Good things must come in pairs.

I guess with the change in weather came too a change in luck. But I will get to that in a moment. Last night was one of the best I've had since being in Alaska. It is hard to compete with hanging out with a bunch of drunken sailors everyday, but last night held its own and is up there with the big leagues.

The night started like any regular night with shitty weather. The Stratosphere Lounge was as empty as my bed every night. (OH. Unexpected stab in the heart much, Jess?) I don't mind a vacant building much when I open shop because I don't get tips with that shift. The slower it is, the less I have to clean. It gives me the freedom to prance around, give the mid-shift a hard time, and be loud and obnoxious. This night is a perfect example of what can happen when business is slow, and that example is just mediocre. I am capable of being much worse. I get ornery when there are no customers to attend to, which was the situation last night.

The staff sat around, smoked hookah, and enjoyed each other. (Not so much me though. They were too busy hating me for putting nasty images of eating one another as a last resort to getting snowed in at work in their heads. Hey, you can never be too prepared. I was just a little too descriptive.) Then, out of the blue, I heard my name being called.

I wheeled around and realized that two of my good friends from high school had stopped in to see if I was around. Zeke and Nick practically defined my junior and senior year. It was refreshing to see them. We all smoked, had a few drinks, and caught up. I introduced them to Mason, the newest addition to the Strat staff, and we ended up spending hours just laughing. By the time they left, I was buzzed and nostalgic. Life is good, ya'll.

Hoot came in to take over my shift, but because the snow was falling, I decided to stay in town for fear that shit cloud would make the snow turn against me and cause an instant (or very slow and painful, knowing shit cloud) death. He agreed that it would be better if I didn't chance it and offered his apartment to me to use for sleeping purposes, though I was so tired that the couch at work was in danger of being used for just that. Because Hoot was closing, I had to stick around until after hours. That's until about 3 a.m. I had been at work since four in the afternoon. Too much nicotine!

After a brief, but surprisingly pleasant nap, another familiar face decided to make an appearance. Scratch that. A few did. In came my boss, Ashli (a friend of his and mine) and Sam, an old co-worker. Sam hadn't seen me since I left for Alaska, so the man was practically in tears when he saw me. I missed him. We had our reunion, then proceeded to hangout behind the register as Hoot closed shop.

That's when the snow really started to stick to the ground, and that is when my boss decided that it would be an awesome idea to have a snow fight behind the register, which is terrible because I was wearing layers. When snow manages to get between layer number one and layer number two, shit gets cold. Shit gets really fucking cold.

By the time Hoot was finished closing out the register, I was freezing and was even tempted to lock out my boss from his own business in an attempt to escape from further nipple hardening snow battles. I decided against it and instead laid down on the couch to fight my nicotine headache. I was started by my boss, who decided that another grand idea would be to place pieces of furniture on me as I stretched out. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't even fight it. By the time he was done, I had two big ass couch cushions on my head and a table on the rest of me. He left before I could escape from my furniture prison. Curse him.

I then gathered my things and walked to my Jeep with Hoot. Little did I realize, neither I nor Hoot were prepared for the amount of snow that stuck to the ground. Our boots had little to no grip and we spent a little under ten minutes traveling to my Jeep that was parked just a block away. We looked ridiculous, like a bunch of Texans would look in a mini snow storm. Our arms were spread out for balance, we were significantly under dressed, yet we were still in awe of this alien substance people called snow. So in a way, though we were chilled to the bone, we were having fun, but we looked stupid doing it.

Hoot and I managed to get to the car alive, only it was caked with ice that I couldn't scrape because I live in fucking Texas and I shouldn't have to own one of those things.

"I have one in my car..." Hoot smiled.

"Oh shut it Mr. Prepared for everything but my car is in the direction we just came from!"

In an effort to get home, we sat in the car and let it heat up until the windows were covered in slush that was easily swiped away by my windshield wipers. Then we were off into the white abyss. I couldn't make out the lines beneath the snow, but the streets were void of cars anyway so I wasn't too concerned. The freedom of having the road to yourself, where if you decide to drive 10 mph to take in the view around you, is really arousing to the senses. I didn't have to worry about a car on my ass honking for me to get a move on. I was at ease, creeping down the road, enjoying the heat, the company, and the view. People are always in such a hurry in every aspect of their lives. I swear, doing what Hoot and I did was as refreshing as refreshing can be. Sometimes you just have to stop to smell the roses, y'know?

I managed to sleep off the headache, and woke to amazing news. Here are the texts that occurred:

Me: "Hey boss that piles furniture on me as he would Katie. You think you could work without a mid tomorrow?"

Bossman: "I'm not sure is there anyone who would take it?"

Me: "Absolutely not. lol Everyone is fucking out of town. People who have lives... I want to have one too!"

Bossman: "It'll be cool. I'll get my bro to help."

YES. OH MY FUCKING GOSH YES. OPERATION PARTY IS A-GO! Now I can work on my musical and book because I'm not busy feeling sorry for myself! Today is a glorious day!

Side note: I also discovered, upon checking Blogger, that a follower of mine, Ela, declared me as one of her favorite bloggers. My happiness has just surpassed the line of hysteria. I can't handle how amazing today has been. Thank you for reminding me that I have wonderful readers.