Ho, ho, ho!

Hey! Who you callin' a ho?

Alas, I now have time to sit and give you an update on all of the goings-on in my life the past several weeks.

I now have the time because I'm back in my old department, without a pay cut. I'll explain later.

The prep for "Black Friday" was enormous. We got in three shipments that were nothing but trailers filled to the brim. You would cut the seal, push the door up, and, shit would fall out.

While my department was on their shit, the music area fell apart quickly. The majority of the tenured employees left for greener pastures, opportunities available to them courtesy of the "entitlement generation" backlash, and, never had time to teach the new employees what they needed to know.

On top of that, they were back-logged at least two warehouse shipments, and, a ton of drop shipments. It was scary.

Towards the last few days before Thanksgiving, both me and my (former) supervisor were diving into the music area to help out. Scary.

Both Black Friday and Saturday were hectic, as we had expected, and, wouldn't you know it, we began to run out of supplies, like toilet paper, paper towels and garbage bags. Someone didn't have enough brains to say..."Hey, maybe we should order extra so that we don't run out!"

But that would be too easy.

The week after, I was slowly doing more and more music stuff. Last Friday, I was asked to step back into my old department. I told my boss that I would if my rate of pay stayed the same. I was already losing a title and bonus potential, I wasn't going to get screwed out of my pay.

They agreed.

And so, I'm now back in my old department. I kinda feel like Al Pacino in Godfather III when he says "Every time I try to get out, they always pull me back in".

Now, lets talk about Thanksgiving dinner, shall we?

To say that it was interesting is an understatement. It would have looked like a very black comedy from an outsider's point of view.

My mom and I woke up early and cleaned around the house. She did most of the cooking, while I set the table, pulled out the fancy china and utensils and glassware and the like.

By about 5pm, dinner was ready. About 5:30pm, my friend Deb came over for a bit. Sweetheart that she is, she brought 2 bottles of wine with her. They were both put to good use, just not that night. My mom and I got to catch up with her about her car and the woman she's seeing (for) now.

After about two hours, Deb left (she had to be at work at 4am), and, my mom and I cleaned up a bit before my brothers came over with our friend Tony.

Tony is a great guy. He just lost his older brother to AIDS last year, so, he's been hanging around my brothers a bit more.

I remember when I first met Tony, he had a crush on me. Go figure that now, we're both queer. Strange, life is.

There were times that Tony spent weeks at my family's old place in Chicago. His mom didn't give a rat's ass where he was, probably because of her alcoholism. She'd beat both Tony and his brother Peter when she was sober and drunk. Before they moved out on their own, they both ended up living with their maternal grandmother. Their father disowned them both because they're both gay. It's amazing that they both didn't end up on the street; a big part of that is the fact that my mom became a surrogate mother to Tony for a while. Heck, I still call him "hermanito".

On to Thanksgiving dinner.......

The three stooges (my twin brothers & Tony) showed up around 8:15pm. My brothers both had to work earlier in the day.

(I'm watching the Elton John special on NBC right now. Pretty ballsy of Elton to be covering "Pinball Wizard" right now.)

So, once we get hugs exchanged, jackets were hung in the hallway closet, and, the boys were served. We ate, talking about work, personal lives, who we were dating (for those of us that were), and the like.

Towards the end of the meal, before dessert was served, my brother E cracked a joke about how his twin will have a list of excuses this year for not having Xmas presents for anyone.

For the past four years, my brother C hasn't given anyone presents for the holiday for an array of various reasons, all of them bullshit. He's just grossly irresponsible with his money; he burns through it like water. With his last girlfriend, turns out he was sending $600 a month to her parents in Texas for a kid that's not his. Craptacular.

C decided to step on his soapbox (mind you now, he doesn't have one) and shoot back to E that "All you care about is the money. That's all that's important to you."

"That's not what's important, you idiot. You haven't given anyone presents for years now. Where is your money going? You're pissing it away, spending it on buying food out all of the time. Why? Are you so lazy that you can't cook?" I said.

"Hold, hold, hold on a minute" C said. "Why are you getting involved in this?!"

"I'm getting involved because it's true, and, you don't have a leg to stand on. How much money has Mom borrowed to you in the past year? Then you have the nerve to show Mom some $170 piece of crap for your car, knowing damn well how much you owe her! I don't give a shit if you ever give me presents ever again, as long as you pay Mom back!" I said.

"You know what, shut the fuck up!"

"Don't you talk to me like that!"

"Shut the fuck up, okay. I don't want to fucking hear it."

"Hey, you know what? If you don't like it, GET OUT! This is my house! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

"This isn't your fucking house."

"My name is on the lease isn't it? This is where I live. If you don't like it, LEAVE! No one is stopping you."

"SHUT UP!"

"I'll shut up when you grow up. I'll shut up when you pay Mom back the hundreds of dollars you owe her. Until then, I'll open my big mouth all I want."

C got up and walked into the living room.

I turned around and said to Tony...

"Merry Christmas!"

We both laughed.

My mom and I then served dessert to everyone. Of course, C did not partake of it, which became an opportunity for Tony to have fun with him.

The dessert was cheesecake, and, it was pretty damn good too. My mom had bought it from a co-worker of hers for $20. When she first brought it home, I told her for that price, it better serve itself, 'cause I sure as hell wasn't going to do it.

Tony has his first bite, and, the games began. He uttered such stuff as;

"Mmm, mmm, this is so good."

"Mmm, better than sex."

"Boy, you don't know what you're missing."

"This is the bomb."

It put all of us into hysterics, except for C.

After C stewed in his own juices for a while, they all left.

The mom and I cleaned up around the house, and, went to bed.

I'll have more time on Thursday (my next day off) to give you all more info.