Hey all, this is a sucky report I am afraid as far as I am concerned. However I will tell you the good along with the bad even though I should probably keep quiet about failures.
We arrived yesterday in Alburqueque around 5pm. We go a hotel that was alot less than we had been paying so bonus there. Once we were settled into our rooms we decided to go over to the pool room and take a look at the place and meet the manager who I had been working with. Sunday was her day off and so we just hung out a short while and headed back to the hotel. I could not sleep and felt hungry so I went to the Denny's thats a block away. I don't know if any of you have been in a Denny's at 2am when you are the ONLY person in the restaurant but its a kinda wierd feeling. The staff are bored and what to give you 50% of their attention so if they are not staring at you eat they are close enough for you to overhear their conversations. Making plans for the week, boyfriend troubles, kids, and how they wish they were somewhere else. Kinda interesting really when you think about your own life and your own problems, then hear other peoples and I feel lucky to be doing something I love with a sport I love. although the $$ ain't great I love what I do. I am a very lucky man. My food was very quick for a change though.
So the next day (Today) we went to our pool clinic that I had been told a couple weeks ago had 7 sign ups already so I figured we would have a full school. We had one person there waiting for us, I was shocked and called my contact and asked whats going on? He was as suprised as me. Anyway since he had not asked for the $$ in advance thats where we basically ended up and we worked out a deal with the student to make sure he got some help. Obviously at this point I am concerned about the evenings exhibition and attendance as we make some extra $$ by selling raffle tickets, T-Shirts and signed cue balls.
So after the clinic we sat around a little and realized that there was NO flyers around the pool room stating that we would be there again concerning. However there was something that made me laugh, I am sure this is not going to come out to you as funny as it was and still is to me. Earl began telling John and I a story about a tv show he watched. I will try and tell it but without Earl's animated way its gonna be tough so just imagine Earl.
E: I watched a tv show the other day where a man was trying to eat as many hot dogs as a Grizzly bear. They filled up a tub full of hot dogs for the bear and a tub full for the man. Now these were the giant hot dogs that you see sometimes and the bear was eating like 3 at a time and the man could hardly get a 1/2 of it in his mouth at a time.
JS: So the guy was trying to eat more than than the bear?
E: Yeah it was the stupidest thing I ever saw and the guy was going at it and it looked like it hurt him he was eating so much so fast.
JS: So what happened the guy ended up winning right?
E: NAH THE F$*$ing BEAR WAS ROBBING HIM!
Thats it, I know its not the same but when he said that the bear was robbing him it just ticked me and I thought I would share. Maybe one of you will find it funny.
So off we go to the pool room for our exhibition. We see a number of cars outside so thats a good sign but when we get in we see the table we are set to be on has nobody around it but lots of players around playing. About 25ft from the table is a guy with a mic and a guitar singing his heart out to a few people sat around and find out there is a tourney on that night at the same time as the show. So we all looked at each other with a little confusion as this is not usually how this works. I see a gal I know from around the pool scene who is a regular there and a big pool fan and she comes over and says "Hey what you doing here?" I explain thatwe were there to do a exhibition she says "Really I havn't heard anything about it and I'm here everyday" I also See a couple other people I know who also told me the same thing. So we had maybe 2 people sat around who had came to see 2 of the greatest players in the U.S including a Hall of famer. I wanted to leave and tell the people sorry this is silly as Earl can't tell his stories over the guitar man, and even ifhe could there was nobody paying attention. A couple of people drifted over to see the pros but for the most part they were all concentraiting on their matches. I asked Earl if he wanted to just get out of there and to his credit he said "No there are a couple of people who came to see this and even if we don't get paid I want to make them happy" So he went through the motions and chatted with them as he went and just showed off a little for them. John also got up and did a little something for a short while and we said lets just go. The lady who was the MGR there was not around and so I asked for her and was told she would be there soon. Not long after that she came and we took part of our fee as we didn't do a full exhibition as it is usually done. So they did pay us and we didn't get stiffed we just took what we thought we had earned.
This I suppose is what happens when you are 1,000 miles away from a location and try to put your faith in someone else doing their part of the deal. I learned a lesson with this and I will have to make my self better at what I do. Its all my fault and there is nobody to blame but me, the buck stops here as they say. I told the guys I was sorry and they were very understanding and told me "Hey man, you can't book a winner everytime" So I am thankful that Earl and John were understanding.
I have been doing this a while now and I have never seen anything quite like what happened to us today. On a good note the show didn't last until 11.30pm andI got to come back to the hotel and talk to my girl Jessica for a while on the phone. I will probably go back to Denny and tell the people there about this and maybe they will take pity onme and give me a extra sausage link
We leave tomorrow for our next show and I have a feeling its gonna be better that tonights. I have had many phone conversations with Blackjack and I will actually get to meet him tomorrow and also I think maybe TiminNM.
I can't lie and tell you that I am not getting exhausted with the driving, late nights, early mornings and constant on the move schedule. Maybe we will get a good nights sleep as after NM we still have Tuscon and the BCA regional event in Phoenix.
To my lady Jessica who will prob read this, I can't wait to see you
I hope that the next blog I do will be more positive. I also would like to get a video camera when we can afford it and do video blogs instead. I think that would be fun as I could get the guys also sat around and just talking about our days. Let me know what you think of that idea.
T-Wheels.
We arrived yesterday in Alburqueque around 5pm. We go a hotel that was alot less than we had been paying so bonus there. Once we were settled into our rooms we decided to go over to the pool room and take a look at the place and meet the manager who I had been working with. Sunday was her day off and so we just hung out a short while and headed back to the hotel. I could not sleep and felt hungry so I went to the Denny's thats a block away. I don't know if any of you have been in a Denny's at 2am when you are the ONLY person in the restaurant but its a kinda wierd feeling. The staff are bored and what to give you 50% of their attention so if they are not staring at you eat they are close enough for you to overhear their conversations. Making plans for the week, boyfriend troubles, kids, and how they wish they were somewhere else. Kinda interesting really when you think about your own life and your own problems, then hear other peoples and I feel lucky to be doing something I love with a sport I love. although the $$ ain't great I love what I do. I am a very lucky man. My food was very quick for a change though.
So the next day (Today) we went to our pool clinic that I had been told a couple weeks ago had 7 sign ups already so I figured we would have a full school. We had one person there waiting for us, I was shocked and called my contact and asked whats going on? He was as suprised as me. Anyway since he had not asked for the $$ in advance thats where we basically ended up and we worked out a deal with the student to make sure he got some help. Obviously at this point I am concerned about the evenings exhibition and attendance as we make some extra $$ by selling raffle tickets, T-Shirts and signed cue balls.
So after the clinic we sat around a little and realized that there was NO flyers around the pool room stating that we would be there again concerning. However there was something that made me laugh, I am sure this is not going to come out to you as funny as it was and still is to me. Earl began telling John and I a story about a tv show he watched. I will try and tell it but without Earl's animated way its gonna be tough so just imagine Earl.
E: I watched a tv show the other day where a man was trying to eat as many hot dogs as a Grizzly bear. They filled up a tub full of hot dogs for the bear and a tub full for the man. Now these were the giant hot dogs that you see sometimes and the bear was eating like 3 at a time and the man could hardly get a 1/2 of it in his mouth at a time.
JS: So the guy was trying to eat more than than the bear?
E: Yeah it was the stupidest thing I ever saw and the guy was going at it and it looked like it hurt him he was eating so much so fast.
JS: So what happened the guy ended up winning right?
E: NAH THE F$*$ing BEAR WAS ROBBING HIM!
Thats it, I know its not the same but when he said that the bear was robbing him it just ticked me and I thought I would share. Maybe one of you will find it funny.
So off we go to the pool room for our exhibition. We see a number of cars outside so thats a good sign but when we get in we see the table we are set to be on has nobody around it but lots of players around playing. About 25ft from the table is a guy with a mic and a guitar singing his heart out to a few people sat around and find out there is a tourney on that night at the same time as the show. So we all looked at each other with a little confusion as this is not usually how this works. I see a gal I know from around the pool scene who is a regular there and a big pool fan and she comes over and says "Hey what you doing here?" I explain thatwe were there to do a exhibition she says "Really I havn't heard anything about it and I'm here everyday" I also See a couple other people I know who also told me the same thing. So we had maybe 2 people sat around who had came to see 2 of the greatest players in the U.S including a Hall of famer. I wanted to leave and tell the people sorry this is silly as Earl can't tell his stories over the guitar man, and even ifhe could there was nobody paying attention. A couple of people drifted over to see the pros but for the most part they were all concentraiting on their matches. I asked Earl if he wanted to just get out of there and to his credit he said "No there are a couple of people who came to see this and even if we don't get paid I want to make them happy" So he went through the motions and chatted with them as he went and just showed off a little for them. John also got up and did a little something for a short while and we said lets just go. The lady who was the MGR there was not around and so I asked for her and was told she would be there soon. Not long after that she came and we took part of our fee as we didn't do a full exhibition as it is usually done. So they did pay us and we didn't get stiffed we just took what we thought we had earned.
This I suppose is what happens when you are 1,000 miles away from a location and try to put your faith in someone else doing their part of the deal. I learned a lesson with this and I will have to make my self better at what I do. Its all my fault and there is nobody to blame but me, the buck stops here as they say. I told the guys I was sorry and they were very understanding and told me "Hey man, you can't book a winner everytime" So I am thankful that Earl and John were understanding.
I have been doing this a while now and I have never seen anything quite like what happened to us today. On a good note the show didn't last until 11.30pm andI got to come back to the hotel and talk to my girl Jessica for a while on the phone. I will probably go back to Denny and tell the people there about this and maybe they will take pity onme and give me a extra sausage link
We leave tomorrow for our next show and I have a feeling its gonna be better that tonights. I have had many phone conversations with Blackjack and I will actually get to meet him tomorrow and also I think maybe TiminNM.
I can't lie and tell you that I am not getting exhausted with the driving, late nights, early mornings and constant on the move schedule. Maybe we will get a good nights sleep as after NM we still have Tuscon and the BCA regional event in Phoenix.
To my lady Jessica who will prob read this, I can't wait to see you
I hope that the next blog I do will be more positive. I also would like to get a video camera when we can afford it and do video blogs instead. I think that would be fun as I could get the guys also sat around and just talking about our days. Let me know what you think of that idea.
T-Wheels.
Last edited:
