the 62nd week

our weekly, self-indulgent ritual

Monday. Our new store hours (7-4:00) started today, and we're cut down to 20% labor, which basically means we've gone from having six people on the floor per day to four. Thus work was busy and frustrating. I'd better get used to it. I hung with the housemates after work and then went to The Anchor: coffee, blogging, Romans. I did some grocery shopping for the week and made pan-seared swordfish with sauteed mushrooms for dinner, polished off with a growler of Summer Honey Ale courtesy of Luke at Rock Bottom. I took a contemplative drive with peach watermelon juice and City of Colour, and I rounded out the night with cantaloupe hookah and the housemates plus ex-housemate Amos.

Tuesday. Brandon & I opened, and after work I went to The Anchor and a semi all but ran me off the road. I wanted to shoot out his tires; too much GTA4, perhaps? I went over to Amos' and we hung out with John & Brandy and made angel-hair pasta with broccoli, mushrooms, and chicken, but I added too much butter so the noodles were rather gooey. "You know how I am with butter," I told Amos. He quipped, "Cooking dinner with you is always crazy, that's why I love it so much." We've certainly got a laundry list of dinner experiences. We played MW3 with the gang and when I got home Josh & Brandon were waiting for me, and we talked about our frustrations with T.M. and Andy & I sat on the front porch late into the night and then I went to bed.

Wednesday. Jake & I opened, and after work I took a nap and went to The Anchor for a while. I threw together a homemade Greek pizza and despite not reading the directions for the dough, it turned out somewhat decent. I have my little victories, though they're few and far between.

Thursday. Lucid dreaming kept me awake all night, in fits of frenzied terror, and I covered Ana's F.P. shift and we were slammed and understaffed and Brandon and I both drank some rancid orange juice and had some awful, sub-par defecation. Things with T.M. continue to become more and more convoluted (is that the right word?) and peoples' spirits and hopes are breaking. Lots of people are feeling out other jobs, biding their time here. "Anyone who's smart and who respects themselves is looking for another job," Amos said. What's that say about me? It's not that I'm superbly happy at T.M.; I'm not, though I do enjoy working with friends. I've just got so much on my plate right now that focusing on a career (or lack thereof) is the furthest thing from my mind. I took a 2-hour nap and woke feeling sick, and I went over to Amos' and John grilled chicken and Brandy made corn on the cob, broccoli, and baked beans. Ams & Andy came over, too, and we all spent the evening hanging out in the living room and playing video games. I'm so blessed to have the friends I do.

Friday. I opened with James and went to The Anchor instead of taking a nap, and I had dinner at Cancun Mexico down Glenway and enjoyed a quiet evening rewatching episodes of The Walking Dead. Hurricane Isaac is supposed to sweep up here sometime tomorrow, bringing heavy winds and blustering winds. Andy remarked, "We're either going to get a shit ton of rain or no rain at all, just wind." We'll see.

Saturday. I woke too late to go to The Anchor before Indian buffet, so I grabbed coffee at McDonald's and then joined Andy, Amos, and Brandy at Dusmesh. It was Brandy's first time, she was pretty into it (she took the pic above; I'm eating on the left, Andy's on the right, and Amos is filling his second plate at the buffet). We went to the Loth House afterwards for some hanging out and video games, and I started feeling kinda sick so I went back home and took a four-hour nap, woke feeling a bit better. I may have eaten some bad Indian, but will that keep me from it? Hell no. I went to The Anchor to throw off some residual grogginess from my nap, and then I spent the evening hanging out with Andy before jetting up to Dayton to see Mom & Dad and to cuddle with Sky. We watched "Ocean's 11" and "Sherlock Holmes" before calling it a night. I slept with the window open listening to distant thunder from Hurricane Isaac blended with the cicadas in the trees.

Sunday. It rained most of the day, Isaac sweeping through. I went to the Centerville Starbucks to sip on an iced soy caramel macchiato and continue plowing through Romans, and then I joined Mom & Dad at Southwest Church. The sermon was on baptism, it's a four-part series, I'm going to try and be there for the others. It should be interesting. Tyler & I did Wendy's for lunch and spent the afternoon playing MW3 and catching up. I returned to Cincinnati and spent the evening reading The Glorious Cause and hanging out with Andy, Blake, and Isaac. Oh, and I ate not one but four chocolate-dipped cookies & cream ice cream bars. My entire week's allowance, gone in a single day. We were going to go to the rock ledge at C.C.U. to watch the fireworks, but it rained so we listened to them in Blake's room. "Wait, is that Antietam?"