Nothing Like A Nice Shag On Your Birthday

by chris cunningham

What an insane day. Mission: Next To Impossible. The objective? Secure limited edition “Shag” [LINK] serigraph in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Tiki Room. Then get to birthday festivites by 12:30pm.
Got up at 6AM. Drove down to Disneyland. Pull into parking lot but realize I have no cash. Leave. Find ATM. Go back and park. Ride tram into Disneyland. Buy So. Cal. Annual Pass with parking at box office. Get in entrance line. Start to notice a ton of “island wear”. Obviously Shag fans. My competition to the goods. Gates open, people run, employees say walk, people go heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe, people start running again, employees say walk again. People run. Line forms on Main Street. 1 hour goes by. 2 hours go by. Nothing. Wrist bands handed out. 3 hours go by. Wrist band secured. 300 hundred prints exist. I’m halfway. Line proceeds to stay on Main Street for FIVE HOURS! Hate for all things Disney fills me. Mickey goes by. Alice in Wonderland goes by. Oh hey… cute. Argh, must focus. Finally get in. Secure print #226. Buy limited edition tiki mug while there. 12:45pm. Late for birthday. No time to get annual Pass. Get hand stamped. Ride tram to parking lot. Run to car. Get to picnic 45 minutes late. Mingle. Mingle more. Mingle even more. Check out parents new boat. Go up to house after picnic. Gather gifts from parents including gift card to Apple Store. (Yes! Thank you very much.) Pack car. Head back to Disneyland. Ride tram from parking lot. Heel-to-toe down Main Street. Photo I.D. taken for Annual Passport. Stop and pick up mini cheapo Shag print for office. Ride tram out to parking lot. Jam home. Unload car. Pop three Advil, put on swimsuit, grab new super bitchin’ towel, run to jacuzzi. 9:22pm, I’m in. Ahhhhhhhh….. 10:00pm, I’m out. Check Ebay. Shag print is already online [LINK].

While in line a met a guy who was a buyer for an art collector in Dallas. He flew in from Hawaii the day before with a $30,000 wire transfer to try and buy the 4 original paintings that were also for sale. They were going between 8K to 4k. He flies this guy all over the world to collect original Shag paintings. All expenses paid. He only came away with two prints so the client was a little disappointed. He gets a bonus when he can get original paintings. So he was a little disappointed too. He flew back to Hawaii today at 3:00. Where do people get these jobs? Sexual innuendo alert… I’ve been looking for a Shag like this for awhile and felt this was the one I wanted. These types of Shags usually get more expensive very quickly. I love this kinda Shag and it’s much more amazing in person. Even having to wait in line for five hours I’m glad I finally got a nice Shag on my birthday.

I also finally got to see the parents new boat. It looks a bit like a “Popeye” boat. They sold their old boat in 2 days [LINK]. Unheard of in the boating world. That’s how nice the old one was. This one’s going to take awhile to get into that shape but it’s an even nicer boat [LINK]. It’s about 2 feet longer but 4 times the cost of the old one. That’s a lot of Shags. Hee hee. See what I did there? I referenced something from… oh never mind.