A Humbling Couple of Weeks....

[fireheart]

I think so...if budgie-smugglers are guys wearing Speedo type bottoms that leave pretty much nothing to the imagination. Which is what banana hammocks are.

Down here it can refer to that or just to the briefs themselves.

Down here, it's a lot more common to see them on younger boys because a lot of swim schools do not allow students to wear boardies for swim lessons.

[Jester]

Banana Hammock sounds like an American term for budgie-smugglers...

I think so...if budgie-smugglers are guys wearing Speedo type bottoms that leave pretty much nothing to the imagination. Which is what banana hammocks are.

Yeah, I hope the year continues along this path as well....now I just have to get in better shape and get a date at some point. Preferably with a female. With a pulse.

Yeah, I'm picky, I know.

[antlan87]

Hope you don't get stuck with the feeling that the highlight of your year is already. That can lessen your enjoyment of future events.

[Mishi]

It's actually QLD one!

Congrats Jester, I hope your year keeps running along like this.

[fireheart]

Banana Hammock sounds like an American term for budgie-smugglers

But good call on the drinks and congrats on your very awesome start to the year!

[Jester]

...but in the best possible way!

PART ONE: Last week I was featured in a story about the magic shop I work in. Even though I only work there one day a week, that was the day the people with one of the local free papers (that highlights, ironically, Key West's history) showed up, intent on doing a story on said magic shop. Purely by chance, as I had no idea this was going to be happening, I wore very nice clothes...the type I typically wear at the restaurant on Wednesday nights to do magic (business casual), whereas at the magic shop I'll typically just wear shorts and an amusing t-shirt or magic-themed shirt. For whatever reason, that day I decided to just dress once. Which was good luck on my part, as the story did feature a prominent photograph of me doing said magic.

PART TWO: Sunday was the five year anniversary of my first day at The Bar. (There is only one bartender who's been there longer than me, and three front of the house people total, and they all opened the damn place!) I don't work Sundays, but on Monday the GM came up to me and told me he had a present for me. My immediate response was "Uh oh!" figuring it was some extra side project or something. (And I do enough of those, let me tell you.) It wasn't. It was an actual present for my five years of service. So I'm thinking a card or something, nothing major, maybe a little bottle of rum.

Nope.

It was a GORGEOUS framed print, about the size of my tv, depicting the evolution of the Oakland Raiders jerseys over their history. To a lot of people that would be a "so what?" thing. To me, a Raiders diehard fan, this was AWESOME! And it was a good thing I drove to work that day, rather than ride my bike, as there was no way I was getting that thing home on my bike!

PART THREE: Yesterday at work, my boss surprised me yet again, letting me know that The Bar would be sponsoring myself and another of our bartenders for a prestigious mixology course. The course involves several weeks online and then one live seminar in Miami in May. The liquor company sponsoring it pays all but a small amount that the participants pay, but my boss told me that The Bar would be picking that fee up, along with gas money to get there and one night's hotel stay. (I will probably stay two nights and have fun...what the hell, right? I need to talk to the other bartender and see if she wants to commute together and spend the extra night, but she may want to go up separately and do other things, possibly bringing her boyfriend along, etc.)

I should point out that there are hundreds of bars in this town, and so there are a LOT of bartenders...and the liquor company sponsoring this had only allocated ten slots for all of Key West. And our bar got two of them. And one of them was ME.

I know this has a bit to do with my years of service, and my extra work as the Rum Guy at the bar, but I have to think I helped myself just a little bit last Friday. Kind of a dead shift, and the boss man calls on the phone from the upstairs office. Tells me he needs me to come up with a cocktail for each of the three Barbancourt rums we carry.

JESTER: "Sure, no problem. When do you want them by?
BOSS: "I was thinking the end of the shift?"
JESTER: "Say WHAT?"
BOSS: "End of the weekend? The Barbancourt people are going to be here next week, and I need this done."
JESTER: "Okay...I'll see what I can do."

And I'm thinking to myself, how in the flying fuck am I going to pull this off? I'm not even that big a fan of Barbancourt, as it is Haitian, and I tend to not be a fan of any rums that are made in the French style, as Haitian rum (or more accurately, "rhum") is.

Fifteen minutes later, I knocked on the office door and handed him a slip of paper.

BOSS: "What's this?"
JESTER: "The three drinks you wanted. Hope you like them."
BOSS:

He emailed the Barbancourt people, and not only did they love the drinks, they loved the names I came up for them:

For the rum Manhattan made with the Barbancourt Reserve 15 year: "Haitian Sensation."
For the rum margarita made with the Barbancourt 5 Star 8 year: "Barb & Rita."
And the consensus favorite, for the tropical cooler type drink made with the Barbancourt Pango, their flavored rum: "Banana Hammock."

Yeah....good start to the year!