the fifth week

It was a decent week. Not as exciting as the last, but good nonetheless. 

Monday. Amos and I worked 11:30-6:00. I lifted weights and had an egg and toast beforehand. A smooth close, no hurdles to jump. We went back to the house and hung out in the basement, and I had a salad for dinner. Mandy and I hung out for a while, and then Blake and I went over to Brandy's--well, where she's dog-sitting--and hung out with her on the back patio. No noodles spilled this time. I returned home to chocolate-covered bananas wrapped in Oreo icing. Hells yeah. And today Jessica was officially promoted to A.S.M. at Brown St. Pretty exciting.

Tuesday. An easy 7:30-3:00. Even got out early. Mandy, Amanda and I ran errands all afternoon. At Target I got a pair of shorts, some no-show socks for work, and two shirts Mandy and Ams picked out for me. T.J. came over for Mandy's surprise birthday party (which is actually next Tuesday, so we just played Halo 2 in the basement, and then I hung out with him, Gambill, and Ams for a while on the front porch. 

Wednesday. At 8:00 the sky got eerily dark. Sirens were blaring, the trees were bent over, people running across the street to get inside. The lightning of the encroaching storm reflecting in the skyscraper windows. I picked up Mandy from Fusian after work, and then I gave Brandy a ride to the Journey concert in Fort Wright. The ten-mile trip to 1 1/2 hours because of concert traffic. Ridiculous. Spent the evening hanging out with Rob.

Thursday. After work my friend Matt and I went to The Anchor for coffee, chess, and cottage cheese. I'm a "C" kick, apparently. What can I say? Other than, "Damned shame it's 'koala' and not 'coala'--but then everyone would think we lived in the south pole with polar bears because they'd read it as 'cola' which would irrefutably lead to the coke commercials with polar bears when they were hip and cool, and people are stupid and think polar bears live in Antarctica. Polar bears live at the north pole. Aside: I really hope I'm right about the polar bear locale, or I'll look like quite the fool... After I dropped Matt off, I did some writing and had a salad for dinner. Nick came over and made an amazing cherry pie. And I generally loathe cherries. They remind me of the sleeping medicine they gave me during my childhood penis surgeries. Yeah, not the fondest memories.

Friday. Amos and I worked 11:30-6:00. Rob and I had training at Carew till 6:30. I was a fuck show and kept forgetting to bring the right filters. At least the two stores are only two blocks away from each other, and it's a quick koala-hustle back and forth. Kicked off the weekend with some Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold with Pat D. at his new place in Fort Thomas. We picked up the beers from Party Source and watched an old movie we made in high school and he made breaded chicken for dinner. Definitely felt pretty buzzed by the time I got home. I planned on going to bed but caught up in Amos' shit and then hung out with T.J., and Gambill bought a 1/3 pack of cigarettes from me. "I refuse to buy a pack," he says. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts.

Saturday. Ran to Dayton this morning to pick up a few things and to clean out my car. It was good seeing Mom and Dad. Sky flipped her shit when I pulled up. Returned to Cincinnati and wrestled with where to get lunch. Subway? Chipotle? Golden Kitty? Sebastian's? Thai Taste? Yes, I generally go for ethnic foods when I'm picking it up. I ended up going to Sebastian''s, haven't had Greek since Dylan and I went to Gyro Palace in Dayton before his launch-off to Mozambique. "How's he doing?" He's doing great, getting sworn in at the Ambassador's mansion this weekend, and then working in remote jungle villages with World Vision, working with kids who have AIDS. Or something like that. So I brought my gyro and Greek salad back to the house and for dessert I enjoyed a cigar at Mount Echo just five minutes up the road. Blake and I hung out for a while, and I did some writing, and then Mandy and I went to Kroger at like 11:00 for groceries. The rest of the night was spent in the company of Rob, Blake, Amos, Andy, and Kyle. Kyle and I shared our Courtney woes, and Andy and I shared how we were fucked over by Jessica C., who's married now and pregnant. 

Sunday. Woke up at 4:30 A.M. to a violent storm shaking the house. Sat on the front porch in the dead of night with the world lit up with lightning and thunder the overture. Spent the morning hanging around. Worked out and went to The Anchor for lunch, then made a bank run to Delhi. Rob, Amos and I went to Findley Market to see Mandy. I ended up selling basil, still not sure how that happened. Amos and I perused the market while Rob and Mandy did their own thing. Around 4:00 Cat came over, and so did Josh. Amos broke out the hookah with champagne in the bottom and we drank Killian's Irish Red and smoked. C. Isaac is back from Montana, where he helped out with a church plant, and we went to The Anchor (The Anchor twice in one day? Yes please!), where Rob, Ams, and John Gambill joined us. Spent the evening hanging out on the front porch smoking cigarettes.

So, again: not an exciting week, but a good one.

Got to spend a lot of good time with lots of good people.

And being with friends, that's kind of a big deal to me.