Expenses Without Receipt

Starting from Thursday, April 9:

• Well, we should really start on Easter, aka Sunday, April 5, when I went out to the Heights to finally see Psycho.  Man, that shower scene is killer.  Ticket, popcorn, pop and tip: $26.
• Later that evening *****y whacked me off.  I wanted to see her on Easter because she is a regular churchgoer and I find it somewhat ironic that she goes to church and then later that day she gives me an HJ for money, specifically: $150.
• Friday, April 3: I didn't expect to spend money, but Father wanted Powerball tickets, so out I went.  And because I have to stick to my rule of spending cash or using credit cards on a least two things in a day, I decided that I wasn't going to have veggie chips and veggie dip for dinner and instead try a mom-and-pop Latin American restaurant.  There are a few places around here that are recommended.  But they were closed by the time I went out -- I stayed to listen to the end of the South Carolina-UConn women's college basketball Semifinal and in particular Geno Auriemma's meltdown at Dawn Staley -- so I went to a place that was open but fell just below 4 1/2 stars on Google Maps: Que Taco.  Not bad.  I got their birria tacos, and they are the biggest tacos I've seen around the area yet.  Wanted to use the bathroom, but they cordoned that part of the restaurant off with chairs and a mop wringer bucket.  Might go there again if only because it's open when I want to nightcrawl.  I have the receipt (ETA at 1:19 p.m. on May 24, 2026 that I may have had the receipt, but it looks like I threw it away, so either I charged this to my credit card or I just fucked up and didn't write down the amount I paid for it, in which case, uh, oh, well, I hate myself), so this EWR is for just the tip: $2.
• Now we go back to Sunday, March 29, where I laid into ****e.  She was unstable on this day, sadly.  She called me while I was still driving to her place asking me where the hell I am.  Her cock-sucking wasn't as on point as it has been in the past.  And after we got done fucking and I laid in bed all tuckered out, she took my underwear and socks and placed them in a pile next to what what was either clothes she was going to launder or trash she was going to throw away.  I was glad I was getting dressed before she did anything to it.  But when I grabbed my boxers, I saw that they were right above a wad of either wet toilet paper or paper towels either she cleaned up the bathroom with or I used to wipe up all my cum.  There was a huge wet spot on the boxers, and I needed to wear them because I was going to a brewery afterward.  I asked ****e if I could use a hair dryer, and that did the trick.  But this is the first time something like this happened.  Whatever; I'm thinking of seeing her again next weekend.  Price: $120.
• So this brewery is doing this thing where I could bring in a Minnesota United jersey and they would remove the Target logo in the front and replace it with the Rebel Loon, a symbol of the Twin Cities' resilience and defiance in the wake of this Republican government's oppression earlier in the year.  I waited and had an early dinner and beer while they were hacking my replica Loons jersey.  But for some reason I couldn't use my card to pay for this service.  Thankfully I had enough cash on me to do it: $30.
• Back further to Monday, March 23, the date of my alma mater getting their butts handed to them by South Carolina.  Our Game-watching bar charges extra when you pay by credit card, so I now pay by cash as often as I can, and I did so on this night.  With tip: $40.
• Sunday the 22nd was the last day Hotters at The Mall Of America was open.  Sad, sad day.  Glad I got there when I did; they got so busy, and they got so cleaned out, that they closed their doors at 6 even though they usually close on Sundays at 10, I think.  Oh, and when I asked if there was any food available, my Hooters girl said they still had burger patties.  Not burger buns, but patties.  And shit, I almost ordered one.  But I settled on my Big Daddy-size Bud Light and the two shirts they still had on sale.  Didn't think I wanted such memorabilia, but when one shirt was only five bucks and another server came around saying the other shirt, really a cancer-themed crop top, was only a buck, well, I had to jump at the chance.  My last total I spent at the Megamall MOA, with tip: $40.
• And on my way out I think I saw a Girl Scout Cookies stand.  That's where I bought the Lemonades.  Glad it was a Girl Scout who did the sale and not her mom; these kids are supposed to learn how to sell and do business, right?  Paid: $6.
• Back to Saturday, March 14 ... a fellow alumni's kid is in this covers rock band.  The band is really good, and I saw on Facebook that they were playing at a brewpub close to me.  I stayed there until the snowstorm everyone was dreading started to look really bad.  But before I left I left tips for the young whippersnappers: $4.
• Shit, man, now we're really going back ... to Sunday, February 22, in fact, when I went to the Heights for the first time since I think the theater got new owners.  I went to see Battleship Potemkin, a silent film classic I have wanted to see for a long time.  It was accompanied by a solo musician who played the piano.  What I wasn't expecting was her to use a snare drum and a crash cymbal.  I have seen a silent film once or twice with a full band, but never have I heard percussion used -- but it was a very, very welcomed new experience.  Paid for the ticket with my credit card, so this total is for the popcorn, pop, and tipping the concession stand: $13.
• On Saturday the 21st I got a shave from the local barber school.  The person shaving me acted like he didn't give a shit, so I didn't give much of a tip.  See, this is why I'm willing to pay five times as much to get my face shaved.  Or, maybe I should just do it myself again.  With tip: $12.
• For Valentine's Day I went to My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Version) to see my ATF.  Where else would I go on February 14?  So glad she was there working; she had said she didn't know if she was going to take the day off.  Cover, tips, drinks from me and ******a and 20 table dances from her ... well, I see that I didn't write the total amount down after I left the club, so I'm just going to pull an amount out of my ass and say that I spent: $230.
• Sunday, February 8: Went to Grandpa Joe's (formerly Blue Sun Soda Shop) to get some premium ginger beer and ginger ale for the cocktails I wanted to make.  I also grabbed a bottle of RC and a bottle of root beer from some company.  Six bottles that cost: $14.33.
• I think later that day, *****y came over to wank me: $150.
• Finally, on Sunday, February 1, ******e came over to wank me: $120.

Yes, I keep saying this: I need to do these more frequently.  Done through April 9.

You know what sucks?  Being eliminated from a fantasy game because you forgot.  I entered two Eliminator fantasy games that my friend is running.  Eliminator games are games where you pick one NFL team to win every week in the regular season.  If that team loses, you're out.  The trick is that you can only pick a team once.

Very intriguing idea.  Whoever thought that up, and I think this was only this side of the millennium, needs to be in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame or something.  But if you don't put in a team every week, you are automatically eliminated.  And that's why I did, or didn't do, in the second Week of the NFL season.  I was busy and distracted, and I knew I had to do my ESPN Eliminator, and I did, but I forgot I signed up for my friend's other Eliminator game on Yahoo! Sports.  I was able to remember doing the ESPN Eliminator on my ESPN Fantasy app, but I forgot to do my Yahoo! Eliminator on my Yahoo! Sports Fantasy app.  And that is ironic also because I don't have anything going on fantasy-wise on ESPN, but all my fantasy football teams are on Yahoo! Sports.  So why didn't I just look through my fantasy teams and then go on and do the Eliminator?  Maybe because I forgot I had an Eliminator through Yahoo!  (sigh)

I used to do Eliminators with money, and I forgot to make my weekly pick, so I got eliminated in pools in which I sank money.  And that was just wasting money, so I stopped doing that.  Maybe I should just, you know, remember to do them?  Nah, I'll probably forget.

Work Work Work Work Work. ...

And now I get to talk about paid time off ... if I haven't talked about it yet.  Don't remember.

So when it comes to paid time off, I am eligible for so many Hours a Year based on tenure.  That time off is meted out every Sunday, about 2 3/4 Hours.  You get to use it whenever you like, assuming that not everybody is trying to take that day off.  (We have a lottery for the most popular days employees want off, such as Black Friday and the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.)  You can even "borrow" up to 40 Hours in advance of getting yours every week.  However, the maximum number of Hours you can carry over to the next calendar Year is 40.  On December 31, any time off you have above 40 Hours is gone forever.

That isn't a problem in normal times.  I remember last year where I actually was trying to cling onto time off that I wanted to carry into 2020.  It was difficult to hold onto them because in November and December there were several days where the work dried up so much we were asked to use time off.  I had some Hours that I took through 2019, but those days of short work lasted past 2019 as well, and I think I used the last of my carryover time off in February when we were once again cut early.

The Year 2020, of course, is not a normal time.  I wanted to take my customary annual trip to St. Louis to whore around with my All-Time Favorite down there.  I also wanted to see my sister and brother-in-law in Hawai'i.  The pandemic, of course, put the kibosh on those plans.  Meanwhile, those nine Weeks or so where we were brought down to part-time Hours did not alter the amount of paid time off we accrued.  I was working from, say 8:30 until 12:30 and yet I still got another 2 3/4 Hours of time off every Sunday.  That's a good thing, but that turned into an embarrassment of riches that I noticed in the back half of the summer.  I was putting in a request to take a day off, and while looking ahead to the end of the year, I noticed that I was going to build up a lot of paid time off, much of which I was going to lose if I didn't start scheduling days off for myself starting, like, the day I noticed this.

So I came up with a plan.  Calculating the number of Hours I need to use or otherwise lose, I put in requests to take either half-days or whole days off every other Friday.  It wasn't easy to figure that out, even with the line graph of Hours of time off I would both get and use, because I could only put in requests up to three Months in advance.  But by October 1, I got in all the Hours I needed to request off to get me down below 40 Hours by the time 2020 finally dies off.  (By the way, I figure that it is better to get down below 40 Hours now despite the theoretical risk that we will be cut off from work this November and December as well.  Some of the days in which we got cut were the days after Christmas, and since Christmas this Year falls on a Friday, I won't have to worry about using my paid time off on Boxing Day because I won't be working on Boxing Day.  And besides, if I do get cut early, I could put in a request to take back my paid time off and work the whole day instead.)

But one complication has made things complicated, and it started well before October 1.  I have been asked by my boss to fill in for other people in other departments on weeks where I planned on using time off.  In situations like this (and for my whole time employed there I think I refused an ask by my boss to fill in just once), I get back the paid time off I am actually working.  I don't mind it; I like to help out.  But it seems as though right now I am filling in for a lot of people -- much of it on short notice, possibly because the people I'm filling in for also have a surplus of use-it-or-lose-it paid time off.  So when I go back above 40 Hours, I need to find another Friday in which I can take off in whole or in part.

That has happened so often that instead of taking paid time off on alternate Fridays, I am taking paid time off on most Fridays through the end of the Year.  In fact, right now, including yesterday, I am supposed to work all day on only three Fridays for the rest of 2020.  And I think that's going to go down to two.  (This is the reason why I decided to blog post about this.)  Late last/Friday night my boss texted me giving me a head's-up that I might have to come in to work for someone in The Third Department because the person who was supposed to work there today/Saturday is sick.  Several Hours later, he texted again confirming that the guy is sick (and, God bless him, but the way this came about suddenly, I think he's got the 'Rona) and that I can come in for six Hours of work.  (Aside: I texted back asking if working six Hours will put me into Overtime, something that my boss says he is under constant pressure not to give out.  But then I realized that my Hours of work will just displace the eight Hours of paid time off I took yesterday/Friday.  My goodness, I still don't understand paid time off.)  I'm above 40 once again, so I'll have to find a stray Friday and beg to put in only a half-Day.

I'm now afraid that this won't be the end of it.  We've got ten Weeks left of the Year, and I think more people will either come down with something or beg for time off, and my boss will ask me to come in, and I'll say yes, and I'll get back paid time off that I will now be desperate to use up before the Year is over.  I find it a tad ironic that I am obsessed to find days not to work, and yet I am still working like a dog.  Rihanna said it best -- "Work, work, work, work, work," followed by crap I don't understand.