UNDERTOW 2.20

My Toe Hurts...

DISCLAIMER: Don’t bother pointing out typos because I only have a limited window to crank these babies out and no WAY am I reading it twice. If, however, anyone would like a job as my proofreader I’m currently hiring. It pays $0/ week for 45 minutes/ week.

NEW JOB OF THE WEEK:

So, as discussed in weeks prior, I have officially left Cape Regional Mecial Center Cooper University Hospital- Cape Regional and begun a new employment chapter at Old Navy (the reason I haven’t written in about two weeks, I’m too damn tired and busy). I didn’t hate my job at the hospital. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. And I was really good at it. It just didn’t pay enough. And because of the (stupid) rules of the UWCF Union I was part of, they could not just give me a raise without giving one to the entire department. So my good work went unrewarded, while the awful work of the people entrenched before me continues apace, and there’s really nothing they can do about it, as it is notoriously difficult to be fired from a union job.

But enough about that, I’m not there anymore. I finished my last hospital shift at 2pm last Monday (so many tears were shed I’m kidding no one gave a wet fuck) and began my first Old Navy shift at 10am last Tuesday. Admittedly, the hardest part of my hospital job was getting up at 5am every day. But now, now, I have to get up at… 430am to make my 6am shift in May’s Landing (where I’m training last week and the rest of this week before we get into our Rio Grande store one week from today). It’s… a lot. BUT, it’s only for two weeks and it’s not every day and when my commute goes from 45-50 minutes to 4.5-5.0 minutes I’ll be able to get a little more of that, what do you call it, sleep!

My official job title is “Senior Lead” (and not because I’m old ha ha) which means I’ll have a little more responsibility than a regular associate and train new people and all that stuff. I could have been the Shipment & Product Manager but I didn’t have a completely clear schedule what with all my singing shenanigans, which I’m not ready to give up quite yet. And I’m kind of babbling now because it’s a lot and my head is swimming a bit as I’m on informtation overload atop sleep deprivation (work, gig, work, work, work, gig, work, gig, gig, gig, work, gig, gig is my last seven days) but, in short, I think it’s going to work out pretty well.

The Old Navy management I’ve met so far often ask me, “Is Rio Grande excited to get an Old Navy?” I always reply with, “For 20 years we had a Taco Bell. That Taco Bell closed, became a pizza place, a Mexican place, what have you. Then they knocked down the old Taco Bell and built a new Taco Bell and you couldn’t get into that Taco Bell for three months because the lobby and drive-thru were contantly overrun. And we had a Taco Bell for 20 years. So yeah, people are excited for an Old Navy.”

Opens August 31st, come by and say hello. If I’m there. I have a lot of gigs that weekend. Speaking of…

GIGS OF THE WEEK:

THURSDAY 8/15: Terry & Dave, Jersey Girl, 530-930. Jerry Kolber will be somewhere with his other partner so I’ll be seeing a younger man in “Sugar” Dave Hughes who will appreciate me and make me feel needed. Possible special guest in Olivia Maxlowe if she can find a babysitter for little Levi.

FRIDAY 8/16: Terry & Jerry, Joe’s Fish Co. on Surfside Pier at Morey’s for the 50th birthday celebration of Curley’s Fries. 1230-2. Ironically, I’ve eaten 50 years worth of Curley’s Fries in only 10 short years. (Also, it’s CURLEY’S FRIES, not CURLY FRIES. Knowledge is power.)

FRIDAY 8/16 (AGAIN): Terry & Jerry, La Mer, 6-9. Last time we played La Mar it was seriously one of our best gigs of the summer and one of my favorite gigs ever. With their new post-renevation layout, with several rows of lawn chairs in front of a wall of hotel balconies, it feels like playing a small amphitheater, like Red Rocks or the Hollywood Bowl. A thick fog blew in after sundown and it was just a really great atmposhpere. It probably won’t be half as good this time but still, come on by, you never know.

SUNDAY 8/18: Terry & Jerry with special guest Stephanie Ball, Beach Shack at Rusty Nail, 5-9. This will mark the end of our summer trio experiment and is our next-to-last Sunday gig, but we do have a number of “band” gigs inside in September, which I’ll keep you abreast of.

AND JUST IN CASE I DON’T POST AGAIN BETWEEN NOW AND THEN THURSDAY 8/22: Terry & Jerry, Jersey Girl, 530-930.