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Strange New Year (Conclusion)

Strange New Year (Part Two)

 

We had just been thrown out of the party and the snow was coming down heavier than before. We were in a residential neighborhood, on foot and it was ten to midnight. We would be bringing in the New Year outside, covered in snow.

It was too early for us to go home, so we needed a destination. Somebody suggested “Rudy’s,” an old man bar about a mile and a half away. The walk was downhill so we all agreed. We hadn’t gotten very far when we heard the shattering glass. G had dropped what was left of his half gallon of rum.

“Aw…bummer man.”

It was twelve thirty when we finally got out of the snow and into the warm dinge of Rudy’s. There were a few old guys staring at television and an older lady in a dress that greeted us with,

“Who needs a lei?”

Then she put lei’s around each of our necks. Yeah, none of us found it that amusing either.

When your nineteen, you have a tendency to just go with the flow and not think about how it will affect you later. Going to Rudy’s had taken some of us even farther from home. For me, it was about the same. It just wouldn’t be all downhill.

The guys from Island Heights on the other hand, we’re looking at around seven steep, uphill miles.

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Strange New Year (Part One)

Strange New Year

Part One

 

I was nineteen years old on this New Year’s Eve and it was the second year in a row that my friends and I had been thrown out of a party before midnight. There were a lot of missed midnight celebrations ahead for me. Those were my decisions.

After my shows would end on New Year’s Eve, I would hurry to get home and lock myself inside before the asylums opened and the lunatic’s escaped. The safest time to be on the road that night is at 12 O’clock.

There was a heavy snow this particular New Year’s Eve and we were forced to head out on foot. We had been invited to a few parties and would have to pick the one within walking distance. A good friend of mine had invited me to a party at her house. She said I could bring all of my friends except one.

“No G!”

Now, how do you tell a friend they’re not invited to a party? Especially, when he’s in the group walking to the door with you. I figured we would hide him in the back and maybe she wouldn’t notice. She was smiling brightly when she opened the door and then she saw him standing there.

“You brought him?”

My hope she wouldn’t notice gone, I assured her,

“He’ll be fine.”

Words I would later regret.

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Enough Already!

Enough Already!

 

Cookies, sausage, fried shrimp, pepperoni, cookies, pasta, bread, cookies, chocolate covered popcorn, ham, cookies, chocolate covered pepperoni and cookies…I’ve eaten so much this week. My clothes that were big and loose are no longer big and loose…Chocolate covered pants…No mas!

With Christmas coming, I decided to have my lab work for my upcoming physical done last week. Then, I would be able to eat whatever I wanted during the holidays without worrying about how it affected my cholesterol.

As I left the office, with less blood than when I went in, I felt cleansed. Like I could eat whatever I wanted without having to worry about it for another year. What’s the worst thing I could possibly eat?

Do you know the “Iowa State Fair” actually offers a fried stick of butter on a stick? That’s right, they take a stick of butter, put a stick through it, cover it with batter and deep fry it. Then, in case that’s not bad enough for you, they drizzle it with a sugar glaze.

I could feel my arteries clog as I read about it. No mention of whether a doctor or nurse was standing by the stand with a defibrillator. You would think a lot of people would fall over dead just from eating a few bites.

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