the 37th week

Celebrating Tazza Mia's "Sweet Beard Espresso"

Monday. Work was a breeze, and after hanging out with Blake and Ams for a while at home, I fell into my ritualistic nap. I woke with a growling tummy and the smell of Blake's crock-pot dinner filling the house: tacos! C. Isaac and Amos returned from North Carolina, sporting fresh tattoos and carrying fudge from somewhere in Kentucky. Brandy and John joined the party, and we filled Blake's room and watched The Walking Dead. People filtered out, and I spent the rest of my evening writing and listening to Damien Jurado (I may be seeing him in Nashville this May).

Tuesday. Anna couldn't come into work, so I scrambled in to cover her shift, and Cat took my closing responsibilities. The day started off cold but grew rather warm, and after work I took a nap. I woke sad from a nostalgic dream and took the edge off with a cigarette on the front porch. I went to the grocery for cereal and such. Amos didn't get home till pretty late: looks like Bob is giving him 600. 

Wednesday. Work went well. The weather was beautiful, in the sixties. Andy and I spent the evening playing video games - Black Ops and Fallout - and we smoked pipes on the front porch, taking in the first breaths of spring (I still fear a winter storm in late March; we'll see if history's cycle breaks this year). When Amos got home we ordered pizza and watched episodes of Archer. Ams and I hung out pretty late, and then I clunked upstairs and passed out in bed.

My 25th birthday! I hit up The Anchor and started reading The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath: a short and precise book, it ought to be a quick read. Work was quite chaotic, and we didn't get out until 6:30. We were going to grab birthday drinks at Rock Bottom with Cat, but she fell asleep around 4:00 and slept till 2:00 the following morning, so that didn't happen. My birthday evening consisted of heading over to Brandy's place in Over the Rhine; Ams drove, and Andy and I attempted to navigate. John, Andy and I drank beers in the kitchen and then took the party upstairs to play Call of Duty and hang out with Brandy and her roommates. Brandy was pretty mellow: she had her wisdom teeth taken out this morning and was all drugged up. Ams, Andy and I left around 10:30, and I listened to Damien Jurado's "Caught in the Trees" album before calling it a night.

Friday. Cat brought in donuts and Tiffany - a.k.a. "Tibbles & Bits" - brought in banana bread. The morning crew threw on beards to celebrate our new "Sweet Beard Espresso" (see picture at the top of this post). The bag  has Amos' face all over it. Tyler came down when I got off work, and we went to 600 to get drinks and wait for Andy and Isaac, and once they showed up we went across the street to the brewery. I had an espresso IPA and Cod Fish & Chips. I tried to use my gift card (for the third time) and was unable to do so (again: for the third time). They comped the bill yet again. Hot damn, I'm starting to *sorta* feel guilty. Tyler and I spent the night playing Black Ops with Andy, singing aloud to folk music, and hanging out with Ams and Josh for a while. "Who would've thought," Ams mused, "that we'd end up living together after college in a house filled with our friends, doing our own thing and watching the world burn." Or, in my case, watching the world LEARN. Ams fell in love with Damien Jurado's "Sheets," which is precisely what everyone does when they actually Pay Attention to it. See the bandwagon? "Get on the bus!" Oh: and I got to Skype with Mandy in Portland for a hot minute, and it was nothing short of classic and heartwarming. 

Saturday. Tyler left early as he always does, and Andy, Amos and I grabbed Dusmesh, and then I passed out for my ritualistic "after-Indian nap" (as I've come to call it; and as an aside, I'm finding that I have quite the array of 'ritualistic naps' throughout my week). Mandy and I were going to Skype yet again, but she got called into work and couldn't say No. I was bummed, but it was understandable: I'd go in, too, if only due to a misplaced sense of duty and the promise of an overactive guilt complex were I to say No. "Thanks for describing my thought processes on the situation," she mused; to which I replied, "We live the same life." It's become our--well, my--motto. Ams and I hung out for a while, and I was up till 4:00 A.M. (inadvertently, I might add: D.S.T. sneaks up on you) hanging out with Blake, Andy and Amos. Before all this, I spent much of the evening quietly reading at The Anchor: I'm halfway through McGrath's The Dawkins Delusion: it's a succinct, clear, and excellent read, critiquing many of Dawkins' main points in The God Delusion. McGrath is attempting, I think, some sort of ripple-down effect: critique the foundational tenets of Dawkins' arguments and philosophy, and from there the argument will topple in a spiraling downward cascade. 

Sunday. I woke early and went to The Anchor for coffee, and I finished The Dawkins Delusion. No big feat, it was only four chapters and not even 100 pages long. A short read indeed. I went by Carew to get my paycheck (since they didn't come on Friday and were supposed to be delivered Saturday), but as grammar might tell you, they hadn't come in. Instead I just grabbed an iced latte for my drive up to Dayton to go to Southwest Church with Mom and Dad. During the sermon I filled an entire legal pad with notes covering why, I believe, Christianity [and other global religions as well] would survive a zombie apocalypse (albeit in a modified form). I'll post it up here soon, for shits and giggles. The new church building is finished, and nicer than I expected. They even have a little cafe with mochas (or their versions of them). Ams came up after church, and we got lunch with Mom and Dad at The Olive Garden. I got the seafood portifino, per usual. I spent the afternoon in Dayton working on the car: cleaned it out, reorganized the trunk, topped off the fluids, fixed a flat from last month and put air in all the tires. I bid farewell to Mom and Dad (and Sky, of course) and headed home. Andy, Blake and Amos were out back with a fire going, the scratch-disk playing, the hookah going, and topping it all off, everyone had their tops off (except Blake). I grabbed a beer from the fridge and joined them, taking off my button-up in the sexiest way possible (dribbling beer on my chest to up the sensuality). Sitting there on the back porch hanging with my buddies, it felt like spring-time last year all over again, and I could almost close my eyes and be back on the old front porch in the rocking chair drinking Killian's and smoking cigarettes with Dylan and Tyler. Those times will soon be relived... Isaac came over, and we hung out in Blake's room for a good long while. I showed Ams how to play Black Ops, and she loves it. 'Round the end of the night I went out to the smoldering fire-pit and smoked cigarettes while listening to The Black Keys.