A month already? ? ?

Hey Folks. I realized it has been a while since I blogged. I have been non-stop busy. Not too much going on in my world except being happy as can be and enjoying myself way too much. This past weekend was Biketoberfest here in Daytona. I for once got out from behind the front desk of the hotel and actually worked parking detail. I had such an enjoyable time socializing with all the bikers from all over. I talked with people from Alaska, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Maine, California, Utah, Nevada, Illinois, and of course, Florida. I worked 40 hours in 3 days to help with the parking. Just watching the bikers ride up and down A1A was fun. I took many pics and some video. The video didn't do too well being from my cell phone. Some of the women though were fine as hell wearing their revealing tops and tight pants. The guys looked hot too. Nothing else really new on this end other than this. Enjoy the pics. Peace out!

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Hey People. It's been a great week. Mary D., Mary E., Tommy, and I planned a surprise birthday party for John. He turned 49 on Sept 17. He really had no clue that we were up to no good. We literally did some of the planning right in front of him. As you can see from the pics in this post we had a blast. We had it at Stroh's Sports Bar & Grill in Ormond Beach. It was at the perfect location directly across the street from the beach. We invited about 30 people with the logic that half would show up. We had Stroh's cook up 100 chicken wings and a veggie tray. We also had them put Happy Birthday John on the Marquee. We told John that we were going to go down to the Streamline since his birthday is the same as the owner, Eric. The Streamline always throws a party for Eric and they provide a buffet. We figured we could throw John off from thinking we were up to something since we usually always go to Eric's party. Mary E. called and told John that she was at Stroh's for a few minutes and having one drink and to come and get his gift. So he thought we were still going to the Streamline anyways. We pulled up at Stroh's and he didn't even notice that everyone's car was there. He did notice the Marquee but still didn't have a clue that the party was inside for him. He walked in and made one of his usual frowning faces in shock. LOL. Mary D. had Publix make John a photo cake. Tommy and I got in touch with John's family and they gave us some of his childhood photos and we found the perfect photo of him when he was 5 years old and dressed up as a pirate. I think you will agree it was a cute cake. The guests that showed up were, in no particular order, Mary D, Matt D, their 2 sons, Mary E, Larry, Rob, Jeff, Tex, Brian, Shannon, Bradley, Tommy, Brandon, and myself. We had such a great time. We had requested for our favorite bartended at Stroh's to serve us. Cindy did an excellent job. She kept the beer and liquor pouring for a good 4 hours that we were there. I can personally say I am glad to be back in Daytona, because having my friends around is the best feeling there is. My mom called me to inform me that she is engaged and getting married in November. As much as I would like to go up there, I don't foresee it happening since I am trying to get back on my feet. But, it would be nice to see my sisters and their families. I'm hoping to get this condo. It's been completely updated with beautiful tile, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and it overlooks the courtyard. It's on the ground floor as well. Time will tell. Not much other news going on other that. Guess I am going to log off for now. Ta Ta for now, PEACE OUT!

The Saga is About to be OVER....

Hi People. Just wanted to do a quick update and keep you up to date on what's going on. Life is great. I can honestly say I am once again happy. I know that I had to see what it would be like living somewhere else other than Daytona. But, I dipped my toes in the water and found out that it wasn't the right place for me. But, I didn't fall on my face by checking Tampa out. I did have a great time while I was there. But, without having a car, it was not as enjoyable as it could have been. But, being back in Daytona is such a nice thing. I'm back with all my friends who I missed so much while I was in Tampa. I got to see them once a month usually but that wasn't enough. It really only seems as if it was just a few days ago that I left Daytona in the first place. I guess my friends are really like my family. They don't judge me, they accept me, and enjoy the company. There's a surprise in the near future. I don't want to blog about it just yet, just in case it doesn't pan out. Once it does or I know for sure I will definitely blog about it. I am leaving early in the morning with Tommy and taking him to GA to get his license issue resolved finally. It's nice being able to drive around though, but I am glad he will have his license back. I have been so paranoid driving his vehicle. I have put over 1200 miles on it just in a little over 3 weeks since arriving in Daytona. I have made a new friend here as well. We are just seeing where the days take us. Well, I am off of here for now. As always, Peace out and Yahoooooooo til next time.

Where to begin???????????

Hello people. It's been 3 weeks since I blogged and boy have things been in a whirlwind. It's funny how life throws you a curve ball when you least expect it. But, at least this time, I was able to hit the ball out in left field without it being caught for an immediate out. You all know that I was thoroughly happy for working for the state. The job was just not suited for me. Then, for whatever reason, to this day I still do not know nor really care about at this point, Rachael and I went our separate ways. She got all pissy at me for whatever reason, which she never shared with me. I'm not one that lives well in a hostile environment or home for that matter. Well on August 9th, I finally had enough and immediately started planning on moving back to Daytona. I reserved a UHaul truck to move everything over on August 17th. So, I decided to call Missy and Tommy and let them know of my initial plans. Tommy said that he and Missy were literally just talking about me 5 mins earlier. Tommy got pulled over on August 8th, for driving on a revoked license. In order for him to immediately resolve the issue he had to go to Georgia and pay the fine that revoked his license. Well, miraculously out of all of friends, I am the only one with a valid license. I told him that I would hop on the Greyhound bus that night and take him to GA on Friday to get it taken care of. I arrived in Daytona around midnight on the 9th. We pulled out of Daytona around 10am on Friday and made the journey to Brunswick, GA. Well, wouldn't you know it, the DMV there wouldn't accept a copy of the certificate he needed to clear his record. So that trip was a bust. But, I figured we could get back to Daytona in time to get a duplicate original of the certificate he needed. I hauled ass from Brunswick back to Daytona in less than 2 hours. Granted it was over 160 miles but I had to make it back to the place here in Daytona by 430pm. Well, wouldn't you know it, I pulled up at 427pm and they had locked the place up tighter than a tick. So, that trip was an entire waste of time and money. On Saturday morning, I decided to call Mary D. and ask her if she had room in her garage to store some of my stuff. She told me that I would need to clean out her garage and rearrange it for my stuff. So, I grabbed Phil and we headed over there to start that. Her garage was like a sauna, don't think I have sweated as much in my life. We literally yanked everything out of her garage and then put it all back in rearranged in about 3 hours. So, I had changed the moving plans to actually just move on the 14th, so Tommy could have his license back and he could drive me to Tampa and I could drive the UHaul back. Well, I checked with the Georgia DMV and they were not open on Mondays, go figure, as my luck would have it. So then, I changed the reservation for the truck to the 13th. Tommy and I were trying to figure out who we knew with a license that could drive a stick. We only knew of a couple of legal drivers that possibly could. Tommy works overnight at Walmart, so I rode over there on the night of the 11th and told him about GA closing the DMV's on Mondays and then I decided I would stop by the Streamline after leaving him and have a drink while I was waiting to pick Phil up from work. Wouldn't you know it, I wasn't there 2 minutes and my ex (Rob and his other half Jeff) were there. They literally saved the day because Jeff knew how to drive a stick and they offered to help me make the move back to Daytona by driving and helping load the truck up. So, the hardest part of the planning of the move was over. Wouldn't you know it though, I woke up Monday morning at 7am to go and get Tommy from work. We had planned on heading over to Tampa around 9am on Monday. I opened the front door only to immediately notice that Tommy's truck had a flat tire. So, Phil and I hopped in the truck and very slowly drove it to the end of the street to the service station. We got the flat tire off and pulled the spare tire out. My luck, the spare had a nail it. But, it was a very slow leak. I called Tommy and told him of the drama that had arisen. He decided he may as well go ahead and put all new tires on the truck since he had not replaced them in 4 yrs. So, off to Walmart we went to get them put on. It wasn't til after 1130am when they were installed. So, we headed back to the house, because I forgot the keys to the Tampa house. Then we tried calling Jeff and Rob, only for Tommy's phone not to even work because the 6 key was broken. So we swung by and picked them up. I had a total of 5 friends including myself loaded in the truck and we headed straight to Tampa at 1230pm. We pulled up at 3pm where I had chose to pick the truck up only to find they didn't have the truck I had reserved and that I had to go somewhere else and pick up the truck. Good luck crossed my path, I actually knew where this location was. It was literally next door to my job. We pulled up at the house at 4pm on the nose and I ordered pizza for the guys while I got a game plan as to how I was going to pack. I racked my brains throughout the whole weekend as to how I was going to pack the whole house up and load the truck up. I tell ya, we did it in exactly 3 hours. The crew I had to move was awesome to work with. I was literally all over the house telling them where to put this and that and they worked their asses of. Without them, this move would have had many more headaches. The house of course wasn't packed at all, so I bounced all ever getting things ready to be packed and hauled out. I knew Tommy's job was going to be to lay on the bed and sleep while it deflated. He was exhausted from having to work the night before and not getting much rest on the ride over. I deflated the side he wasn't on first figuring it would take a lot longer since there wasn't any weight distributed on that side. It deflated rather quickly. So, then I deflated the side he was on, and went about packing totes and putting everything in the front yard to be eventually loaded into the UHaul. I periodically kept checking the bed along with the other guys and it seemed to keep inflating Tommy's side somehow. The remote was by his feet and he was passed out, so I know he wasn't messing with it. So that became one of the many outrageous moments during the move. But, by the time I was ready to break down the bed, it was finally deflated. We loaded both Tommy's truck and the UHaul up and were ready to leave. I was just about to hop in the UHaul when Rob said that I was forgetting something. I forgot to grab Jerry. The UHaul had 2 captain chairs and there wasn't a seat in between them. We made Phil a pallet out of all my clothes on hangers for him to sit on. As soon as I got on the Interstate, it poured rain as hard as possible. I really didn't enjoy that at all. For being a cat, Jerry rode better than one would think. He curled up in Tommy's lap and never moved or meowed. He was so great. We pulled back up into Daytona at 930pm. Well, I definitely needed a drink or two after the day of moving and driving across the state and back. We were sitting there in Missy's living room when around 11pm the doorbell rang. Rob and Jeff had taken Tommy's truck to their house for the night and we were supposed to meet them on Tues morning to unload it all into Mary's garage. Well, I forgot to grab the cooler of food out of the truck when we stopped at the rest area to tell them to just go on to their house for the night. So, we all wound down after a few (maybe many) drinks into the wee hours of the morning. We laughed several times very hard at the fact that Tommy an his experience in the bed deflating process. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Well, Missy passed out around midnight and then one by one everyone else hit the sack. Well, I was so wired with adrenaline and just ready to get the whole moving process over and get the truck back to UHaul in one piece (because I opted not to get the insurance)that I didn't get much rest from August 9th until August the 15th. Well, on the day of the 14th, we met up with Rob and Jeff and they followed me over to Mary D's house so we could unload. Missy thought she was gonna be lucky and not have to help in the moving process. Haha, that wasn't the case, because I dragged him along with us to unload. We littered Mary D's front yard with all my stuff so I could somewhat arrange her garage as we filled it up. The funniest moment of unloading was when Missy and I were standing in the garage when the armoire was being unloaded off the truck. They got it off the truck and Tommy was going to bring it up the drive way on the handtruck. Missy says to me "Here comes the armoire". Not 2 seconds later, we hear, CRASH and SMASH. Then, Missy says to me, "There goes the armoire". The armoire is the piece of furniture that I and everyone else hates moving because it is so heavy and bulky. We filled the garage up with practically everything I own minus the few things that I loaded into Tommy's truck that I need until I get my own place. I returned the Uhaul exactly to the minute in 24hrs. So, I don't think that was a bad move at all. That Tuesday evening, Tommy made a delicious meatloaf and we had everyone over that helped with the move. There was lots of drinking involved, just because we all needed it. Almost everyone was passed out by 8pm and I was still running strong off the adrenaline and all. I went over to Rob's and Jeff's to wind down a little and we headed over to the Oceanwalk and lounged in their hottubs and the pool. I even jumped in the ocean that night. That is something that I normally don't do because I am terrified as to what is in the ocean. Before I ever got to Tampa to move everything back to Daytona, I had 2 job offers. It was nice to know that I had some bridges not burned. I listened to both of the offers and of course took the better offer. It just happens that the offer I took is making me just as much money as I was making in Tampa. The cost of living is much cheaper in Daytona, so it should work to my benefit in the end. I told the boss that I wouldn't start until the 20th just to give me time to wind down and get back in my groove. He really wanted me to start a lot earlier, but wasn't going to allow that to happen. On the 15th, I, for the first time, slept about 8 hrs straight. That was the first time that I had done that since initially getting off the bus. I don't know how I made it through with very little rest, but I did. But, in the end, all the thanks and gratitude that I have goes out to Missy, Tommy, Phil (who did most of the grunt work), Rob, Jeff, Danny, Mary D, and Mad Mary. Without their help and support and open hearts, I could have never pulled this move out of my ass. I just think it's funny how I planned the move to Tampa last year over 3-4 months only to move back to Daytona in less than 4 days of planning and actually making it happening. It is very nice to be home. I told Missy one day that "My roots are in Daytona and I'm glad that I kept them watered while I was away". At least I can say that I did give Tampa a try and I wouldn't mind going back over there to live once I get a car. It's one of those cities you must have a car to get around. I made some awesome friends over there that I already miss, but as they say, home is where the heart is. And for me that is Daytona. I will be getting my own place to live in the very near future. This time I am not going to have any roommates (if I can help it and afford it). It will be the first time that I have lived alone. But, I have enough friends here that it will be a nice change and I will not always be alone. Well, I have been working on this post for an hour now, I am going to close for now, but I will keep ya updated as things happen here. As always, Peace out!

Slacker Alert...

Boo.....People. I'm sure I didn't scare a soul who reads this blog. Yes, I have to admit that I am have a complete slacker these past few weeks. Not much has gone on. I made my trip over to Daytona a couple of weekends ago. Had a blast as usual. Went to the bar for a couple of hours with Missy. That was just like any other time we go, we always have a grand old time. Afterwards, don't ask me how, but Brian talked me in to going to BooksAMillion with him to get one of the first copies of the Harry Potter book that was released. Somehow, we got there at 1210am and by the time I smoked one cigarette he was already in and out of the store. Then, on Saturday, Missy, Mary D., her boys, and I went thrifting. I think my best purchase was a t-shirt that exactly matched to the exact color of the crocs that Missy got me for my birthday. Maybe I will get a picture of them posted on here. I hopped on the early bus that Sunday and came back home. I've been out on the floor for 3 weeks now at work. Boy, I must say, it's a total change for the worse. I'm not too sure how I like it. Trust me, there's so many different policies and rules in place to receive food stamps, cash assistance, and Medicaid. And it seems like everyday something is completely changing just after you get used to doing it the way it was before. I did have a funny call yesterday though. A lady called in and said that she had picked up one of our cards at the library. It had all the important numbers to help them get public assistance. It just happened that the number for Medicaid was wrong and it was actually to a dominatrix sex line. I verified that the client was right by calling the number. I got a good chuckle when it answered. I'm just hoping I can last til April so my probation period will be over with so I can put in for a quick transfer to get the hell off the phones. I really don't wanna lose the benefits for working for the state, but I can only take so much of the stupidity, ignorant, and worthless people we have to talk to on the phone. Missy is definitely coming over this month. He is taking a few days vacation and coming over. He will be coming over the 16th and staying til the 19th. I have a reservation in to rent a car. I figure I would take him over to St. Pete and visit the Salvador Dali Museum. He mentioned he wanted to watch a pro baseball game. It just happens that's the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are playing at home against the Cleveland Indians. I always watching the movie Major League. I haven't been to a Pro baseball game. He also wants to go to the Chinese mall again to pick up a studded belt he had seen before when he was here back in April. I'm going to drive him back over to Daytona so I can bring back my thrift store treasures. Ben went to the vet today get his nuticles chopped off. Poor thing. Jerry is overdue for a haircut, so I may get that done next Friday after I pick up the car for the weekend. Well, I am done racking my brain on as what else I need to blog about. So maybe I will be blogging more often now. Time will tell. Be good and Peace Out!!!

1/2 a year gone by....

How's it going People? Can you believe that 2007 is officially half way over? My my my how time flies as we get older. It just seems a couple of months ago that I moved to Tampa. Before you know it I will have been here a year. Not much is going on, really. I am still having trouble getting my diploma. I know I barely got through school by the hair on my nose, but still to get a duplicate copy is pure hell. There is only one company that makes the for school I went to and the company representative (who was the representative when I was in school) was a complete asshole to me. I ordered the thing 2 months ago and still haven't received it. I was moved out on the floor this week at work. It's got its good points and it has its bad points. Guess I will just have to deal with it just like they are gonna have to deal with me. I really haven't done much this week other than watching Big Brother 8 all the time live online and on TV when it comes on. I am going to apply to be a house guest next year, even if I have to take a leave of absence from work. LOL. I did the yard today in the middle of the day. I couldn't cut it first thing this morning because it was still wet from yesterday's rains. It didn't take but about 1.5 hours to do all of it. I got a little sun in the meantime as well. I bought my ticket over to Daytona this coming weekend. I haven't been over there since Memorial Day Weekend. I miss Missy and Tommy so much. Missy says he will be coming over here in August for a few days. That should be lots of fun. I may just rent a car for a couple of days if he does come over. Who knows? LOL. Well, I'm off to bed, Peace out. I will be adding some pictures on the next blog. I finally got pictures that I had on my cell phone transferred by bluetooth over to the computer. I plan on uploading a variety of pics that I had on there. Okay, now off to bed. Peace out!

Have ya missed me...

Long time, no blog People. How's it going? I haven't blogged in while since much has not been going on. Work has been pretty tedious on me. But, I am officially being kicked out of the nest tomorrow and being put out on the call center floor. That means, I am just another warm body to answer the phones officially. I have to wait until April of next year to actually see if I can get transferred off the phones and move into another department. Life around home has been normal. Rachael and I rearranged the living room, I think it is better this way. It still needs a little tweaking. It's official, my DUI is now a thing of the past. Finally after four years, I have complete closure. I reinstated my license yesterday. I am hoping to get a truck or car by years end. My vacation over Thanksgiving week was officially approved this week. So I am going to try and make a trip back home to NC and visit the family. I can't wait to see my nieces and nephew. I guess my moving to Tampa has been somewhat of a reality check. I have realized some things must happen if I want to continue being happy in life. Ben and Jerry have become best of friends it seems like. Ben literally boxes with Jerry and beats him up. But, Jerry fights back when Ben isn't looking. Maybe I can get some video uploaded on here showing the action. Well, I am going to bed. Hopefully I will blog more. Peace out!