"One, Two, Freddie's Coming For You..."

I have at least one more thing to say about that pole competition, or at least about something tangentially related. I want to stress that I appreciate how some people - most people - have real jobs that start in the morning and chew up their energy at a rapid rate so that evenings out are a dicey proposition five nights a week if not more. I respect their way of life and don't want to ridicule them for something they probably don't like and can't change.

Still, it can be funny. A friend who attended the show was, I gather, in the grips of a similar situation. Really, she was a trooper. Though terribly tired, she was good enough to come out for a good time. That was a sacrifice, entertaining as the evening was. She got through it, this hard-working friend, but not without her fatigue constantly being betrayed by yawns. It got to be rather comical, and I'm sorry to say that I could not help myself from making fun.

No one could mistake such yawns for being the product of boredom- not when such talented and thrilling pole dancers were performing some of the best routines out there. No, she came by those yawns honestly, did my sleepy friend. Perhaps the Sandman is a moralizing prude bent on imposing slumber on those who would admire and enjoy the work of pole dancers (who are tremendous athletes and artists, but who are frequently and undeservingly tarred with the same brush as strippers).

Whatever the case was, the drowsy lady made it all the way through, even with me lobbing good-natured taunts that likened her to a child making an ill-fated attempt to wait up on Christmas Eve for Santa. She was something like a modern-day, real-life Gunga Din, with her goodness belatedly recognized only at the end. I'm glad to say now to her, having more than once fallen asleep in similar situations or not even trying to go out, "You're a better fan than I".