the 33rd week

Whoa, we got a couple bad-asses here!

I was going to stop doing these "weekly recaps" after last week's, but I'm going to keep it going, because (a) I started these posts at the beginning of my move down to Cincinnati and might as well just end them when I move somewhere else, and (b) it's Blake's prime method for finding out all the hip and hop happening when he's away working his grueling 12-hours in the dead of night. I'm toying with different ways to change things up so it's not so static each time, but between Then & Now I'm going to stick with what we know.

Monday. One of the shop's closers called off sicks, so the lunch rush was pretty crazy. After work Blake, Isaac and I took a crowbar, two hammers, and a hacksaw to an decrepit big-screen TV gathering moss in the backyard. Isaac uncoiled the copper wiring from the projector, and then decorated the coffee maker so that it had curls of copper hair. We took the projector's lenses and googled our eyes in them (see two posts below). Brandy and John came over, and Amos came home from work and Ams came home from Dayton, and we all hung out in Blake's new room, and Blake made us some amazing buffalo-ranch chip dip. 

Tuesday. Ams and I booked it up to IKEA after work. It was my first time, and I think I'll always remember it. We ate dinner with Mom and Dad at the little mezzanine restaurant at the top, and then we shopped: Mom bought me a new bed (shout-out to her for a much appreciated and undeserved gift): it's full-size, an upgrade from the twin, with a European-style foam mattress laid over slats on a minimalist bed-frame. It's stiff at first, almost like you're lying on a wooden palate, but then it molds around you and you feel all snuggled up. And  broke it in with a good, old-fashioned, classic water spill. 

Wednesday. HUMP DAY! And that's the most excited I'll ever be for a Wednesday. Drink it in! The nice days have come to an (apparent) close: I woke to snow, and it kept snowing all morning without any accumulation. After work I did a bit of writing and visited Gabe in Northside before going back to work at 6:00 for a mandatory all-store meeting (so there were... counting heads... a mere six of us there). Cat threw together a cleaning/catch-up meeting with a pop quiz, pizza from Rock Bottom, and "meeting" stuff. Anna's is back next week but may be gone after that; who knows? Apparently I'm the only reliable food prep person? We'll see what happens. Emily and I cleaned behind the bar, and when Amos and I got home we hung out with Andy, who fully moved his stuff in (!!!). Before bed I hung out with Ams for a bit, and we shared music files with one another, and then I called Mandy K. and talked to her for a bit, and that was good, per usual.

Thursday. Work was a decent hop, minus the cracked-out homeless man harassing me for money and cigarettes while I was on break. I did some writing back home and took a meager nap. Amos, Andy and I played video games in the basement for a while. Everyone stayed indoors; we even cut out smoke breaks. It was cold, windy, rainy. Miserable. Winter's starting to feel like winter, and welcome it I most certainly do not.

Friday. Snow started falling around noon and kept falling throughout the day with no accumulation. I ran some errands after work--finally got a space heater!*--and weaseled in a nap before Tyler arrived. Mom and Dad stopped by on their way down to Lexington, and Ams, Tyler and I joined them for dinner at The Anchor. The service was slow--I honestly don't like going there most evenings because of that one reason--but the food was fantastic. Both Mom and Dad loved it, and I wasn't surprised: it's The Anchor! They were taking Skyler to Lexington with them, and so to relieve their burden--and to enliven my weekend--I took her off their hands. Mom and Dad headed south, and I made up Sky's bed and she hung out upstairs with Tyler, Blake, Amos, Ams and me. Tyler made late-night pancakes, and Andy came home later after an evening of R.P.G. at C.C.U.** down the street, and we listened to The National and then everyone passed out around 2 A.M. 

Saturday. Tyler ducked out early as he does sometimes, and Andy and I grabbed Dusmesh for lunch. The rest of the day was spent in Dayton: I gathered Sky's things, threw her in the passenger's seat, and took her home and spent the night. The evening's activities included much writing, listening to some of Dad's records on his scratch-disk (but it's digital, so it's kinda like a spin-disk; so it's a scratch-&-spinner), and not one but two trips to the Centerville Starbucks for their iced soy "caramel macchiatos" (there's just something about their soy milk, I think). Science documentaries filled the rest of the night, and I watched two documentaries on quantum physics. It's some interesting stuff, to say the least.

Sunday. I headed back down to Cincinnati in time to grab Rock Bottom for lunch with Ams and Josh. The $25 gift cards the brewers gave us repeatedly come in handy. I had the new espresso I.P.A. Rob would love it. The vast majority of my Sunday was spent hanging out with the roommates. Isaac came over and we watched "Pan's Labyrinth". Such a great, albeit disturbing, movie.