First off yesterday, there was a mid-day improv show. It was for a group of 50 or so administrative folks from a health care insurance company. When we first got there, we heard the dreaded words from our contact: “You guys are a surprise!”

I hate it when we’re a surprise. Usually, it means that the employees haven’t been told that there will be any entertainment at their holiday party, so they’re all prepared to do nothing but drink and chat amongst themselves. Then we show up, and steal away their social time and make them pay attention. Not usually the best show. Fortunately, this group was one of the better “surprise” groups — they were attentive and well-behaved, and really enjoyed the show.

I can now say that the Rock Salt Steakhouse on Lake Union has incredibly nice views.

Gig number two was my first ever casino dealing gig. Turns out it was a charity casino night-slash-auction for Just Cauz, some kind of charity organization for “young professionals”. It was a pretty fascinating crowd, with probably 50% being polite and smiling to us “help”, and the other 50% letting their eyes just glide over us as they moved along with snooty looks. Ah, young professionals. They were able to buy beers for a dollar all night, so by the end of the evening, some of those YPs were very, very silly.

It was a fairly fun experience overall. The guy at the table behind me was cool, so when we didn’t have anyone playing at our tables, we people-watched. One of the auction items was Bentley, an 8-week-old purbred Golden Retriever puppy. Bentley got passed around a lot, becoming either a chick- or dude-magnet depending on who was holding him. One lady had knee-high boots on that were the same color as ol’ Bentley, so she was dubbed “Puppy Boots” for the rest of the night.

The thing I loved the most was that they had a bunch of name tags, and everyone had to grab one and wear it. Not our own names, mind you. So I was “Kelly McManus” for the night. I always love having a fake name.