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Showing posts from January, 2014

Another solo night in the time trap

5:15 pm Once more I find myself in the Tavern, on a Saturday night. I'm working here for my co-worker on a night I would normally be with my children. I got a babysitter for them because I needed to do my friend a favor. He wanted to see a show, and I want to make sure I keep my job, so I offered to do this. This time here is different. I needed the money before, but that condition hasn't changed. I need to be here and make some money to cover my obligations. This time is different because I'm also paying a babysitter while I'm here.  At the moment, though, I am watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Beverly Crusher keeps losing people. As in, they keep disappearing from her universe. At first its a friend who no one else remembers. Then this experience extends to her medical staff. She can't control it, but the number of people in her life slowly counts down to just one. And here I stand, typing at a bar that's so much part

Court Square Tavern in 2014

I worked my first shift at Court Square Tavern for 2014, and while it was slow, I am glad that I have the opportunity to continue to get paid to be there for yet another time. It's been three or four months now since I went back there. The transition has been odd because it's felt unreal to be back there this time. It's taken some getting used to, being back in exactly the same place I was so many Friday nights in the past. This is going to be a positive year. I am determined to make it so. Everything is going right, and according to plan. This is going to be a great year of reporting, and a great year of helping to rebuild the tavern as an active place in this community. There are so many reasons why this is important, even if you never come in. I can't do that big history right now, for it is late and I have a full day of work ahead of me tomorrow. I just know I feel good at the end of my shift because this is what I want to be doing. I want to make sure

Rethinking my social media options

As 2014 continues to retain a slight glow, I find myself seeking new habits and patterns. I am revisiting the fifth year anniversary of my second divorce the same year I will observe the tenth year anniversary of my first.  This isn't stuff I want to write on Facebook. I've had the practice of stripping my status updates of anything that indicated any negative emotional states. I don't want to project any doubt into an online platform that mirrors the social ecosystem in which I live my life. Friends are in the same club as people I've never met before, and I'd rather they see my best side. So, I post boring stuff like this: As a bearded man, I have to say I love the practice of sports teams not shaving through the playoffs. Nonsense and piffle, I'd say, but it's designed to be piffle. Occasionally I'll post something hoping to start a philosophical conversation, but I can't control how others perceive me. I end up censoring myself

Towards 2014!

It's late at night and I've already broken two of my resolutions. Though, maybe I haven't. Who knows? The year has a lot of life left in it yet. I was not where I wanted to be to end the year, but what more fitting a place than Court Square Tavern? I will admit I was grumpy and unhappy to be there, but now that I'm at the end and there's money in my pocket and money I know will go to pay towards certain obligations. And in the end, that's what 2013 was. 2013 was a year in which I put my head down and did my job, all four of them. I'm a working class man who struggles to make sure I have enough to provide for my children. When you view it that way, I thrived this year because I've come out on top despite many broken items that needed repair in December.  There was a man outside my house now who was so angry. I could not make out his words, but he was threatening violence to someone on the phone, or someone in his head. I could not tell. I ha