2006-06-15 - 12:20 a.m.
Every cloud has a silver lining, but in order to get that silver lining, there's gotta be a damn cloud in the first place.
Friday was my last day as a tour guide at harley. I've made no secret, really, of how much that job blew, and how much i hate motorcycles. Thankfully, I was able to upgrade to something better (relatively) painlessly. Today was my first day as a tour guide at the miller brewery. The two tour centers actually consider themselves to be in competition with each other (which is odd, considering that neither place charges for the tour) so in a very real sense, i feel like a pro baseball player who's switched teams. i've gone from playing for the kansas city royals to playing for...well...a team that doesn't totally suck.
The big reason i switched is because, unlike harley, miller's tour guides are actually miller corporate employees instead of just temps. The perks are nice. I've already gotten an assload of free clothes, with more on the way. I'll get medical/dental/vision insurace again, after being without coverage for about a year. I get a discount at the gift shop, so if anyone needs miller swag, i'm your hookup. The pay is comparable, but i get full time hours again, which means i can actually afford to eat AND pay my rent in the same month for a change. I also get access to the ocmpany gym, which means that in the future i have to think of more creative reasons for being so fat.
Like the beer. Oh yes, the beer. this is the part where you can insert all the comments about the humor/irony/danger in an alcoholic like myself working for a brewery. I get 3 cases of free beer per month (any miller product, which includes all the leinenkugels beers, pilsner urquell, and my personal favorite, mickey's), with an extra case during my birthday month and december (merry f-ing christmas) I can buy up to 15 additional cases at about 40% off retail (as low as $9 a case for some beers) and there's an employee bar that serves free beer from 5-7 every weeknight. I never have to be sober again, which'll come in handy in the coming months (you know why. yes you do)
"Come on boys, let's drunk until we can't feel feelings anymore."
So of course, I celebrated my job change and the accompanying 4 day weekend i had by laying in bed sick all day monday and tuesday. I started feeling bad on sunday, but that didn't stop me from checking out th emasters of american comics exhibit at the milwaukee art museum, which was probably the coolest thing i could ever see short of stan lee curb-stomping kevin smith while having sex with todd mcfarlane's wife and making todd watch. Someone needs to show this exhibit to rob liefeld so he can learn how to draw. I plan on going back, and after i do i'll bore the hell out of you guys wiht a long winded appraisal of each of the artists on display.
So anyway, i meant to write this entry a couple days ago, but i've been lying in bed since sunday night trying to decide how badly i wanted to live. it's the same cycle again- allergies cause sinus drainage which gives me a sore throat that nothing can assuage, then after one fevered night of almost choking every time i'm able to fall asleep (that would be last night), it all makes it's way down to my chest and i get to spend the next couple days wheezing and coughing like an elderly smoker and dealing with the sinus pressure migraines i get whenever my sinues AREN'T draining. if i'm lucky, they'll get infected, too! then i'll be fine till the cycle repeats itself in six months or so. i seriously need to get to an allergy clinic and if there's something i'm not aware that i'm allergic to other than the everything that i already know about.
One other piece of news before i go to sleep- remember that really crappy show i was in 2 months ago with the bay players? Don't ask me how, but someone in charge up there decided i'd be a good fit with them and they've asked me to sit on the board of directers for their '06-'07 season. my only regret is that i wasn't able to break the news to ken hill personally to see the shocked look on his face. i can only imagine it was akin to brooks. well, it'll look good on my resume, if nothing else.
Oh, and even more shocking- the director of that show has decided i'd be great in one of the leading male roles in the bay players upcoming musical during that same season. Now, before you go all snickering about me in a musical, you should hear the funniest part- the show they're doing is The Full Monty. Picture me doing that!
And with that disturbing image in your brains, i'm going to sleep.
ken
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