Well the Bitter Bitch household has managed to make it a whole month, worse for the wear to be sure but still standing. The last thirty days have been hard, but they’ve also been surprising and inspiring. If you’ve read my previous posts, then you know the battle with my dog. I’m happy to say that we’ve turned a corner since I’ve discontinued his medication and his appetite has finally returned. I attempted to wean him with a lighter dose but even that had similar effects. Only time will tell if the abrupt change will have an effect on him, but for now, he’s doing better.

Last month my goal was to walk my dog every single day. And while I did stick to it, our new hobby wasn’t without its challenges. Some nights it was easy: I’d clip him on the leash and off we’d go. However, some nights he’d refuse to leave the house without an unnecessary amount of cajoling. Other nights he basically walked himself as I stumbled down the sidewalk with a seltzer in one hand and a burrito in the other. Taking steps in the right direction is not always a straight line.

September, and all of its bullshit, is behind us. Not only is it the beginning of a new month, but the last quarter of the year. It is the turning of the season and with it an opportunity to take the remainder of this year by the fucking balls. This is the home stretch, and I, for one, am sick of this melancholy storyline. Sometimes bad things happen, and that’s just life. But sometimes you need to be reminded that the bad things in your life are because of the decisions that you’ve made. Take personal responsibility for your part in your own unhappiness. Change the narrative. If it gives you anxiety, makes you sick, makes you cry, cut it out like fucking cancer. The hard truth is that discomfort is necessary for growth.

Since my blog has gone live, I’ve seen such an outpouring of support from those closest to me, for which I’m thankful. But it is hard to know with creative projects like this if the people who love you are simply flattering you, much the same as you’d tell a child their messy artwork was beautiful. My last blog post, while I considered it mild in comparison to previous works, seemed to have struck a chord within the service industry and not in a good way. In the first three weeks of the website, I’d reached a paltry 700 new visitors, which still felt exciting to me. In just one day of posting 5 Signs You’re Not a Bartender, that number tripled and I had over 1,000 hits to my blog page alone. I was ecstatic, over the moon, couldn’t believe it. Now that the dust has settled and the comments have been read, it seems my post was taken as a deliberate fuck you to many in the industry. I was called, among other things, an uneducated, lame, shallow cunt. I was criticized as someone who was deliberately trying to tear others down. I never meant to divide the “community” or to illicit any response but a couple of chuckles at best. A lot was taken out of context. Many of those readers took an idea that I presented, not my words verbatim, and turned them into something far blown out of proportion. Except the shit about Applebee’s; I most definitely said that.

I’d like to say I’m sorry. Perhaps my words cut too deep, maybe I was a tad bit callous, I could’ve been more understanding and supportive. I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I’m not going to. In fact, I’m doubling down. I’d say it again but louder. I may not have spent enough time thinking about how that post would be perceived, but in all honesty, I’ve never been the kind of person to tiptoe around people’s feelings. That’s not what I’m here for. That’s not why I’m relentlessly marketing this thing, working on it day and night, so that I can coddle a bunch of overly sensitive snowflakes. My brand is The Bitter Bitch and do not mistake for a moment that I would be anything but that. Raunchy, rude, inappropriate, disgusting, hilarious, all true. Most importantly, UNAPOLOGETIC. This is my blog published on my own website where I have the right to say whatever the fuck I want. Clearly some of you didn't read the very first post, where I outlined to you that this is my opinion and if you don’t like it, you can go fuck yourself. Just like it’s your opinion that I am a cunt, it’s my opinion that some of you are a bunch of baby back bitches. And aside from getting everyone’s panties in a twist, what did that silly little opinion piece really do? It got attention. It stayed active. With every comment, it was refreshed to the top of the page. And it’s still going.

My goal for October? To keep pissing people off. To keep up with the provocative content. To reach 5,000 unique visitors to our site. If a couple of jokes about bartenders could get that much response, just wait to see what I have next for you guys.

And to everyone else, thank you all for your support!