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"I say to every young man thinking of getting married, marry into a family with five or more daughters. I did. My wife is the oldest of five sisters. You know why? One of them will always love you." - President Joe Biden

Friday, 5-31-24: Good riddance to May. Oh, Trump is a criminal!
Former president and Republican front-runner for president, Donald Trump, was convicted on all 34 counts of business fraud and related in New York. HAHAHAHAHAHA! What a fuckin' joke. It was a rigged trial from the start over stupid shit that doesn't matter, and it's another nail in the coffin of this once-great nation. Long gone are our glory years as a people; I might have caught the tail end of our greatness in the 80s and 90s. Okay, definitely the 80s when we had cool toys like the Nintendo and the 3-wheeler!

^Classic NES, Metroid, 1980s like a boss. God I miss when my life didn't FUCKING SUCK.

I am thankful that I got at least half a life before things went to hell. It's not all-bad, but it mostly is. Covid was really the sharp turn in the wrong direction, but things were failing before then. Obama was a terrible president who tried to force people into a tax penalty for not having health insurance. He was not financially responsible. What a bunch of crap! Biden?! One crooked foot on a banana peel and one crooked foot in the grave. That guy is just as bad as Trump, if not worse. A career selfish scumbag politician.

I don't think Trump is going to prison, his legal team will appeal it forever, but will be become the next president? I'm sure the powers conspiring against his ass will keep him out of office. Trump really doesn't deserve to be the president again because he's a terrible human being, but compared to Biden the decision for me is easy. Trump will at least put America first or die trying. Maybe? Hopefully!

Good riddance to May; it's not quite over yet but it's close enough. I got great exercise in May and had a chance to visit my family down in Warren a few times so that was great. I got a few things done around the house as well, but not as much as I should have thanks to owning a restaurant that will lose about $10,000 for the month. Part of that is having 5 pay periods in the month and part of it is having a garbage final week of sales, relatively speaking.

I don't think the restaurant will lose money in June, but if it does we're done. Even breaking even in June would be 100% unacceptable. I expect the last week or so of June to be slow so that gives us the first 3 to get the job done and really level-up. The event calendar is stuffed so that will help. Maybe? Hopefully! Kat just had to fire a server about an hour ago so that really hurts the team, but Kat had no choice as this server was trying to call out yet again. We're running a very thin crew over the next couple weeks with vacations, scheduled time off, etc. At times it will be very difficult.

Mike and I are gonna play racquetball at 1530, and Kat told me I work at 1600. I'm on the schedule for 1700, same as usual, and she flipped out a little when I told her I'm not going in that early. I already talked to the day manager who seemed totally fine with staying until I get there. I don't even get paid when I'm there because we can't afford it yet, and I already worked 4 hours from this morning into the early PM. We had a truck to receive, I had to drag some tables out for an event tomorrow, I had my usual admin, and I had to call the IRS and deal with them for over an hour on behalf of one of my clients. I'll work 13 hours total before I bivouac so that's gonna have to be good enough gods damn it.

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Wednesday, 5-29-24: What a weird, shit-show of a month.
May, 2024. I don't even understand or really know what to write about it. At times it's been a total shit-show train wreck and at other times it's been going quite well. Over the past few days I've been ready to quit the restaurant, to sell it or just close it, and to move the hell out of this town. We almost ran out of money, last week was terrible as far as sales, but it was better than a year ago so is that really terrible? I guess if your bank account is nearing zero a year-over-year comparison is really moot. What a bunch of crap!

All I wanna know is why? Why did we almost run out of precious... precious money? We've had out best May sales of all-time. However, that's only four years of data and the first year was a total fuckin' disaster since we had to close for 10 days due to COVID, we parted ways with business partners who took a lot of customers and some staff, and we didn't really know what the hell we were doing. God, 2021 really did SUCK. Most of the past 4 years have sucked. Gods damn it!

^The last four years of my shit life. What a bunch of crap!

Even though this will be the best May sales month we've had in four years of being open in May it's not telling of the whole tale. Our expenses are higher than ever, too. We did have an AWESOME sales day when we had our big prom a couple weeks ago, but that was also a ton of work and I still put in some work for that stupid shit today when I had to take a truckload of stuff back to where it belongs. Seems doing a "forest theme" is great on paper but it's a crapload of work making it all come to fruition. I did NOT want to use up my precious.... precious time putting up fake trees and shit for a big dance that people were coming to whether or not there were 100 fake butterflies on the wall.

So we were about to go broke for the 100th time in the past 3+ years, but we did get approved for a loan that will take us into the fall and hopefully beyond. It's not a ton of money, but it might make all the difference. Last year we did a loan that we paid off like a boss 7 months later, and it saved our business. It literally did save us. The word literally is way overused in this world, but in this case it perfectly fits. Was the business worth saving? Only time will tell. Right now I'm ready to sell if to the highest bidder, even if that highest bid is a mere fraction of what we have invested into the place.

We had out best sales day ever for May because of the prom, but then yesterday we had our worst day of the year and by a lot. What a bunch of crap! When labor cost is 130% of sales that is a total epic fail because it doesn't even factor in product cost, utilities, rent, insurance, etc. Thankfully today has been better. Our trivia host quit so that sucked and we thought it would cost us business, but Kat took it over, I've been her helper, and for the last couple weeks we've kept it going well with a lot of positive feedback. She's the host and I'm the assistant so make no mistakes here, she's putting in 80% of the work. She'll destroy herself to keep the business going whereas I'll just give up and go get a "real" job. I don't give a fuck about owning a restaurant anymore I just do it because it's her dream and I do hope to recoup at least some of the copious amount of money we put into it.

This month only has a couple days left, but we've had a lot of decent if not good weather, I've gotten great exercise as compared to the last 4 years in May, my allergies haven't been as bad as the past few years, and I did get to visit Mom and Pop a few times. I also had a nice visit on Monday with Jason, Holly, and their kids. My soon-to-be 4-year old nephew likes to "body slam" me so thankfully he's not built like Andre the Giant or I'd have a busted kidney hehehe.

Has May been a good or a bad month for me? I really don't know, but I'll lean to bad right now. Maybe if I'm not too busy tomorrow or Friday I can come back and take a closer look at it. I can't really have many more bad months before I quit, sell the house, sell the restaurant, and get the fuck out of here forever...

Okay I closed out and then came back because I just went to YouTube to listen to 1980s Pet Shop Boys when a Nintendo Legacy of the Wizard video popped up and holy crap, nostalgia like a boss. That game... OMG! I can't beat it without a cheat code, but this person apparently beat it in under 13 minutes. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!

I played that game for HOURS when I was a kid, and then played it more for HOURS when I was a younger adult, and it is not possible. I love this game, but it's almost impossibly hard to beat. I've never beaten it without a cheat-code what a bunch of crap! I can come close, but the final level 4 boss cannot be stopped and when you die it takes a friggin' hour to get back to him and screw that. If I played now I'd die incredibly fast because I don't even have video-game skills anymore.

The main dungeon theme song for Legacy of the Wizard was my bootleg cellphone ring tone for a long time maybe ten years ago. It was an Alcatel one-touch, and it was my favorite phone of all-time. I'd love to have Legacy of the Wizard be my ringtone again, but I don't know how to do it. My phone says "Hello Moto" and I quit. The end. Fin. What a bunch of crap!

My life fuckin' SUCKS.

Oh well, at least I gots the Pet Shop Boys on now to help me through my horrible life. Earlier today is was Def Leppard's Pyromania album and yes, still on CD in the truck. 1980s music has probably saved my life. Not sure it's worth saving, but hey here it is.

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Thursday, 5-23-24: Good exercise, bad everything else?
I've gotten pretty good exercise so far this month. Not the best of all-time, those years are long gone for my loser-ass now, but better than in a long time. Surprisingly allergies haven't totally destroyed me yet either. Oh Jesus, hell ya! The last few years I get bad allergies that make it hard to go for a jog and, at times, do much of anything. Mike still crushed me at rball earlier, but it was a good workout on a hot and humid court. It's felt like summer a lot of this week with temps in the 70s and 80s, and we had a thunderstorm roll through earlier to clear out some humidity. The weekend forecast looks good so that sucks for potential sales at the restaurant. Oh well, win some and lose some.

We had a really good memorial Day weekend at the business in the past when the weather was dog-shit, but last year sales were TERRIBLE for Memorial Day weekend when the weather was good. What a bunch of crap! It was one of the worst weeks we had all year. So far this year has been decent, but the week isn't half-over yet so we'll see how it ends.

Owning a restaurant kinda sucks and I don't want to do it much more, but at least there is this perk:

^Access to a commercial kitchen to cook my wild turkey:

^18 tenders, but I did cook them a tad too long so some of them were tough. What a bunch of crap! I did that Monday when we were closed and then I changed out the oil and cleaned the fryers like I usually do on either a Monday or a Tuesday morning before we open. Cooking wild game in a commercial kitchen would violate a dozen or so codes if I didn't swap out the oil and scub everything hehehe.

So somehow I've gotten exercise 17 consecutive days. That's awsome and something I haven't done in years! Too bad the rest of the month has sucked for me personally. I'm tired of worrying about money, and my awesome wife and I haven't been on the same page at times. She gets mad, I shut down, and tonight I just drank a couple and watched the Celtics beat the Pacers in game 2 of the Eastern Confrence finals. If the Celtics don't win it all there will be disappointment, but I won't get worked up over it because it's just a game. The Celtics had the best regular-season record in the NBA and are the favorites, but time will tell.

Work hasn't been too crazy over the past few days so I have had a little precious... precious time to work around the house. I did some landscaping work yesterday on a hot, 86-degree sunny day and today I worked on our bathroom ceiling since I knew thunderstorms would roll through mid-PM. Next time I'll post photos of some of that work.

In other news that is truly bizarre and quite disturbing, president pudding-head Biden recently had this random pearl of wisdom to bestow on our once-great society:

"I say to every young man thinking of getting married, marry into a family with five or more daughters. I did. My wife is the oldest of five sisters. You know why? One of them will always love you."

AHAHAHAHHAHA OMG IS THIS SHIT FOR REAL?! I had to do a little more looking, and he definitely said it OMG! WHAT A STUPID BUNCH OF CRAP! All I wanna know is why? Why is he still the president of the USA and why is he running for a second term when he's mentally checked out? I mentally check out a lot myself, but I'm not the FUCKIN' PRESIDENT!

Who actually votes for Biden? I don't get it.

I wonder what I'd be doing this Memorial Day weekend if we didn't own the restaurant? What would having three days off actually feel like? I'd probably get bored hehehe. No guarantee I'd have all three days off as I might be doing something else. Who knows? I know if all I did was the tax business I could take all three days off. I still have work to do at the tax business because people trickle in and my regulars have needs. I've been working some on pulling transcripts for a couple of my clients. One is younger and has no clue at all. I was taking to him earlier and maybe he smoked a joint before we spoke because he seemed to have no idea what his jobs were in 2023. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I had him sign a 2848 and I'll figure it out eventually. Maybe? Hopefully!

I'm listening to more Pet Shop Boys songs on YouTube, and this one I've never heard before. "You've Got to Start Somewhere." I started somewhere once, and I feel like starting over again might be the best play. By starting over I mean no more restaurant, no more living in Brewer, no more life that sucks at least 50% of the time. Having a shitty life = what a bunch of crap!

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Sunday, 5-19-24: Another busy weekend.
Work ended up being busy Friday night, and last night was total annihilation for about 3 or 4 consecutive hours for our "adult prom." We sold 130 tickets to the prom, and we could have sold 200 if we wanted. However, we decided to cap the attendance and in hindsight that was a great decision since both the front and back bars were crushed. There was a long line at times, but it did move along quickly. I had to help the front bar quite a bit, but a lot of the server drinks were things I can't make. What a bunch of crap! Don't know how to make a margarita. Moscow Mule? It's in a copper tin not sure why. Long Island Iced Tea? Great drink but no clue how it's made. Old-fashioned? FORGET IT HAHAHA.

Sales were fantastic, and it felt like how we operate on a holiday like New Year's eve, St. Patrick's Day, or our annual Halloween party. It wasn't busy at all until around 2030 and after that it was balls-to-the-wall. We thought the front for karaoke would be slow, but it got packed and Joe (doorman and host last night) was turing people away for a bit because there was no room.

The prom brought us in a lot of revenue, more than I expected, so Oh Jesus hell ya to that! Too bad the cleanup took a ton of precious... precious time. I normally finish around 0200 on a Saturday night and I didn't lock up until 0350 because the event room needed to be ready for today's "Country Jam" event.

I got about 5 hours of sleep last night, good enough for now. I woke up feeling well enough so I did a little yoga and lost 2 games of racquetball to Gavin. I almost skipped playing, but I'm glad I did. He was the better player today, but it was a great workout. I've had a good streak of consecutive days getting exercise and my allergies haven't wrecked me yet this season so that helps. I did get hit for a bit Thursday and Friday, but an allergy pill kept it in-check. It's been a damp weekend so that's kept the pollens down some.

I got The Pet Shop Boys playing as I write this bootleg update that almost no one will ever read. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money.) The tinny speakers barely get the job done what a bunch of crap! It's a YouTube video/song so it's just going for it. I won't listen much more because I go to work soon. It won't be half as crazy at work tonight as compared to last night. We set our all-time May record for sales in one day last night, and by a lot. A LOT. I think it beat any day we've ever had in April, June, July, August, and September as well but I'm not chasing that data around. I have all the info, but I don't want to invest the precious... precious time on it.

I should buy The Pet Shop Boys greatest hits CD and play it as I drive around in my not-so-badass F150. It's a weird, eclectic 80s techno vibe, but it's fuckin' awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

^This album cover = HAHAHAHAHA! Those crazy Europeans. WHERE IS THE PET STORE?!

The Red Sox are 22-24 and flirting with last place, the Bruins lost Friday night in round 2 of the playoffs, and the Celtics beat Cleveland in the semifinals and are advancing to the confrence finals against the winner of the Knicks-Pacers game 7 tonight. I watch a little here and there, but I'm usually either at work or doing something else. Speaking of work, it's time to go for my 1500-close shift. I'm hoping we have an easy close so I can be home by 2200 at the latest and racked out not too long after that. I'll be exxhausted by the end of the day. Right now I'm good, but there's still a lot of time between now and taps taps, lights out.

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Thursday, 5-16-24: A good trip to the midcoast > doing stupid prom decorations.
I went down to the ol' homestead today, and it was glorious. It was a fantastic visit with my elderly parents, and it far exceeded what I would have done if I stayed up here all day and helped prep for the big "adult prom" we have coming at work in two days. My wife was pissed off at me for going turkey-hunting, but there are two things she can do about that: nothing and like it. My life fucking sucks so doing something for myself every once in a while helps keeps me sane. Maybe? Hopefully!

I got to Mom and Dad's place around 0930, and Dad and I went out back to his blind for a turkey hunt. Dad already got his two turkeys (I was there for the first one earlier this month) so he was done hunting. The weather was quite perfect for the hunt. Not too hot, not too cold, and almost no wind at all. As soon as we set up with the two decoys and called we got distant gobble responses. Oh Jesus, hell ya! We were patient with the hunt and return gobbles were sparse at times, and we didn't think any birds were going to come in. Finally after about 45 minutes we heard gobbles getting closer. Awesome! I really didn't give a shit if I got a turkey; being out there with Dad was the main event. He was on the left and I was on the right, and all the return gobbles were coming from the right so that's a win for me.

I heard gobbles nearing from down low, but I was looking everywhere and I noticed movement out the right window in a spot I didn't expect. Sure enough it was a nice-looking Tom turkey approaching, and at one point he fanned out beautifully. He was still too far away and in the trees, but he was coming my way so I had enough time to set up, to warn Dad to plug his ears, and BOOM.

As soon as I shot I knew the job was done, but shockingly that turkey didn't check out so quickly so I had to finish the job. I tried to be humane, but I still felt a little bad. I think if you murder something and don't feel bad you're a sociopath. Right? I have been called, and probably rightfully-so, emotionally impotent but I do feel badly when I harvest game. A life gives me life, though. I don't have to go into the woods and kill deer and turkey, but I'd rather do that than have more farm cows and chickens killed so I can eat ground beef and chicken breast, etc. It's all fuel in the end and when I die I'll also be fuel of some kind.

Could my hat be any more crooked?! Hehehehe. I got one "thunder-chicken" and I can still shoot one more adult male. I dunno if I will or not, but I hope to get out there at least once more.

I'm in the woods having a great time watching chipmunks, woodpeckers, songbirds, and turkeys with my father while my wife is painting toadstools like this one in Super Mario:

Who won today? OBVIOUSLY ME. I didn't get a 1-up like Mario just found in that photo, though. I don't need a spare life anyway. When I check out I don't want to come back.

I'm pretty salty with my wife because she didn't even seems to care... whether or not she cared that I went to see my parents. She was more focused on the restaurant as usual. I stopped into the restaurant around 0730 to see her, and she was pissy. She said she had a doc appt and she was wondering who was going to be at the restaurant while she was gone so I was brutally honest. NOT ME! What a bunch of crap! No one needed to be there at fucking 0900 on Thursday. We do get a booze delivery Thursday morning, but they know we might not be there until 1200.

The turkey hunt took until close to noon by the time I recovered the bird, breasted him out, cleaned off the knife, etc. Oh shit actually I need to go online and tag his ass. You used to have to do it in-person, but you can do it online now. Dad likes to drive ove to the local hardware store to tag in person and shoot the shit, but F that I had places to be because I have a toilet-life and am always busy.

Ok tagging that thunder-chicken online was really easy I'll definitely do that again! Took about 30 seconds (no sex jokes please hehehe.)

So on the drive down to the ol' homestead I ripped out Def Leppard's Hysteria. I fuckin' love that album because it's the GOAT of music. No album can ever top that one, ever. If you disagree then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

^A perfect 10.

Mom, Dad, and I had a nice lunch and I helped with a couple things around the house before I headed north and back to my shitty life. I don't want to move back "home" because living back in Warren is not for me anymore, but living here sucks. Hopefully I can find a good solution at some point soon. I've lived in this area for over 25 years now OMG. All I wanna know is why? Why doesn't it feel like home anymore? Did it ever?

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Tuesday, 5-14-24: This stupid fuckin' prom-prep.
We got annihilated at work for Mother's Day two days ago, especially for brunch when we were packed. We had a lot of reservations we had to honor, and we turned people away for a bit. One guy came with his family, I found a way to fit them in, and he told me a competing restaurant host told him to FUCK OFF. HAHAHAHAHA! He said he was only asking if his group would be able to eat there when he got that response. Most restaurants that serve breakfast get crushed for both Mother's Day and for Father's Day.

It was by-far the best sales day we've ever had on Mother's Day, and it ended up being the best regular Sunday sales day we've ever had. Oh Jesus, hell ya! When I say "regular sales" I mean we close at 2100 and not after midnight like we did for St. Patrick's Day just a couple months ago. New Year's eve was also a Sunday, but those are both huge drinking holidays.

I closed Sat night, got maybe 6hrs sleep, and went right back to work to help with the busy brunch. I did get a little break early PM to lift a few weights, get cleaned up, fuel up, change, etc. Then I was the closing manager. It wasn't packed like brunch was, but it was busier than I expected and I didn't get out of there until close to 2300. What a bunch of crap! Another long work day. [sigh]

I busted my ass over the weekend, Kat did as well, and she was at work first thing Monday doing her usual inventory and then working on the event room. We have some big "Adult prom" dance coming this Saturday and she has big plans for it. I thought it was a dumbass idea at first, but I'm the dumbass because we sold out on tickets and have a LOT of people coming including some from my old homestead. Wow! However, decorating for it sucks. I don't want to do that stupid shit, but Kat expects my ass to help so she got all pissy when I shut that shit down. She got even more mad when I told her I'm going turkey hunting Thursday.

She said "You were supposed to help me decorate for the prom."

I said "I'll help a little Tuesday and Wednesday you can do the rest." I never even signed up to decorate for this shit. All I wanna know is why? Why am I obligated to do that crap. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT AN ADULT PROM. This stupid fucking thing is killing my week;y vibe. I've been irritable and I want to quit, go get a new job, sell the house, and be by myself. Gods damn it.

So one of our staff has some wicher chairs at his camp in Bradford. I've been to Bradford once, maybe twice, ever. It's a remote town about a half-hour from here, maybe 40 minutes, probably 15-20 miles. Kat wanted the chairs for her themed prom, she wanted to go get them with me in my truck, and I shut that shit down much to her angst. I'M NOT DRIVING TO FUCKING BRADFORD TO BORROW USED WICKER CHAIRS FOR A PROM THEME WHEN I HAVE 10000000 OTHER THINGS I CAN BE DOING WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

We gots a bathroom looking like this right now:

And I'm supposed to drive to fucking Bradford to for a few decorations or whatever for the prom. Weathered wood, etc. HARD PASS.

Oh, our front yard looked like this a few days ago as I worked to clear the shit-show that was once lovely-looking shrubs:

There are your trees lovely wife! Allergic to pine you say? Well good thing I also cut down some hardwood stuff in the back yard hehehe!

She's gonna divorce me and maybe I don't even care... whether or not I care.

Even worse about doing this prom stupid shit is the fact that the weather is good so I should be outside working on our bootleg yard that looks like crap. Thankfully I just bailed on the prom and didn't have to go to Hobby Lobby and shit last night so I could do more yard-work and stuff around the house. Then the wife gets home and talked about her 14-hour day and I'm thinking (but too much of a pussy to be saying) You did it to yourself don't complain to me!

Yeah, when she reads this she's hiring a lawyer and/or I'm dead.

I did help with the prom. I moved the pool table (not as easy as you'd think), I made a stand for a soon-to-be fake tree, and I was up and down the ladder today hanging her tapestry. I'm sure when it's done it will look great and I can take 5% of the credit hehehe.

We better make some good money from this prom or else I'll be even more sour, if that's possible. We took in $700 selling prom tickets, but we Kat spent $800 on decorations and crap. What a bunch of crap! That really pisses me off and I should start drinking now as a coping mechanism. However, I'll just go to bed and probably sleep since I ate 1/2 an edible 45 minutes ago. We do have over 100 people coming to this expensive prom and most if not all of them will spend at least a few bucks on either food, drink, or both. Maybe? Hopefully!

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Thursday, 5-09-24: The bathroom remodel that's taking forever so far.
I'm trying to remodel out bathroom, but this fucking restaurant eats my gods damned soul. Do I even have a soul? I bought a new fan and flooring last year, but I only started working on it this week. I wanted to work on it more, but people have called out at the restaurant and I've had to cover part or all of some shifts and that is a bunch of crap!

I removed the old bathroom exhaust fan a few days ago, but I didn't have precious... precious time to start the new one. Installing a bathroom exhaust fan sucks. I've done plenty of them, but this one takes it to another level thanks to technology that I really don't even fully understand. This is the switch:

It's a touch-screen switch so hey that's awesome. The musical note button activates bluetooth so you can rip out tunes while you either take a shower or take a dump. However, I don't know how to do bluetooth. I've never used it before in my life, and if my phone can do it that's awesome. Too bad I'm a simp when it comes to all of this stuff so nevermind.

I had just enough time earlier in the week, maybe an hour, to get the old fan hauled on and the new one roughed-in. Yesterday I had enough time to get the wiring mostly right. Sadly it's not done yet due to the existing box for the wiring being too small. I took pictures for the two of you who read this bootleg site to see:

^It's hard to tell from that photo, but trust me that badass switch is NOT fitting into that box. What a bunch of crap! Guess I'm cutting open the wall to install a bigger box. I didn't want to cut into the wall because I have to patch it all back together, but I can. It's just more work and precious... precious time. It's funny the thing works just hanging like that hahha. I guess we could get electrocuted, but I did use wire nuts and electrical tape so it's mostly safe. Maybe? Hopefully!

The fan has a cool "night light" feature that makes the entire bathroom an eerie blue and it seems like you're going into some weird alien warp-thingie when you go in there at night with it on. Kat joked about getting abducted by aliens in there and I have to agree.

^The photo doesn't really show how blue it is because I took it in the day. I'll get the ceiling finished all around that hole at some point when the restaurant isn't so demanding. At my current pace I'm guessing I'll get it done in the fall hehehe.

On a "I HATE MY LIFE" scale I'm about an 8 out of 10 right now. I worked all fuckin' day doing janitorial with a couple small side-bars dealing with tax clients. I had to sweep, mop, clean shitters, etc. I did get a little break before I was back at it mid-PM into this evening since out nighttime dishwasher is apparently wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. She's really sick so I thought I'd have to work a double, all the way until close at 0100 and beyond to finish up. Thankfully we hired a new guy who was willing to work 2030-close so I could come home and see my wife for a bit. Too bad seeing her sucked because she was being a beotch so I just watched the Celtics fail and now here I am. Gods damn it!

She was all mad because one of our servers brought her entire family with a small kid. It's karaoke now and it gets loud; on Friday and Saturday nights we're 21+ but we are more loose with it Wed and Thurs for karaoke. It's usually not that busy and they're spending money, but Kat still got all mad about it. Then she got mad when I told her I'm not getting up early to help receive the truck if it gets there before 0800. F THAT. She can fucking do it by herself. I worked last night and I worked a ton today and I'm not going to bed really early because HER DAUGHTER is there working as manager so I'm hanging out a bit in case she needs my help.

My life SUCKS. At times it's not that bad, but I think changes are coming soon including hauling on the restuarant. It's not fair that I paid for everything and I don't make any money there and I have to go fill in for people and then deal with my wife being a beotch to me. She says she works too much but so do I. I don't mind working, I'm not built to sit around and do nothing all day, but working for no return and no money = FUCK THAT.

I still have a bunch of yard work to do and at my current pace that ain't happening. I swear to the gods who do not really exist that right now I'd sell that restaurant for half what we have into it if someone offered it. Hell, I don't think we could even get that for it! It's grown a lot and has a bright future, but it's more than I can handle and Kat has a knee replacement planned for Aug 5 so after that we are totally screwed. I can't do it all without her, no chance at all, so we have about two months to put the right people in place or we're cooked. At one time all 3 of the kids worked at the place, but one of them tapped out to go get a "real" job and the other two aren't motivated enough. One in parritular is very lazy and often does the bare minimum. What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 5-08-24: Dad's turkey and wow let's go to work at taps.
I was getting ready to bivouac a few minutes ago when I got called into work. Our dishwasher tapped out with only about an hour or 1.5 hours left to go. What a bunch of crap! I'll still be done before midnight, but it sucks ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag.

^When you have an hour left of your shift and you can't make it you have failed.

We fired a dishwasher a few hours ago hahaha. The kid is only 16, maybe 17 now, and still in high school. He worked Saturday for a 0700-1500 shift and Sunday for a 0700-1200 shift, but last fall he gave up his Sunday shift because it was too hard, or something like that. He needed to rest before he went ice skating. Like, he had to have time for a nap. FUCKING PUSSY.

So no worries we dropped him down to one day a week, Saturday, 8 hours a week. However, lately he's needed time off for school trips and ice skating and shit. Plus he's not that great at his job. I was going to work some with him this coming Saturday (he's had the last two Saturdays off) but not anymore. The kid texted me earlier today asking for the 18th off due to some bootleg school project so Kat and I decided this:

I told him we'd replace him if he took the 18th off. Then I asked him a couple hours later if he was definitely taking the 18th off, he said yes, I said TAKE THE TRAIN. Okay, I really didn't say that because this isn't real-life Road House (RIP Swayze) but I should have hehehe.

YYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

So Kat moved around the schedule some to cover not only this Saturday but also the 18th and now I work dish/janitorial tomorrow 1300-1800. Gods damn it! Oh well, such is life and it's an easy shift tomorrow. Plus I was gonna be there anyway for half of it.

It sucks that when people tap out I'm so often the guy having to fill in. I don't mind washing dishes, it's actually enjoyable at times, but I have 50 other hats to wear and there are only so many hours in the day. I really don't know how much more I can do this for before I just tap out myself, we try to sell the place for much less than we have into it, and we go do something else. I still hate my life close to 50% of the time. Maybe 40%? Hard to calculate. What a bunch of crap!

I was able to go down to the ol' homestead Monday to do a little turkey hunting with Dad as well as have a nice lunch. Mom is on vacation out west, she just got back actually, so it was just Dad and I. We went down to his blind out back and things were very quiet for the first 30-45 minutes. We were thinking it would be a bust of a hunt (even though I enjoy being out there anyway) when shockingly we heard a turkey respond to dad's call. The turkey was close, too! We couldn't see it, but then I spotted what was a really nice tom turkey slowly approaching the decoys. I was on the right, dad was on the left in the blind, and the tom was coming from the left. Dad didn't have a visual at first so he wanted me to shoot, but it wouldn't have been a safe shot I would have had my 870 across his face and that ain't happening! Tom turkey seemed to be getting nervous as well, but his head was sticking way up and it was a beautiful shot opportunity. Finally he moved a tad closer and into dad's field of vision and BOOM. One shot, one kill.

Dad wanted me to run out and grab ol' Tom in case he wasn't mortally wounded, but I knew he was dead. I still hopped out of the blind and I saw more turkeys running away. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, I don't think the other turkeys would have come in, and they were also off to the left so likely if they did no shot for me.

^My soon-to-be 75 year old father getting it done as usual. He felt badly that I didn't get a turkey, but F it I don't care. It's fun being in on the action and my season isn't over yet. I'll most likely go down again in about a week to visit and hunt a little more.

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Thursday, 5-02-24: Ten years at this house.
I was thinking earlier about when I bought this house, and I'm pretty sure it was the end of April, 2014. Guy looks it up now...

Friday, 4-25-14: My new house!
The closing went as scheduled on Wednesday early afternoon, and I walked out of Cohen & Cohen around 1330 that afternoon with the keys to my new residence. Awesome!

^My precious... precious house!

I went over to the empty house, and I kinda just soaked it all in...

So I guess I officially owned this place 4-23-2014. Back then I still worked at UPS, I was a landlord, and I was not really dating Kelly. Her and I were demoted to just friends at that point, and I didn't see her that much. After I got this house I started working on a remodel, and I've done all kinds of different things to the place over the past 10+ years. Of course the biggest change was turning the detached garage into living space as part of the house, an "in-law" style apartment in 2016/2017.

More recently I turned the downstairs into my little bootleg gym, and before then it was living space with a bedroom and a side-office-style room:

^It was only a couple years ago when I sold Allen Rd and moved the gym to our house, but it seems longer than that. This spring I plan to put some more work into this place; the bathroom needs some work as well as the exterior. The yard area needs love including fence repairs and landscaping. Hopefully I can allocate the precious... precious time to get it all done before my awesome wife has her knee replaced in 3 months. After her knee replacement I'll be at the restaurant more than ever helping to do some of the things she does each week.

Kat had a knee replacement scheduled for August 31 last year, but she pushed it back because the restaurant eats out souls. Since then it's deteriorated a lot more and she's in a lot of pain so it has to happen. It's back on the schedule for August 5, and we need to do everything we can to keep that date. I'll step up at the restaurant and do my best. Poor Kat had a stroke nearly 3 years ago and we almost lost the restaurant without her back then. What a bunch of crap! She really holds that place together and she does things I simply can't.

So it's been a decade living in this house. Will we make it here a decade more? I'm not really sure, but I have my doubts. Right now the restaurant is really the only thing keeping us here. I like the house well enough and the yard, but every year my allergies are TERRIBLE since we've lived here. So far my allergies aren't bad, but it's only May 2 and I think by mid-month this month I'll be feeling it. Winters suck, too. We only have a 1/4 acre lot and property taxes are $4100/year for what I consider to be a very basic house so that's a bunch of crap. Being 1/3 of a mile from work is awesome, though. Plus we're in town to the point where everything is close as far as shopping and whatnot.

Is my life better or worse than it was a decade ago? Sadly I'm saying worse. What a bunch of crap! It's my own fault, too. Of couse a few of the crap things are beyond my control. It's not my fault we got stuck with President Biden and Covid. However, it is my fault that we opened a restaurant, lost friends, and have a lot less money than we've ever had. I'm not as healthy as I was a decade ago and neither is Kat, but we're both 48 and no way can we compare ourselves now to our 38-year old selves. I'm still fairly healthy as compared to most people my age, but I've lost a lot thanks in part to Covid, in part to a crazy work schedule with the restaurant, and in part due to being 10 YEARS OLDER.

I'm going to bivouac shortly, but I wanted to post this 1980s song before I did. We heard it in the car yesterday, I heard it a few days ago as well, and I've always been a HUGE fan of this song but it just came back to the forefront recently:

^Starship, Sara. GREAT SONG. I remember studying with Sarah back in the late 90s/early 2000s when we were both in college. I liked her a lot and we had great chemistry together, but she had a boyfriend for a while. Then she was single but I didn't really take care of business like I should have because I was bad at that stuff so sometimes when I hear this song I think of her and wonder how she's doing in life. She was the "one that got away" but not really because I have a great wife now and I haven't even seen Sarah since probably 2002 or something like that. I'm sure if Sarah and I had gotten together I would have fucked it up because that's what I did back then hahahaha!

Last year I hated my life 75% of the time and now it's down to only 40-50% so that's not too bad, right? I don't think I hated my life at all ten years ago so that makes the last sentence I just wrote really sad. What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 5-01-24: 1/3 of the year has passed. Too bad no vacation.
The year of 2024 is 33% over. 4 months done, 8 to go. Were they good months? At times passable enough and at other times the usual ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag. Thankfully I'd say they were better than they've been in a few years. Winter always sucks ass, but this one wasn't too horrible. Most of the winter was above average temps with below average snow so that's a huge win. We did get a little bit of a rough stretch end of March into early April as far as winter-weather, but spring snows and ice never last.

Roxette, The Look. AWESOME SONG. Channel 1928 for the win, as usual. Speaking of wins, the Celtics are dominating the Heat in game 5 late in the 4th quarter so they'll advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Celtics are the favorites to win it all, but we'll see. The Red Sox won as well so they're 18-13 despite having many injured players and essentially no hope for this season.

She goes nanananana nananana she's got the look. Who is she? The lead singer of Roxette was pretty hot back in the day, but I think she's dead now? I could look it up thanks to the Interweb.

^Obviously the one of the left is the one I was referencing here. The dude with the 1980s hair = HAHAHAHA!

Lead singer Marie Fredricksson died Dec 9, 2019 after a long battle with brain cancer, and she was only 61. What a bunch of crap! RIP you were fantastic and made a lot of awesome songs. If I die at age 61 then on well, but that means I only have 13 years left. Who knows I could check out tomorrow. Hopefully not because I'm not quite done yet with life, but everything from age 38 has been a bonus so it's all good either way. Ten bonus years so far with most of the last 4 being a bunch of crap!

If you don't like any Roxette songs then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. European 1980s synth was only outmatched by hair nation and if you disagree you can ggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttt ooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

Arcadia sings Election Day. Another great 1980s song that most people don't know. We have an election day in just over 6 months, and we all have to do our part to try and fix this shit-show. I was watching the news earlier and these fucking idiots on colleges all over America are camping out supporting Hammas and rallying against Isreal. A lot of Jew hate around these days, and that's a giant bunch of crap.

New York City has it bad with all these pathetic simps at Columbia Uneversity with a campsite on the pavilion in support of Hammas. All I wanna know is why? Why does the university president allow this to happen? Half our colleges are totally busted and pumping out the next generation of failed humans. The NYPD finally arrived to arrest these morons, and the most depressing part of it all is the fact that half these dumbass students don't even really know why they're protesting. They're just doing it because they can. What a bunch of crap!

^If you're joining a cause and you don't really know why then you FAIL. Also, if you hate Jews in 2024 then you deserve to be in the oven. Better yet hop on into one of these:

Speaking of fail, this is our timeshare vacation week for The Royal Haciendas in the beautiful Play Del Carmen, Mexico and we are not there. Again. What a bunch of crap! Is the restaurant running us or are we running it? I dunno, but I think the tide is finally and slowly turning as we grow the place. We broke even for the first 4 months of this year, and that's a huge win. Last year we lost $12,000 over the first 4 months and we lost $12,000 in May as well. OMG. This year May is looking better, and it's off to a great start, but we'll see. Memorial Day weekend is usually slow...

Alan Parsons Project Eye in the Sky. This is a good, obscure song from 1982 that doesn't get a lot of air-time. Why did he call his band a project? Was it a work in progress? I think it was because no one ever knows who this band/guy is including myself. A one-hit wonder if this can even be called a hit? I think it's a great song and it's on my TV now so I guess others do as well? Maybe? Hopefully!

Here comes Starship in one of the most confusing band-name-changes of all-time. First they were Jefferson Airplane then they were Jefferson Starship then they were just Starship. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. Their best song is Sara and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. Big 104.7 played Sara yesterday as my awesome wife and I drove to an important appointment. She needs a new right knee, and it seems she shall have one in just over three months. That means come early August we're pwned since she runs the restaurant better than anyone and I will have to do my best to fill in for her, but I will probably fail at least some because I'm not as organized and on the ball as she is.

Kat and I really make a great team running the restaurant because she has her shit together and is incredibly organized. I used to be more organized, but now I'm too scattered. Nevertheless I do a good enough job with the books, payroll, maintenance/repairs, dealing with contractors, filling in everywhere as needed, booking events, solving customer-service issues, etc.