Expenses Without Receipt

Starting from Wednesday, October 4:

• Well, I put everything I bought on my credit card on the 4th, so we need to go back to Wednesday, October 3.  My assignment ended Monday, so I took advantage of my time off by fucking one of my girls.  Went all the way down south to see *a***.  The weirdest thing: After I got done and she let me sleep in her bed for a couple hours, she was nowhere to be seen.  I should blog about this in the near future, but she wasn't there to check that the amount I gave her for her services was the same amount all our previous times.  So I left her only: $100.
• That evening I went to see Battle Of The Sexes, a fictionalization of that tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.  Well, I think it's a fictionalization; my verdict on how good this movie is depends on how much of it is true.  I don't think I've ever felt that way about a flick before.  I will say that the two leads, Emma Stone and Steve Carrell, were great.  I think I'm jealous of Emma Stone because she has such an expressive face and knows how to use it.  Grade: B, because the more I think about it, the more the stories between the two are imbalanced.  It feels as though they are trying to graft the story of Billie Jean King's coming out as a lesbian into a memorable sporting event.  (For what it's worth, King and her current partner/wife were consultants on the movie; Bobby Riggs died in 1995.)  For some reason the total cost of a ticket, popcorn and pop went up three cents, I think, to $9.67.
• On Sunday, October 1 I went to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Edition) after working the Vikings game.  Even though the Vikes lost, I still felt festive enough (or maybe I was looking for a pick-me-up) to get not one but two dances, from Molly and Cicily.  They're cute and toned, as is Skylar, who is really hot with her glasses on.  Plus Sprite and stage tips: $49.75.
• Friday, September 29: I was going to spend the rest of my time at my current job buying coffee so I don't have to buy creamer (a plan that was thrown out the window when I picked up another assignment that should begin immediately thereafter -- more on that later), I went to Caribou for a large Campfire Mocha.  Plus tip but minus trivia, I just rounded up the change.  Hope they're not too mad: $5.
• Downtown Minneapolis can be rowdy at night.  But when you get there so late, the parking that bedevils me opens up because that's when the enforcement expires.  It's almost as good when the game you're going downtown to watch is at 9:30, such as the loss for my alma mater then ... ugh.  I got a spot two blocks away from the bar, and even though I should have put in two quarters, one quarter ran a whole 40 minutes, right through to the 10 p.m. end of enforcement.  I think there's a glitch, but I'm not complaining.  Cost of parking: 25 cents.
• To Tuesday the 26th, where the pickings for movies start to become meager.  I heard good things about Brad's Status, a drama featuring Ben Stiller not being funny at all.  It is about a guy who is escorting his sun around the Boston area on college tours, and he starts to think about and reconnect with his college mates, most of whom have become much more successful than he is.  But who really is the rich one?  Yeah, it's one of those movies.  I usually like thoughtful, observational flicks like this.  Moreover, the things the Stiller character talks about -- life, missed opportunities, change and how it affects relationships -- are the things I think about all the time.  I should love this movie.  And yet, I have to be honest, I thought it was mostly cloying.  And even though I see a lot of myself in the Stiller character, the more I think about him, the more obnoxious he comes off.  (Sidenote: He was in Reality Bites, one of the most overrated films I've ever seen and probably the movie I hate on a personal level the most; all that selfish Gen-X shit.  But I thought Ben Stiller's antagonist in the movie, the guy played by Ethan Hawke, was the navel-gazing schmuck.  I was on Stiller's side in that film.)  And movie-wise (it was written and directed [for the first time ever] by Mike White, the guy who wrote School Of Rock) Stiller narrates throughout the movie, a killer device that takes me out of the experience.  C+, and that might be too generous.  Ticket, popcorn, pop: $9.64.
• I had to throw away so many tomatoes that I thought it was important to dump them -- not in the trash, but in a public garbage can.  So I got the trash bag, put it in a paper bag for sturdiness and to absorb all the juice from the moldy tomatoes, and drove to a gas station that was closed for the evening.  They probably had a surprise when the attendant had to do trash pick-up the next day.  But I should have folded down the top of the paper bag to discourage any worker looking into the bag to see why the trash bag they're picking up was so fucking heavy.  I think I'm found out.  Anyway, I decided to make a night of it and go to Caffetto to arrange my receipts.  I had a slice of limoncello marscapone cake to go with my small mocha.  Plus tip and it all added up to: $7.50.
• Sunday, September 24 -- with Vikings season back in full swing, I can go back to my practice of going to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Version) after work.  And I feel even freer since my parents are out of town.  Got a dance from Sammi, who I had not seen in a long time.  With tips for a few other people and a Miller Light because ... wait, I didn't get coffee this time? ... the total was: $29.50.
• To Friday the 22nd, where I went to one hell of a party a hell of a long way from home.  A bed "dance" with ******e and dances with *a***, ***e* and ******e (the last of whom did this), with cover and tips for the girl who was doing concessions out of the kitchen -- is that even necessary? -- and the total was: $205.
• Thurdsay the 21st ... I guess I could have done more personal investigation into fixing the lawnmower after it sputtered to life.  But this was such a blindside that I didn't want to deal with it on top of all the things I've already had to do.  So, remembering something I heard from the radio a couple years ago, I took the mower to my local Ace Hardware to get it fixed.  There's a deposit which I paid in cash: $30.
• That evening I went to the Gopher soccer match, the one where they stormed back from a 1-0 deficit to take the lead only to give up the game-tying Goal with 11 seconds left.  Hot dog, medium Coke and program: $11.
• I went to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Edition) after the game, ostensibly also to drown my sorrows.  No laps -- tips and coffee only: $7.75.
• Back to Sunday, September 17, where I went to Diamonds to work on the WMNSS.  Wanted to go to Caffetto, but even though I love the vibe there, why travel so far?  I think I planned on going there because I wanted Caffetto to be the first public wi-fi network my new laptop would connect to, but now that seems to be a bit strange.  So what that it's Diamonds and not Caffetto?  Mocha plus tip: $5.25.
• Saturday the 16th -- since my alma mater's football game was in the evening, I felt it wasn't too soon to waste going to downtown twice.  Does that make sense?  I go downtown to watch the game, but if it were in the afternoon, I wouldn't go downtown in the morning to see English Premiere League matches because I didn't want to putz around there for 3 1/2 hours until the football game wins and it's a tremendous waste to go home after soccer just to immediately come back for football.  If it were in the evening, I don't mind going downtown twice.  You dig?  The Local runs a breakfast sandwich special during EPL games.  I gave the waitress my card and asked her to not to use the points because I wanted to pay for it all, but she did.  (sigh)  With tip it cost me just: $5.25.
• That evening, after I visited Grandmother's best friend, I visited Blue Sun to grab a new Whistler soda and bought each of three of this Kickapoo craft soda.  So I bought four bottles and I totally fucking forgot how much I paid, so I'm going to pull a number out of my ass: $5.
• That night I went to Jackson's Hole for the game.  Last week's loss dulls the relief I felt after that particular game, but it still is memorable.  Bought a round of shots and put it on my credit card, so meal plus drinks plus tip: $21.50.
• The club went bar-hopping after the game.  Went to O'Donovan's for a Strongbow.  With tip: $8.
• Back on Friday, September 15, where there was another party feature a bunch of girls I haven't seen (naked) in some time.  I felt bad that I couldn't get to all of them, though, because I had to skee-daddle to the Twins game afterward.  I should have been more forthright in asking for lappers.  This was the one where I got double-teamed by ***e* and ******e and only had to pay for ******e because I lent money to ***e*.  And that's the only "dance" I got.  With cover: $140.
• Wish the Twinks would have won, but Bartolo Colon could not get it up on his Big Sexy Night.  I got a hot dog and a souvenir-sized Coke for: $12.50.
• Went to Glam Doll Donuts right afterward.  Two donuts and milk, maybe, and tip: $11.02.
• On Tuesday, September 12 I used the free ticket I got for amassing punches on my card to see Dunkirk, the epic war movie by Christopher Nolan.  I heard there was no backstory, just a pulsating verisimilitude of the British trying to escape the invading Germans.  And that was the problem: It was very tough to care about a bunch of people when you are told to just watch them do their thing.  Why?  I mean, the cinematography was fantastic, but who cares?  I feel as though I am not sophisticated enough to like it because I'm too simplistic in not getting what I want out of this film.  So, uh, B?  Alas.  Popcorn and pop only and I paid just: $4.28.
• Monday the 11th ... had to go to the dentist at the U.  Been putting it off for months, so it was time.  Since parking around the U. during the day is impossible, I did my usual thing of parking at Midway Shopping Center and then using the LRT; the stop for the dentistry building is right next to the stop.  I wonder if any part of that shopping center -- and thus its free parking lot -- is still there now that arrangements have been made to start redeveloping that area for Allianz Field.  Things will be much more difficult if I can't.  Anyway, I paid rush-hour fare going to the dentist but not going back, so the total is: $4.
• That evening I went to Caffetto to work on my receipts.  Limoncello marscapone cake, a medium light roast and tip: $7.
• On Sunday, September 10 I went to Diamonds to work on the WMNSS.  Mocha plus tip: $5.25.
• Saturday the 9th: Went to the Able Food Truck Fair for the second year in a row.  Wore my U2 t-shirt and got bewildered by all the comments for some stupid reason.  (The stupid reason involves me.)  Cover, donation to Meals On Wheels, the charity this fair was for, lunch from Taste Of Chile, a First Light from Able and a smoothie from Whole Sum Kitchen (with tips) totaled: $27.
• That evening I went downtown for my alma mater's game.  Couldn't find free parking, so I parked in a lot a couple blocks from the bar in the amount of: $5.
• After the game I went to Glam Doll, and I am still kicking myself for not writing down the actual amount I spent as soon as I sat down.  So now I'm pulling a number out of my ass three weeks after the fact.  And I just said, for shits and giggles: $7.80.
• OK, so Friday the 8th was a busy one EWR-wise.  Had to go to the library to print out my ticket to the U2 concert: 10 cents.
• Then for the concert I had to pay for parking and wanted to pay cash for the shirt and tip for the beer (which I charged on my card).  Disappointing concert.  Total: $46.
• But hey, after the concert I found a nickel.  The woman walking behind me almost ran into me as I stooped down to get it!  An Infusion of: 5 cents.
• On Wednesday, September 6 I went to the alma mater's watering hole in order to make sure we could watch games there.  (Our team already played its first game, but due to cable restrictions we had to go somewhere else.)  Spent: $20.
• Went to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Division) after that.  Apparently I got a lapdance from a Jade.  I swear I wouldn't be able to pick out Jade from a lineup.  With coffee and tips: $27.75.

Good through October 4.