SO....I'm about a week late on updating this thing.
Friday morning was a surprise that turned out to be pleasant. Around 9 or 10 I was hanging some laundry out to dry when I heard "Yo, bitch!" from the other side of....I guess the "big pile of fucking JUNK" is the best way to describe what decorates my "home". I instantly recognized the native greeting of my people, but what foriegner could have learned of this holy place and come bearing a secret greeting used only by the elders?! Lo, it was my coworker, Steve!
Apparently Steve was driving past and managed to spot Jason's distinct truck from across the highway and mess, and knew I lived nearby. He dropped in to see if we'd join him? Well, join you where and for what, dear traveler?
He produced a bottle of whiskey and beer. "Going out to the forest park for a drink and swim!" Eh, fuckit, why not I think to myself. So for the first time in...forever...I prepare to leave my home. In daylight. Without being totally covered up.
Steve is a decent guy. Rambling hillbilly, lived most of his life in backwoods Louisiana, Republican and Baptist, not the kind of guy you'd think I get along with; but we bullshit well and are one of 3 actual WORKING people at our employer's. Laughter can bond anyone.
We grabbed a pizza, ANOTHER bottle of whiskey, some more Cokes and we were off....
It turned out to be quite lovely. I even tried my hand at swimming again, which failed spectacularly. Walking through the riverways with craggy sharp mold covered rocks, I slipped a few times and gashed the shit out of my foot and hands. I took pictures of neat interesting spots in the park (like an ancient rusty but beautiful iron bridge, a 1.5 mile brick staircase downhill through a pine forest, etc) in hopes that when Coi visits that she'd want to do some shooting at one of those...but alas, she is no longer interested in being an SG and has even left the site. I don't blame her, really....
I thought I had more interesting stories about the trip, but that was days ago. For several hours it was walking and driving around this massive national forest, seeing the local sites and trading war stories of wreckless youth. Trudging through the waters, receded by lack of rain. I ended up drinking the beers and the entire fifth of whiskey myself....a decision I'd come to regret.
And not just because of this image:
We were SAUCED.
We decided to start heading home, and I was nodding off....Steve SEEMED ok to drive....I woke up to a terrible shaking in the truck and we were off the goddamned road, off the OTHER SIDE of the road, and Steve had apparently just come to as well. Though I'd had more to drink, it was spaced out more than his drinking was and so I took the wheel for the next hour it took to get back. VERY cautious of speed limits, very VERY slowly turning curves....
I got home and examined myself in the mirror. Amidst the cuts from razor sharp rocks, my shoulders....were no longer white as a sheet of paper. There was some red. My paleness, defiled!
My stomach hurt. My head was throbbing. I was tired. Once upon a time, a fifth of whiskey would have been like an appetizer for me....
The biggest mistake I'd made that day, though, was expecting it to be a brief trip, so I left an away note up on AIM, stating "Gone to the water. I should be back at some point." It didn't occur to me that earlier that day, I'd been discussing with Molly that I wanted to go work in New Orleans and had looked into it....she thought I'd left for Nawlins. Oooops.
I may still do it. 18 hour shift-about 3 hours drive time to and from, which is also paid. Overtime is the greatest lover I've ever known.
Tomorrow....we'll go through another psychotic ex girlfriend story. I've been listening to the new King's X album and it....it does things to me. As all good music should, as all King's X music does.....and it drudges up many memories of Anna, the Heroin Addict. How can a NEW album remind you of things that happened years ago? Stay tuned, Bat Fans! Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel!
Friday morning was a surprise that turned out to be pleasant. Around 9 or 10 I was hanging some laundry out to dry when I heard "Yo, bitch!" from the other side of....I guess the "big pile of fucking JUNK" is the best way to describe what decorates my "home". I instantly recognized the native greeting of my people, but what foriegner could have learned of this holy place and come bearing a secret greeting used only by the elders?! Lo, it was my coworker, Steve!
Apparently Steve was driving past and managed to spot Jason's distinct truck from across the highway and mess, and knew I lived nearby. He dropped in to see if we'd join him? Well, join you where and for what, dear traveler?
He produced a bottle of whiskey and beer. "Going out to the forest park for a drink and swim!" Eh, fuckit, why not I think to myself. So for the first time in...forever...I prepare to leave my home. In daylight. Without being totally covered up.
Steve is a decent guy. Rambling hillbilly, lived most of his life in backwoods Louisiana, Republican and Baptist, not the kind of guy you'd think I get along with; but we bullshit well and are one of 3 actual WORKING people at our employer's. Laughter can bond anyone.
We grabbed a pizza, ANOTHER bottle of whiskey, some more Cokes and we were off....
It turned out to be quite lovely. I even tried my hand at swimming again, which failed spectacularly. Walking through the riverways with craggy sharp mold covered rocks, I slipped a few times and gashed the shit out of my foot and hands. I took pictures of neat interesting spots in the park (like an ancient rusty but beautiful iron bridge, a 1.5 mile brick staircase downhill through a pine forest, etc) in hopes that when Coi visits that she'd want to do some shooting at one of those...but alas, she is no longer interested in being an SG and has even left the site. I don't blame her, really....
I thought I had more interesting stories about the trip, but that was days ago. For several hours it was walking and driving around this massive national forest, seeing the local sites and trading war stories of wreckless youth. Trudging through the waters, receded by lack of rain. I ended up drinking the beers and the entire fifth of whiskey myself....a decision I'd come to regret.
And not just because of this image:
We were SAUCED.
We decided to start heading home, and I was nodding off....Steve SEEMED ok to drive....I woke up to a terrible shaking in the truck and we were off the goddamned road, off the OTHER SIDE of the road, and Steve had apparently just come to as well. Though I'd had more to drink, it was spaced out more than his drinking was and so I took the wheel for the next hour it took to get back. VERY cautious of speed limits, very VERY slowly turning curves....
I got home and examined myself in the mirror. Amidst the cuts from razor sharp rocks, my shoulders....were no longer white as a sheet of paper. There was some red. My paleness, defiled!
My stomach hurt. My head was throbbing. I was tired. Once upon a time, a fifth of whiskey would have been like an appetizer for me....
The biggest mistake I'd made that day, though, was expecting it to be a brief trip, so I left an away note up on AIM, stating "Gone to the water. I should be back at some point." It didn't occur to me that earlier that day, I'd been discussing with Molly that I wanted to go work in New Orleans and had looked into it....she thought I'd left for Nawlins. Oooops.
I may still do it. 18 hour shift-about 3 hours drive time to and from, which is also paid. Overtime is the greatest lover I've ever known.
Tomorrow....we'll go through another psychotic ex girlfriend story. I've been listening to the new King's X album and it....it does things to me. As all good music should, as all King's X music does.....and it drudges up many memories of Anna, the Heroin Addict. How can a NEW album remind you of things that happened years ago? Stay tuned, Bat Fans! Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel!