2012: the first week

Our house. In winter. Note the naked trees.

Monday. With the day off work (federal holiday and all, or so I'm told), I spent the morning hanging out with Blake and Amos, and then Ams and I went to Rock Bottom for lunch. She got nachos and I got a pizza, and we split them down the middle. It snowed most of the day, fiercely cold, and we stayed indoors. Andy came over, and then I ran some errands. The roads were a hot mess and not one but two traffic detours because of accidents hindered my progress. It was a quiet evening spent shooting zombies with Amos and hanging out upstairs in Blake's room, talking the night away and listening to "The National."

Tuesday. The Tazza Mia craziness has started up again, and I burnt my neck something awful (a door slammed a hot plate into my neck). "It looks like you got a hickie from a succubus." For training we re:hashed the pour-overs, and then Amos and I devoured Chipotle with Blake and Brandy up in Blake's room. I went out to the east-side and met up with a friend, and we watched "Garden State" (such a good movie!), and it was late and I debated whether or not to spend the night and decided against it. I didn't get back in 'till about 2 A.M.

Wednesday. Another hellish day of work, got out an hour late. Mandy and I hung out for a while, and we helped Jamie Smith (the N.T. professor from C.C.U., also our neighbor) clean some chairs out from his garage. Sarah came and picked them up to put them in her house. I did some grocery shopping at our local ghetto Kroger (that place is a hot mess) and had cereal and pumpkin pie for dinner. Best part of the night was crawling into bed by 10:00; only sleeping a handful of hours last night wore on me all day.

Thursday. No doubt the most uneventful day of the week. I literally only wrote a few sentences in my journal, and here they are: "I spent the day after work doing not much of anything besides reading Tolkien and drinking wine, and I was passed out an hour before midnight." Yep, that's how I roll.

Friday. Work was a decent hop, and later in the evening Blake and I met up with Amos and Andy at Rock Bottom. We drank beer and demolished some Grade-A food, and when we got back around 9:00 I crawled into bed, read for a while, and then passed out.

Saturday. I gave Amos a ride to Refuge to play nerd games, and then I went to The Anchor to do some writing while drinking coffee. Andy, Rob and I got Dusmesh, and Les--the demi-god of Cincinnati--joined us, so we talked "coffee culture" and discussed the up-and-coming 1215 Wine Bar. I spent the afternoon listening to Led Zeppelin and playing "Skyrim" for a solid 4 hours. Oh, the things winter does to me. I ousted the Stormcloaks from the land and killed three dragons in the process. I picked up some chianti from Kroger and poured myself a glass, and I called Mandy K. on her long drive back to Wisconsin, and we talked for a solid two hours. It was a good time, as always. 

Sunday. Mandy woke me in the middle of the night to show me the tiny moon encircled by a throbbing halo of light. I dreamt that Amos and I beheld the northern lights--aura borealis, for the Latin-inclined--and then zombies burst into our hotel. It was one of the most graphic zombie dreams I've had, including the apparent apathy of my sister and much blood on my hands. I woke drenched in sweat. Not a regular night. When daylight came, Rob, Mandy and I went to U.C.C. "Come Thou Fount" always stirs my heart. I ran and got Chipotle for lunch, and Rob, Mandy, and Rob's brother Kevin were already there. I spent the afternoon writing--a good twenty pages on my 1 Peter thingamajig (which is an actual word, strangely enough). The shadows drew long and torrents of people came in and out of the house: B-Shields, C. Isaac, Andy, Sarah, to name a few. The Smiths threw out a TV and Rob snatched it up for our living room. Mandy, Ams, Sarah, Andy and I went down to Florence to get Red Robin for dinner. While we were there, the cook had a seizure and the place got pretty hectic for a while. When we got back we found police cars up and down the street, and someone had smashed into some cars and tried to speed away. Sarah's husband's truck was banged up pretty bad, and Gambill's car likewise (from what I hear; hard to see in the dark). With dark fully settled I smoked pipe with Amos and Andy on the front porch, and Rob and I drank some wine and I was in bed around 10:00, reading some more Tolkien before calling it a night.