chained to the wall like Sloth from The Goonies it's all good hehehe.

Pet Shop Boys, He Dreamed of Machines. Cool song thank you YouTube. Maybe next I'll throw on some Crowded House. I need some 1980s music to help save me from a deep despair and it often does help.

I had a great weekend of mostly not-working that was marred by my wife being a total beotch to me. I went down to Waterville to visit Phil, Danielle, and their kids Saturday night. Phil and I played a few ghetto games of pool in his house (pool table in the finished basement) while we visited and caught up. We had a couple drinks but didn't get drunk. I spent the night in their spare room and then Phil took me out on what was a beautiful plane ride Sunday morning before I headed down to meet up with my family. Phil owns an airplane and the last time I was in his plane I was about to chunder due to turbulence. Thankfully this time around things were a lot better and I did enjoy it.

Jason and his gang had their usual rental home on Damiriscotta Lake in Jefferson, the weather was great, we had an awesome lunch, and as an added bonus Mom and Dad also joined us for lunch and we had a GREAT day. Had a fantastic boat ride and overall visit before it was time for my ass to roll out for the 1.5-hr drive home. I was only gone for about 25 total hours, but my wife was an asshole about it so that's another nail in our coffin. However, I'm not writing any more about that shit-show tonight.

I was gonna put on Crowded House, but then Pet Shop Boys You Were Always on My Mind came on so I watched that 1987 song and video. It's great! I'd heard it before, but not in a long time and I wasn't very familiar with it. Now more Pet Shop Boys Suburbia. There are a lot of songs I would like to listen to tonight, but I ate a little edible so I can sleep since my life sucks so hard that I can hardly sleep without one. What a bunch of crap! Plus it's so fucking hot I can't really sleep without one anyway. No A/C in the bedroom and we seem to be on track for the hottest month on record. I'm not joking about that either. Lots of high 80s to around 90 in the next 10-14 days with a lot of low temps 65-70. THAT IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS AND WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP ALL ROLLED INTO ONE EPIC FAIER SHIT SHOW. Our seaonal avg for this time of year is closer to 79/60 so we're well above that.

I got home and watched some Fox News as well as the Red Sox loss to Oakland. Can't complain too much about the Red Sox losing to the lowly As since they usually beat up on the As. Plus the Sox have actually been playing great lately and are now 49-41 or something like that. Not in 1st place but certainly in contention for at least a wild-card spot with a lot of the season left. Over the weekend the Sox took 2-3 from the Yankees in the Bronx. Oh Jesus, hell ya!

In politics almost all of the talk is about mentally-incompetent Joe Biden and his failing bid for re-election. The guy has one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave, he's around 80, and he's in no shape at all to be the president. Sadly his VP, Harris, is even worse. She's a HORRIBLE politician who somehow failed forward in her life. Every interview she does is cringe-worthy and embarassing for her.

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Friday, 7-05-24: Not at work!
Hey awesome I'm not on the work schedule at all this week. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I have worked, but not as much as usual. I went in earlier for the dinner-rush and the place got packed full for a while. We were getting our asses handed to us, but sales are good. Right now the Sox are about to lose to the Yankees (What a bunch of crap!) and it's 2200, taps taps lights out in a former life on the ship.

The restaurant/bar is open another three hours and it might get busier later after some country music concert ends at the Waterfront. I do need to go back, but only briefly to finish up a few event-room things. There's a dance ending in an hour so I'll probably head down in about a half-hour, give or take. After I get home my ass plans to rack out so I can help at work tomorrow. I need to learn some bartending since I'm the event-room bartender for a couple events at the end of next week and I'm not really skilled. I can do a lot of drinks, but I can't make a good margarita or a lot of other signature drinks.

It was nice not having to work yesterday. We had our annual July 4th party here, I got pretty drunk, but I wasn't hungover today so bonus there! We started earlier than ever, 1300, and I passed out for good around 2300. I drank a bit more than I should have. What a bunch of crap! I also decided to pass out in a lawn chair for a while because I was tired hahaha. No drinks tonight, F that. I got a decent night of sleep last night since I racked out relatively early as compared to some past July 4th parties here. Overall it was a good party with great weather. Not too hot, not too cold, and good times had by almost everyone. We almost didn't have the party and I would have been fine with not having it. Who knows, it might have been our last July 4th party here if we do sell the restaurant...

Since I'm not on the schedule at all tomorrow and for the first time in a long time we don't have Saturday events out back I'm going to visit Phil and his family tomorrow night, crash out down in Waterville with them, and go to visit Jason and my family Sunday. Jason has their usual lake house that they rent once a week in the summer so I'll probably end up on the boat and in the lake for a bit. Should be a really nice day Sunday, too. Maybe? Hopefully!

Oh wow Yoshida just hit a 2-run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th to tie it up, 3-3. AWESOME!

I sat on the back deck and read some of one of my old journals earlier today. I was mostly in 1999 when Doug, Jon, and I lived at what was at the time 24 Prospect Ave here in Brewer. I was making $6 an hour at Aubuchon Hardware and I was a really big Red Sox fan back then. A lot of my bootleg updates were about the Red Sox and back then the Sox-Yankees rivalry seemed to matter more. Now I really don't care that much, but it is nice to be able to watch some of the game and to not be at work.

I have friggin' poison ivy on half my body. What a bunch of crap! I was weedwacking out back Wednesday and I thought I saw some in the corner by the fence where I've seen it in the past. I dunno wtf I did, but it was hot, I was sweating a lot, and in hindsight I should have left it, put on gloves, pulled it out and then IMMEDIATELY taken a shower. I haven't had bad poison ivy in years so this really sucks. A lot. It's on my skull, arms, legs, etc. Hopefully it gets better ASAP because it's annoying gods damn it.

Okay, I'm back and I got my stuff done at work quickly. The Red Sox did beat the Yankees in the 10th inning so that's awesome! Baseball implemented a new rule several years ago where in extra innings you start with a runner on 2nd base so that helps games from lasting so long. There's also a pitch clock now so most games are done in under 3 hours. However, Sox-Yankees games often take longer plus there was a rain delay earlier.

It's nice not having to be at work on a Friday night. I can get used to this! Sadly this will probably be the last Friday in a long time where I'm not working into the night due to staff vacations, events, etc. I''d love for our valuation to come in next week, we see a number we like, and we sell the place. One can only hope, right?

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Wednesday, 7-03-24: I don't even understand this garbage 1-star review.
Fuckin' Google reviews, man. Our restaurant/bar has a 4.6 and that's great compared to other similar establishments around here. Sadly we get some 1-star reviews for some really stupid reasons. Most of the reviews are great, but this one to come is fresh from the turd-heap:

^IT'S A TURD IN A PUNCH BOWL HAHAHA. OH WAIT IT'S NOT FUNNY.

Here is the review that I just read a couple minutes ago:

"I fought for this country. I lost a lot of friends over the years. I don’t have any issues with people for who they are, I fought for them just as much as anyone. I think no matter who you are you should respect this country. If you are going to fly a flag, the American flag is supposed to be the flag flown highest. Now I’m not typically one to make waves, but I don’t see us flying a flag for any other group. So I find it disrespectful to those who served to put another flag next to it and at the same level. It’s shameful, some of us still believe that the American flag includes everyone, so when you make your own flag you are saying you are separate. I’d look into the history of flags. I’m 100% disabled after fighting for you, do I know you personally? Do I care about what you are into? No, I fought for you as a fellow American and frankly this makes me feel like I’m not welcome!"

All I wanna know is why? Why is that posted on our Google review page? I don't even understand this review. No clue what's going on, and I'm an honorably-discharged veteran so this is extra perplexing for me personally. WE DON'T HAVE A FLAG POSTED IN A DISRESPECTFUL WAY!

Last month was "Pride month" so there was some rainbow flag hanging somewhere. I don't give a crispy fuck about Pride month because it's dumb as shit. Be gay, fine I don't care if you're gay. Gay men make more not-gay women available. I don't care about any of that stupid shit. Maybe that's why this bad review came in? Maybe there's a gay pride flag hanging around? Hell if I know, but I will write a reply because it makes no sense. Even weirder is the 5/5 we got in the same review for service and quality.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

This is the stuff I just can't mentally handle anymore so I'm glad to pay a lot of precious... precious money to get the business professionally evaluated so *hopefully* we can get rid of it ASAP. It's sad because sales have been WAY above what I thought they would be. Even tonight is really busy with great sales on what has been one of our worst weeks of the year in the past. However, Kat's all pissed off down there because someone wants the volume of the karaoke turned down and it's not even that loud. I should know because I was there finishing up trivia before I came home to watch some of the Red Sox and some entertaining news headlines regarding our pudding-head president and his lack of mental acumen. Even a lot of Democrats want Biden to retire now AHAHAHAHA.

It's too bad things turned a little sour tonight because the first three days of this month have been great. Beautiful warm weather but not very humid. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I've gotten good exercise and made some progress around the house. We have our usual July 4th party tomorrow that I almost don't want to have, but fuck it might as well as Kat put it best it's most likely our last one here if we do sell or just close the restaurant.

As far as the future of the restaurant, that still remains to be seen. I'd rather just do taxes. I'd guess it will take a few more days, maybe even a week or two, to get some sort of valuation number. I added up the cost and value of the equipment we have on-hand and holy Jebus it's a very high number. Much higher than I expected it to be so that should help. Maybe? Hopefully! It's very comfortably six-digits not including cents.

I can't own a restaurant and find my inner-peace so I really look forward to hauling on the place and/or quitting. It's sad because my awesome wife wants to do it, we're getting a lot of local noteriety, but I'm mentally checked out of it all. I only do it to keep the place open so we don't lose a fuckload of money, and if we keep it open long enough we might be able to sell it instead of just closing. Selling the place for even half of what we have into it would be a major win for me personally, but we'll see.

It will be interesting where I land later this year. If all goes as planned the restaurant will be SOLD, I'll find a little office I can lease for the tax business, and we'll have a few bucks in the bank so we won't have to worry about money for a long time, if ever. Maybe the restaurant won't be sold and if that's the case I hope we can find someone who wants to do it full-time and more. Kat's kids don't give a shit and that's sad because 2 of the 3 are really lazy and those are the ones who still work there! I shouldn't call them lazy, but 25-30 hours a week seems to be all they need and that is fucking garbage-time and "what a bunch of crap" all rolled up into one. When I was in my 20s I worked a lot. A LOT.

Kat better not be mad at me because I don't want to do the restaurant anymore. She can be mad, that's her right, but if she is mad and if she stays mad I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I'm not really even bound to this area and to this life anymore for any good reason so even a shitty small reason might make me pull chocks and put this entire area in my rear-view. I feel like a dink writing that, but it's the absolute truth. What a bunch of crap! I made poor decisions, I have a failing life, and that's my own fault.

Tonight should have been a really good night because sales at the restaurant have been awesome and WAY above my expectations. Sadly it's turd-stained by the usual stupid shit so I'm over it. I ate an edible so soon I can pass out. I'll hopefully have a few hours tomorrow morning before I drink again tomorrow afternoon for our big July 4th party. Not having to work is great since the restaurant is closed. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I'm not on the schedule at all this week so I'll go visit Phil and his family Sat night and maybe go see Jason, Holly, and the kids Sunday. Nothing official on that end yet but it's my current plan and what I need to do. I'm beyond sick of working every Friday and Saturday night until 0200 or so.

I didn't drink too much tonight because I'll drink tomorrow as well and I don't want to be a shit-show all week. However, I caught a good buzz and the edible will help. I really don't sleep without one anymore unless I'm totally wiped out. What a bunch of crap!

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