January 2011 - Part 1 - Cali Adventures

         After Q went back to El Paso, I was left alone in my apartment yet again. I had gained some weight during the holidaze about ten pounds. Mostly, because I could finally smoke weed again and just sat around drinking, eating and smoking. I had never been so broke. I was sending some money to Q because he was waiting for his harvest. I was only going to work once or twice a week. I didn’t really feel like doing anything. I decided that I would start running again. It worked for me once before. 

            Luckily, there was a greenbelt trail right next to my apartment. I would leave in the morning and go explore the trails. The cold air and crispness would irritate my smoke-filled lungs but I would continue with my hacking cough along the side of the path. I had talked to some of my friends and my family about leaving Austin and going to travel around the country. My friend Jim had unofficially invited me to go on tour with him. I had envied his trips back in 2009 and 2010 – I was stuck in Austin on probation and still trying to do the school thing. This was my chance – FINALLY – to get out. I had spent the winter basically isolating myself and needed a change. 

            After a few weeks of running on my own I decided that I needed a running partner. I missed my old dog but she was a handful and I needed another lower maintenance companion. I decided since I was traveling I would just foster a dog and I could figure out a home for them once I decided to leave or before that. I still wasn’t sure when I was going to leave. As a condition of my plea bargain I had to participate in a program with the city. It was called SWAP and I would have to basically do community service at the jail during the weekends. I was supposed to start at the end of January and I figured that being in a bit better shape would be helpful. 

            I got on craigslist and started searching for my new temporary best friend. The first day searching I got off relatively quickly. All the dogs looked like rejects and weren’t what I was looking for at all. 

            After my run that day, I decided to go to work. I barely had enough money to buy new shoes after mine broke on NYE. But I had new shoes, clean lingerie and a desperation for money. January is typically pretty slow in the strip club world because the holidays are over and most people are still recovering both mentally and financially from the overindulgent months prior. That doesn’t mean you won’t make money but it does mean that it will be harder. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I started showing up to work earlier in the evening and working later.  

            This particular day I just decided to go to work early around 8 PM. I spent the day working out and getting ready. Over the holidays I had let my cable bill get outrageously high and I was also smoking all the time so I decided not to pay it. My friends were fronting me weed and since it had been a few years since I could openly smoke that is all I wanted to do. Spending the day stoned was the perfect resolution but it wasn’t sustainable. Eventually, I had to get back to work. The plan to leave and travel started when I just decided I was sick of Austin and all the bullshit that kept plaguing me. The plan was what fueled my desire to save money and get my shit together. 

            Getting ready for work was easy, I didn’t have cable and only had DVD’s and my phone for entertainment at my house. I would put on Get Him to the Greek (or any other movie out of my limited selection) and make sure that I was ready by the time the movie ended. It was my only alarm clock. This would be my fifth January dancing. I had started in 2007 and made a decent living at it even through the dark recession times. I decided to start at a new club away from my old management. In fact, I hadn’t worked at my old club since the accident and I had started slipping away into addiction again. The club I was working at now was the club that I had originally started at back in 2007 – to save any indiscretions we’ll call it The Flower Shop. 

            Working at the club was easy, it was a small club so the competition with girls was lower but still present enough to keep the club going. I didn’t have any friends at work intentionally. Strippers in their nature are selfish, conniving people and so it’s best to not get involved with them on a personal level. I had a few VIP girls that I liked to share a table with occasionally but I usually tried to sell a booth and charge by the hour or work the room. 

            I had also made a new friend since moving to my new neighborhood the fall before. His name was Marco and he drove a Yellow Cab. Before Uber it was imperative that I had a personal cab service. I would get a discount and we worked the same hours so he could pick me up and drop me off. Since I had the interlock removed off of my car I refused to drink and drive in Austin anymore. The police were targeting any driver after midnight and I was sick of playing the odds. Each night after my getting ready movie was over I would call Marco and he would be on his way. Usually getting there right as I was finishing my pre-work bowl. 

            This night I just decided to go in and try my luck. Weeknights were always hit or miss but at least two of my favorite managers still worked and would buy me a drink. I had made the move to the Flower Shop a few months before them. It was the first time in four years that we had been apart but now they moved with me and we had been reunited. I left my apartment with my two stripper bags over my shoulder and at stoned but positive outlook. 

            “Hey Marco!”

            “Tess! Going to work today?”

            “Oh yeah, going to try my luck even though it’s Wednesday.”

            “It’s been pretty steady for me so far.” Marco always liked to see if our nights would match depending on how busy each other were. I rolled down the window and let the night air hit my face before we got on the highway. 

            I just need to make enough tonight to save a bill and then spend the rest on food. I decided that I was going to stop texting Q if I could manage it because it was just too much. I couldn’t stand being apart from him but we weren’t going to do long distance anymore and after NYE I didn’t feel like being tied down anymore. I would occasionally deposit money in his account or pay his phone bill but I knew I needed to stop that as well. 

            After a very short ten-minute drive, we pulled up under the valet awning of the club. 

            “Same time tonight?”

            “Yeah I’ll let you know,” I said closing the door. Marco always picked me up at 2:15 and I would pay him at the end of the night. We had this arrangement since I threw him $100 one night and said be my driver permanently. 

            I walked into the club and signed in. The door girl greeted me and I talked with her a minute. I didn’t have to pay my house fee up front like the other girls. Mostly because it didn’t matter what time I got there – I always had $25 fees. Since I had been getting there early it should have been free, but I wasn’t going to bitch about it. 

            I walked through the club which was usually slow at this hour and into the dressing room. Gone were the days that I got ready at the club. It wasted time and I wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of the other girls.

            I got dressed silently and there was a rap song playing when I finally took the floor. I walked around slowly, eyeing the floor for my manager. I needed him to get me my first drink of the night. I had my favorite bartender who could make the best long island ice teas, just how I liked them. I spotted Jon and gave him a hug. 

            “Cali! You need a drink? You’re here early. I like this new Cali!” He was always giving me compliments and helping me out, we had worked together for a long time. He took me over to the bar and told the bartender to get me whatever I wanted and he started making my long island right away. Jon kissed my cheek and walked back into the office behind the bar. 

            Soon enough I had an ice-cold drink in my hand and went outside to the patio for my inaugural cigarette. Usually, I could smoke in the club but I never did at the beginning of the night. It was a ritual to get my drink and go outside. 

            The cigarette burned too quickly and I was back inside again, looking around scoping the floor for empty laps. There weren’t many but I found one and sat down. 

Fast forward 6 hours and I was done. There had been many laps and many more drinks. Too many to count the world was spinning and I had cold hard cash in hand. Actually, it wasn’t cold or hard - it was warm and sweaty. I was sticky with the sweat and severely intoxicated when I left the club at 2:15 to look for Marco. And there he was, waiting for me like always. 

            “hey babe,” I said getting in. 

            “Hey, you!” He said smiling in his Spanish accent, “good night?”

            “Yeah it was, I guess, not sure.” I piled my bags on top of each other on one side of the seat and laid my head on top of them. He put the cab into drive and we pulled out into the night. I closed my eyes and then heard my phone trill.