Is this even a thing? Last year was our best one in terms of creativity. Over 40 seasonal cocktails ain’t no joke and if you’ve ever seen what our bar looks like, you’d know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s tough to think about anything coming next. I’m still a bit in awe of what we did. Yeah, I know it’s just bartending but when I went over the Rustic Bar Program Year in Review I was pretty impressed by all of it. Blown away actually.

I remember the first time I saw Philip Roth speak in person. It was just a group of us, maybe 15 or so, in a small classroom. There he was. He walked in, much taller than I had imagined, sat down, crossed his legs and as we all settled in and it got quiet, this one idiot’s phone ring went off and Roth rolled his eyes and it was apparent how irritated he was. Anyway, I asked him if he was still in awe of himself each time he published a book and what it was like to read his old stuff if he did at all. He said, “I’m in awe of it all. I still sleep with my new book under my pillow at night the first week it’s been printed. I look back and wonder how it happened.” Ha. For the record, I’m not comparing myself to one of the greatest American writers of all time, but more to the process of creativity which is fleeting and makes no sense. It comes and goes and when it takes hold and is met with a great celebration, it is a wonderful thing because often the initial wave of inspiration ends up not amounting to much but you still have to trust it.

I feel like we do as much as we can and we’re super original but there’s a limit to what we can do…That said, we have yet to hit the ceiling. Somehow, we keep going higher despite having any technology at our disposal. I guess all the crazy experiments do pay off over time when you have so many years under your belt. For example: Lacto fermented berries are too salty for cocktails but they’re great once dehydrated and made into a powder for rims or garnishes.

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At any rate…We went to the beach this morning and I had yet another anxiety ridden revelation…I really don’t know how to relax during the day. While I’m awake, I’m moving. I’m up at 7 and go to sleep at 12, so, yes, at night I can sit and watch a movie, but during the day I feel I have to constantly do something in order to be productive…Anyway, there was that…I did end up relaxing a bit if you call chasing a three year old around at the beach relaxing…Then we all got home and the elevator broke down which always causes a bit of a problem. These two ding dongs up on the fourth floor are moving out…They’re real problems…Always have been. I go up there and the guy is giving me shit, “You’re the building manager, fix the elevator!” Oh man oh man. I let this guy have it. Whoops. Yeah. I feel like front of house people eat so much shit for a living that once a real confrontation takes place they do one of two things: 1. Remain docile because that’s all they know and it’s been ingrained in them. 2. Get real angry and release the beast of a thousand services…The latter happened. I was pretty controlled but I basically wanted an excuse to practice the fine art of the strangle on this guy…And yes, he was a bit bigger than me…Taller…Younger…Probably in better shape. He had a bunch of weights outside his apartment…Ah, but I am a finely tuned martial artist my friends and I had total confidence in my own abilities. I was very calm and he sensed this. My heart rate barely went above 60 BPM as I thought of taking this sonofabitch to the ground and making him feel helpless…Egads! What sort of barbarian am I? I am glad nothing happened of course. Fighting is bad but the good thing is that I was prepared just in case and that felt awful good I must say. The confidence of knowing that if anything happened and this idiot got too squirrelly I could handle myself. The guy was just frustrated and annoyed at himself for his piss poor planning. He actually seemed like a decent dude…A fellow Virgo…Ah, the life of a building manager isn’t all glitz and glamor my friends…But, but, the type of person that blames a server for a steak or a drink taking too long on a busy night, a person who chooses to abuse a waiter or yes, a building manager for the elevator being broken, is nothing but the worst type of coward, a bully who thinks they can get away with being rude because the person in front of them cannot bark back due to the fact that they may lose their job. Well, I am the wrong person to act that way towards and always have been which is why I’ve been fired from so many restaurants.

A bully on my school bus, a kid of 12 to my 9, found this out the hard way as well when I brought my father’s hatchet on the bus one day and told the older lad I would kill him if he ever touched me or my friends ever again. The result? I got in deep dogshit but the bully was also so afraid of me from then on that he never looked in my direction again.

The moral here is not to take any shit. Yes, there are some shit sandwiches you’ll have to eat in life, more than a few, but you shouldn’t have to. I want my son to stand up for himself and what he believes in because the world is beautiful but also cruel and those with no backbone are rode upon, sometimes by the evil, but mostly by the stupid. My wife Jo is fierce as hell and takes no shit. I’m the type that keeps it inside until it becomes a problem for the other person and then later myself. Either way you slice it, you need to be able to communicate in order to be normal…Rambling a bit here now…

Going forward? After all, this is a cocktail blog is it not? There is a lesson in all of this. The six Ps right? Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. The program will only get better, I keep telling myself that. I also tell myself pebble ice is overrated and centrifuges are unnecessary…But, there will be carbonation. Oh yes. In fact, that’ll be my new year’s bar resolution.