Moving Right Along

I finished up my last day of work. In the last two days I managed to pocket nearly $700 in cash. Oh, how the gods do tease me! If only my entire summer had been like that... Nonetheless, while the waiting tables gig has been interesting, but I find it would only be so if, as it has been, it were a temporary diversion.

Even as I was finishing up a near record day (having sold nearly $2900 in food and booze), managers and co-workers alike continued to say/beg/plead/pray/joke that I'd be back next summer while some simply couldn't believe that I was actually leaving. I'm willing to bet that if there's a Purgatory, that's how the denizens behave when a fellow leaves. Perhaps prison as well... I've experienced this before, when I left the little town of Beaufort for good after high school. Though Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, it has a very small town perspective in thinking that there isn't a world outside.

There is a world outside, and, in fact, there's a pretty damn big state outside of Anchorage. Though my flight is on the 14th (and arrives the 15th), I'm going to do a whirlwind exploration of Alaska and see as much of it as I can. I'm armed with a reasonable amount of cash, very little sense, no concrete plan, bizarre facial hair, and a sizeable firearm.

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Random Thoughts/Incidents (Oh, the People You'll Meet)

1. I waited on a couple from Philadelphia who were quite pleased with my being from South Carolina. That is, until they discovered that I have never been to a NASCAR race. I found this quite peculiar until, out of nowhere, the husband said, "We agreed with y'all about the Confederate Flag!" and the wife said, "Yeah, we understand. We live with them."

2. On one of my few nice days up on the top deck bar, an old man with a white beard, wearing cowboy boots, blue jeans, a denim jacket, and a stetson came up to my bar while there was a lull. He asked, "You got any 'Matanuska Thunder(screw)'?

"Um" I gamely but confusedly said, "I only have beer, wine and soda up here. You might wanna try the bar downstairs. They do the mixed drinks."

He looked consternated. "Nah, man, it's weed!"

"Oh!" I said, surprised, "nope, sorry. Not my thing."

He squirmed, "it's for medicinal purposes...I gotta use it for my..." and he slinked away.

When I wear this facial hair, I get asked about drugs a lot. A few weeks before, a guy riding a bike stopped me on the middle of the sidewalk and asked if I wanted weed or cocaine. When Andrew and I were in Cuzco, same deal. "Quieres marijuana o cocaina?" I may have a future as a Narc.

That should scare the bejesus out of some of my law school friends to say.

3. I hear some pretty stupid conversations when I'm waiting tables or bartending. As I was doing my thing behind the bar two hispanic men struck up a conversation with a vapid woman. She asked if they were Mexican and when they said they were, she asked if they were from Mexico City. It turned out they were.

""What a coincidence! First boy I ever french kissed was a Mexican named Eduardo... from Mexican City...It's a small world."

Small world? Let's see...the woman probably would have a hard time naming another hispanic country other than Mexico and then the only city she probably knew was "Mexican City". Add to that the fact that Mexico City is the LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD, and it's not much of a coincidence. Sorta like if those Mexican men ever meet another Alaskan down in Mexico City who turns out to be from Anchorage (where half the population of Alaska resides) they can say, "What a coincidence! I wasted 3 minutes of my life talking to an idiotic woman from Anchorage...It's a small world."