The first week of May saw Scott and I driving from Austin, TX non-stop to Las Vegas, NV to perform at the dinner banquet for the Assosciation of Professional Piercers annual conference at the Tropicana. The fact that we were driving there across west Texas and portions of the southwestern desert in a Metro without air conditioning and no muffler may have made getting there 'interesting' enough but the story of our being there actually went back a little more than a year.

We had actually been scheduled to perform at the previous year's conference but as a result of my going to work with Jim Rose again, we ended up cancelling - a decision I had more than come to regret and played a part in my leaving Jim's circus later in 2001. This year when my friend, and then current APP Vice President, Steve Joyner called up and said they still needed someone for the banquet, I jumped on it. This was a win-win-win situation. First, it was a chance to work with an organization that does alot of good work and that I respect a great deal. Second, many of the members and attendees are my friends and people I just enjoy being with. Third, it was in Vegas.

We scheduled our trip so that we would have a day on either side of the show to play in Vegas and enjoy the conference. That meant pulling 20 hours of driving each way. Of course, on a drive that long you do have to make a couple pit stops...