TGIF??

Fridays.  For most, this is a happy day.  It is the end of a long week and the sign that in a few short hours, it will be time to kick back and relax.  But for most of my friends and myself included, Fridays are really considered the middle of our work week.  We mentally prepare ourselves the way athletes do before a 1/2 marathon.  We psych ourselves out. We prepare for success.

The past two days were my version of a nice relaxing weekend.  While most 9 to 5'ers went about their daily grind, I was basking in the sun of a midweek beach day.  I packed up an ice chest full of Lime-a-Ritas, some magazines and my cell phone (though I wasn't planning on being "available" if you know what I mean).  

I had a less than stellar week at work, with my last shift at the bar proving far less than lucrative.  It was hot outside.  The mid-July heat is so intense this week that even your eyelids sweat, without really even moving too much.  I was seriously melting.  It was 97 degrees and was too hot for anyone to want to sit outside at the bar.  I was exhausted.  So when I knew that for the next couple days I didn't have to go to work, I was more than ready to enjoy that time off. 

And I did.  Yesterday I never left the house.  I stumbled down to the river's edge and set up camp.  This is a scenario where the 95+ degree weather is not only welcomed, it's thoroughly enjoyed.  When it became too intensely hot, I finally willed myself to jump into the refreshingly cool waters of the river. I let the swift current take me for a ride before swimming back upstream to our house.  I felt like a kid again.  

Well, as all good things have a way of going by too fast, my time away from the bar was no exception. And today is equivalent to the feeling of going back to work on Monday.  

Fridays are hectic at bars. People are generally friendly though because they are all so happy it's finally the weekend.  And in that respect, it's nice to show up somewhere for work where all your clients are stoked out of their minds.  And if they aren't, I am the person who can turn that around real quick. 

It's not that I want to promote alcohol as being some magical cure.  In reality, you might be surprised to learn that I personally have a low tolerance to both alcohol and those who abuse it.  But when the mood strikes for a nice cocktail after a long hard week, I can appreciate it as much as the next person.  

Fridays for most of my friends in the service industry is just another day at work.  It's nothing too special.  But however drab the weekends are to me nowadays, I would not go back to the Monday through Friday "grown up" jobs unless it was actually what I wanted to be doing.  

I have worn many hats over the years before I hung up my unflattering office wear.  Let's see, I have worked in dermatology, dentistry, education, photography, and copy editing before finding my way behind a bar.  All of those random jobs taught me one very important thing: I am not a winning rat in the rat-race. That little wheel was for me, a vortex where all creative energy is vanquished and sucked into the abyss.  I would come home and all I could think about were dental x-rays, laser skin treatments or having a camera manual actually thrown at my head by one very temper-mental photographer.  

Those were some tough jobs comparatively speaking. Sure, I still have to get up and go to work like everyone else. And sure, I come home exhausted and sometimes literally fried; but the measure of flexibility I am afforded is worth it... for now. 

In an attempt to psych myself out for what I imagine will be a busy Friday night at work, I will take a moment to dream a little.  

In a few months, I will be on my way to New York City.  I will have created a business plan for my production company and perhaps will even be reading over scripts and aligning projects with appropriate funding.  I will get up early in the morning and stretch my legs to run my very own little rat-race. Like Mighty Mouse, I will kick some ass and fly by those obstacles that stand in my way.  I will get the cheese. 

In the meantime, I need to have one more cup of coffee, get showered, and get ready to go do some hard time behind bars. And when Monday rolls around, back to the beach I'll go... saying, "Thank God it's Monday."

Happy Friday ya'll.  

Today: 

Homemade Sangria

One bottle of Red Wine

1 shot of Michigan Cherry liquor

1 shot of Triple Sec

1/2 20 oz bottle of Orange Soda

One cup of frozen mixed berries

Muddle berries with the Triple Sec and Cherry liquor

Combine with Red wine and stir ingredients together. 

Pour over ice in a large wine glass. 

2010 Grind

2012 Grind

...no windows in the equipment room.

... an office with a view... 2013.