Oh what a feeling...

Hey People. How's it going? All is just great here. I am glad to say I have officially moved. I am slowly getting settled in to my new home. It's a cute old house. I have a great roommate, whom I have known for about 6 years. He was looking for a roommate. I came and checked the house out and immediately fell in love with it. It has a huge living room, enclosed front porch, huge kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, fenced in front/back yard, and a pool in the back yard. I moved everything out of Missy's house and Mary's garage on Thursday. Missy was rather impressed that I didn't have that much stuff to move. I did downsize a good bit from having the yard sale. We actually made it happen with 3 vehicles in one trip. All I have done so far is set my bed up. I missed my bed. LOL. It's been a long, but great, 4 months without it. I can say, that I had a grand ol' time staying with John and Tommy. But, I do expect to have a great time in the new house. It is going to be a showplace when Clay and I finish decorating it and putting some TLC into it. It will be a great place to entertain others as well. Well, I am cutting this short for now, I have to be at work in a bit. Til next time. PEACE OUT and Happy Holidays!

Yep, I'm still alive...

Howdy People. I am still around. Not much to post about other than a few exciting things. Life is great. I have been in the company of my friends and we are making the best out of everything and having a ball while doing it. Let me update real quick on this while I am thinking about it. Remember when we held John's Bday Party at Stroh's? Well, 2 weeks after that, the Volusia County Motel/Hotel Association named John the Food & Beverage Employee of the year. That's an honor considering there are about 8,000 hospitality workers in Daytona. So after he went to the party and received the award with Mary E, Tommy & I met them at Stroh's to have a couple of celebratory drinks. We had a blast and John was in shock that he was even nominated. Wouldn't you know it, that 3 days afterwards, Stroh's CLOSED on us. That was like a favorite 2 blocks away hangout for us to go to. On to something else, I have left my old job once and for all. I have been working for a new company and I am really glad to be there. I also painted the majority of Mary D's interior house (minus the bedrooms) over the last month. I took my time and I think it looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. I helped with rearranging everything that we could and it looks snazzy. I also had a garage sale over at Mary's. We planned it for a week in advance, and we advertised in the http://www.newsjournalonline.com/ , along with the http://daytona.classifieds.floridapennysavers.com/CLASS/PClass.aspx , and I heavily used http://www.craigslist.daytona.org/ , too. You wanna talk about a comical time those 3 days were. We priced everything a week in advanced. We then woke up around 5:30am on 11-16-07 and set everything up in the driveway. By 7am we were pretty much setup completely. In the newspaper and pennysaver we had the ad say we were starting at 9:30a until 3:30p. Then when the ad came out first in the pennysaver, we noticed that a few other neighbors in the neighborhood were starting at 8am. The literally lived within houses of Mary. So, I then started blasting Craigslist to let everyone know that we were starting at 7:30am until ?. Our first customer (both Fri and Sat) showed up at 7:15. On Friday, Tommy showed up with some stuff to throw in for us to sell. He stayed til around 2pm. John showed up around noon. Well, on Friday, Mary and I were practically going non-stop with the customers. We served our last customer at 6:30pm. We had over 350 people stop by just that day. For the group we made over $400 just on the first day. On Saturday, we probably had about 125 people swing by. My Mom also was married on this day (best of luck you two). And on Sunday, (Mary and I were entirely over it by then), we might have had 50 people. On Friday night, Mary and I drank more than we should have, but we well deserved it. On Saturday, I didn't start drinking until about 2pm and averaging less a beer every 2 hours. We served our last customer this day around 6pm. Well, Mary decided to "pants" me after closing time around 8ish. Her neighbor Patty was aver and the kids just happened to be outside when she did it. I felt like I was in the cartoons, cause I just froze in my tracks and literally was sputtering words out of my mouth. About 3 seconds later I realized what she had done and yanked my sweatpants back up. We laughed bout it for about 2 hrs afterwards. Sunday wasn't as busy as we expected. We practically marked most everything down to $0.25 or less. I ended up bringing in almost $500 for the weekend and the other 3 came in with about $250. Not bad for 3 days work. Okay another subject, back in early October, We found out Josh Turner was coming to town. And of course, those who have read my blog over the last year might remember when I tried to go see him at the Volusia County Fair and his concert was already sold out. Well, Mary E, Tommy, John, Brandon, and I, bought our tickets. He appeared in concert with Danielle Peck on 12-1-07. The seats we had were great, but the persnickety old geriatric people that were there were ass holes. I laid into one lady because she was so rude. But, Josh sang the song (Would You Go With Me) that John and I wanted to hear first. His other songs were okay but we listened anyways and drank too. At intermission, we got up to use the rest room and decided we weren't going to watch the rest of it. Well, I had the keys to Tommy's truck, and he didn't want to leave until he heard Long Black Train. So he was pissed, but not for too long. He and I had decided to split 3 nights at the Streamline and stayed up there. You can see by the pics we had a great time though. But, later that night I was at the bar, and in rare form. Must have been the boots and hat. LOL. Woke up the next morning completely drained with no energy the entire day. Other than that most everything is the same. I will be glad to blog more when more happens. Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season. Til Next Time, PEACE OUT!

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!!!