Waitress Babes

So the place my alumni group has gone to watch football Games has been one we've gone to for, oh, almost a decade.  There are many drawbacks which, I believe, prevent more people for showing up for our events.  It's in downtown Minneapolis; parking is a pain and crime, however apocryphal it is, is a deterrent for alumni to come down.  Also, as someone who has "run" the group for many years now, it's very important to not only watch the Game but to hear it.  While at times we have been able to hear it, these days it's crowded out by the music that's blaring over the speakers.  Finally, as an alumni group for a university over 2,000 miles away, our attendance naturally is no match for any group from, say, Wisconsin or Michigan.  If we are ever to see a Game at the same time as one of those schools, we will get crowded out.

That's not to say that that would be a deterrent to going to this bar to watch Games.  I mean, it happened just now as we are trying to watch our alma mater's women's basketball team advance through the NCAA Tournament.  We had to bogart a table while Iowa St. fans slowly took over this place to watch their Cyclone men's team play.  But, we were still treated well and we got to watch (if not hear) our Game.  We would face the same problem, probably, if we went to any other place in the Twin Cities.  Add the unfamiliarity of a new group asking if we could be a regular presence at their bar (with albeit a small and unsteady attendance) and the possibility that we wouldn't be able to get sound there, and I conclude, again, that while the place we have now is by no means perfect, it is the best of what may be an imperfect lot.  We were bar-hopping like no one's business before someone found this place.  We went through six, maybe seven different spots before we found this one.  Either the place we found closed, or the situation somehow was so bad that we just hated going back there season after season.

I continue to get bombarded with inquiries asking if we could move somewhere else, to which I state my reluctance to move, given that we have built up some equity with this bar, but asking those who ask to find a better alternative.  If they can find a spot that gives us what we need (central location, safe area, free parking), I will consider it.  There has been no serious alternative so long as I have headed this group.

With that being said, there is a secret reason why I want to stay with this bar.  For the past several years, the waitresses that work there have been smokin' hot.  Bare bellies, slim figures, all that.  To wit: The girl who has served us the past two game-watching events has got a nice ass and emphasizes her cleavages by sticking her pen in her top.  And last week, I don't think she was wearing a bra because I could see her nipples through her top!  (She's a really good waitress, too -- smart and quick to get you what you want.  But having a rocking body is a big plus.)  She's is one of, uh, four gorgeous babes who work here.  And not to say that there aren't hot waitresses at any other place we'd go to, but I don't know if they'd be as hot as the ones here.  Add that we know each other and, well, you understand why I don't want to leave!

Hey, Sweet Things! Ugh, Sweet Things ...

Once I realized I'll be really late for work, so late that it wouldn't make sense to eat dinner when the screening of the Ghostbusters movie (which I had bought for Wednesday until I realized I was going to the Timberwolves Game that day) was coming up, that I decided to take advantage of the free foods the fast food apps were offering me because it's my birthday month.  I went to Burger King for dinner so I could use some of to-be-expired points on a cheeseburger, then I went to Potbelly to get my free shake.

Also, I got a Coke to wash down my cheeseburger and mozzarella sticks at BK.  I did not finish either the Coke or the shake by the time I had to go to the theater.  (I was late, but luckily there was another screening of the film 40 minutes after the showing I intended to watch.)  So I came home and, luckily, neither of my parents saw me sneak in two cups of sugary foods.

However, Father came out of the master bedroom to tell me that Mother made what essentially is called "sugar water."  The bowl they made for me was special: Mother had made this spicy ball made out of mung beans.  I actually saw it the day before and thought they had bought and peeled potatoes.  Nope.  And I was shocked that it was spicy hot.  And, yes, it was sweet, though not tasty.  So just now I had this bowl of sugar water, and then I had to drink the rest of my Coke (tropical flavor), and then finish the oreo shake from Potbelly.  In other words, I think I may now have diabetes.

Might Need To Move Up My New Job Timeline

For three of the four departments that I am trained in, we have a monthly meeting.  Well, we used to.  It's been infrequent the past, oh, half-year.  In fact, I don't remember the last time we had a monthly meeting.  These days, usually, my boss just sends out an e-mail saying our meeting has been canceled; anything he would say during the meeting could just be typed out in that e-mail.

But for his latest e-mail cancellation, he typed out something that really, really caught my eye.  Near the end of his message, he said: "Maybe next month I'll have something to say."

You know what I think he means by that?  We're all going to be laid off.

Look, I've been pissing and moaning about how my boss is micro-managing my hours to make sure I don't garner overtime.  But there has been a lot of cost-cutting and belt-tightening within the past, oh, year or so that I have finally pieced together.  For example, The Main Department has been whittled down to, pretty much, nine people every day; when I started work there, it was 15 or so.  There used to be three people in filing every day; now, it's two people three days a week and one person the other two (although someone can come in and help if the work needs it).  We get an e-mail every morning giving the number of forms that we need to deal with every day; it's not as high as it used to be.

Oh, and finally, after work yesterday/Thursday I have overheard that the person who works filing second shift is taking today/Friday off.  Usually that means that someone in first shift is asked to work second shift to cover for her.  Not this time; people in second shift have been told that filing will not be staffed tonight/Friday night.  I know that this person has taken the occasional day off over the previous several months.  And I don't remember the last time my boss has asked for people to substitute for her.

The god damnedest thing about all of this is that the work continues to get done.  We must have rocket-boosted our productivity because there hasn't been a new person coming in to any of the departments I work in in about a year.  And yet I still feel as if my boss and other higher-ups are scraping by and trying to find ways to cinch the metaphorical waist even further.

Hey, I might be paranoid and reading way too much into what my boss said in that e-mail.  But I don't like this.  I think I can see the writing on the wall.  And I say there is a non-zero chance that we will have a meeting next month where my boss is going to say that we are "transitioning" into other departments, but they will only need a few of us.

I have to freshen up my resume, for chrissake.

No One Calling

Tuesday evening I was expecting to talk to this guy from this group from which someone nominated me to a position on the board of directors, anonymously.  I had my earbuds in and everything, waiting for him to call.  But he never did.

He did, however, e-mail me.  And he said he did call.  So I apologized and swore I would find a new time to speak with him about this position.  And then I went to my list of Google Voice calls (do y'all have Google Voice?) and saw that this person did call me, at our appointed time, and left a voicemail.  He didn't screw me over or forget.  If anything, my goddamn phone doesn't work because it should have rung when this guy called in and it didn't.  Seriously, I was on my phone, scrolling through social media, for an hour waiting for him to finally reach out to me.  So it's the phone's fault I am not hearing the phone ring, even though it's, you know, a cellphone.

Another Case Of Horrible, Horrible Timing

In importance it doesn't rise to the level of working on the day my uncle died.  But considering I have another scheduling conflict almost a month after that, I feel as though the universe is conspiring against me.

My alma mater's women's basketball team is in the NCAA Tournament.  They're doing good.  Real good.  Like, they're in the Sweet Sixteen and they have a chance to get to the Final Four.  If they make it that far, the National Semifinal will be on Friday and, Buddha help me, if they win that one, the title Game will be Sunday afternoon.  My alma mater hasn't won anything I could see on TV (I am glad they have won in water polo and beach volleyball, but I have never watched that), and so if the dream comes true, I'll be able to see it at my favorite downtown bar alongside my alumni friends.

However, and I am still mad at myself that this is yet another case where I don't put two and two together until it's too late ... well, I was watching another tournament Game on Sunday and ESPN brought up their schedule graphic, where they detail the dates of future rounds of The Big Dance.  The Final Four Games are next Friday, April 5.  The championship is set for the afternoon of Sunday, April 7.  And I realize, then and there, that I am taking a flight on Saturday, April 6 to get ready for the total eclipse.

Well, this is a shitty pickle, isn't it?  One once-in-a-lifetime event (I have talked about the total eclipse I was able to see in 2017, but this is supposed to last way longer, so I consider it to be its own once-in-a-lifetime event) had to be fucking happening at the same time as a possible once-in-a-lifetime event.  And I don't know what to do.  I am thinking, desperately, if I could do both -- namely host a championship Game-watching event in downtown Minneapolis in the afternoon, go directly to the airport for a late flight that night, get in, go to my hotel for a cat nap, then drive off to parts unknown to catch the eclipse.  But that is cutting it way too close.  Plus, I think I have reserved my reservations for my hotel and rental car so that I can't back out (need to check on those).

So the only other option, and I think I'm going to get my diploma rescinded for saying this, is to hope that my alma mater loses before the title Game.  Of course with every succeeding round in a tournament you are going to face tougher competition.  I don't think my squad's Regional Semifinal is going to pose much of a problem Saturday afternoon (by the way, our bar is the same bar Iowa St. goes to, and if they win their Regional Semifinal Thursday, it's very likely their Elite Eight Match will tip off shortly after ours), but they might lose in the Regional Final Monday, and there's going to be a hell of a matchup for the National Semifinal next Friday.  But, if they win those three tilts, and they have a better-than-fighting chance to do so ... well, either I stay true to my school, watch the title Game with my buddies and miss my flight, or make my flight and risk not seeing history being made with my fellow alums.

Goddamn ... any other year, any other year would be so much better than the clusterfuck I might have in my hands now.  If life is a series of conflicts like this, I just ...

So some anonymous motherfucker wrote me in as a candidate to be basically the PR person for this group I'm in.  I did not volunteer nor run; some asshole just wrote my name in.  And so the guy who is running the whole group inquired about my interest.  And like a suck-up, I told him no ... but I'll listen to him make his pitch.

That pitch is tonight/Tuesday night.  I am scared that he won't take no for an answer.  But I have too much on my plate, and I respect this organization too much for me to take on this job and then do it in the half-ass manner I know I will do it.

I'm in a no-win situation.  Why did someone write in my name?

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Timberwolves (Last Week: -1).  A 3-1 screening Week, and the only Loss was a three-Point one at home on Tuesday to a Denver club that got to Minneapolis before the Wolves because the Timberwolves were flying home from Salt Lake City after taking both ends of a two-Game set at The Bastard New Orleans Jazz Monday evening.  And even then it was only a 115-112 setback after the Nuggets led at Halftime by 15 and Anthony Edwards missed a Three-Pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the contest into Overtime.

It's a highly-competitive top of the Western Conference as Minnesota remains in third place, although only a half-Game behind The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics and a Game behind the Nugz.  For that reason (and because the teams below the Wolves didn't have great Weeks), I bob the Wolves above negative numbers but do not put them into Positive Numbers.  But I still encourage them to do well as they sandwich a return tilt with the Nuggets with home Games versus Detroit and Chicago.

#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  In their final non-conference series of the season, they go to San Francisco and win two-of-three.  Finish at 10-10 as they start conference play this weekend at Iowa.

#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -4).  I don't consider Maryland to be a softball power.  And yet the U. went to College Park to begin B1G play and dropped the series.  The pivotal Game probably was the first one, on Friday, where they lost to the Terrapins, 7-6, in nine Innings.  This may be a prime indicator of how good, or not, this squad is.

Three-Game series at Illinois over the weekend.

#-3: Wild (Last Week: -2).  Well, any faint chance the Mild had of getting into the playoff were dashed this screening Week by two defeats: A 6-0 ass-kicking at Los Angeles, and a 5-4 Overtime Loss at home to St. Louis where they blew yet another lead heading into the Third Period.  They sit six Points behind eighth-place (Los) Vegas, but the Golden Knights would need to collapse -- and the Mild would have to climb ahead of the Blues -- to get that birth.  Let's not delude ourselves.

(And by the way, I see the Mild sporting their third jerseys against the Blues, but they still have the Wild logo.  Fuck it, bring the North Stars back -- the name, the logo, the history, everything!  Enough with this "homage" bullshit.  Wild is a stupid name, and if you don't claim North Stars as our own, those motherfuckers in Dallas will.  Fuck it, they already have because no one in this cuckold town wants to fight for what was stolen from us.  Why in the hell did I buy that Mild sweater in North Stars colors?)

Home to San Jose and Las Vegas.

#-Infinity: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: Re-Entry!).  The wrestling team finished 22nd in the NCAAs.  Twenty-second.  I don't know if I've ever seen a Goofer grappler club place so low in the championships before.  (Side note: Penn St. won the whole shebang, again.  But they more than doubled second-place Cornell.  In fact, they racked up 100 more Points than the Big Red, 172.5-72.5.  OK, this is getting fucking absurd.)  The best-placing U. player was Senior Isaiah Salazar, who lost the Fifth Place Match at 184 pounds.

There's not a whole lot to say about this program.  And I think that's a sure sign of its irrelevance.

Can A Blizzard Give You PTSD?

I'm staying in all day today.  There's a blizzard today, a bad one, maybe up to ten inches of the wet snow kind.  Starting to come down hard now when I thought it would arrive earlier.  May mess up the time ... well, I have to face it, times I plan on plowing the driveway.

I had that big alumni thing followed by a game-watching event yesterday.  Went to the NCHC Championship Game in St. Paul in the evening.  Those two events I had been organizing for some time, and yet the thing foremost on my mind yesterday was this blizzard.  It's a bad one, this snowstorm, by far the worst of the This Winter That Isn't/Wasn't.  And I fear that will be so bad that it kind of ruined my day yesterday.  At least it occupied so much of my mind yesterday that I often didn't enjoy the moment in front of me.  The volunteering event went great, and the group that watched the Game with me was more than I expected -- and we won.  (Wish the Game were closer.)  But all I could think of was hoping the snowplow works (I haven't had to use it once this season), when I need to plow, if too much of the snow was going to fall overnight so that I won't be able to leave for work in the morning, etc., etc.

My day, my plans and my mind revolved around this one event, this blizzard.  It's like being in a toxic relationship.  And so I got to thinking: Can a weather event like a snowstorm give you PTSD?  To extend it broadly enough, can there be events in life beyond the catastrophic (as in more than a death in the family or a divorce) considered so traumatic that it alters your life and should be considered for some sort of, well, treatment or something?

During the Game yesterday/Saturday, my friend spoke about her daughter getting T-boned a couple weeks ago.  She is now anxious; she's scared about going through intersections for fear some drunk asshole will blow through the stop and run into her.  That's understandable.  I kind of feel that way about my car now.  Even though it hasn't given me trouble since the timing chain was replaced, I'm always scared that the indicator lights are going to come back on.  Hell, I'm still scared that I'll see the overheating light, or the low tire pressure light.  It never goes away, at least not for me.

Now, with a weather even like a blizzard, it's here and (eventually) it's gone.  Winter eventually ends, too.  But it's a season.  Winters come back.  So, in that sense, wouldn't the trauma of needing to deal with snowstorm after snowstorm, even if it only happens one part of the year, still be considered something you can't just "deal with?"  I'm starting to think that isn't totally absurd.

Apparently, I Hurt Someone's Feelings And I Didn't Even Know It

So I've got a big to-do today/Saturday that's alumni-related.  I have been talking to a fellow alum who is part of the organization we're volunteering for.  It's been tough finding time to talk to him, but he is marketing this app with this organization, and we've been volunteering with that organization for a while, so I talked to him online.

And then we didn't talk.  I thought about speaking with him as our event was coming up, but I had work and then the jobs at Target Center and then my uncle died and then my parents came home ... just a bunch of shit rolled up on me, and so I thought to reconnoiter with him just before the event, or just about now.

So yesterday/Friday afternoon I see that he e-mailed me.  He talked about a bunch of stuff about his app and thanked me for helping him troubleshoot it.  But in the end of this long and involved message, he said something that has thrown me for a loop.  He said that I removed him from "the group," but he doesn't hold any animosity towards me.  And he hopes we can work together in the future.

I have no fucking idea what the hell he's talking about.  And if you can place yourself in my shoes, please understand the panic I instantly felt when this ... guy/fellow alum made this ... declaration/accusation out of the blue.  I expected to see this guy for a big meeting before our volunteering event is about to begin today, because he is supposed to make a speech touting this app for which he is shepherding.  I had been looking forward to seeing him.  Now, I can't afford to avoid seeing him.  And apparently, I hurt his feelings.

And I don't know how.  I don't know what "group" he is specifically talking about.  I have an e-mail group of alumni to which I sent out messages about events, such as this one.  I sent one out earlier this week, and I checked that his e-mail address was one I sent it to.  I sent another one, about a game-watching event I'm doing for women's basketball after our event, and I made sure he got that, too.  Is he talking about the e-mail list?  Because I simply can't believe I removed him.

But after sleeping on it, he might be talking about volunteering for the event itself.  One of the things we did while on the Zoom was fiddle around with the organization's reservation system.  He put his name in our group.  I thought he was just doing it to begin a troubleshooting exercise.  I swear he never said anything about actually wanting to volunteer with us.  Also, I swear that some time after our online meeting and I started putting names onto my list of reservations (which is something you're supposed to do for this organization), I did not see his name anymore.  I assumed he took himself off the list.  I know it's in my nature to leave things as they are.  Again, I was under the impression that he was just putting his name in there just because, but I would not remove his name unless I had other people who genuinely wanted to volunteer and I had no more spaces available.  At that point, I would have e-mailed and asked if he really wanted to volunteer with us, and if his name was just an exercise, whether it would be OK if I took his name off the reservation.

That, however, didn't happen.  Again, his name just disappeared, and I thought it disappeared because he deleted his own name.  But if this is the "group" he says I removed him from, I don't know how his name got deleted.  So I frantically replied to him about an hour after he apparently sent this e-mail, profusely apologizing for what I could have done wrong (even though I have done nothing wrong) and hoping we can iron out any differences or misinterpretations when we see each other this afternoon.  He hasn't answered back.

Well, fuck, this is going to be awkward as shit.  I need to hope to hell I get there early enough, and he gets there early enough, for us to talk about what did or didn't happen.  Otherwise, I am going to run into some guy who's mad at me for fuck knows why.  This is drama I don't need in my life, Lord. ...

Mother Comes Home Just In Time For A Goddamn Snowstorm

I was white-knuckling it on my way down to the airport and back.  It may have been the weather conditions, but being on tires on their last legs (so to speak) did not help my confidence.  I made it, even though it felt a few times like I was going to slip off the highway.  Still pissed that this guy my parents know fucking cancelled on me when I made an appointment with him to change my tires.  Then again, maybe I don't want my new tires to go through a snowstorm just as it starts its run ferrying my vehicle.  Maybe this can wait until after the winter.

Oh, and winter is back.  Maybe several inches by morning.  Then a whopper, probably the worst (and actually first) big blizzard of the winter -- which, ironically enough, is falling after The First Day Of Spring.  At least half a foot.  I'm glad I don't have to be anywhere on Sunday, when it's supposed to be falling and falling fast.

Mother got home just in time for this.  My parents are avoiding Minnesota now because they hate the cold and because they can.  And, ironically enough, after going through The Winter That Wasn't, both of them have come back just as we finally have winter.

I want to say that it's bugging me that I'm not alone anymore, but frankly, it's not bad right now.  I felt sad that Father may have been lonely, but now that he has someone, namely Mother, they're not lonely anymore.  And while I may regret saying this, seeing some life and noise inside this house is a welcome change.

Mother screamed at me through my bedroom door.  I thought she wanted me to do something for her.  Instead, she gave me a few Hard Rock shirts they bought during their trips to Asia.  Aw.  Mother will ask me for something annoying tonight/Friday night.