My birthday is just around the corner and Sleepless wasn’t able to celebrate with me on the actual day, so we celebrated today and did so in theme!
Last week, OregganO had suggested we do theme nights at karaoke and, per her suggestion, tonight was Cowboyoke. In true cowboy fashion, Sleepless invited our friends to meet us for dinner at a local barbecue pit, after which we planned to saunter over to our new favorite karaoke bar. Sleepless and I donned the proper attire: daisy dukes, cowboy boots, ponytails, plaid and/or flowered shirts with pearl buttons and cowboy hats. Sadly, most of our friends were not able to join in the act of eating dry rubbed ribs, pulled pork, and red beans and rice (that’s right, red beans and rice didn’t miss us) on a pine picnic table outside while swatting away flies. Late Bloomer, however, did join us.
As we were finishing our meals we noticed a golf cart and thought it might be fun to take our picture on it. We were in luck because our server was just making his way toward the cart and had the key. It was at this point that we got to experience a golf cart ride to beat all golf cart rides. We were flying all over the empty parking lots surrounding the pit and the server/driver suggested we “hold on tight.” Sleepless and I both grabbed on to the “Oh shit” handles and, in unison, shouted out a phrase we had coined a week or so ago while eating lunch at the pit, “If you hands are full and your mouth is not, scream!” And so we did. The sign we read upon entry was definitely true: “Tonight is the night your BBQ dreams come true.” I can’t remember all of the details, because I was asleep and I think I was five years old, but I’m pretty sure I once had a dream about eating bbq in cowboy boots and then doing brodies in a golf cart and I remember there was a girl there but her name wasn’t Sleepless….I think it was Famous Event, or something like that.
Just before our wild bbq pit cart ride, Sleepless had received a text from a ‘friend’ offering to be our designated driver (DD) should we need one later in the evening. A few minutes after the ride our DD sent her a text backing out of his offer. “Now we don’t have a DD,” Sleepless sadly stated. “Oh, you do,” said Late Bloomer. “He’s still a DD – now it just stands for designated dick.” He may bloom late, but Late Bloomer is one funny man.
We arrived at the karaoke bar to find BeauD patiently awaiting our arrival and to find that, as usual, outside of staff and one or two strays, we were the only patrons. It is times like these that you know you’ve lived right (even if you have taken one or two utensil sets from a proper eating establishment or snagged a serving tray from a dive bar or……). We opted for country requests all night and we got them. I had no idea Garth Brooks, Hank Williams and the Dixie Chicks are not the only country musicians. I also had no idea Late Bloomer had so many mad dance skills. Amazing what you’ll learn at cowboyoke. Within no time at all, we filled the bar with our many fabulous and talented karaoke friends, which included Tile, OregganO, and Diggler. As we were leaving, we were reminiscing on previous karaoke evenings and how much we’ve progressed since we first started this adventure. As we tallied up the memories, utensil sets, mojito glasses and what not, Diggler reminded me, “Next time, you’ve got to get that Crown Royal sign.” Yeehaw, we’re the cowboyoke outlaws!