Vacation roundup
So Kane kicked off their "summer" on Saturday night @ Dukes in Portland. Even though I lived there forever, I had never been to Dukes. I like Dante's better... Dukes itself was okay I guess, but I was just really disappointed by the service received there. Okay, granted the only service I received was from the bartenders but it IS a bar! The two different bartenders I went to were both very rude and obnoxious. I had a shot of patron right before the show ended and the lime was sliced like paper thin so I asked for an extra one and the bartender got very pissy and tossed the extra lime in the coke I had gotten for Ems. Yeah, I was kinda shocked.
The show was good though! Well the show was great, but it's Kane so of course it was :D The crowd was a lot different than what I am used to at the shows. Sure there were some of the "usual" people but there were a lot more that I didn't recognize. But the guys were having fun so the crowd was into it regardless of it being "usual" or "new". People kept yelling random shit from the audience. At one point a group of people started yelling something that NO ONE could understand. Eventually it was found out that they were asking if the band wanted Jello shots, but Chris & Steve kept coming up with "show you my cock" & "cell block cock" before Chris finally made one of them come up to the stage so they could hear them. Yup, the boys had cock on the brain apparently :P They played longer at Duke's than they usually do at Dante's though so that was nice. Bubba ditched me to spend the weekend with his GF so I went with Bubba's ex-wife (who is still very good friends with our entire family) and I kept getting random texts from Bubba all night wanting to know "how things were going" and if I "had scarred Ems yet". Ems grew up very sheltered and this was the first time she had EVER been to a bar and with the exception of an Alabama concert MANY years ago, the first concert she's been too. And let's face it Kane is a far cry from the traditional-sounding Alabama. She had a good time though, and she is a LOT of fun to hang out with. More so now than when she and Bubba were actually married! She was driving so she didn't drink very much, in fact I only got her to take a sip of my patron shot. That sip alone had her laughing for 20 min solid after it kicked in. It was hilarious watching her "experience" Kane for the first time. She did ask me on the way home when/if they were gonna be playing again. I think we have another convert!! She asked if there was a way she could get some of their older music from me. Her favorite songs of the night being One More Shot and Blaze ironically enough. She was a little taken back at how "friendly" the guys were with each other. She was surprised when Chris started smacking Jay and Steve on the ass, but when Chris grabbed Steve's junk I thought she was gonna fall off her stool. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE watching people experience them for the first time? She wasn't too fond of the language, but I was expecting that. She is the preacher's daughter after all :) But overall she is ready to go back for another round!
Bubba was none too pleased. We grew up on Waylon Jennings. Waylon is our Mama's FAVORITE artist. We have heard EVERYTHING he has done. So, that being said, Bubba has gone to several of the shows with me, waiting to hear Kane's live version of Luckenbach Texas. It has yet to happen. I've seen them play it several times, but it always seems to be the times when Bubba has ditched me. Case in point, they played it when they played @ the OR State fair, but not when they played Dante's in Nov, they played it @ Duke's this time, but Bubba was with GF. I say it's Karma for all the times he's ditched me :P
So after a rocky start, the weekend did turn out pretty awesome. After the show I went back to T's place and we just hung out for a few hours before my measly 3 hours of sleep & several dances with Jack D caught up with me and I crashed. I had to catch the train back home on Sun afternoon so I didn't get to see her very much. Of course this trip was pretty much just for Kane anyways, seeing T even for the small time was bonus. I will be heading back down there in a few weeks just to take up space at her place though. Anyways, I had to be back at work Monday so I had to be home Sunday, but unless I had wanted to leave @ 8am, I had to get the "business class" train tickets. Ever hear the song "Where I'm From" by Jason Michael Carroll? Where he's talking about laughing at his jeans & boots next to their fancy shoes & armani suits? Well it may not have been armani, but the other people in "business" class were completely more...Yuppie than me. There were two couples traveling together headed north of Seattle, that kept giving me strange looks in particular. Of course, they were dressed more for country club than country bar. I don't think they appreciated my bleached out jeans & converse very much. I thought it was pretty funny though :D But best surprise of all? Amtrak has added free WiFi on their Cascade trains! It really helped since my cell had died that morning so I was able to get online and chat w/ Mama on the way home to tell her that the train was actually going to arrive early! The kids were so excited they got to go out of the train platform to meet me this time. Last time Mama waited in the car with them, I can't wait till this summer, a trip down to the Portland Zoo on the train may be in order...
So I went back to work and was met with a note from the Asst Mngr basically threatening me. Not sure exactly what she plans on doing about it seeing as though I've already given up my position, I'm just going through the motions right now. I have 8 days to work in the next 27. After that I step down and move into the office. I don't know what her issue has been lately, probably that she has had to do her actual job. Her job description is that she is suppose to be the one running the Seasonal area of the store, but it's never been enforced because that's what my role has always been so we just left it alone. Well now I've been having some health & family issues and have been outta work more and she's had to do it and it's starting to piss her off I think. I don't really care, makes them think what it's like to have to do that full time and I would have thought it would make them think more about how difficult it is, but no it just makes them get bitchy at me for not being there. Oh well not gonna be my problem soon. Of course they are gonna be in a rude awakening. Our store is VERY SMALL. In order to fit everything in our store you have to be VERY creative. I have done this for 4 years now. I have gotten VERY good at making large quantities of stuff fit into a very small space, all before I ever see the product. That takes time to learn, there is only 2 people in the store that can do that. Me & our store mngr. Good luck to them doing it without me! Apparently I have been in such a mood in the past few months that there was actually a betting pool going on whether or not I would come back or not. One of our cashiers has been telling people that I'm quitting even though all I have said was that I am quitting my position. She took that as I'm quitting my job and took it upon herself to tell EVERYONE at the store (mind you that our store is the size of a postage stamp and we have about 18-20 employees outside of christmas season).
Anyways, I guess I've done enough rambling, I really should go to bed and get some sleep before I have to be back at work today. *sighs* Only a few more days. And Chris did post on his twitter that there will be a date in April, so I have that to look forward to as well :D
The show was good though! Well the show was great, but it's Kane so of course it was :D The crowd was a lot different than what I am used to at the shows. Sure there were some of the "usual" people but there were a lot more that I didn't recognize. But the guys were having fun so the crowd was into it regardless of it being "usual" or "new". People kept yelling random shit from the audience. At one point a group of people started yelling something that NO ONE could understand. Eventually it was found out that they were asking if the band wanted Jello shots, but Chris & Steve kept coming up with "show you my cock" & "cell block cock" before Chris finally made one of them come up to the stage so they could hear them. Yup, the boys had cock on the brain apparently :P They played longer at Duke's than they usually do at Dante's though so that was nice. Bubba ditched me to spend the weekend with his GF so I went with Bubba's ex-wife (who is still very good friends with our entire family) and I kept getting random texts from Bubba all night wanting to know "how things were going" and if I "had scarred Ems yet". Ems grew up very sheltered and this was the first time she had EVER been to a bar and with the exception of an Alabama concert MANY years ago, the first concert she's been too. And let's face it Kane is a far cry from the traditional-sounding Alabama. She had a good time though, and she is a LOT of fun to hang out with. More so now than when she and Bubba were actually married! She was driving so she didn't drink very much, in fact I only got her to take a sip of my patron shot. That sip alone had her laughing for 20 min solid after it kicked in. It was hilarious watching her "experience" Kane for the first time. She did ask me on the way home when/if they were gonna be playing again. I think we have another convert!! She asked if there was a way she could get some of their older music from me. Her favorite songs of the night being One More Shot and Blaze ironically enough. She was a little taken back at how "friendly" the guys were with each other. She was surprised when Chris started smacking Jay and Steve on the ass, but when Chris grabbed Steve's junk I thought she was gonna fall off her stool. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE watching people experience them for the first time? She wasn't too fond of the language, but I was expecting that. She is the preacher's daughter after all :) But overall she is ready to go back for another round!
Bubba was none too pleased. We grew up on Waylon Jennings. Waylon is our Mama's FAVORITE artist. We have heard EVERYTHING he has done. So, that being said, Bubba has gone to several of the shows with me, waiting to hear Kane's live version of Luckenbach Texas. It has yet to happen. I've seen them play it several times, but it always seems to be the times when Bubba has ditched me. Case in point, they played it when they played @ the OR State fair, but not when they played Dante's in Nov, they played it @ Duke's this time, but Bubba was with GF. I say it's Karma for all the times he's ditched me :P
So after a rocky start, the weekend did turn out pretty awesome. After the show I went back to T's place and we just hung out for a few hours before my measly 3 hours of sleep & several dances with Jack D caught up with me and I crashed. I had to catch the train back home on Sun afternoon so I didn't get to see her very much. Of course this trip was pretty much just for Kane anyways, seeing T even for the small time was bonus. I will be heading back down there in a few weeks just to take up space at her place though. Anyways, I had to be back at work Monday so I had to be home Sunday, but unless I had wanted to leave @ 8am, I had to get the "business class" train tickets. Ever hear the song "Where I'm From" by Jason Michael Carroll? Where he's talking about laughing at his jeans & boots next to their fancy shoes & armani suits? Well it may not have been armani, but the other people in "business" class were completely more...Yuppie than me. There were two couples traveling together headed north of Seattle, that kept giving me strange looks in particular. Of course, they were dressed more for country club than country bar. I don't think they appreciated my bleached out jeans & converse very much. I thought it was pretty funny though :D But best surprise of all? Amtrak has added free WiFi on their Cascade trains! It really helped since my cell had died that morning so I was able to get online and chat w/ Mama on the way home to tell her that the train was actually going to arrive early! The kids were so excited they got to go out of the train platform to meet me this time. Last time Mama waited in the car with them, I can't wait till this summer, a trip down to the Portland Zoo on the train may be in order...
So I went back to work and was met with a note from the Asst Mngr basically threatening me. Not sure exactly what she plans on doing about it seeing as though I've already given up my position, I'm just going through the motions right now. I have 8 days to work in the next 27. After that I step down and move into the office. I don't know what her issue has been lately, probably that she has had to do her actual job. Her job description is that she is suppose to be the one running the Seasonal area of the store, but it's never been enforced because that's what my role has always been so we just left it alone. Well now I've been having some health & family issues and have been outta work more and she's had to do it and it's starting to piss her off I think. I don't really care, makes them think what it's like to have to do that full time and I would have thought it would make them think more about how difficult it is, but no it just makes them get bitchy at me for not being there. Oh well not gonna be my problem soon. Of course they are gonna be in a rude awakening. Our store is VERY SMALL. In order to fit everything in our store you have to be VERY creative. I have done this for 4 years now. I have gotten VERY good at making large quantities of stuff fit into a very small space, all before I ever see the product. That takes time to learn, there is only 2 people in the store that can do that. Me & our store mngr. Good luck to them doing it without me! Apparently I have been in such a mood in the past few months that there was actually a betting pool going on whether or not I would come back or not. One of our cashiers has been telling people that I'm quitting even though all I have said was that I am quitting my position. She took that as I'm quitting my job and took it upon herself to tell EVERYONE at the store (mind you that our store is the size of a postage stamp and we have about 18-20 employees outside of christmas season).
Anyways, I guess I've done enough rambling, I really should go to bed and get some sleep before I have to be back at work today. *sighs* Only a few more days. And Chris did post on his twitter that there will be a date in April, so I have that to look forward to as well :D