the 13th week

Apologies for not posting anything worthwhile lately (with the exception, of course, for the zombie video: that's just unapologetically amazing). Life's been chaotic lately: lots of activities with friends, putting in lots of hours at work, basically having no time to really sit down and hammer out something worthwhile. "Worthwhile" posts usually spawn at The Anchor, and starting tomorrow (or, I should say, with the next post) I'll be posting my rants and raves written at The Anchor over the past several weeks. But for now, let's see what I did last week, shall we?

Monday. Woke around 9:00, worked out, showered, and ran off to work. Went in early for an egg biscuit and orange juice. Worked 11-6:00, and it was the definition of chaotic. We kept running out of things, we were slammed something awful, and people were beginning to lose their calm. Luckily by the time we polished off lunch rush, the rest of the day went smoother. The kinky girl from Nicholson's came in again, invited us once more to the pub. "I invented the kilt trick, don't play it with me!" Cat, Amos and I shared much laughter during work, and when I got home, I hung out with Ams and Mandy for a while, and Isaac and I felt our heads swell as we sat on the front porch and smoked cigarettes and listened to Rob lecture us on the basics of coffee from plant-to-cup. I'm excited to be learning about all this. It's so much more complicated (not to mention interesting) than my old Starbucks handbook would lead you to believe.

Tuesday. Had some Vienna roast for breakfast. Oily and burnt but decent with my morning pipe smoke. Worked out, did some reading and writing, and ran off to work: 11-6:00 followed by a mandatory store meeting. Little details here-and-there. Bob (the owner) was there, and he was so excited, because he visited a handful of local cafes around northern Kentucky, and he's confident that we far exceed them in every area. We talked about some future movements with the company. The opening of 1215 (a cocktail of coffee and wine) is on the horizon, and we've already become quite established in the area. News articles, television interviews, our Direct Trade with la hermonia hermosa, the whole pour-over/chemex/siphon deal, and the fact that (a) we know coffee and (b) we do it well. Case in point: today someone came in, pointed to me, and said, "He made the best cup of coffee I've ever had." No glory for me: that lies with the fact that Rob trains us well, and he doesn't dick around when it comes to coffee. I really do feel blessed to be here, and after six years of spinning coffee, now I'm doing it with one of the best. And being partnered with Rock Bottom Brewery has its perks: Keith and Mitch, head brewers at Rock Bottom, brought us all a ton of growlers, and I kept a Belgian white as my own. After the store meeting, the evening flew by smoking pipe with Amos, hanging out with Rob on the front porch, and then a Kroger run with Ams ("Me and Mandy always get stalked at night.") followed by zombie-slaying with Amos before bed.

Wednesday. Jon's in New York with his son (who had an illness and is recovering), so Cat, Ana and I have split up his shifts over the next two weeks. I'm doing it Wednesdays and Fridays, and so today I pulled the shift. Mandy spent the day at Tazza doing homework, so she rode home with me when I left. After a while I went to Dayton to get my netbook cord (foolishly left it there this past weekend), and when I got up there, Mom was having her Small Group. It was good to see some of the girls again, i.e. Katie and Mariah. They crack me up. Sky loved on me like crazy, and I had buffalo chicken for dinner topped off with some Scarecrow and Mrs. King and ice cream. Back in Cincinnati, I did some writing and shot zombies with Amos and Ams.

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER. Drank some more of my Vienna roast on the front porch, worked out, and then had coffee and orange juice at The Anchor. I've been there about 20 times in the last month; holy cow! I came home to an empty house (everyone out doing something), and Rob and Amos didn't get home 'till around 9:00 from a store meeting. Brandy came over later in the night, and I tried to go to bed at a decent hour, but there was a party in Amanda's room and I couldn't sleep. I asked them to be quiet, they asked me to join, I decided to join. We shared so much laughter, watched zombie videos online, and listened to a flurry of different artists I'm planning on downloading.

THE FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN. Pulled a 7:30-3:00 (Jon's shift), and then I ran by the bank and went to The Anchor for a spot of writing before going back to work and training at 5:30. We coffee tasted our single origins. It was a blind tasting and I nailed Sumatran and Nicaraguan. After training, Amos and I shot some zombies, and Brandy came over with her friend Erin, and we hung up in Blake's room. "What I'm getting from this conversation is that people are more-or-less just sharks." Andy joined the fray, and we watched 28 Days Later. Anyone catching onto this zombie strain? Brandon came over, and we had some beer and crowded the front porch. Gambill came over, said, "It's nice to be part of the front porch fraternity. We're the outcasts." Oh: Amanda's legitimately anxiety-ridden over the thought of a "potential" zombie apocalypse. I mean genuinely scared: she's having a hard time sleeping, and she almost came and woke me in the middle of the night to have me tell her it's impossible (it's not: BOOSH!). And all because of the hysteria of a video game and the spine-tingling trailer for another (post below).

Saturday. Enjoyed a late breakfast at The Anchor and did a spot of shopping at Dollar General. Everything there's off-brand, but adequate, and it's so cheap! How does everyone KNOW about this?! Back home I made a pour-over of some Indian monsoon malabar, and I stole some 600 songs from Mandy. Bulkin' up my music. In the evening I went over to see Dewenter at his place. Grippo's, Rock Bottom Belgian white, and homemade Greek pizzas: goat cheese, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil, feta cheese... WIN. We watched Synecdoche New York. Weird freaking movie. Mandy, Blake and I hung out when I got home, and then Andy and Isaac came over for a while. Amos got drunk off the growlers and joined me on the porch and we had some hilarious talks till 2 in the morning.

Sunday. It's Blake's birthday! 33, I think? Hit up The Anchor for coffee and writing, and after ridiculous traffic on the Brent-Spence, Mandy and I picked up Sarah on our way to U.C.C. (University Christian Church) in Clifton. It was decent, and Mandy and I know the guy leading the Wednesday night bible study, and he's pretty cool, so we're going to check that out (at least once). We dropped Sarah off at home and went to Findlay Market to purchase some produce, and we ran into both Cat and Brandon. Quite strange. Brandon came over later in the evening, and Mandy fixed everyone an amazing dinner: almond chicken, string beans, and brown rice, topped off with some quite-tart lemonade pie. Mom and Dad were in town, just passing through, so they stopped by and Rob made some coffee, and we all just sat on the porch and reminisced on simpler times, the Glory Days with Pat, Chris, and Lee (and, later on, Dylan and Tyler). Days that promised to never end have been reduced to a handful of journals, faded photographs, and our attempts to stitch it all together in our minds.