It has been a long time since I’ve done one of these. It used to be a look back on the past year. This time it is a look back on the last six years. A little history first, I guess.

These posts all started when I got fired for the first time because of this website. That was twenty-four years ago. It’s hard to imagine just how much time has gone by since that first time. So I started doing these Year in Review posts on this date to look back on how the year went. I also probably did it just to be a smart ass and celebrate the fact I had been fired. Fired so many times because of this little website (I still hate the term blog).

I took this website offline back in 2016 while I was working once again in the hotel business. It lasted for a few years till the pandemic hit. I was lucky and the hotel didn’t fire me this time, they laid me off. Which meant I was able to receive that wonderful gravy train that was pandemic era unemployment. It really was wonderful for the short time I had it. Lots of people had a terrible time during the pandemic. I’ve got to say that my time during the pandemic getting that huge ass unemployment payment was the best time I’ve had in a long time.

But like they say all good things have to come to an end. When the unemployment ran out I really wished I had saved more of it. I wasted a lot of money. I built a new computer, I bought a Nintendo Switch, and just bunch of miscellaneous dumb things. I honestly enjoyed the pandemic. I’m pretty much a loner as it is. So the idea of being stuck at home wasn’t really that big of an issue for me. I also liked not having to socialize with people to be honest. I’m not a huge fan of people in general. So the whole thing was a wonderful holiday for me.

Which I guess brings us to the present. After getting laid off from the last hotel I worked at, I decided that I was done with that kind of thing. This website was the only creative thing I had done in decades, and out of the blue I decided I was going to get it back online one day. It only took a few days to get most of it working. A number of things are still broken due to how the web has changed since 2016. I’ve pretty much worked on it nonstop these last few weeks. I’m pretty happy it all works again, with only minor things still missing.

Hopefully the next year won’t turn out to be another six years.

It is now ten years ago that I first got fired from the worst hotel ever. Ten years ago. It just doesn’t seem that long ago. At the time it was a big deal I suppose. The first time is always the worst. The second time I got fired was much easier. I suppose if I was fired again it would even be easier. In fact if there is a next time I don’t even want the boss to have to give some bullshit excuse. Just tell me I’m fired and tell me to get the fuck out of the building.

Not that I think I’m going to get shit canned again. But I don’t really worry. I think there is a bigger chance that the new depression kicks in and the hotel industry dies in my local area. That would be such a horrible way to get fired. Something like that I have no part to play on the firing. I want to know that I’ve at least done something worthy of getting fired for. Like posting about how much the owners are douche bags or posting the memoirs of the ex account manager of the hotel.

Which really is my problem. This new hotel is just so good. There is nothing that irrates me. My boss is competent. For the most part my co-workers are not idiots. I have nothing to bitch about. That bothers me. I think I need to have the idiots and douche bags for me to be un happy at work. Which is to say I’m happy at work. It’s an odd feeling for me.

And that sums up my year in review. Everything is fine and it just throws me off.

Nine years ago today I was fired from the worst hotel ever for the first time. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 are all the past entries in which I’ve done this look back on the past year. Last year was a new beginning of sorts for me.

It is so refreshing to work at a real hotel. It is also nice to have owners that take care of both the employees and the hotel itself. These people give raises and they do not let their building get run into the ground. It’s also nice to be at a hotel whose clientele is not made up of pimps, whores, and drug dealers. I for once am happy about my job. I enjoy doing it.

I am also happy to report that the worst hotel ever has not changed. I still wait for its closing. One only has to read the recent insider chat to see things have only got worse since TT wrote her unfinished memoirs. In fact the worst hotel ever actually was closed for about a week. It was a nice preview of what the inevitable final death will be like. Hopefully in a years time when I do this again it will be dead.

Eight years ago I was fired from the hotel I worked at. At the time it was a very unique event in my life. I collected unemployment for a few months and then went to work for a company my Mom worked for at the time. It was a management job and I didn’t last long. So I came back to the hotel that had fired me.

Even back then I had this site and the whole time I was getting emails from people about how the hotel was doing. So I had a heads up that the two ladies that had been doing the audit in my absence had got fed up and were quiting. At the time I gave my resignation to my management gig the GM that fired me was doing the audit. This guy (a real GM, not a douche bag like the current one at the old hotel) was doing the audit 7 days a week on top of his General Manager duties.

So I had the advantage of knowing that the hotel needed an auditor. I stopped in to see the GM right after my drive from the management gigs Chicago home office. I talked to the GM for over an hour. I told him everything he wanted to hear. Which was 80% bullshit and 20% truth. It was a nice talk. I had never really talked to the guy that much ever before. The GM told me he would see if they had any openings and would call me in a few days.

So I went home and sat by the phone. Probably not thirty minutes later I got a call from the GM asking me if I was interested in doing the audit again. So I got my old job back. Hired by the same guy who had fired me. So I started working again at the hotel in the summer of 1999. During the last eight years this day had become my special day. My holiday of sorts. It no longer is special and I’ve decided I’m no longer going to take the day off every year. Neither do I plan to celebrate my new firing day. It’s just not the dubious honor I want to celebrate anymore.

Getting “fired” from that hotel a second time has made me think back on this last year and my time at that place in general. While I still do not have an official excuse of why I was “fired” again other than the classic line said by the sheriff:

The powers to be have decided to let you go. They deemed that the morale of the team would be better without you.

Needless to say I’m happy to be out of that place finally. I don’t ever plan stepping foot in that building again as long as it managed by that douche bag and owned by those worthless cocksuckers. Honestly there isn’t enough breath in my body to fully allow me to say all the bad things I have to say about these people.

Thanks to TT’s Memoirs I don’t have to say much. This four part look at the then accountants eight days working with the owners/managers gives a special inside view at just how fucked about that hotel is. It shows just what kind of management and owners that place has. And I tell everyone I know to read it.

So eight years later I can really say that I’m happy with my job. Something I have not been able to say in a long long time. It’s something I’m going to have to get use to. Thanks to everyone who helped me get the job. I owe you all big time for liberating me me from the worst hotel ever.

Another year has come and gone. Today I celebrate the day that I was fired. I got fired back in 1998 on this day. Since then I take this day to look back and give thanks for making it another year. I also do not work on this day and I don’t think I will work on this day ever again. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 have all been the previous years I’ve done this little write up celebrating this day.

This could be the last time I have this day off while working at the hotel. Opportunities may become available if I play my cards right. It would be odd to not be working at the hotel and have this day off. Which makes me wonder if this is something I should celebrate? What point does it serve to do so? Nothing is really gained from this day when I take it off except for lost wages. But sometimes I guess it’s worth it. Just maybe seeing how I’ve outlasted everyone that was involved in firing me. It doesn’t count for much, but it’s enough for me.

The usual suspects I owe my thanks to as I’ve mentioned in the years past. Nothing to drastic has changed since the first right I did back in 1999. That post is as true today as it was back in 99. As are the individuals I’ve mentioned in the years after that first one. I owe whatever meager success I mange to accomplish to those of you that support me both monetarily and mentally. Thank you and good night.

So today is my day. In 1998 on this day I got shit canned from the same hotel that I work at right now. This day has become a pseudo religious holiday for me and I will never work this day again. This is a time I use to give thanks that my friends and family keep pulling my ass out of the fire. I would not be nothing with out them. This is six years now since that day. I’ve done this “Year In Review” every year since that day. You can read those by clicking the following links: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

I mostly like to refer people to the one from 1999 because it still holds true to this day. Fortunately my friends have stayed constant. And as I say it’s not the quantity its the quality. The people on that list from 1999 are as I said the ones that keep me grounded. I just don’t have the words to properly thank all of them.

And as I mentioned last year I’m also glad my friends here on the net are there when I do need them. The great group of guys and gals in the Dark Age of Camelot guild the Acolytes of Destruction have been just as good as my “real life” friends. A few of them in particular I owe money and I can’t say thanks enough for the few times I’ve been bailed out.

I’m keeping it short I don’t want to run on and on. But as always I glad I made it another year. And I look forward to what comes in the year ahead.

So today is my firing day. It’s been five years since I was fired from the hotel. Today has become the day I write about the year before, giving thanks to all my family and friends that have helped me make it through the past year. As with the others years not much has changed. 1999 is till the one I fall back on, because I’m to lazy to write all that again. Followed by 2000, 2001, 2002. I do have to add to my first list because I do have some new friends that help me get by (one way or another), and if I forget anyone I apologize in advance.

So first up I got say thanks to all of the members (past and present) of the Acolytes of Destruction, the Dark Age of Camelot guild I belong to. You guys have all been good friends in the time I’ve been playing. And I have talked about all this virtual reality friends stuff before. But you people are friends (like it or not) and I have come to depend on you guys. I know I don’t play as much as I used to. And I know more than a few of you have come or gone in one way or another. Be it leaving the game or leaving the guild. I miss all of you whom I don’t see on my friends list in game any more. But with any luck it looks like the lot of us will be back when World of Warcraft hits the store shelves.

Of course I got to mention Gawain. I met Gawain in Dark Age of Camelot. The Big G, what can I say about the guy? He’s crazy. He is also a good friend. His is one of the few sites I visit everyday. We maintain the same schedule and I can count on him keeping me entertained while I’m at work. We have a similar outlook on life, humor, and politics. We agree that Carrot Top has outlived his usefulness. G is just another guy I can’t say enough good things about. While your at it go buy some stuff from his Store.

And one final thanks goes out to all the goons at the hotel. Because really if it wasn’t for all of you people I wouldn’t be able to keep this website going. The hotel is my muse. It’s a love/hate relationship. Keep up the good work (bad work really, thank god their all a bunch a tards) you guys.