Forgot to mention that Jill's sister is a part time artist. I've "commissioned" her to do DD's present. The gift will be from Santa though, so Jill's sister will have to remain anonymous for another couple of years at least.

:MrEEk:

Tonight, my daughter saw someone in a dark area of the church building. She followed him to find out who it was and why they were there. When she got to that area, there was no one there.

After we got home, I showed her old photos of three men who are long dead but who have been seen in the building since their deaths. All have been seen by multiple people. When I showed her the last one, she said - without a trace of doubt - that he was the one. Reid Groomes died 20+ years ago. :MrEEk:

My daughter is 18.

They never met.

This 'person' was in an area in which I would think it would be reasonable to see Reid.

We have 3 men who are said to haunt the building. They are all benevolent.

:MrEEk:

I saw my grandfather once.

I think I was 5 or 6 at the time.

He had died of a self inflicted gunshot wound a few years earlier. My brother and I were playing on the creek bank when a man appeared to show us how to tie the boat up to tha anchor rope.

When we came inside and told mom about it she had us show her where he was and there were no tracks. However to convince her we showed her the knot he had taught us to tie up his boat with.

No 5 or 6 year old child could have possibly figured out the knot that I still use to this day.

We described him to her and she said it was Earl, our grandfather. The boat was his and a gift to our dad when he bought the house so they could go fishing.

So yeah, I believe your daughter.

On Thursday after leaving work I did some H&B and grocery shopping at Wally World prior to heading for home. I unloaded the purchases and mad a light dinner any by the time everything was said and done it was about 21:00 and time to meet Tim and Jen at The Dog. I go there slightly before them and made the rounds of friends who were there. Tim and Jen arrived shortly after and we settled at the table for several hours of conversation. One conversation concerned my birthday in 2009 which will be a significant milestone and I’d really like to have a blow-out party to celebrate. Tim was taken by the idea and said that he will assist with the planning an execution. At midnight it was Jen’s birthday and Tim and I sang her “Happy Birthday”. Others joined us at the table and we ended up having a very nice time until close. We had the table near the fireplace and I tended the fire all night.

Friday I slept in, cleaned-up, did some light housework, had lunch, and then headed out for some shopping at Costco. I received a very nice smile from the check-out girl; I am almost always everyone’s favorite customer, always personable and usually charming. I am generally very patient while waiting in line to check-out and the actual check-out purchases. I’ve been in the IT industry for 30-years and understand both local hardware and remote software failure as a part of life. I tend to not get ruffled. I got home and stowed the purchases, which included the normal replenish the stocks items along with a couple of clothing items. I settled down to finish some episodes of “Ballykissangel” and then watched “Redbelt”, which I liked a lot, while eating dinner. I debated staying home for the evening and decided instead to head to The Dog. I wore a new black quarter-zip cotton-fleece-type sweater (from Costco) that looked smashing on me. I parked and started to walk towards the front door and should add that it’s fairly dark out in front of The Dog and two people exit the tavern, one of them a blonde female who flies into my arms and gives me an awesome hug that I remembered the rest of the weekend. I disengaged and realized it was Denny and Tanya, and Denny said he had a cigar for me, so we walked across the street to his truck and he gave me a Punch, robusto-sized, and I thanked them both and wished them a great weekend and a safe drive as they live in the next down, Old Monroe. I’ve never been hugged by Tanya before and have done some extra work to cultivate her friendship this year. I will reiterate that I am only interested in friendship with married women and I do enjoy the hugs of friendship greatly. I get hugs from many men as well and their frequency with both genders has increased dramatically the second-half of this year and I can only guess that the change is in me, that I tend to hug more and thusly become more huggable. Something like that! There are many people who that I’m instantly friendly with, there are others that have required cultivation over time and I am a patient man in that respect. I intend to make my stand here and know that I can sway almost everyone over to my side when I need to (the next mayoral election comes to mind). It is also sort of fun in a challenging fashion to take someone that may not have warmed-up to you initially and make them your friend. One thing important I feel it demonstrates in me is my constancy of purpose. I am by nature a tenacious person and tenacity can be expressed both in a positive or a negative fashion. I prefer the positive.

Friday is definitely the most social night at The Dog and The Dog itself is one of the social hubs of the community. There were many kids there and well as many hands to shake, many people to say hello to, many conversations to have, etc. A whole evening can be spent doing so. And then there’s Steve running the karaoke, with music playing between karaoke sessions, so many get up and dance during the music sessions and I am easily convinced to dance. I had a great time and left early for me at about 23:30 and went home right to bed. I slept well and got up about 09:00 and read the Saturday paper and did some minor housework before cleaning up and heading out. I went to Pasta House in O’Fallon for a very nice lunch with some of the best service I’ve received in a long time. An aside about service, I have worked twice in the restaurant business and understand it complete from the kitchen to the table. I know how demanding a job it can be and that some people are naturally better than others. The girl who served me was not attractive in the least, and I have an operative theory that you’ll get better service out of an unattractive person than from an attractive one for some very obvious reasons which I’ve alluded to in the past. I tend to consume a lot of liquids while eating, in this case diet Coke, and keeping my glass filled seems to present enormous challenges for some servers. This was not the case Saturday as Sara kept the glass full and was unobtrusive when called for. She kind of floated around and attended to me when it was required without any attempt to interrupt my enjoyment of the meal. Again, I am usually someone’s favorite customer and I am personable and I understand the demands of the business. I generally tip well. The bill was $15.50, I gave her a twenty and told her to the change. Her service was that good. I then stopped at Lowe’s for some more wooden hangers. Believe it or not, I have zero, repeat, zero metal or plastic hangers in my house. They are all wooden and I’m not anal, just particular. I then did something I’ve never done before in my life, I stopped at a Goodwill store to buy something. I went in and browsed the men’s suit-coats and sport-coats, looking for colors, fabrics, brands, and then something that would fit. I’m 6’2” and have a wingspan that’s at least 6’4”, so sleeve-length is very important to me and I found a little trick to narrow down the field but just examining sleeve-lengths. I was looking for things perhaps a little bit funky and fun an firstly examined those in my color-range (yes, how freaking metrosexual it that), which runs to the tans/browns, etc., and then decided that I needed something to go with my other favorite color-scheme, black. I ended up with a brown woven-wool Brooks Brothers sport-coat and a grey pinstriped suit-coat, each $8.00 a piece, which made me very pleased with myself.

I got home and took care of a few items and then decided to go for a ride. I live literally on the bluff of the Mississippi River and there’s several miles worth of bottom-land between my subdivision and the river. It is interesting for me to explore as is a very short period of time you enter a very remote area. There are many hunting clubs just on the one road I travelled on and I would estimate each club had at least several hundred acres, some permanently flooded for waterfowl, which is the primary activity in the area. All of it was under water for weeks at least once this year and frankly I was surprised at how good a condition the road was in. The soil in the bottom-land is absolutely incredible in high quality and there was much land that I drove by that was not able to be farmed this year. There is any number of minor levies, floodgates, pumps, etc. I should also note that considering the fact that a lot of trees were in the water for a long time, most of them looked in very good shape. Some of these roads are connected and you can wander many miles through the bottoms. Then back to home where I started up a chili con queso for Jen’s birthday celebration later in the evening and played phone-tag with by good friend Ken from Michigan. We finally hooked up and had a very nice conversation as I banged a few pots and pans around the kitchen. Ken said something to the effect that my voice sounds like my old self from the past when I experienced better stretches of life with the XW. The truth be told I never did like vacationing with the XW in Michigan, she spent almost all of the time with her crazy sisters and left me on my own. I learned quickly to form my own networks that included both Ken and Herb, who to this day I love better than my brother. That is not to say that I don’t love my brother, he’s just not as lovable as some others (wink). It was a freaking cold day with the wind blowing at about 35mph and at the appointed hour (18:00), I loaded up the car and drove up to Tim’s house several hundred feet from mine. There was a very good mix of people there, including many of our neighbors, pseudo-neighbors, friends of Tim’s, etc. Jen’s sister Steph was there, and I’ve always found her interesting, a high-school math teacher, mid-20’s, doesn’t get out much, kind of cute in her own way, I have fun trying to draw her out at times. I stayed until about 20:30 and then headed to The Dog for band-night and a band that I particularly wanted to hear that is run by a local radio personality on drums. They were very good. Paul was at the bar and I stood there the majority of the time when I wasn’t dancing. Jo Ellen and Dave were there which surprised me a bit as they had been in Vegas all week and had returned sometime that afternoon. I had expected them to take the night off. A lot of people where dressed up more than normal, including myself with the grey pinstriped suit-coat over a casual ensemble that included a very nice-looking synthetic fleece black quarter-zip affairs. Jo commented on the outfit and I explained toe her where I got them from. She had a very interesting outfit on and I complimented her several times. There was a table full of women who according to legend had been out shopping all day together. They were very amusing to watch and after a while the husbands and BF’s rolled in and things became more amusing until they all pretty much left en mass. This is turn left the dance floor open for me and I did some dancing with every danceable woman there. I started peeling off layers because I became so warm from dancing. There’s some 20-something I run into quite often there and she was very friendly that evening and we danced quite a bit together. Even when we weren’t dancing together she would maneuver behind me and the rear-portions of our respective anatomies would rub. Of course the dance floor is an artificial environment and I know that what goes on there often does not translate to reality, so your operator tend to play it cool and confident and not to fuss over any particular women but to instead enjoying the experience and knowing at some points that you’re the best male dancer on the floor and that other people watch. I just made sure to dance facing the bar so that my dance partner had her backside to the bar, providing some thrills for Paul and others. Women would yank me out to dance and I would yank others out to dance, and it was one of those magic nights where I was not refused, I refused no one, and I could dance at will. Before I knew it, I had danced the balance of the evening away and enjoyed the company of some very attractive women while doing so. I danced with my friend Tammy (married to Jeff), she had curled her hair and looked gorgeous and I told her so. Then there was the 20-something (I don’t even know her name, she knows mine), and then Ham (I don’t know her real name, everyone calls her Ham, married to Tom) and Tom insisted that I take her out for a dance. Curt, who is Jo and Dave’s son and works the door, his girlfriend Ginger (right, Ginger) arrived in this shimmering metallic silver dress with interesting platform shoes and looked like a goddess. I complimented her on her appearance and danced with her several times. Maybe it’s the effects of the holiday season, everyone was dressed extra special. So closing time came, I said many goodbyes with a lot of hugs, and headed home. I was a bit wound-up and had a cocktail and some snacks while watching “Juno” and ended up going to bed at 03:00.

I awoke Sunday at 10:30, went outside to 20 degrees, grabbed the papers, and said that’s enough with the outside for today and went back in. I got through the papers and read a book while listening to my radio show. I started to feel a spell of diverticulitis coming on and grabbed the book and lay in bed most of the day. I had a bit to eat in the late afternoon and then in the early evening was fighting off the inevitable yawns and went to sleep very early knowing that I would need it. This was a milder attack that the last time and it was not too painful to be able to sleep. I was reading "Have You Seen . . . ?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films “, a book that devotes a single-page review to each of the 1,000 films. As a lifetime film-buff I found it very interesting and have made some mental notes on some more obscure films to watch and have decided that I am not well-versed on the French New Wave of film and will need to educate myself a bit more on the subject.

It was a very full weekend and it was actually nice not to really do anything on Sunday. As always, it would take a documentary crew to get all of the details and the film would run for many hours. There were many amusing moments and I was also struck thinking this weekend on how the love that’s expressed to me from friendships is a very powerful cumulative thing that makes up for the lack of romantic love in my life. There are things I miss but know that I can more than just survive without them. The long absence of sex and affection by choice gives great perspective on their relative worth and the worth that others place upon them. At this point I find a lot of things more interesting and less costly.

And recommendations from my latest downloads:

“Lay Me Back Down” by Portugal The Man
“The Wondersmith and His Sons” by Astronautalis
“Something is Not Right With Me” and “I’ve seen Enough” both by The Cold War Kids.

I’ve got a couple of Kings of Leon songs on tap from their latest album; they are very hot and rising.

Any holiday festivities this weekend? GF and I are going on an annual pub crawl with some friends that is sponsored by a local micro-brewery. We'll probably have a late dinner afterward. Tomorrow night we're going to a Christmas light display in Houston's oldest residential neighborhood. It's not my weekend with the kids, but I asked the XW if I could take the kids with us to see it and then dinner afterward. She agreed, so we're looking forward to that.

On Sunday we have sit down and work on a guest list for the New Year's Eve party we want to throw.

I'm decorating gingerbread houses on Sunday, and then possibly a party. Probably doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday night to fill time. I'm so exhausted, but I want to do some fun stuff.

GG, I am glad you're doing some Christmas activities.

I had my gum surgery this weekend, to snip off a part of my gum to fit a crown. It's part of a procedure following my root canal three weeks ago. I am broke and my dentist's rich.

Before the surgery, I went to the shu uemura boutique and had a good time playing with different products. The sales assistant was very nice and accomodating. I left with a couple of items and feel very very good. I needed this incentive before the hour of torture.

A gazillion dr appts squeezed in at end of year. I have met my out-of-pocket so I need to get some things done - my psychiatrist, my son's psychiatrist (we are the ADD/ADHD family), phys ther for daughter, dermatologist, 2nd opinion on whether or not my hearing is really bad enough for 'hearing devices'.

Working.

If the teenagers want that Christmas tree up, they can be of assistance - they can help and it will happen.

Hey cindyreller, I'm going deaf too. I know how you feel.


I put our tree up and Tabs decorated it.

We went shopping for her boys and I couldn't help but feel absolute contempt for XW as she destroyed the joy of me caring and doing for my family. I loved to get SS a complete surprize for Christmas and getting everything ready, like decorating the house with lights all over it for him.

I like Tab's boys and they adore me even though one is 15 and the other 20, but I miss mine terribly. He will be 16 this year.

I haven't seen him in 2 years now and have only just received a report on him last weekend from my aricraft mechanic buddy.

He never asks about me.

My weekend started after work on Friday when I went to Wally World for a little shopping, including picking up a couple of gifts for Jo Ellen. As an aside, I have almost no skill in wrapping presents and do not enjoy doing so at all, so even though I am not a fan of gift-bags per se, I do appreciate their utility and in this case was a must-have for your operator. I bought a CD, DVD, and a card for Jo Ellen, something that I recalled she liked from a concert she had been to that both she and Dave described as the best concert they had ever seen. The DVD featured the band in concert. I zipped home and fixed a quick meal and then headed up to The Dog for what I refer to as “Friends and Family Night”.

A lot of the usual group of friends was there and I made my rounds of hugs and handshakes. Rick wanted a cigar and so did my friend Bob, so I allowed each a pick from my portable humidor and got them started. I later sat by the fireplace with Bob, his good friend Taco, and Bob’s wife Donna. I need to launch into a fairly long dialogue on my approach to people at some point, but I don’t have the time now and now is not the context for it, but I have assembled some thoughts on the subject that I would like to share at some point. Suffice it to say that some people for various reasons require more cultivation than others, and Donna was like that, but it’s to the point now that she’s very comfortable with me. Somehow we got on the subject of Christmas decorations and they were all shocked that I was not putting up a Christmas tree. They asked out outside decorations and I reported that I have some lights still in the box (from last year) that I may or may not put up depending on how motivated I was to do so. It was humorous to see the expressions on their face. There was a moment of silence, then Bob and Taco look at each other and said to me that they’ll bring me a tree and set it up for me, they look at each other again, and said they’ll steal a tree and bring it to me and set it up for me. There are several Christmas tree farms in the area and I just laughed! I should add that The Dog has an awesome fireplace that I tend to tend while I’m there, it throws out an enormous amount of heat once stoked, Dave owns a tree service so the wood is plentiful, and the wood is stacked just out front. I visited with Bob and Donna a couple more times later in the evening, Bob is one of those people that I took to immediately upon meeting and had the feeling that it was mutual.

I then went and talked to Steve who does the karaoke on Fridays. I see him quite often and we have become closer over a period of time. He mentioned that the other night after the P&Z meeting where I sat with Anna and Cathy and Steve had joined us, they had chatted after I left and somehow determined that Steve’s wife works with me. I know his wife Donna and never would have made the connection on my own, well, perhaps eventually, but Steve told me this Friday night and I was speechless for the moment. I should note that I have not to my recollection ever seen the two together and Donna certainly never comes to The Dog.

I talked to my friend Keith and had some amusing moments with him. He has the strongest grip of anyone I shake hands with and we often have a contest to see how long we can hold it and how hard we can squeeze. I evidentially have a very strong grip as well, perhaps even surprising to some people because of my build. I consider myself slender but am fairly strong considering. Keith is one of the first people I met in St. Paul and he’s one of those people, like I described with Bob above, that I know immediately upon meeting that we’re going to be instant and great friends. I like him immensely and he’s one of those people that everyone seems to like and is very much his own man. Anyway, Keith is famous for his flannel shirts and for ripping the sleeves off of them and wearing them without the sleeves. He has a topsoil company and had one of his company shirts on without the sleeves of course. I told Keith that I had recently purchased a flannel shirt specifically in his honor and of course he asked me “Have you ripped the sleeves off?” Now you might not think that’s all that funny, but to me given the entire context I laughed and so did Keith.

I continued to make my rounds and ended up sitting next to Keri and chatting with her. I found out quite a bit of info of her this time and evidentially had the attention of every other man in the bar while doing so. Keri comes in mainly of Fridays for karaoke and I seen her on a few other occasions including at the picnic this fall. We had some light and playful, I might add, interaction in the past. She has an outrageous figure and is very attractive and I guess unapproachable to some. I’m in a different kind of place these days, somewhere I’ve never been before in my life, where I really have no fear of anyone, including women. I sat down and we had a fun chat all about her. She’s 34, likes beer (Michelob Ultra), and has 3 kids. She is a nurse’s aid and does home visits and lives in an apartment complex on the second floor. Once I got her rolling she was very talkative and we had a funny common theme throughout the time that I spent with her. Taco had come over and complimented her on her dress, she was wearing pants. I kept saying “Nice dress” and we would both laugh. She eventually left. Between sets of people actually singing, Steve plays real songs and often dance music, so it can be fun to watch and fun to participate, and participate I did, first yanking another Kelly (gorgeous and married to my friend Tim who is close to Keith) onto the dance floor, and then later with many others, including Ginger and the 20-something blonde. I danced with Ginger quite a bit and at one point she says to me that I’m a cool man. This is coming from a gorgeous 30-something and it confirms for me that I’m on the right path.

I danced and danced and eventually split at about 00:30, came home and went to bed.

I had a good and long sleep and got up very late morning, cleaned up, and headed out for a few things from Wally World and ended up buying quite a bit. I then grabbed a quick bite and headed back home to get ready for the progressive-dinner in Chris’s neighborhood. A couple of weekends ago I went to Goodwill and bought a suit-coat and sport-coat, each $8.00, and decided to wear the brown-themed sport-coat, which is a Brooks Brothers and must have cost more than any clothing item I own when it was new. It’s in great shape, is a very good but not perfect fit, is wool and is woven with tan and dark green checks, very small, so that the overall appearance is more of a tan. I am a person who appreciates a good value in everything that I buy and I get buy very well and pretty economically for the most part, only with the occasional extravagance and rarely a salute to fashion, although after weighing the decision for a long time and with a $25.00 coupon in my hand, about the same time I bought the Brooks Brothers sport-coat, I also purchased one of the trendy North Face jackets, an Apex Bionic and instead of joining the lemmings all running around in their black versions, I opted for the brown one which I’ve received many compliments on. I will be checking-in at the Goodwill store with some regularity to check for more sport-coats. My original intention in going there was to pick-up something a bit funky to wear out on weekends but the Brooks Brothers in particular could be used for any occasion. I will still search for some slightly funky stuffy. Okay, so now I’ve got the jacket, so then the dark green cords and a square-tailed brown shirt that can be best described as faux suede, with dark socks and brown leather shows, styling for sure, don’t forget the bottle of wine, and I’m out the door for the approximate 15-minute drive to Chris’s house.

Some slight background might be in order here. Chris has been seeing someone from our mutual workplace that I will refer to from this point onward as T2. The clever amongst you might recall a party that I went to at Dan’s house in October as I recall and the date I had with Chris, there was someone there that I was very interested in flirting with, which was T2. At that time, I did not know that Chris and T2 had something going on and I of course did flirt with her. So we’ll flash-forward back to Saturday. I am accustomed to walking into Chris’s house without knocking; one reason is having lived there when the XW kicked me out of the house. Either through his cleverness or forgetfulness, he neglected to mention to T2 that I was coming. T2 evidentially didn’t realize how close Chris and I are, we date back to meeting each other when we were teenagers and there’s a lot of water under the bridge since then. I pop into the kitchen and T2 is a bit surprised, perhaps shocked, to see me in Chris’s kitchen acting like I won the place. Chris of course is amused and T2 says something like “What are you doing here? If I knew you were coming, I would have done something different with my hair.” Now I am puzzled about the hair remark and am not sure at this point whether that was an attempt at levity or not. I found it to be a bit off-the-wall. What do you think she meant? So we chatted a bit before other neighbors started filing in. Inevitably when I would introduce Tracy (I am one of the last practitioners of the proper introduction, must be part of being one of the last gentlemen in existence (Thanks Mom!)) they would ask her who she was with and she either cleverly or with some other motive would say that she preferred not to say. Often she would put her arm around me and pretend that she was with me. Now as things sit right now, when a woman puts her arm(s) around me, I’m not in deep analysis mode, I am enjoying the experience for what it is without and complication or additional weightiness. You operator is always calm, cool, and collected, and you would probably find that my heart-rate does not increase. I live in the moment and for the moment. I may have spent more time with T2 that evening than she did with Chris, it was interesting. Chris was on and when he’s one and I’m on, it’s a show to behold. We know each other so well that we can easily predict the other’s reactions and can easily lead discussion in the direction of the expected result, which is always humor, sometimes ribald, sometimes self-effacing; we have literally dazzled and confused people so much that they lose the ability to determine what’s real and when their legs are getting pulled. We started at 17:00 and it lasted for the next 5-hours.

I know most of Chris’s neighbor really well from having lived with Chris and I believe that T2 was a bit taken aback by the fact that I already knew everyone and that they knew me. My night’s worth of amusements was to continue. What did the immortal bard say; all the world’s a stage? I had brought a bottle of Veramonte Cabernet Sauvignon (I am a big Cab-man) and Chris had many other beverages and appetizers and the kitchen became much crowed with people. I entered my environment of conversation and before we knew it, it was time to move on to the next course at the next house. It was interesting to see other person’s houses, including one that is directly behind Chris’s house that I have always wanted to have a look at. We ended at that house where the bar in the basement gave me plenty of ideas for what I would like to build in mine. I begged my leave at about 21:30, walked a couple of blocks back to Chris’s house, grabbed my keys which were in his house and headed to back to my house where I left the car running, ran into the house, grabbed a special bottle of Champagne and Jo Ellen’s gift bag and headed the mile or so it is to The Dog.

It was a very special evening at The Dog, the official celebration of Jo Ellen’s 50th featuring what I consider the house band, Big Easy. I arrived and parked very far away because of all of the cars, walked in hands full, greeted the birthday girl who was on the dance floor, gave the gifts to Dave for his safekeeping, ordered a beer from Rick who was assisting Dave with the bartending duties, said hello to Paul, and said goodbye to Denny and Tanya as they were just leaving, and thanked Denny for the cigar he gave me last weekend. Then it was a matter of moments before I was on the dance floor with the birthday girl, who had a very fashionable, and excuse me ladies, I don’t know the technical names, but like a knit combined top-skirt, red, with black leggings and special black Ugg-style boots that Jo had picked up in Vegas. She looked great and it was totally unexpected compared to what she usually wears. I would dance several songs and then cool down for a bit, and then repeat the process, dancing with many including some very nice danced with Ginger, who said that I was a good dancer. I should note for the record and I am self-taught on the dance floor, may have some natural ability, certainly have a better than average sense of rhythm, believe that dancing is one thing you can get better with practice, and I get a lot of practice, and finally, I would not be opposed to the idea of taking some lessons and learning some more formal dances, etc. Eric and Kelly-baby were feuding as usual and carrying on a bit more than usual and The Dog is the appropriate place for group therapy on a band night! Eric eventually got mad enough and left, I danced with Kelly-baby several times and she was putting on quite the show, both then and later. Of course, I made my usual rounds as well and was kind of pleased to see Tom come in with the chick I introduced him to the prior weekend. Between sets Jo Ellen opened her presents, got to mine, said the to collection of girls watching that I knew what she wanted (lucky for me) and read the card, which finished with “Many thanks for being the person that you are. Love D.” The girls all said that I was so sweet and I gave them my standard statement “Please don’t tell anyone I’m really sweet, I don’t want the secret to get out.” And of course they all laughed at this, knowing me well.

I danced and danced and unbelievably it was almost 01:00, so I took a break and helped tend bar with Rick and Dave. While Dave chatted and Rick restocked I sold beer. I like doing it for the fun of it and they could easily ask me to help out any time and I would do it for free beer. A bunch of us who are pretty tight with Dave and Jo stayed after close and I swept for dance floor after the band left. There was some talk about partying afterward, but by this time it was after 02:00, Jo said she was getting up at 09:00 for a football game, I was not going to keep her up partying and later, so I went home after having quite chat with Ginger, who had some homemade wine maid by Dave’s sister Evelyn, who I had met for the first time that evening and got along very nicely with, and Ginger got real talkative after the wine and gave me the single greatest hug that I’ve had in a long time. Ginger told me that she is 38, and I know that she has 4-kids, including one about my daughter’s age. Curtis is a lot younger than Ginger and I don’t think Curt is even close to 30. Ginger is tall, has very long brunette hair, a nice figure, killer eyes, etc. Truthfully I think I would have something to offer her, but of course I would never say that out loud and completely respect her and Curt’s relationship. As I’ve intimated before, I’ll never dally in and/or break-up someone else’s relationship for my personal benefit. I have for my reasons for not doing so.

It was interesting that two women that I’m just friends with seemed to spend a lot of time in my arms this weekend. There was one other thing that happened Saturday night at The Dog that will require a little background. I have a fan club. It consists of several 30-something married women that seem to travel in a pack. I’m not sure how it quite got started, one of them sponsored my friends Randy and Danielle for their confirmation at church and remembered me from then, except of course for my long hair that I had then, and then introduced me to another of the gang with the explanation of Randy and Danielle and the long hair, and you could see the light-bulb go on in that one when she remembered me, she’s married to a Hoff (pronounced huff), I know some Hoffs including my friend Ron, and so it goes, there is no way in St. Paul you’re ever going to get as far as six-degrees of separation, I rarely get beyond two. The fan club always got out their way to make a special effort to say hello and I always get hugs from all of them and have upon occasion danced with all of them. For all I know they’ve done some checking up on me, which wouldn’t be hard as I am very well known in the community by now (this will all help when I run for mayor). They’re leaving shortly after I walked in Saturday night and they stopped to say goodbye on their way to another party, and the Hoff girls says to me that I was the hot topic of discussion in their group. I did not inquire to the nature of their discussion, suffice it to say that this is the kind of thing I’ve been working on, one for a gorgeous 30-something to tell me I’m a cool man, and for my fan club to be discussing me. I want the whole town to be discussing me, of course in a good light, because I want to do good, my goal is to add value to everyone in my life, and I figure nothing but good could come from doing so. I endeavor to at least be nice to everyone. Why you might ask? Because I can.

Again, this small narrative can’t begin to encompass the totality of the experience. You’ll have to join me for that. I have many thoughts about the direction I’m going and some philosophies I’m encountering/developing along the way. This may be the single best period of my life.

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I GOT MY CHRISTMAS BONUS TODAY!!!!!!!!


Five Thousand smackeroonies!!!!!


SUCK ON THAT EX-SOUL SUCKING HARPY!!!!

I work in government. The last time I got a Christmas bonus was when I worked for a church and got a $50 gift certificate to a mall. I don't think I'll ever get a Christmas bonus.

:MrEEk:

I just deposited the check, I didn't even open the envelope when he gave it to me and I wondered why he said to keep quiet and not to even open it until I made my deposit.

It wasn't five grand, it was FIFTY FIVE GRAND!!!!!

It was a freaking YEAR's SALARY!

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!

I just can't freaking believe this!

I am about to pee my pants!!!! I can't even concentrate on my work!!

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! EFF YOU EX-HARPY!!!!!!!

for the BS
Gotta love karma

Enjoy it and watch your tax position.

May I ask what you do in government?

MERRY CHRISTMAS PARIAH!!!

P.S. what made you think it was $5000

He said it was only five grand and was the best he could do at the moment.

Man, he got me GOOD!

Tabs bought a bottle of Dom Perignon and yes, I opened it.

That's amazing!! Enjoy!!

Congrats!

Good guys deserve good things!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

:MerryChristmas:

Love in Christ,
Miss M