An ironic night for sure.
Have you ever seen Rock of Ages? If you haven’t, allow me to give you the plotline. There is a bar known as The Bourbon Room. It’s basically the place to be if you’re into Rock n’ Roll! The church, however, doesn’t like this place. So they try to shut it down as an act of “cleaning” up the streets of Las Vegas.
Last night I had church at The Bourbon Room. Ironic, right? Though the movie was based in Hollywood, the actual bar is in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Its real name is Revolution Live, but it was the set for The Bourbon Room. I recently started attending Celebration Church in Jacksonville, and they had a free trip to Fort Lauderdale if you were willing to help out. I went for it, figured it would be a good way to meet people. Little did I know I was going to set up the church in a bar with bras and ties hanging from the ceiling.
We rode on a charter bus from Mike’s Limousine! I figured it would be a loud bus ride with songs, conversation, and yelling… But to my surprise, it was basically silent. I blame the Wi-Fi for this. I love that I was able to use my iPad on this 5-hour bus ride, but it made everyone antisocial. The way back was much better because, at that point, we all knew each other. We had already formed friendships so we hang out and talked… Though we were all very tired so it was about 30% talking 70% dozing. Near the end, me and two new friends of mine, Caroline, and Lindsey played “The Game of Life” on my iPad. Never did finish that game, but it passed the time pretty quickly. I’m getting off topic again. Stop that. Back to before.
I was assisting outside the bar helping people park and greeting them as they came in. Which would have been all fine and dandy (Why did I say that? Nobody ever says that anymore…) except it started to rain. Oh well, Just a few drips here and there isn’t so bad. But if you know Florida at all, that is not the case! It POURED! I was soaked from head to toe!
After
everyone was parked I went back into the bar. We had quite a bit people for the circumstances. It’s Just starting out and we had 89 people there! The pastor got stuck in traffic, also a Florida thing and missed the whole service. The staff was scrambling as to what they should do! But sure enough they had some people improvise and it worked out really well! Pastor Stovall made it right after closing and said a few words. It was an amazing message we never heard, but what we did hear was still awesome! Especially for being totally out of the purple (Why does it always have to be blue?). It was a crazy night.
If you know me then you know I eat… a lot… all the time! Though tonight I didn’t end up having all too much. I had some chicken and rice on the bus, a large slice of pizza, and apple, a banana, chicken strips and sweet potatoes fries! Man, those fries were good! We ended up going to Tarpon Bend for those. Caroline got fries too, but they were so tiny! Pre-mature fries at table 3! Oh, I almost forgot! At some point in the midst of all this, I made some friends. So, no, I wasn’t eating all alone. We actually had a group of 6 hanging out. #SocialAlphaStatus We ended up getting a photo with our waiter, because he was cool, and we’re all awesome like that. You can see that phone here!
It’s getting near the end of our day so we all head back to the hotel. The Forum! Which prior to being a hotel, was a hospital! Weird layout! Photos of little kids all over the walls, and no hotel graffiti! I was upset about that. If you don’t know what that is, then you don’t travel enough. Look it up, live it! After a while of wondering around aimlessly and taking some odd-angled selfies, I went back to my room. I was bunked with Steven, one of the leaders. We basically Just sat there and bickered about HGTV and how they ALWAYS need more money because something ALWAYS goes wrong! If you’ve ever watched 14 straight of this channel, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Eventually, we switched over to the cooking channel and I don’t remember anything past that… Much have passed out!
The next morning I woke up at 7:30am. Way too early for existing in a public environment. Got showered, packed up 
my stuff and hobble-tripped over to breakfast. CARBS! I found bagels and muffins, and coffee, my day was set! I don’t actually have any photos of my food this morning because I ate it all before I thought of pulling out my camera. I can’t remember everything, and it was morning, so give me a break! After losing all track of time, I headed back to the bus 8:45 sharp! Why don’t they have dull times? Only sharp ones? Why don’t people ever say “We need to meet here at 8:45 dull!” That way you could show up at 8:30, or 9, whatever. It’s a loose time frame. I think I’ll start that.
Back on the bus for a 5-hour ride back. I didn’t even bother with the Wi-Fi this time. I Just put on some music and — Why didn’t we do that! In the start of Rock of Ages Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) started singing a song lightly with her headphones and the bus driver Joins in. Then the whole bus is singing along to this song. I believe the song was Sister Christian? Anyway, we were taking a bus to the Bourbon Room, JUST LIKE THE MOVIE and we didn’t sing like that at all… That should have happened. Comment for next time! Back to reality. I put on some music and listened to it as a rested. Unless a good some came on, then a Jammed out! But it’s was silent and nobody knew what I was doing. Probably looked ridiculous, but who cares!
We stopped on the way back for some food. I don’t really do fast food, but I got off the bus anyway. Most everyone went to Wendy’s! I Just sat by and spoke with a few friends. I actually had stopped by Taco Bell first and needed to use the loo. Which I was a very odd bathroom. Extra story I Just thought of, I’ll explain in the minute. The bathroom at the Taco Bell was like any other except for the flusher on the urinal. It wasn’t on the side, it was a button, wasn’t automatic. It was lever sticking straight out of the wall! I’ve been to a lot of different bathrooms, and not once have I seen this! I was going to take a photo of that, but I figured “No… That’s probably Just normal around here.” So I left and went to Wendy’s. (In case you were wondering, yes I did wash my hands). A lot of people don’t and that gross. Totally different blog I’ll have to write.
Now to that extra story! On the bus, there was a bathroom too. Did I really need to go? No. But I wanted to check it out because everyone was commenting on it. It was a VERY small bathroom. If you shut the door, you wouldn’t have been able to turn yourself to get to the loo. Not that it even mattered because the door doesn’t really shut. I was the only one to get it shut, feeling proud I locked the door. Which didn’t work, the door Just popped back open. I sat there holding the door in the demise of my own achievement. Not even I could shut this oh-so-powerful door! Why are we still talking about bathrooms? Let’s talk about…
Getting back to the church! We arrived back at the Celebration Arena in Jacksonville. A bittersweet 
moment. Yay, I get to go home and nap, well, blog. But now I have to leave all my new friends! I got to know two of them more than the rest, Caroline and Lindsey. They’re pretty fun people, we had a blast on the trip! I returned home after bidding adieu. Decided to watch Rock of Ages and relive the night I Just had. Now it’s about 9:30pm and I am so tired! I need to post this so I can sleep! It was a great night and a pleasure speaking with you again, random stranger who read about my life. I’ll check back in soon with my newest adventure. Which I already happen to know what it’s going to be. EnJoy your 86,400 seconds. It’s one more day gone, one more memory made. Cheers.