I warn you about that, because this is not a blow-by-blow retelling of the 3 days she was here. Mostly because for the first time, in all the times that I have gone to see her, I felt like more of a friend seeing an out of town guest, rather than just a fan.
In fact this visit I was the most relaxed around her, that I have ever been. Our conversations were wide ranging, from personal stuff, all the way to the other extreme.
And, while I would never presume to speak for her, it seemed like she was very relaxed as well.
So, she was in my town, Houston, to feature at a club called LaChatte on 21-23 of May. I had never heard of it before, much less been. In fact, I had resisted going to "check it out" because frankly, I just wanted to experience it with her there, and being there before would have spoiled it.
So, Anyway, Some real life stuff before the telling. I had, 2 weeks prior, accepted a new job at a local, nationally known, hospital, and had given my 2 weeks notice to the college. This week was to be my very last week.
Prior to giving notice, my bosses at the college finally gave me the go-ahead to do the email upgrade project. Finally after nearly 2 years of talking about it, I get permission to start, and that week, I get the call from the new place, with an outstanding offer. One that I couldn't and wouldn't turn down. But, I told them that I had promised my present employers that I would complete somthing, and so, asked for an additional week to start.
They were agreeable but, let me tell you, I knew that I had basically 2.4 weeks stand up the new email, AND, after giving notice, having to teach others what I do, so that the college would not me left in too big a bind. I know, I know, I should not care, but, that is not the way I am built. I heard the "once a Task..." poem ripple through my head, and decided that I would do everything, including working some ridiculous hours, to get the new Exchange 2010 system stood up, and as near to "production" as I could get it.
I originally told my bosses, that I would need 6 week to get it done. Six weeks is, if you only work 40 hour weeks, 240 hours. I had added a week into that original estimated, as a "slush" protection because, well, really, I did not know what I was doing, and was basically doing the install by reading technical white papers, and 2 e-books.
So, from Tuesday one week, to the Friday of the next week, working 6 days a week, I put in 179 hours at the office. Basically, 4.5 weeks of work, in 8 "work" days. I took a lot of flack from my Son, and several co-workers, because they thought I was working too hard, and harming myself.
But, I COULD NOT STOP. Even after working a 14+ hour day, I would sit here on the couch, and read online stuff to help me though a problem I was having, or, boning up for the next day. Even Raen voiced her concern, and she didn't know too much.
But, in the end, I got the systems up, and documented the process, then, supervised while the Admins set up servers in the DR (DR=Disaster Recovery) site.
During this time, I realized that I had messed up, and the term date at the college, and the start date at the hospital, were a week apart. Knowing that I was only going to be working half days the week that Prinzzess was in town (this had been approved for many weeks, and there was no way the boss was going to say no), I offered to the college to extend my last week to the 31st, in order to facilitate the brain dumping of knowledge. Amazingly, they turned me down. Said the date was "already progranned" into the SAP system, and could not be changed.
So Monday the 20th came, and Prinzzess tweeted that she was headed into town, and at the end of the day, I had finished documenting the process for installing/configuring the new software. I also had a list from the Admins for specific things that I did, that they didn't, and I completed those as well. The plan was they were going to do the DR build to validate my documentation, and learn how all that stuff worked.
I worked late that day, but not too late, as I had dinner with Number-One, the oldest daughter, While having dinner, I got the text that Prinzzess had landed, and was getting ready to go the hotel. I thought about going to the House of Pies, and getting her favorite pie, and taking to the hotel, but, she told me she had some girl stuff to do (You know, wash her hair!), and so I agreed to see her at the club the next day.
So Tuesday at work, arriving at 5:30 AM, I cleaned out the desk, and packed the few things that I had. I had picked up a rental car the day before, because I was reprising my role as "Prinzzess' Driver", to facilitate me being able to hang out better.
She had told me that they were going to have her dance at 1:00, which turns out to be 1 hour after the club opened. Getting there, I pulled into the parking lot, and went in. I was about 30 minutes early.
The place was dead. No, that is just being kind. There was the security guy, the waitress/bartender, and one entertainer. Oh, and me.
I texted Prinzzess to let her know, because she had not yet left the hotel, and I thought that was odd, because if you are going to have her dance, she has prep stuff that she has to do, that takes more than 10 minutes.
She texted back that they had moved the start time to 1:30, and said she would see me soon. About 1:15, I finally see her, and for a moment, I was all giggly and tingly like a school girl. The Crowd, you ask? no change.
She had said in an earlier text message, when we were discussing places to go, and things to do, between then day and night show, that she would like to go to the Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid, located in Galveston, TX, about 50 miles south of Houston. What's that you ask? They built a huge glass pyramid, and then inside built a ranforest, with animals, and birds, and fish, and butterflies. I also talked about taking her to the butterfly exhibit at the museum of science, here in Houston.
But, both places closed pretty early (5 and 6), so, I knew that if we were going, we would need to be out of the club by 2:30, at the latest. Well, in what became a pattern for the entire week, they kept telling her that they wanted to push it back. Finally, they allowed her to come out and dance at 2:45. The club was mostly empty, but, the ultimate professional that she is, she came out to a butchered intro, wearing none other than the Blue Pirate outfit.
I did not write down the music, but, it was the same as when she was in Pittsburgh the previous month, and so, you can read back if you are interested. (Editor's Note: As I said up at the top, not a normal blog post.) Since there were less than 10 people (customers and employees/entertainers) the tipping was not too good in my opinion. I tipped, but I always do. I mean, I appreciated the show.
After the dance she came out, signed a few posters, and what not, and then prepared to leave. By now, I knew at there was no way to see either of the previous things, but, we did have time to see a movie, which she had suggested as an alternative.
Security at the club was tight, and they insisted that they drive her to and from the club, so, Prinzzess told me where it was, and I told her we would meet there.
I waited 5 minutes after she headed out, and, then went to hotel. Picking her up, I explained we didn't have time to go to either the rainforest, or the museum, and suggested a movie, since there was a theater within a half mile of the hotel.
Of course, if you follow me on Twitter, you know that we went to see The Great Gatsby. It was a good movie, and I thought, stayed very true to Fitzgerald's book. Prinzzess had never read it, or seen the original version of the movie with Robert Redford in it. But she seemed to like it, and we had fun. Leaving there, we decided to get some food at the Chili's that happened to be located in the same parking lot as the theater. She had a coupon for an appetizer, and they we split some dinner.
We discussed the club and how they were trying to build up their mid week crowd, by bringing in feature dancers. They had not done that (had a feature dancer) in ten years, and it kind of showed. we talked about the security, and how they were insisting that she be taken back and forth. So, we hung out, and talked about 9000 things, and then I dropped her off, and found a quiet corner of a parking lot, and napped. (By now, I was into my 14th hour of being awake, and I knew that I was going to be up until 2:00 AM)
She had two night shows scheduled, 9:00 and midnight, Getting there, around 8, I realized that the place was dead. There was really only 10 customers there. I texted P, and let her know. She said they wanted to push her show to 10:00. I could talk about the club for many paragraphs, but will leave it like this. They need to plan better, and understand that feature dancers perform the shows they are contracted for, and that's it. The clubs apparent expectation was that she would be there, continuously from 6 at night to 2:30 AM. Not real life.
Just because we are keeping track, the two dances, First was Prinzzess in the Army outfit. Next, Prinzzess in the Black Pirate outfit. The music for Black Pirate was different, but, I did not realize that until halfway into the second song, and she was only dancing three song sets... (Editor's Note: She told us later that she had changed the music.)
I was finally in bed at 3:00, and I knew that 5:30 was coming fast, and that I needed to finish some stuff. The clock went off, and I turned the alarm off, knowing that the 6:00 one would wake me. Going to work, They told me that the big boss had said they might be able to extend my term date to the 31st, because they all recognized that I had been working my ass off to get mail stood up, even though I was leaving. After having that meeting, I looked around, and realized that I really only had 1 more thing that I "owed" in the way of documentation, and one last meeting. So, I threw myself into the work, and next thing I know, its 10:00, and time for the meeting, and I was done with the documentation.
At this point, I was finally able to relax. Because I knew that I was done. What a relief.
After the meeting, I cleaned out the desk, shredded the papers, and put the 5 things I was taking home into my backpack. The Admins sensed that I had relaxed, and left me alone. I took an early lunch, and napped on the couch in the student area (Editor's Note: We will miss that couch when we move to the hospital.)
After the meeting, my boss calls me in, and asks me to compile a "what I didn't get done/next steps" email so that the remaining members of the Messaging Team knew what to do next. I told him that I would do that, even though, I thought it was out of of bounds. But, I am a nice guy, and I did it.
After my nap, I walked through, picked up the car keys, and left. Prinzzess had texted me that she was up, mobile, and ready to go. The club has decided that they weren't going to have her on stage at 1:00, and told her 6 PM instead. So, we literally had all afternoon to go to the rainforest pyramid. Picking her up, we had to run errands, because Prinzzess cannot do less than 3 things at a time. She absolutely fits textbook definition of the word "workaholic" to a tee.
Getting to the place, I have to say that I tried to just hang back, and let her go at her own pace, and not ramble on like I am known to do. There is a hall, right before you actually get into the pyramid, that when you stand in certain places, you are inundated with sounds from the rain forest.
She got this awesome expression, and then said, this is just like being in the rainforest, from when she was a kid. She just stopped in the spots, and you could see her eyes close, while she remembered. It was a very cool moment.
Later, she said that it was her favorite part of the whole place. :)
I have some short videos of her interacting with the butterflies, and pictures of birds, and a monkey or two, as I found myself mostly taking pictures of her, with her camera. She did send me one, and ask me to post it to Twitter, as well as one of the butterfly vids that I captured.
I think we were there for a couple of hours, and then it was time to head out. By now, the biscuit from breakfast was gone, and I think my body was working on the muscle in my leg. I was starving! I told her, and we decided to stop at Sonic, and I got some tots, and chicken things, and a drink, and she got some kind of wrap, and a smaller drink.
Heading back to Houston, we talked about things that we could do the next day, and she asked me if I was willing to shuttle her back and forth that night to the club. I told her yes, and dropped her at the hotel, then went back to my corner of the parking lot from the night before, and slept for an hour.
Arriving at the club, for a 6:30 show time, there weren't many people there.
She sent me a text and told me she needed to go to a store after that dance, and get some stuff. I told her okay.
Soon she came out for the dance, and to be honest, I do not remember anymore. I know I tipped...and it seemed like a few others tipped, but, not as well as the night before. :(
While she was doing the Meet and Greet portion of the thing, she told me that she had told the manager that I was going to be driving her the rest of the night.
So, after all the stuff was over, she appeared in her street clothes, and off we went to Wal-Mart. I dropped her off at the door, because she only needed a few things. I idled in the parking lot for like 25 minutes and finally texted her to be sure that she was okay, and she replied asking me to come in.
So, parking the car, I went in. While going in, a lady, with a baby, a toddler, and a child probably 8 or so, approached me, asking for money. I just said no, and went inside.
Finding Prinzzess, she had a number of things, that I was expecting, and several jars of baby food. Now, I know adults, personally, that like baby food. Especially women who are dieting, because its high in protein, and you know exactly how many calories you are consuming. I told her that we were going to be eating together the next few times, and she replied, these are for a woman outside.
I was floored. I cannot really enumerate the reasons for that. All I know is that my appreciation of Prinzzess' heart, doubled.
The look on that woman's face when P handed it over was priceless. I had no words. Charity in action. On our way back to the hotel, I told her that I loved her heart, as it was the only words I could string together.
This girl, if you don't already know it. Is Special.
Dropping her off, I waited in my spot for her call. I think I waited like 45 minutes, and receiving the call, met her at the door. She said the club had called while she was doing her hair, and were upset that she wasn't there at the club even though she wasn't supposed to dance until 10:00.
The folks at this club have unrealistic expectations of feature dancers....
Looking at the rest of the crowd, it didn't seem like they were tipping at all. There was an older couple there, that I had seen earlier, that seemed to be half-way-to-drunk. There were several entertainer girls hanging out with them. Otherwise, there was only fellows like myself, sitting alone, and drinking,
So, let me just say this about that drinking thing. I limited myself to one drink all night, and the rest of the time, I drank RedBull. I constantly remind myself of how stupid I got in Oklahoma City, and that I don't want to do that again. Plus, I had P in the car, and that is too big a responsibility to screw around with.
I had asked P if she was going dance the Angel show, and she had told me that she would dance on Thursday night. I also asked about the music, and if she had changed it from the music I had helped her pick back in Pittsburgh. She told me that she was still using the same music that she and I originally picked. Remember that tingly, giggly feeling I described before? Well, I got it again.
So, pretty soon, she comes out for the first show, and she is wearing the leather motorcycle outfit. Super Hot. There was lotion, and dancing, and lotion. Whew. Tipping seemed bad. Real Bad. Like house dancer bad. I just don't understand folks. As an aside, there was table with probably 6-8 people, equally mixed in genders, and during the dance, the girl was trying to take pictures with her cell phone. Prinzzess asked me to tell the manager, so I did, and he spoke to her, and she put the phone away. But, he didn't make her delete the pics that she had taken. Stupid.
The last show of the night for Wednesday was played to mostly an empty room. I mostly stood at the main stage, and threw tips, so I didn't look around, but, the tipping from other people, from my perspective, was not too good. Maybe having a feature dancer on a Wednesday is such a great idea...
After the meet and greet, we finally got out of the club at 2:30. I dropped her off at the hotel, and was home, by 3:00. I was beat. But, I knew that Thursday (which it already was!) was the last full day in the office, and so, slept for 2 hours, and was up, and out the door by 5:30.
Arriving at the office, I went through the last of the "To Do" lists, and realized that all the hard work had paid off, and I was done. Sure the system wasn't in production, but, it was as close as I could get it. I wrote an email to the messaging team explaining the 7 things that needed to be done from that point forward to get everything done. By the time my boss got there, I was done with that, and he and I talked about "extending the term date" thing from earlier in the week, where he informed me that he had not been able to extend it. I told him that was fine, although I did not really want to be off, because I like to work, and stay busy. He informed me that they had decided that they were going to take me to lunch on Friday, and I needed to pick a place. I told him it wasn't necessary, but he insisted. It was odd, because there was no mention in the entire department about my leaving, there was no party, or cookies or anything. In fact, my bosses boss, just stopped speaking to me at all after I gave notice. I was told by a co-worker that he was "mad" that I was leaving. There was talk that me leaving when I did would cripple the email project, and possibly make him look bad, because its "his" project.
Who knows? In fact, at this juncture a week later, I am at peace about my performance in those last few weeks. I worked as hard/harder as I ever did, and exceeded the expectations of my immediate boss in getting the new Exchange 2010 system stood up and functional.
And, back to that Thursday morning, around 8:00 AM, I realized that I was done. Like that last line in the poem, I did not leave it until I was done. And at that point, I just shifted into 6th gear, set the cruise, and coasted through the day. Only one of the Admins were in the office this day, the other taking her "work from home day". (Editor's Note: We think it is stupid for people to have/take work from home while complaining that they do not have enough time to ask me questions about the stuff that I do, because I am only working half days! If you were interested in learning, you should have been in the office! We were, every single day.)
Prinzzess had told me that she had stuff to do when she woke up, and would let me know when I could pick her up, I heard from her first around noon that she was up, and that she was doing emails, and phone calls, and the like. I told her that I was ready to pick her up anytime, and that we could go to lunch. I knew that she had some "business" stuff that afternoon, so, we wouldn't be hanging the entire time.
I left the office at 1:00, and meeting her at the hotel, we proceeded to the House of Pies. This is my favorite place to eat pie from, and the source of all the pie that I have taken to Prinzzess since last summer.
Getting to the diner we had lunch, and she talked about the afternoon stuff she had to do. By this time, I had about 7-8 hours of sleep, in 3 days, and was a little punchy, so, after lunch, I found that shady spot in the parking lot, and fell right to sleep. I think it was the best 3 hours of sleep I had all week.
Soon enough, I got text, and it was time to start the roller coaster that is a night in the club with Prinzzess. Three shows tonight, 6:00, 11:00 and 1:00. She told me that she would be leaving after the 6:00 show and going back to the hotel, as she was trying to get her flights changed, and it being Memorial Day weekend, was turning out to be a bit of a nightmare.
So, getting in the club, and getting to a table, I realized that the crowd was already better than it had been either night before, including a large table of folks near the front, that I assumed from the way the Manager was hovering were some kind of VIP's. There was also, a large table full of people, eight to ten people that were in their mid-to-late twenties, that were just about equally mixed in genders. Plus, as always, lots of single dudes nursing their beers, and what had to be two dozen, house entertainers. Like I said. Big crowd for a Thursday, at 6:30 show.
The club only pushed her first show back an hour, so, she was on stage at 7:30. Whirling and twirling. Spinning, and smiling. There was, my favorite, the "make a porn star wet", where, with a spray bottle of warm water, we got to squirt all over her. I did it twice. I was being a little like a pig this night. But, I tipped, so, ItsAllGood. I think she sold a DVD, and then the red blankie came out, then the lotion, and the we spent time putting dollar bills all over the her. It was during this show that P leaned over and asked me to get the "kids" (my word, not hers), in the front to stop taking pictures. I told the manager, and he spoke to her, and she put the phone up, but did not make her delete the pics that she had already taken. Stupid people. I mean, its how she makes her money for goodness sake!
(Editor's Note: You will notice, in the account above, no costume, and no music was mentioned. That's because we were brain dead, and under Prinzzess spell. I mean, that smile, and well, oh its just too much! How are we supposed to overcome its powerful controlling influence? Also, except for the last dance, we didn't get anything)
So, when she came out for the meet and greet part of he night, the manager that had been hovering around the previously mentioned "VIP Table", came and got her, and took her over there. She barely got two posters signed this time before it happened.
I was sitting in my spot near the back of the room, and realized that her stuff on the table were not being watched, so, being a friend, I went and sat there and watched it. At this point, I assumed that the plan was to take her back to the hotel, so she could start packing up for an early morning drop off at the airport.
After about 30 minutes, I peeked over, and she seemed to be listening/talking to the people, with no intention to come back. Since no one was coming over to buy her stuff, I just stacked it up, and read twitter. Time passed, and I saw Prinzzess standing near her dressing room door, and talking to the main manager, and I could only imagine that she was telling him that hanging out in the club, all evening was not in the cards, but, soon enough I saw her go back to the table.
I think, all told she sat there for 2.5 hours that night, never once, to my witness, getting a private dance from anyone at the table. Later, when I asked her what was up with those people, she said that the manager told her they were going to buy dances, and whatever, and that they were VIP's. But, she said that other than tipping during the last dance (The Angel Dance), they just sat and talked.
I am still a little upset as I retell that because, even I know that you do not monopolize a Features time like that.
So, around 11:00 Prinzzess comes out for her second dance of the night, and the next-to-last of the entire Houston trip. Do, I know anything that happened? Nope, except that I ran out of "tipping money" during this dance. Dunno how I did that, but, I did. So, I had to use the ATM in the club, with its ridiculous 7.50 "Service Fee" to get more for the last show. In conclusion? That second dance must have been a doozy, as I ran out of money!
During the meet and greet, I went and sat at the table with her, and we talked for a little bit. I got the sense that she was upset about "having" to spend nearly 3 hours in the club, with those folks, but, she never really said it like that. Like I said, I sensed it. If it is wrong, my apologies to Prinzzess, and those folks.
We talked about the last show, and plans for going home, and all the stuff that she was going to be doing the next week after returning home. We even talked about my apparent lack of alcohol intake. I told her that I didn't want to drink, and she smiled and said she was glad.
I do not need to drink to have a good time. Despite what my twitter feed looks like sometimes! :)
So, the last dance. The Angel Dance.
I have described the costume before. It's hand made of feathers, worn over some very pretty white panties, and a white Corset, Bra, and Monster 6+ inches of white stilettos, and all of that is bedazzled to the nines with silver studs, and stones. It is a sight to behold, and as I twittered that night, if you haven't seen it, you owe it to yourself to get on a plane, and go catch the show.
It'll wow you! I promise.
I do have the music that she dances to, here you go:
- But I am a Good Girl (from Burlesque)
- Show me how you Burlesque (Also from Burlesque)
- Angel on my Shoulder (Kaskade)
- Electric Chapel
The last time that I saw this show, I was in Pittsburgh, and she had only done it twice while I was there. She has been on the road several times since then, and danced it. This time the dancing, and the music, and the "choreography" (Editor's Note: We are not sure if this is the right word here. We mean, the dance movements while wearing the actual costume) all really flowed well. By the time she was halfway through Angel on my Shoulder, the feathers, and the white corsets/bra/shoes had been put into the basket, and the red blankie was out, and lotion was being applied.
I won't lie, the tipping was pretty great, compared to previous nights, and dances. Even the VIP's got up and tipped. The show ended all too soon, even though a later examination of the few notes that I took, showed that she was on stage for 25 minutes...
Coming out for the meet and greet, there were many people waiting to see her, and she spent time with them all.
It was during this time, that I found out that the rental car had been hit in the parking lot while she was dancing, apparently by someone arriving at the club too drunk to be let in. The damage was minor, and since I had the CDW, I didn't sweat it too much. In the end, I had minor damage, as compared to the other 3 cars that got hit.
And so, we come to the end of the week (three days) with Prinzzess in Houston. I have since recovered from the severe lack of sleep, and finished my employment at Baylor.
New Adventures await for the retelling.
Namaste, My Friends.
I Love You All.
See You On The Other Side
(Editor's Note: Yes, this is too long, and too rambling, and too everything. I SHOULD have broken it up. I am lazy. If you read this far, Congrats. You can always send me your comment to leeflowers at gmail dot com)