Thursday - May 20th - 2010
Jack and Jill
Have shut the till.
They're sacked! We weep for sorrow.
But greasy Mac,
The Brewer's jack
Will open up tomorrow.
--from "Time, Gentlemen—for Some New Pub Songs", E.S. Turner, Punch, July 3, 1974, page 7, Vol. 267
After yesterday's adventure in getting bodily high, I knew that I wasn't interested in a second adventure of any kind, even if it was alcohol-fueled only.
My best bet would be to get in right after work, drink the beer up and get out. And that's what I more or less did.
Tanisha was behind the bar today. The place was not that full. Maybe ten or eleven people in the bar and nobody seated at any of the wall tables.
I spoke to Charlie and later Christian about the Flugtag contest in Long Beach coming up this August 21st that Jack's earned a spot in with their cave man entry video (sorry, no linky yet that I can find--but trust me it's hilarious).
The consensus was that going on a "field trip" with the Jack's folks to Long Beach would be well within the purview of the bar blog...it's like going to school and one day they're like "hey, we're going to the zoo and it's a school thing so it's not like you're taking a day off or anything; technically you're still at school."
Same concept here. I wouldn't be at Jack's at all on Saturday the 21st (I'd be in the LBC), but it would still "count" as a trip to the bar and I'd have one hell of a blog post to write too.
Thing is I can't quite wrap my head around it. I mean I can see the "field trip" logic and it makes sense, but I'm hung up on physically going to the bar each day. For me it's walking in to the bar on a new day that counts. If I didn't walk into the bar on that particular Saturday, the streak would end.
Charlie's idea is that if I stay late at the bar on Friday night and into Saturday morning (i.e., after midnight) then I'm at the bar on Saturday. I'd been counting such overlaps as part of the day prior, which would normally mean for Saturday to count I'd have to show up later in the day after any true Saturday bartender was on duty (because then it's Saturday and no longer Friday).
Anyway, I've got plenty of time to think about it. The more important thing to recognize is that Charlie and Christian were nice enough to encourage me to come along with them to Flugtag. I really appreciate that.
What's your opinion, Dear Reader?
You can let me know in person Friday at Jack's. Or, post a comment below and let me know what you think I should do. Take care!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Day 139 - Body High
Wednesday - May 19th - 2010
I haven't been stoned in about eighteen years. And even then we were smoking absolute trash as far as weed is concerned—so you could probably say I've never been truly stoned before.
That eighteen year streak is still alive. However today I did experience my first body high. Thanks to Marilyn for getting me started.
The effect started at the base of my skull, at the back where the skull stops and the neck begins. About the same time my neck list up I felt a compress or weight over my solar plexus, at the base of my breast bone. The sensation radiated out through my chest, parallel to the ground.
It was as though my diaphragm and neck were surrounded by two invisible globes of hypersensitivity. As those globes of sensation drifted around my body, my nervous system went into overdrive in those areas, making each affected area tingle and come alive.
At one point I felt as though I could feel every blood vessel in my thighs as blood flowed in and out of them, as if brand new nerve endings had grown along the paths of my circulatory system, with the sensitive ends protruding from the interior walls of my veins and arteries, each nerve sending back touch signals as the blood flowed past ...not unlike the tingling sensation you get when you run your hand over the head of a brush or a comb.
I don't know if or how my six hour experience would have been any different if I hadn't consumed a glass of beer and four tall boys during the course of the high like I did tonight. Joaquin bought me those tall cans and he was a reliably solid presence one seat over on my left while I was in happy land. Thanks for the beers man.
Thanks also to Bang-Bang! for only slightly teasing me all night long. Could have done without the warp speed head rub midway through the 3rd round of drinks. That was a little freaky because I was still a lot high and after you took your hand off my head it was like my whole scalp was on fire.
So I think that was the beginning and end of my getting high through edibles experience. Once was enough for me, thanks.
Finally, thanks to Wendee for picking me up from the bar after you got off work. Apologies for the snoring.
See you Thursday at Jack's!
I haven't been stoned in about eighteen years. And even then we were smoking absolute trash as far as weed is concerned—so you could probably say I've never been truly stoned before.
That eighteen year streak is still alive. However today I did experience my first body high. Thanks to Marilyn for getting me started.
The effect started at the base of my skull, at the back where the skull stops and the neck begins. About the same time my neck list up I felt a compress or weight over my solar plexus, at the base of my breast bone. The sensation radiated out through my chest, parallel to the ground.
It was as though my diaphragm and neck were surrounded by two invisible globes of hypersensitivity. As those globes of sensation drifted around my body, my nervous system went into overdrive in those areas, making each affected area tingle and come alive.
At one point I felt as though I could feel every blood vessel in my thighs as blood flowed in and out of them, as if brand new nerve endings had grown along the paths of my circulatory system, with the sensitive ends protruding from the interior walls of my veins and arteries, each nerve sending back touch signals as the blood flowed past ...not unlike the tingling sensation you get when you run your hand over the head of a brush or a comb.
I don't know if or how my six hour experience would have been any different if I hadn't consumed a glass of beer and four tall boys during the course of the high like I did tonight. Joaquin bought me those tall cans and he was a reliably solid presence one seat over on my left while I was in happy land. Thanks for the beers man.
Thanks also to Bang-Bang! for only slightly teasing me all night long. Could have done without the warp speed head rub midway through the 3rd round of drinks. That was a little freaky because I was still a lot high and after you took your hand off my head it was like my whole scalp was on fire.
So I think that was the beginning and end of my getting high through edibles experience. Once was enough for me, thanks.
Finally, thanks to Wendee for picking me up from the bar after you got off work. Apologies for the snoring.
See you Thursday at Jack's!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Day 138 - Sharks Are Losing 2-0 At The Time Of This Writing...
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Sunday, May 9, 2010
Day 128 - Your Beard Is A Waterfall and All My Drinks Were Bought For Me
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Quote of the day:
Your beard is a waterfall.
-Shanea (like "Shane"+"ah" ...and you'd put that "ah" at the end of any sentence you were speaking the moment you saw her too)
I rushed to Jack's tonight. Made it in with five minutes to spare. Had another down day and slept the depression away all evening long. Missed the Sharks game (which was a pretty good one, from what I heard at the bar later in the evening).
Coach Johnny bought me a beer as soon as I walked into the bar tonight. Thanks for that, Coach. I can't begin to describe what it's like to be so well treated by very good people. Thanks again, man.
It should be said that Coach Johnny looked very handsome this evening. He was very well put together, clean shaven, hair cut neatly. He had a ready smile, his sense of humor ready to go and he seemed to make everyone around him comfortable.
Out back of the bar I chatted with Chris aka Menace out back of the bar. Menace is the best (after me, of course) and a good fellow. Like Coach Johnny, Chris was well put together and seemed to be in a good mood. He's a sensitive fellow, that Menace.
Travis had just come off his shift and was free to drink, so he did. While we were out back with Menace, Travis told me that the number 81 corresponds to "HA" which is short for Hells Angels. Red and White are Hells Angels colors too. (I totally had an apostrophe like this:"Hell's" but the internetz say that's not right.)
All this chat stemmed from Menace asking Travis if he had a bike. Travis said yes, said where he'd take it for repair work and why, thus the above.
It should be noted that Rina and Matt were working tonight, with Ras Dank on the door. DJ B Rich and DJ Vagabond were on tonight, as Traps was away for a DJ battle. Kind of a slow night too; one that would turn into a sausage fest later. Seemed like the more dudes showed up, the more the ladies left. It was a skirts and heels night at the bar too. The majority of the ladies were wearing just what I described. Legs everywhere. It was nice. ;)
According to Sierra Nevada, it was all lines at every drinking establishment downtown. Lots of people left over after the Sharks defeated the most hated Red Wings and eliminated them from the playoffs. Bwahahahaha!
:ahem:
Sierra Nevada was at Jack's earlier for the game, then went downtown to drink some more and celebrate, but the press of people kept him out of the locations he wanted to visit, so back to Jack's with him!
I was still out back for this conversation. The sky was an unusual shade of reddish pink. I could smell winter in the air and someone was running a fireplace nearby, though in my opinion it wasn't that cold out, even with a stiff breeze blowing east to west.
Tempe visited the bar tonight and was über-chipper about his basketball team (Phoenix Suns, if you hadn't guessed already). Guess there's some new kid on the team that totally had the game of his life tonight and sparked the Phoenix bench to new heights of skill when the starters for the Suns–particularly Steve Nash— sat down for breaks during the game.
Menace bought me my second beer tonight. Menace: thank you. It's much appreciated man. Did I mention Menace went out of his way to be very polite tonight and (in his words) well behaved? He did a good job from what I could see.
Out front for a moment and I see the clouds are totally gray/blue. WTF? Are the clouds really so low that the halogen(?) lights on the back patio of Jack's illuminate everything in one color, yet the clouds remain a different color out front? Seriously, I went back and forth twice between the back patio and the front entrance of the bar, yet the colors of the clouds were totally different depending on which side of the bar you were on.
Swear to God I'd had only 1.5 beers by then.
So anyway on my second cloud fact check trip to the front of the bar I ran into the dude who works only weekends at Der Wienerschnitzel. They'd just closed shop and he came over to check things out at the bar (though he never went in, and has actually never walked in to the bar when I've been there, come to think of it). He speaks good English and of course Spanish so he totally let me talk in broken Spanish and English as we chatted about work, jobs, schedules and women. Nice and friendly guy, but I'll be damned if I can remember his name.
While Der Guy and I were talking, DJ Traps showed up. Turns out he got eliminated from the DJ battle on the first round. DJ Vagabond came outside about then and told Traps that all of his 45s needed a thorough going through. He'd brought only 45's tonight and found several of them were warped and scratched. Traps nodded, then told me and Vagabond about his 1st round elimination experience, what it's like to bring a gal on a first date to a DJ battle and how there were other contests besides DJ battles (ex., rapping contests where you totally rip into the other dude).
Jim Marshall Fan showed up late in the evening and we went out back to chat. He's a visualist by his reckoning and advised me that I ought to try and add a sense of mood and atmosphere to my writing. I remarked this would be a lot easier if I could just take pictures, then pointed to the single glass on the bar, itself devoid of alcohol, instead containing a spent lemon wedge and half-melted ice cubes.
To me it symbolized the relative emptiness of the bar (the bar was full, but certainly not packed and with not much traffic out on the back patio).
Jim Marshall Fan pointed to the prism-like facets of color and light generated by the bright light above our heads (the same one I suspect is illuminating the clouds) as it shines through the glass and onto the hard white plastic surface of the table as something he'd pay attention too.
Then I remarked that he'd make a good picture for the night, his face handsome and prominent in the imaginary frame of my lense cigarette in one hand, drink in the other, with only his chest visible like the bust of a statue, with Tempe standing in the background on the right as he spoke to someone out of the frame--in this case Heather F. and her friend with the close cropped (at her neck) 80s style hair and long, multi-part earrings that for some reason so captured my attention for the next few minutes.
Jim Marshall Fan told me he admired what I was doing at the bar, specifically the discipline and focus to come to the bar every single day. That sure felt good coming from him.
His main words of advice to me was "If it stays in the box, it's as if it does not exist."
By this he meant my blog. He feels I ought to advertise it and buy cards with the web address to hand out.
About then Ras Dank arrived to inform us that the back patio needed to be closed up. So Jim Marshall Fan and I went inside, where he bought me my third and final round of the evening. Thank you.
It was here that I saw a man who looked like either a young version of Jonathan Rhys (the actor, most recently in The Tudors on Showtime) or perhaps his brother. Remarkable though the resemblance was, it was the woman in his company who caught and owned my attention from that point forward.
She had red hair in short curls, wore a creamy white top that was like a wife beater only in the vaguest of ways, which is to say it left her shoulders bare and complimented the tone of her soft white skin. Under the dim lights of the bar a hint of freckles could be glimpsed, sprinkled about her shoulders and arms.
Her name Shanea and her friend's name was Bryon (like "Brian") B. I can't remember if Jim Marshall Fan or I spoke to her first; needless to say the conversation was under way and what the two of them had to tell us was interesting.
But I'll save that, Dear Reader, for myself and JMF. Not everything that happens in the bar should be written about, should it? ;)
It was a pleasure to meet you, Shaina. You to, Bryon. If things work out that we don't meet again before you have to depart, take care. Our encounter was brief, but I already know I'll never forget you.
Last call was announced, beers were finished and numbers exchanged. I said my thanks to the bartenders (though I only remember Matt at that point) and went outside. Before going home myself, I gave JMF a ride home and thanked him for his company and his good advice.
See you Sunday at Jack's!
Quote of the day:
Your beard is a waterfall.
-Shanea (like "Shane"+"ah" ...and you'd put that "ah" at the end of any sentence you were speaking the moment you saw her too)
I rushed to Jack's tonight. Made it in with five minutes to spare. Had another down day and slept the depression away all evening long. Missed the Sharks game (which was a pretty good one, from what I heard at the bar later in the evening).
Coach Johnny bought me a beer as soon as I walked into the bar tonight. Thanks for that, Coach. I can't begin to describe what it's like to be so well treated by very good people. Thanks again, man.
It should be said that Coach Johnny looked very handsome this evening. He was very well put together, clean shaven, hair cut neatly. He had a ready smile, his sense of humor ready to go and he seemed to make everyone around him comfortable.
Out back of the bar I chatted with Chris aka Menace out back of the bar. Menace is the best (after me, of course) and a good fellow. Like Coach Johnny, Chris was well put together and seemed to be in a good mood. He's a sensitive fellow, that Menace.
Travis had just come off his shift and was free to drink, so he did. While we were out back with Menace, Travis told me that the number 81 corresponds to "HA" which is short for Hells Angels. Red and White are Hells Angels colors too. (I totally had an apostrophe like this:"Hell's" but the internetz say that's not right.)
All this chat stemmed from Menace asking Travis if he had a bike. Travis said yes, said where he'd take it for repair work and why, thus the above.
It should be noted that Rina and Matt were working tonight, with Ras Dank on the door. DJ B Rich and DJ Vagabond were on tonight, as Traps was away for a DJ battle. Kind of a slow night too; one that would turn into a sausage fest later. Seemed like the more dudes showed up, the more the ladies left. It was a skirts and heels night at the bar too. The majority of the ladies were wearing just what I described. Legs everywhere. It was nice. ;)
According to Sierra Nevada, it was all lines at every drinking establishment downtown. Lots of people left over after the Sharks defeated the most hated Red Wings and eliminated them from the playoffs. Bwahahahaha!
:ahem:
Sierra Nevada was at Jack's earlier for the game, then went downtown to drink some more and celebrate, but the press of people kept him out of the locations he wanted to visit, so back to Jack's with him!
I was still out back for this conversation. The sky was an unusual shade of reddish pink. I could smell winter in the air and someone was running a fireplace nearby, though in my opinion it wasn't that cold out, even with a stiff breeze blowing east to west.
Tempe visited the bar tonight and was über-chipper about his basketball team (Phoenix Suns, if you hadn't guessed already). Guess there's some new kid on the team that totally had the game of his life tonight and sparked the Phoenix bench to new heights of skill when the starters for the Suns–particularly Steve Nash— sat down for breaks during the game.
Menace bought me my second beer tonight. Menace: thank you. It's much appreciated man. Did I mention Menace went out of his way to be very polite tonight and (in his words) well behaved? He did a good job from what I could see.
Out front for a moment and I see the clouds are totally gray/blue. WTF? Are the clouds really so low that the halogen(?) lights on the back patio of Jack's illuminate everything in one color, yet the clouds remain a different color out front? Seriously, I went back and forth twice between the back patio and the front entrance of the bar, yet the colors of the clouds were totally different depending on which side of the bar you were on.
Swear to God I'd had only 1.5 beers by then.
So anyway on my second cloud fact check trip to the front of the bar I ran into the dude who works only weekends at Der Wienerschnitzel. They'd just closed shop and he came over to check things out at the bar (though he never went in, and has actually never walked in to the bar when I've been there, come to think of it). He speaks good English and of course Spanish so he totally let me talk in broken Spanish and English as we chatted about work, jobs, schedules and women. Nice and friendly guy, but I'll be damned if I can remember his name.
While Der Guy and I were talking, DJ Traps showed up. Turns out he got eliminated from the DJ battle on the first round. DJ Vagabond came outside about then and told Traps that all of his 45s needed a thorough going through. He'd brought only 45's tonight and found several of them were warped and scratched. Traps nodded, then told me and Vagabond about his 1st round elimination experience, what it's like to bring a gal on a first date to a DJ battle and how there were other contests besides DJ battles (ex., rapping contests where you totally rip into the other dude).
Jim Marshall Fan showed up late in the evening and we went out back to chat. He's a visualist by his reckoning and advised me that I ought to try and add a sense of mood and atmosphere to my writing. I remarked this would be a lot easier if I could just take pictures, then pointed to the single glass on the bar, itself devoid of alcohol, instead containing a spent lemon wedge and half-melted ice cubes.
To me it symbolized the relative emptiness of the bar (the bar was full, but certainly not packed and with not much traffic out on the back patio).
Jim Marshall Fan pointed to the prism-like facets of color and light generated by the bright light above our heads (the same one I suspect is illuminating the clouds) as it shines through the glass and onto the hard white plastic surface of the table as something he'd pay attention too.
Then I remarked that he'd make a good picture for the night, his face handsome and prominent in the imaginary frame of my lense cigarette in one hand, drink in the other, with only his chest visible like the bust of a statue, with Tempe standing in the background on the right as he spoke to someone out of the frame--in this case Heather F. and her friend with the close cropped (at her neck) 80s style hair and long, multi-part earrings that for some reason so captured my attention for the next few minutes.
Jim Marshall Fan told me he admired what I was doing at the bar, specifically the discipline and focus to come to the bar every single day. That sure felt good coming from him.
His main words of advice to me was "If it stays in the box, it's as if it does not exist."
By this he meant my blog. He feels I ought to advertise it and buy cards with the web address to hand out.
About then Ras Dank arrived to inform us that the back patio needed to be closed up. So Jim Marshall Fan and I went inside, where he bought me my third and final round of the evening. Thank you.
It was here that I saw a man who looked like either a young version of Jonathan Rhys (the actor, most recently in The Tudors on Showtime) or perhaps his brother. Remarkable though the resemblance was, it was the woman in his company who caught and owned my attention from that point forward.
She had red hair in short curls, wore a creamy white top that was like a wife beater only in the vaguest of ways, which is to say it left her shoulders bare and complimented the tone of her soft white skin. Under the dim lights of the bar a hint of freckles could be glimpsed, sprinkled about her shoulders and arms.
Her name Shanea and her friend's name was Bryon (like "Brian") B. I can't remember if Jim Marshall Fan or I spoke to her first; needless to say the conversation was under way and what the two of them had to tell us was interesting.
But I'll save that, Dear Reader, for myself and JMF. Not everything that happens in the bar should be written about, should it? ;)
It was a pleasure to meet you, Shaina. You to, Bryon. If things work out that we don't meet again before you have to depart, take care. Our encounter was brief, but I already know I'll never forget you.
Last call was announced, beers were finished and numbers exchanged. I said my thanks to the bartenders (though I only remember Matt at that point) and went outside. Before going home myself, I gave JMF a ride home and thanked him for his company and his good advice.
See you Sunday at Jack's!
Day 127 - A Surprise Visit From Sugi and The Music Was Way Too Fucking Loud
Friday, May 7th 2010
Vital stats for the night:
Bartenders: Charlie and Matt
Door Persons: Ras Dank and Travis
DJs: Vagabond and ?? (no B Rich tonight: both he and Vagabond will cover for DJ Traps tomorrow since Traps is attending a scratch contest Saturday)
I realized tonight that I'm always going to love Sugi. I'm not in love with her, no, but I'll always love her. A decade spent together can do that.
Earlier today I'd texted her to see if she was free and she begged off, suggesting some other night. So when I got word from her that she was on her way, I felt excited. It's been several weeks since I've seen her and all the old "she's coming, bet busy and get things ready" feelings kicked in.
I stopped talking with people outside and made my way into the very crowded bar to get her usual drink ordered up. I knew it would take time and I didn't want her to have to wait.
Sugi was in scrubs when she arrived just as Charlie served up my drink order. Sugi looked different; not as tired as in the past and certainly more healthy. Her job is not easy but it's doing just what I'd hoped it would do: give her some balance in her life (and some hefty cash in her pocket).
We went outside and I think the only time I've ever been mad at Joaquin happened. I re-introduced Sugi to James and Eric (aka Bang-Bang! Kla-Klow! and ACME, for you newer readers), then introduced her to Joaquin, who said "Where?" as he looked over her in his own goofy way.
I know he was only playing on the idea that he's really tall (like 6' 4" or 6' 6") and Sugi's short (not even five feet tall), but he doesn't know that Sugi has always been sensitive about her height and doesn't appreciate jokes about it.
Thankfully Sugi took it in good humor and this calmed me down. I only wanted to kill Joaquin for a second.
Today was Mercede's birthday and she was here with Martha and Maria. Martha looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Her beauty is something I'm discovering a little more of each time I see her at the bar. I'm learning to enjoy Maria's company more too, but like Mercedes she was somewhat far along when I got to the bar so we didn't get to talk all that much.
I would like to thank Mercedes for introducing me to some of her extended family at the bar tonight (they'd accompanied her to the bar and were her ride around town all day for her birthday) and for saying such nice things about me to them. Mercedes has always been an exotic beauty to me; her makeup and straight black hair convey a dark allure; dangerous but also tempting.
The night wore on and Sugi and I found we couldn't really go back into the bar because the music was so fucking loud it hurt. She was cold outside and refused my offer of my jacket (next time I'll just throw it on her, I think) but still toughed it out. We enjoyed talking with Fremont Matt, his wife and friends. We watched a guy standing over the fence between Jack's and Der Wienerschnitzel—he asked the crowd out back if they could help him find his sister in the bar (he couldn't go in since he had no I.D. on him). The consensus was he should wait it out since it was close to closing anyway.
The truth of this was born out by Travis telling us all the back patio had to be closed up. I wasn't sure what Sugi would do, but she said she was hungry. I suggested iHop and she readily agreed.
Closing out took much longer than I'd hoped (ok, truth: if it were just me I wouldn't have cared to wait that long to close my tab, but I knew Sugi was out front of the bar leaning against the bike rack, shivering, goose bumps practically visible on her arms from in the bar where I stood) so I felt the urge to get the fuck out and get her to iHop.
Thankfully Charlie very kindly slotted me in as he and Matt took care of the last-call surge of drink orders. Charlie has such awesome energy. It's a blast when he's working at the bar.
Free and clear, I quickly left Jack's with Sugi. I didn't even say goodnight to anyone. I realized later that nobody would be offended by my doing this. Please don't take this as me saying I'm all important or something (far from it!), rather that it's something of a tradition for people say goodnight to each other at the bar, especially after a fun night spent together.
This is the kind of thing I would worry about in the past, but now I know "it's cool" as Travis would say.
See you Saturday at Jack's!
Earlier tonight Travis told me a bar secret that I'll not divulge. I am thankful to know it, though. Should help me when I'm in new places far from home.
Vital stats for the night:
Bartenders: Charlie and Matt
Door Persons: Ras Dank and Travis
DJs: Vagabond and ?? (no B Rich tonight: both he and Vagabond will cover for DJ Traps tomorrow since Traps is attending a scratch contest Saturday)
I realized tonight that I'm always going to love Sugi. I'm not in love with her, no, but I'll always love her. A decade spent together can do that.
Earlier today I'd texted her to see if she was free and she begged off, suggesting some other night. So when I got word from her that she was on her way, I felt excited. It's been several weeks since I've seen her and all the old "she's coming, bet busy and get things ready" feelings kicked in.
I stopped talking with people outside and made my way into the very crowded bar to get her usual drink ordered up. I knew it would take time and I didn't want her to have to wait.
Sugi was in scrubs when she arrived just as Charlie served up my drink order. Sugi looked different; not as tired as in the past and certainly more healthy. Her job is not easy but it's doing just what I'd hoped it would do: give her some balance in her life (and some hefty cash in her pocket).
We went outside and I think the only time I've ever been mad at Joaquin happened. I re-introduced Sugi to James and Eric (aka Bang-Bang! Kla-Klow! and ACME, for you newer readers), then introduced her to Joaquin, who said "Where?" as he looked over her in his own goofy way.
I know he was only playing on the idea that he's really tall (like 6' 4" or 6' 6") and Sugi's short (not even five feet tall), but he doesn't know that Sugi has always been sensitive about her height and doesn't appreciate jokes about it.
Thankfully Sugi took it in good humor and this calmed me down. I only wanted to kill Joaquin for a second.
Today was Mercede's birthday and she was here with Martha and Maria. Martha looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Her beauty is something I'm discovering a little more of each time I see her at the bar. I'm learning to enjoy Maria's company more too, but like Mercedes she was somewhat far along when I got to the bar so we didn't get to talk all that much.
I would like to thank Mercedes for introducing me to some of her extended family at the bar tonight (they'd accompanied her to the bar and were her ride around town all day for her birthday) and for saying such nice things about me to them. Mercedes has always been an exotic beauty to me; her makeup and straight black hair convey a dark allure; dangerous but also tempting.
The night wore on and Sugi and I found we couldn't really go back into the bar because the music was so fucking loud it hurt. She was cold outside and refused my offer of my jacket (next time I'll just throw it on her, I think) but still toughed it out. We enjoyed talking with Fremont Matt, his wife and friends. We watched a guy standing over the fence between Jack's and Der Wienerschnitzel—he asked the crowd out back if they could help him find his sister in the bar (he couldn't go in since he had no I.D. on him). The consensus was he should wait it out since it was close to closing anyway.
The truth of this was born out by Travis telling us all the back patio had to be closed up. I wasn't sure what Sugi would do, but she said she was hungry. I suggested iHop and she readily agreed.
Closing out took much longer than I'd hoped (ok, truth: if it were just me I wouldn't have cared to wait that long to close my tab, but I knew Sugi was out front of the bar leaning against the bike rack, shivering, goose bumps practically visible on her arms from in the bar where I stood) so I felt the urge to get the fuck out and get her to iHop.
Thankfully Charlie very kindly slotted me in as he and Matt took care of the last-call surge of drink orders. Charlie has such awesome energy. It's a blast when he's working at the bar.
Free and clear, I quickly left Jack's with Sugi. I didn't even say goodnight to anyone. I realized later that nobody would be offended by my doing this. Please don't take this as me saying I'm all important or something (far from it!), rather that it's something of a tradition for people say goodnight to each other at the bar, especially after a fun night spent together.
This is the kind of thing I would worry about in the past, but now I know "it's cool" as Travis would say.
See you Saturday at Jack's!
Earlier tonight Travis told me a bar secret that I'll not divulge. I am thankful to know it, though. Should help me when I'm in new places far from home.
Day 126 - Skipped the Shark's Game and Stood Up Joaquin
Thursday May 6th 2010
Apparently I told Joaquin I'd hang with him on Thursday at Jack's for the Sharks game. I don't remember that. I missed DeVito's call asking me to come over and play foosball at his place. Foosball is like chicken soup for the soul after a Sharks playoff loss (and this one was particularly severe—score was 7-1. Ouch!) and DeVito was no doubt in need of soothing. Even if I'd gotten the message I would not have gone though.
You see Dear Reader I've been very much down and out the later half of this week; I've been skipping to-do items, leaving my laundry unfolded, spending money frivolously and not eating terribly well. I know from long experience that these things happen in cycles. The last one happened in mid-April and lasted for two weeks. I hope this one doesn’t last as long.
When I arrived at Jack's very late this evening some good news came from Travis: apparently Gabby asked for my number (again). I like the idea of a woman asking someone I know for my number. Lolz I wonder how many times Gabby has programmed my number into her phone now? It's probably just one of those things you think of when you're buzzed that you feel would be good to do and that you mean to follow up on, but when you're sober the idea hides itself away in your mind, waiting to be unlocked by another round of drinks.
I enjoyed Joaquin's company tonight (he'd come back to Jack's after leaving earlier). His birthday is coming up next Tuesday. He made me promise to be at Jack's at midnight on Monday so we could start celebrating early.
I hope I can keep that promise.
I also enjoyed drinking with ACME. We shared a Mind Eraser and a Red Headed slut for old time's sake. He and I drink well together.
Mercedes, Maria and Martha (though Martha was not at Jack's tonight) are three women I like to see at the bar. I didn't know Mercede's birthday was coming up, but I sure as hell got up to speed when she told me, fingers in her mouth to fire off a shrill whistle, hollering and more or less enjoying herself to the max.
I didn't intend to stay late tonight, but figured if Mercedes was going to start celebrating at midnight then I could stick around.
I don't remember leaving Jack's, but I do know I slept in my truck in the driveway of my house. Were the world to end, I think I could tough it out for a few days in my truck. One thing I've learned to do well over the years is sleep as comfortably as I can in it.
See you Friday at Jack's!
Apparently I told Joaquin I'd hang with him on Thursday at Jack's for the Sharks game. I don't remember that. I missed DeVito's call asking me to come over and play foosball at his place. Foosball is like chicken soup for the soul after a Sharks playoff loss (and this one was particularly severe—score was 7-1. Ouch!) and DeVito was no doubt in need of soothing. Even if I'd gotten the message I would not have gone though.
You see Dear Reader I've been very much down and out the later half of this week; I've been skipping to-do items, leaving my laundry unfolded, spending money frivolously and not eating terribly well. I know from long experience that these things happen in cycles. The last one happened in mid-April and lasted for two weeks. I hope this one doesn’t last as long.
When I arrived at Jack's very late this evening some good news came from Travis: apparently Gabby asked for my number (again). I like the idea of a woman asking someone I know for my number. Lolz I wonder how many times Gabby has programmed my number into her phone now? It's probably just one of those things you think of when you're buzzed that you feel would be good to do and that you mean to follow up on, but when you're sober the idea hides itself away in your mind, waiting to be unlocked by another round of drinks.
I enjoyed Joaquin's company tonight (he'd come back to Jack's after leaving earlier). His birthday is coming up next Tuesday. He made me promise to be at Jack's at midnight on Monday so we could start celebrating early.
I hope I can keep that promise.
I also enjoyed drinking with ACME. We shared a Mind Eraser and a Red Headed slut for old time's sake. He and I drink well together.
Mercedes, Maria and Martha (though Martha was not at Jack's tonight) are three women I like to see at the bar. I didn't know Mercede's birthday was coming up, but I sure as hell got up to speed when she told me, fingers in her mouth to fire off a shrill whistle, hollering and more or less enjoying herself to the max.
I didn't intend to stay late tonight, but figured if Mercedes was going to start celebrating at midnight then I could stick around.
I don't remember leaving Jack's, but I do know I slept in my truck in the driveway of my house. Were the world to end, I think I could tough it out for a few days in my truck. One thing I've learned to do well over the years is sleep as comfortably as I can in it.
See you Friday at Jack's!
Day 125 - A Pair of Pilots and Hot Sacked by Travis
Wednesday May 5th 2010
Tonight I met a pair of pilots. They are Ken aka Han and Patrick aka Chewie.
Like the famous Star Wars characters, Ken and Patrick are equal in authority in their aircraft. One is always technically the pilot, the other a co-pilot, but both are equally rated and capable of flying their aircraft.
At first I couldn't remember what was and was not OK to say about them (my notes are incomplete) but the night is coming back to me so we're good.
I do have one of their business cards and could call one of them up to ask, I suppose. But I don't think I'll do that. After all, they fly at 51,000 feet in the fastest non-military jet in the world. Wouldn't want to distract them with a ringing cell phone when they're checking out the curve of the Earth itself from that high up.
I do recall them saying that they sometimes don't fly with masks on that high up because although regs call for it, there's just not all that much you can do if something goes wrong and cabin pressure is lost. In the event of an emergency the aircraft would automatically drop down to 15,000 feet (to where it's possible to breathe again) but they might just all be dead by then anyway.
One of the pilots (Chewie) said that to get this job he had to basically win the lottery for pilots. That's not to say they drew his name out of a hat, rather that he was the in the top percentile as a pilot and as a result he landed himself the mother of all pilot dream jobs.
Both of those guys were pretty cool. They sat at the corner of the bar near the entrance, one flirting a bit with Rina as she worked behind the bar, while the other told stories of getting escorted out of a town with his family by the sheriff after a small run in with the locals.
Han even bought me a beer. Thanks man.
I envy those two their camaraderie, the way they constantly looked out for each other at the bar (seriously: if either one of them was out of sight of the other for too long, they'd ask if anyone saw their partner and if not they'd go looking for each other) and ability to sample cities all over the country during their shared downtime between flights.
Carting important people around sure has come a long ways from the time when you basically put them in a box with two long polls and carried them everywhere, eh?
After I told them about my bar blog they joked about writing a blog together of places visited on their travels. I think they ought to do it.
Tonight's around the world at Jack's drink was Chivas Regal Premium Scotch Whisky. Very smooth stuff. The one think I've learned about Scotch after sampling several varieties these last two weeks is that it straight up sneaks up on your ass.
You're good, then you're exhibiting all the signs of drunkenness even though you don't feel drunk. This whole business of different varieties of inebriation depending on what you drank to get to that point is interesting to me. I wonder what will be different when I get to the Vodka? Or Rum?
OK so this might seem a good post, right? Interesting people were met and written about.
But no, we're not done yet.
I have to tell the story of being hot sacked by Travis.
It's not a very intricate story. DJ Benofficial and one of his buddies were trading off at the turntables (that buddy being DJ Vex) as Wendee showed up. She looked really nice tonight (hair, makeup, lipstick) and I remember Ken saying he liked better what DJ Vex was doing (right around when he started playing Set Adrift On Memory Bliss by P.M. Dawn). I don’t remember when Travis showed up with Caitlin, I just know Travis and I both gave up our seats to the ladies and proceeded to enjoy the music, the drinks and the night.
I think Travis and Caitlin have developed a sort of telepathy. They were laughing and joking, never really pausing to communicate devious plans or instructions. Yet somehow Caitlin jumped up, told me she was leaving and offered me her seat. So I took it. Travis said something like "Hey we're going to perform an experiment, you should turn around," and at that point I should have realized something was up, but no. So I turned around and Wendee did the same.
At that point Travis sort hop-landed his crotch on my left thigh, just above my knee. As you can imagine, I could feel the weight of his balls and cock on my leg, all warm and toasty like a hot pocket just out of the microwave after it's had a chance to cool.
Caitlin busted up laughing, I was sort of shocked and Wendee thoughtfully suggested that I should go take a Crying Game shower.
Lolz.
Later when we were outside Travis told me that he used to "hot sack" the door guys at the Flying Pig. They had to wear shorts and it got pretty hot and he never wore any boxers so you can only imagine what that was like. Lolz by that measure I got off pretty easy tonight.
I think I left with Wendee around 11:30 p.m. that night. I don't know if I said goodbye to Ras Dank (he was on door duty tonight) but I do recall it got so crowded for a Wednesday that ACME had to jump in to help Rina out behind the bar. Good looking out.
See you Thursday at Jack's!
Tonight I met a pair of pilots. They are Ken aka Han and Patrick aka Chewie.
Like the famous Star Wars characters, Ken and Patrick are equal in authority in their aircraft. One is always technically the pilot, the other a co-pilot, but both are equally rated and capable of flying their aircraft.
At first I couldn't remember what was and was not OK to say about them (my notes are incomplete) but the night is coming back to me so we're good.
I do have one of their business cards and could call one of them up to ask, I suppose. But I don't think I'll do that. After all, they fly at 51,000 feet in the fastest non-military jet in the world. Wouldn't want to distract them with a ringing cell phone when they're checking out the curve of the Earth itself from that high up.
I do recall them saying that they sometimes don't fly with masks on that high up because although regs call for it, there's just not all that much you can do if something goes wrong and cabin pressure is lost. In the event of an emergency the aircraft would automatically drop down to 15,000 feet (to where it's possible to breathe again) but they might just all be dead by then anyway.
One of the pilots (Chewie) said that to get this job he had to basically win the lottery for pilots. That's not to say they drew his name out of a hat, rather that he was the in the top percentile as a pilot and as a result he landed himself the mother of all pilot dream jobs.
Both of those guys were pretty cool. They sat at the corner of the bar near the entrance, one flirting a bit with Rina as she worked behind the bar, while the other told stories of getting escorted out of a town with his family by the sheriff after a small run in with the locals.
Han even bought me a beer. Thanks man.
I envy those two their camaraderie, the way they constantly looked out for each other at the bar (seriously: if either one of them was out of sight of the other for too long, they'd ask if anyone saw their partner and if not they'd go looking for each other) and ability to sample cities all over the country during their shared downtime between flights.
Carting important people around sure has come a long ways from the time when you basically put them in a box with two long polls and carried them everywhere, eh?
After I told them about my bar blog they joked about writing a blog together of places visited on their travels. I think they ought to do it.
Tonight's around the world at Jack's drink was Chivas Regal Premium Scotch Whisky. Very smooth stuff. The one think I've learned about Scotch after sampling several varieties these last two weeks is that it straight up sneaks up on your ass.
You're good, then you're exhibiting all the signs of drunkenness even though you don't feel drunk. This whole business of different varieties of inebriation depending on what you drank to get to that point is interesting to me. I wonder what will be different when I get to the Vodka? Or Rum?
OK so this might seem a good post, right? Interesting people were met and written about.
But no, we're not done yet.
I have to tell the story of being hot sacked by Travis.
It's not a very intricate story. DJ Benofficial and one of his buddies were trading off at the turntables (that buddy being DJ Vex) as Wendee showed up. She looked really nice tonight (hair, makeup, lipstick) and I remember Ken saying he liked better what DJ Vex was doing (right around when he started playing Set Adrift On Memory Bliss by P.M. Dawn). I don’t remember when Travis showed up with Caitlin, I just know Travis and I both gave up our seats to the ladies and proceeded to enjoy the music, the drinks and the night.
I think Travis and Caitlin have developed a sort of telepathy. They were laughing and joking, never really pausing to communicate devious plans or instructions. Yet somehow Caitlin jumped up, told me she was leaving and offered me her seat. So I took it. Travis said something like "Hey we're going to perform an experiment, you should turn around," and at that point I should have realized something was up, but no. So I turned around and Wendee did the same.
At that point Travis sort hop-landed his crotch on my left thigh, just above my knee. As you can imagine, I could feel the weight of his balls and cock on my leg, all warm and toasty like a hot pocket just out of the microwave after it's had a chance to cool.
Caitlin busted up laughing, I was sort of shocked and Wendee thoughtfully suggested that I should go take a Crying Game shower.
Lolz.
Later when we were outside Travis told me that he used to "hot sack" the door guys at the Flying Pig. They had to wear shorts and it got pretty hot and he never wore any boxers so you can only imagine what that was like. Lolz by that measure I got off pretty easy tonight.
I think I left with Wendee around 11:30 p.m. that night. I don't know if I said goodbye to Ras Dank (he was on door duty tonight) but I do recall it got so crowded for a Wednesday that ACME had to jump in to help Rina out behind the bar. Good looking out.
See you Thursday at Jack's!
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