the 67th week

where my budget goes to die

It looks as if the Claypole House will be my residence for a little while longer than anticipated. Blake told the landlord about our plans, and he lowered the price for us if we could stay through the end of the year. So we're sapping it for all its worth.

Monday. On Monday nights, a whole bunch of come over and we just watch movies and hang out. Tonight was a party with Blake, Andy, Isaac, Amos & Ams. John and Brandy were at the hospital waiting for John to become an uncle (he did). Tiffany told me her kids love me. Lennon said, "He played Legos with me and listened to me and talked to me like I was a real person!" The Wisconsinite caught up, and I went shopping with her. Virtually, of course.

Tuesday. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going in the mornings is an iced soy mocha with a hint of vanilla. This morning was one of those mornings. I got out around 1:45, just in time to get snagged in traffic around the Convention Center, where Michelle Obama gave a speech. Presidential elections are coming up next week, the main contenders being Romney and Obama for a second term, and I can hardly believe it's been four years since I sat in my car in the parking lot behind Restoration and listened to Obama's victory speech. I think he'll snag it again. I went to The Anchor this evening. "You really love your corner booths, don't you?" Linda quipped. Yeah, we're all on first name bases. Coffee and N.T. Wright, a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. The skies were clear by the time I left, and I sat on the front porch and read up on the "battle" at Newport and the Six Nations War in Indian country. I picked up some Indian for dinner from Dusmesh by Cincy State: chicken jalfrezi, vegetable samosas, and bhatura bread. I feasted at Amos', and we watched "Freaks & Geeks" and played MW3.

Wednesday. Tibbles and I opened together, a rare treat: since she's become our baker, she hardly ever works counter shifts. Her baked goods--butterscotch scones, blueberry muffins, pecan tarts & pumpkin bread--have been the main culprit behind my 15 pound weight gain. That, and tubs of ice cream from the U.D.F. down the street. The "3 for $10" deal is just too good to justifiably pass up. I spent the late afternoon at The Anchor, and when I got home I sat on the front porch and smoked my pipe and read about Stony Point back in July 1779. I picked up Indian yet again: chicken tikka (cooked in a Tandori clay oven in herbs, spices, & yogurt), chicken nan, and (duh) vegetable samosas. Andy & I spent the evening watching "Freaks & Geeks" and I curled up in bed and read 'bout the Fall of Charleston to the British.

Thursday. Work was chaotic, Tiffany and I both in bad moods. Her, because USFoods messed up her order for the second week in a row, and mine due to well, you know, the Usual Suspects. Tiffany said, "Your bad moods are like my good moods!" I hide it quite well. Years of practice. Coffee made me feel better at The Anchor, and I found a website where people who read my old book 36 Hours were posting all sorts of comments and reviews, phenomenal reviews. That also made me feel a bit better, knowing people--actual adults!--were reading my book and loving it. One woman said her husband yelled at her for burning their dinner: she got so wrapped up in the story that she forgot she had food in the oven and filled the whole house with smoke! Once upon a time this would feed the desire to make a career out of writing; but I've spent too much time chasing after unrealistic, wish-filled pipe dreams. Maybe that's the source of today's gloom? Pipe dreams. A lot's happened over the past year, and in the journey my perspective's been tweaked a decent amount. Life's short, and it's best spent focusing on those things that truly matter. One dream I fear to be pipe-ish(?) is that of a loving marriage, that commitment and companionship through life's good and bad, of being a father and knowing that love that goes beyond anything I've yet known. Such daydreaming led me to figure out my budget for ulterior motives, but sometimes craziness can make a little sense. After The Anchor I had Dusmesh for dinner--this time chicken shahi korma with the usual trimmings--and I got to talk with Mandy K. for a good, long while. And over Skype, at that! So good to see her face-to-face, even if only digitally. You take what you can get.

Friday. Bob brought us pumpkin beer to be enjoyed before the lunch rush. I wonder if the reason Bob allows, and sometimes even encourages, drinking on the job is because he knows how much stress we have to deal with? Bottom line: by the time lunch rush was over, and after a pumpkin ale and a bit of the red ale Kolsch from the multiple growlers stashed with our milk and o.j., I was feeling quite tipsy. I went over to Carew to see Emily and Sheffy, and then Isaac and I met up at Rock Bottom. Luke was there giving us samples of some new brews, and our beers were comped. I could barely get through one, having not eaten anything all day, though Isaac was afire. When I got home I started feeling queasy, and I lied down and took a 2-hour nap. I woke feeling better, and hanging out with John, Brandy and Amos at the Loth House till quite late at night definitely took off the edge.

Saturday. I woke early and went to The Anchor, enjoyed with coffee and N.T. Wright. Breakfast burritos for lunch while watching some of Season 2 of The Walking Dead. I spent the morning and afternoon reading about Benedict Arnold & West Point, Banastre Tarleton & The Swamp Fox, the guerilla warfare in the Carolinas and the British victory at Camden and their tragedy at King's Mountain. Much of this reading was done at Carew, where I visited with Emily and Sheffy, and sipped on a cappuccino. Blake and I went over to Amos' later in the day, and we played video games, celebrated Erin's departure, and grabbed dinner from The Anchor: goetta omelette with cheese, hash browns with onions & cheese, wheat toast and a pot of coffee (the latter shared between the three of us). The rest of my night was spent at Ams', hanging with her and Josh and watching "Sherlock". 

Sunday. The Anchor was crowded this morning, and very loud, so after a bout of coffee and N.T. Wright I headed home. Andy announced a Dusmesh trip with Amos, so I tagged along and afterwards we played MW3 at Amos'. After running some errands I went to The Anchor yet again--4 times this weekend!--and sipped coffee while reading about Morgan's victory at Cowpens and Greene's defeat at Guilford Court House (a composite of which was used for the "final battle" of The Patriot; York came as a sort of narrative epilogue, seeing as the movie's villain Tavington, based on Colonel Tarleton, whose loyalist troops brought everlasting shame to his name, had been killed by Benjamin Martin, based on a composite of Marion, Sumter, and Morgan). The quiet evening was spent hanging out with Isaac and Blake, and we watched an old movie by the Cohen Brothers and I bought a few more books for my "Winter Reading" collection.