A celebrity post by Brandee —
Kevin and I had a wonderful day. We drove all over and he showed me where he went to school from preschool up to graduation; his entire newspaper route, which was totally impressive; friends homes and the neighborhood he grew up in.
We stopped and grabbed a little bite then headed for the barn. Perfect day in my book.
Riddle me this…
Question: What possibly can be worse than being trapped on an airplane for 10+ hours while you travel overseas?
Answer: Being subjected to listening to KISS’s Room Service song 10 times is what!!!
When you have a long plane ride obviously you prepare well for a variety of activities such as do some work, read a book, play videos games and listen to the airplane audio track, of course. So after I was done doing some work, after reading for a bit and then after playing a few video games it was time to chill and listen to the airplane’s classic rock station on my headphones and relax.
So I plug in my headphones, dial-in the classic rock channel and crank-up the volume! We were off to a great start with Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’, then Neil Young’s ‘Down By The River’ and third was AC/DC’s ‘Hells Bells’. You would think all was good in my world, right? Well, it was, until the KISS song ‘Room Service’ started blaring through my headset!
Don’t get me wrong, I love KISS for the most part and have for a long time but this song, which I had never heard before, was the most juvenile attempt at lyrics ever. I mean seriously, like ever! The music itself was groovy but even on the first playing of the song I was somewhat applauded at the lyrics. By the tenth time it played on my 10+ hour flight I was transformed! Transformed from applauded to a closet-secret lover of this horrible song.
As soon as I came home guess what the first thing I HAD to do? Take a nap? No. Feed the dog? No. Get on YouTube and share ‘Room Service’ with the wife? Yes!
And as she so eloquently put it, “because you had to suffer, I have to suffer?”. Well, “Yes, of course” was my answer and in the true spirit of sharing I proudly present to you, my loyal KevinNeal.com readers, KISS’s ‘Room Service’:
“Room Service”
I’m feelin’ low, no place to go
And I’m a-thinking that I’m gonna scream
Because a hotel all alone is not a
Rock and roll star’s dream
But just when I’m about to shut the light and go to bed
A lady calls and asks if I’m too tired or if I’m just to dead for
Room service, baby I could use a meal
Room service, you do what you feel
Room service, I take the pleasure with the pain
I can’t say no
My plane’s delayed and I’m afraid
They’re gonna keep me waiting here till nine
Then a stewardess in a tight blue dress says
“I got the time”
But just as I’m about to take my coat and get my fly
She says “Oh please”, she’s on her knees
And one more time before I leave I get some
Room service, baby I could use a meal
Room service, you do what you feel
Room service, I take the pleasure with the pain
I can’t say no, no
In my home town, I’m hangin’ ’round
With all the ladies treatin’ me real good
A sweet sixteen lookin’ hot and mean says
I wish you would
But just as I’m about to tell her “Yes, I think I can”
I see her dad, he’s getting mad
All the time he knows that I’m in need of
Room service, baby I could use a meal
Room service, you do what you feel
Room service, I take the pleasure with the pain
I can’t say no
Room service, baby I could use a meal
Room service, you do what you feel
Room service, I take the pleasure with the pain
I can’t say no, I can’t say no
Room service, baby I could use a meal
Room service, you do what you feel
Room service, you take the pleasure with the pain
I can’t say no
Room service, well maybe baby, room service
My best-est girl in the world….
Ten out of ten Steeler Stars furr sure!
A few weeks ago I attended one of my favorite pre-summer time activities which is an annual golf trip outing to the Reno, Nevada area. I am a relatively new-comer compared to the rest of the gang that joins this event. I’ve been attending only for the past 4-5 years while the event itself celebrated the 20th anniversary this year. I’m so blessed and privileged for these guys to continually invite me back as we always have such great fun and it’s a terrific few days of relaxation and to escape the rat-race of the business environment.
We’za nota in da bigga city any longa’
The tournament is a well organized four days of activities which includes a lot of golfing and, of course, socializing (which is my favorite activity frankly). It’s typically a group of 50-75 guys that rent out a few four-bedroom vacation condimiums for the extended weekend. For this year’s event we played three consecutive days. The first day we played at Plumas Pines Golf Course (http://www.plumaspinesgolf.com/). The next day we played at Whitehawk Ranch Golf Club (http://www.golfwhitehawk.com/). And then the last day we played a best-ball format at Plumas Pines again. Although it was the same course, playing the best-ball (a.k.a. “scramble format”) made it different, interesting and fun.
#Winning and a Man-Down
While the first two days of golf is certainly fun, every year my particular group really likes to focus-in on the Sunday, best-ball, scramble event. This is where we typically shine and this year we did not disappoint! Ever since I’ve been attending this event we have had a consistent group of the same four guys but this year one of our dear members could not make the tournament, unfortunately due to other obligations, so we had to truck-on without him in his honor as he would have encouraged. None of the three guys, including me, in our group is a great golfer but somehow, for whatever reason, we seem to come up with a great shot in the best-ball format. It was amazing and we shared the first place prize for the 2014 Scramble event!
It’s a strange competitive dynamic that my group of three golfers possesses. We are are reasonable people and not overly competitive but our commonality is that we each to do our best. This particular format is fun because all golfers encourage each other to make a good shot, and I guess that’s where my threesome of golfers is so successful. We sincerely want each other to success and it’s genuine. While we might poke-fun of each other a bit as we play the round but the teamwork of the group really is evident in the results look at these guys. My team seems to really shine at the right time and that’s quite rewarding to participate in such great coordinated teamwork.
Heaven in the Hills
This particular year our fearless organizer, Ed, sprung a wonderful surprise on us. On Saturday evening he had the whole group of us gather in the parking lot of the Whitehawk Golf Course. We had no idea what to expect. All he shared with us is that we would have to drive somewhere. So about 20-30 cars and trucks caravanned on our way to who-knows-where. You must remember that the area we were in at the time was extreme wilderness so we had no idea what we were in-for.
A little bit of fancy in the wild outdoors
After a little bit of a drive, and going extremely into the back woods, we arrived at the beautiful Sardine Lake (http://www.sardinelakeresort.com/index.html). It was absolutely gorgeous! It’s a relatively small lake but it’s situated in the most awesome of environments in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. For about an hour or so after we arrived at the Lake in our vehicles, the group spent this time enjoying the wonderful weather, beautiful environment and friendly conversations. But after a long day of golf, it was time for us burly guys to eat! And eat we did! The restaurant is surprisingly (at least to me because of the extreme location) high-quality and the service was simply outstanding. Many of us had prime rib however, as you can see from the picture to the right, they served a wide variety of items includes fish, chicken or vegetarian meals. Sardine Lake is really a great place to go if you are looking for ‘a little fancy’ while you are still in the ‘rugged out doors’. It is truly a remarkable experience and worth experiencing.
Lucky 21!
This year’s event was the 20th consecutive year. Some of the people, places and faces have changed but these guys have kept the tradition going all these years. I am already looking forward to next year. Just when you think you have experienced everything then something new seems to amaze you. I personally had a wonderful time, once again, at the event and I’m certain that everyone else did as well. I’m already counting-down the days until the 21st Annual!!!!
