park avenue: the first week

the view from one of our THREE balconies at the cabin

I know I vowed these would end, but let's be honest: I hardly ever have anything else to write about. At least this will fluff up my blog a bit and give me some breathing room when the posts just aren't coming. I'm hoping to change up the recap starting next week, but we'll keep it classic for now (what else can we do?).

Monday. I visited The Anchor before work, and then I headed up Vine Street to Amos' place for Monday Night Shenanigans. The Walking Dead is no more, at least until February (damned mid-season breaks), so we've been reduced to playing video games and watching ridiculous movies. Tonight's crew was rather large, with the additions of Dave and Mandy to the usual mash-up. We played MW3 and they started watching "Stuck On You" but it was late and I was tired, so I headed home.

Tuesday. I went to The Anchor before closing shop at T.M. Amos cleaned the roaster and got off about the same time. We headed over to Rock Bottom to meet up with Mandy, Brandon, Andy and Ams. We headed back to Brandon's place for a bit, and then everyone migrated to the new place. We spent the evening hanging out in the living room, talking and laughing and listening to jazz and eating Chipotle. Such a great crew together. Mandy's heading back to Portland tomorrow.

Wednesday. Sarah and I opened, our last shift together (she's off tomorrow and I'm off Friday). Mandy came into the cafe before heading to Dayton to jump on the plane, and I gave her a long hug and bid her farewell. It was pretty awesome seeing her.I spent the evening back home watching episodes of "Deadliest Warrior". The show's pretty awesome, but I've found them to be historically shoddy at times. The episode about Washington vs. Bonaparte was itself disconcerting, but their analysis of Cortes and his army was ridiculous. When Isaac came home we watched "Kingdom of Heaven" and called it a night.

Thursday. I worked Food Prep for Ana, napped back home, and then jetted over to the Loth House for a night of drinking and playing video games with John, Amos, Brandy, Isaac and Dave. We've started playing MW3 online. I'm not awful, have been getting anywhere from 20-30 kills a round. That's pretty awesome, especially since I don't invest a whole lot of time into the game.

Friday. I headed over to Amos' around 11:00, and we played video games until checks arrived downtown. We picked 'em up, cashed 'em, and headed south, through Kentucky and into Tennessee. We reached Gatlinburg around 7:30, and were nestled into the Big Timber Lodge by 8:00. John and Brandy arrived, and I was curled up in the corner and scared the hell out of Johnny. He loved the surprise, and an evening of drinking and playing games commenced. The cabin came decked out with foozball (sp?), air hockey, several arcade games, and billards. Amos brought poker chips and we played a few rounds when the other guests arrived: Josh and Edith, a fellow named Keith and his wife Emily. We were up until 4:30 A.M. The cabin across from us hosted a fraternity/sorority get-together (common during Christmas break). Lots of shouting, drinking, and naked people running around in the windows. They were quiet by 3:00, but we kept going. Those younger kids don't know how to party.

Saturday. All of us went to Flapjack's for breakfast. Biscuits and gravy, over-easy eggs, bacon and home-fries, paired with mop-water coffee and splendid orange juice. Everyone decided to start partying early, so I went to the Strip alone. I perused the shops for a while, and when I returned I did some reading out on the porch before people started waking up for naps. Brandy, Josh, Edith and I played a game of King's that got me pretty messed up. I invented a new King's #10 rule that will be sure to be in my repertoire: you must make the little green man do a double hop, followed by a cartwheel, then a huge jump, and end it with him parachuting down into the beer. Everyone loved it. I ended up passing out on the sofa till about 3:30 in the morning, as John and Amos were staggering about, trying to find their rooms. I crawled back up the bunk-bed and fell swiftly asleep.

Sunday. Amos and I made the drive back through driving rains. We got back into Cincinnati around 2:30, and we played MW3 at his place before I returned home to unpack and hang out with Ams and Isaac. Mo and I met up at IHOP for dinner--it's only five minutes away, and her apartment's less than ten minutes from mine--and we had "the talk" that lasted well into the night. We're back together and we're both happy about that.