21 years ago today, a fool was born
...and it's been downhill ever since. Well maybe that's an exaggeration but you know how it is.
My birthday has been a mixed bag thus far. The day leading up to my birthday was extremely uneventful. I sat around my house all day and read books. I began to feel the pangs of hunger around eveningtime and decided a trip to Taco Bell was in order.
Since I was in the area, I decided to stop into work before I got my chomp on and see if anyone there was hungry. As it turns out, Mary Conley was working and was indeed hungry so I took her order and ran out without taking her money (does that make me a nice guy or a sneak?).
I dined on the Taco Smell with Mary and my manager, Justin, while they closed out. During this time, I made a call to Jon Lund to find out the status of the site for "21 on 21". Unexpectedly, Bill (who was filming a golf outing for the city of Green with Jon and Dave Rich) picked up and explained to me that he was "planning on going to the bars later and I was welcome to come along since, y'know, I could and all". Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by his haphazard plans and was undecided on whether to take him up on them.
The phone was then passed to Lundy himself who hastilty told me to "still plan on the Holiday Inn" and that he was "real busy". So far, the phone converstaion was not going so well.
The phone was then handed to Dave Rich who told me that he'd talk to me about doing something once he was done with filming. That was pretty much what I expected and therefore I was not so disappointed with Dave's portion of the coverstation.
After I hung up, I decided that it would be a moot point for me to go home just to come back to the theater once Bill Jon and Dave arrived so I stuck around. I passed the time by talking to Justin and Mary and playing pinball on the computer until the trio arrived.
There was the obligatory small talk and then when it was time to leave, the question of where we were going was presented to no one in particular. When nobody said anything, I realized that the question had been meant for me. I didn't know what to say. At that point I wasn't even really in the mood to go out. So we slowly made our way out of the theater all the while trying to decide where we were going. Once again the question was not directed at me but I was apparently expected to answer it since everyone was staring at me. I mean I realize it was my birthday and all but it seemed as though the plan to go out drinking was formulted without me in mind so why should I be the one to choose?
I ultimately decided (and proceeded to make clear) that I didn't feel like going out. This statement was met with much confusion and whispered discussion. Several times I was approached by Bill and asked if I was sure that I didn't want to go out. Each time my response was the same but it did nothing to quell the befuddled glances I received from Jon, Justin, and Bill. After several minutes of this, Mary decided to go home which left Bill, Dave, Jon, Justin, and I in the parking lot.
Eventually, Bill, Jon, and Justin gave up on trying to convince me to go out drinking with them and explained that they were all just going home. Now was my turn to be confused. Bill didn't intimate to me that we were going out to the bars in lieu of my birthday. When I spoke to him, I got the impression that he was planning on going out anyway and bringing me along was just an afterthought. So why then would they cancel their plans if I decided not to accompany them? I still don't know.
But by that time, I was definitely not in the mood for celebration so I declined one more time before Jon, Justin, and Bill drove off looking just as confused as ever. Now it was down to Dave and I with my 21st birthday a mere 45 minutes away. Dave told me he was up for anything and threw out a few suggestions. I suggested a few things myself and between the two of us, we made the plan to go to his house and play Pokemon Puzzle League until midnight at which point I would take advantage of my newfound ability to exchange legal tender for Zima which we would drink while watching Caddyshack.
As we were (finally) leaving the theater, I was seized by an inexplicable desire to shave and put on a belt. Plus, I had agreed to let Dave borrowed a CD that I had been lost and recently found.
So I was off to my house. On the way home, I passed three hollering hooligans meandering around in my neighborhood. I spared a brief thought on the unusualness of this as the old people outnumber the hooligans in Fairlawn Heights 15 to 1. As I pulled into my driveway, I heard familiar voices shouting my name. It was the hooligans! As it turns out, they weren't hooligans at all but fellow LJers, Ted Mallocups, Murky Burnsides, and Gabe Shreck. You see, these three much to my surprise had walked all the way from Greg Madonia's house for a lack of anything better to do. Shocking, to say the least.
Hurried greetings were exchanged during which Gabe flashed a bottle of grape Mad Dog. I quickly explained the plan and once again much to my surprise, everyone seemed interested. I invited them in, grabbed my belt, a shave, and the CD for Dave and we were off for the Rich household.
Upon arriving at the Rich's, I knocked on the door but there was no answer so I went around to kick his basement window. I came to find that his basement light was off so I continued around to the back of his house. First I knocked on the window by his computer shich still brooked no response. So I moved on to his kitchen window where I spied Brian moving about doing something or other. I didn't want to shout so I waved my hands. He didn't notice so I threw a small stick at the window. He appeared to hear it but didn't seem like he knew where the noise had come from and went back to whatever it was he was doing. I decided to increase my efforts by throwing a slightly bigger stick and waving my arms once he
looked up. He finally noticed that I was standing there and motioned for me to go around to the front of the house which I did to find a very confused Dave facing four of his friends instead of just one. It didn't take long to explain though and we were inside and downstairs in no time. Once there, the plan went pretty much as expected. We played a few games of Pokemon Puzzle League and once 12 am rolled around, Mark and I left for Giant Eagle.
We didn't waste any time at the store. We went straight for the booze section where we discovered a new variety of Zima - Citrus Zima! Whereas regular Zima tastes like Sprite with dirt in it, Citrus Zima tastes like Sprite with dead spiders in it. Here's to being 21. There was one six pack left so I grabbed it and headed for the checkout line.
As I turned the corner, I ran into none other than...
MY DAD!
at Giant Eagle. At 12:15 am. Grocery shopping. And there I was standing with a six-pack of Zima in my hand. Citrus Zima, no less! He looked at me, then at the Zima, then back at me.
"It's not even 12:15!" he shouted.
As I attempted to stammer out an excuse, he smiled and said (albeit with more than a hint of resignation) "Happy Birthday." We exchanged a few more words and then I made my first legal alcohol purchase.
After that sweaty experience, we headed back to Dave's house where we downed the Zimas while watching Caddyshack. It's really quite funny. You should watch it if you haven't recently.
After the movie, the task to drive everyone home fell on me which I had no problem with thus concluding my evening. Well, the parts worth mentioning at any rate.
Anyway, I wish I could explain to everyone what's going on for my b-day in my post but alas, I can not. You see, I was not under direct control of the planning process and now my much-touted party is a shambles. That's not to say that there won't be a party; I have had much assurances that we will do something. What that something is, however, I can not say. All I canb say is that I will do my best to include everyone and I hope that it will be worth all the time, effort, and worry that has been put into it. No promises though.
My birthday has been a mixed bag thus far. The day leading up to my birthday was extremely uneventful. I sat around my house all day and read books. I began to feel the pangs of hunger around eveningtime and decided a trip to Taco Bell was in order.
Since I was in the area, I decided to stop into work before I got my chomp on and see if anyone there was hungry. As it turns out, Mary Conley was working and was indeed hungry so I took her order and ran out without taking her money (does that make me a nice guy or a sneak?).
I dined on the Taco Smell with Mary and my manager, Justin, while they closed out. During this time, I made a call to Jon Lund to find out the status of the site for "21 on 21". Unexpectedly, Bill (who was filming a golf outing for the city of Green with Jon and Dave Rich) picked up and explained to me that he was "planning on going to the bars later and I was welcome to come along since, y'know, I could and all". Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by his haphazard plans and was undecided on whether to take him up on them.
The phone was then passed to Lundy himself who hastilty told me to "still plan on the Holiday Inn" and that he was "real busy". So far, the phone converstaion was not going so well.
The phone was then handed to Dave Rich who told me that he'd talk to me about doing something once he was done with filming. That was pretty much what I expected and therefore I was not so disappointed with Dave's portion of the coverstation.
After I hung up, I decided that it would be a moot point for me to go home just to come back to the theater once Bill Jon and Dave arrived so I stuck around. I passed the time by talking to Justin and Mary and playing pinball on the computer until the trio arrived.
There was the obligatory small talk and then when it was time to leave, the question of where we were going was presented to no one in particular. When nobody said anything, I realized that the question had been meant for me. I didn't know what to say. At that point I wasn't even really in the mood to go out. So we slowly made our way out of the theater all the while trying to decide where we were going. Once again the question was not directed at me but I was apparently expected to answer it since everyone was staring at me. I mean I realize it was my birthday and all but it seemed as though the plan to go out drinking was formulted without me in mind so why should I be the one to choose?
I ultimately decided (and proceeded to make clear) that I didn't feel like going out. This statement was met with much confusion and whispered discussion. Several times I was approached by Bill and asked if I was sure that I didn't want to go out. Each time my response was the same but it did nothing to quell the befuddled glances I received from Jon, Justin, and Bill. After several minutes of this, Mary decided to go home which left Bill, Dave, Jon, Justin, and I in the parking lot.
Eventually, Bill, Jon, and Justin gave up on trying to convince me to go out drinking with them and explained that they were all just going home. Now was my turn to be confused. Bill didn't intimate to me that we were going out to the bars in lieu of my birthday. When I spoke to him, I got the impression that he was planning on going out anyway and bringing me along was just an afterthought. So why then would they cancel their plans if I decided not to accompany them? I still don't know.
But by that time, I was definitely not in the mood for celebration so I declined one more time before Jon, Justin, and Bill drove off looking just as confused as ever. Now it was down to Dave and I with my 21st birthday a mere 45 minutes away. Dave told me he was up for anything and threw out a few suggestions. I suggested a few things myself and between the two of us, we made the plan to go to his house and play Pokemon Puzzle League until midnight at which point I would take advantage of my newfound ability to exchange legal tender for Zima which we would drink while watching Caddyshack.
As we were (finally) leaving the theater, I was seized by an inexplicable desire to shave and put on a belt. Plus, I had agreed to let Dave borrowed a CD that I had been lost and recently found.
So I was off to my house. On the way home, I passed three hollering hooligans meandering around in my neighborhood. I spared a brief thought on the unusualness of this as the old people outnumber the hooligans in Fairlawn Heights 15 to 1. As I pulled into my driveway, I heard familiar voices shouting my name. It was the hooligans! As it turns out, they weren't hooligans at all but fellow LJers, Ted Mallocups, Murky Burnsides, and Gabe Shreck. You see, these three much to my surprise had walked all the way from Greg Madonia's house for a lack of anything better to do. Shocking, to say the least.
Hurried greetings were exchanged during which Gabe flashed a bottle of grape Mad Dog. I quickly explained the plan and once again much to my surprise, everyone seemed interested. I invited them in, grabbed my belt, a shave, and the CD for Dave and we were off for the Rich household.
Upon arriving at the Rich's, I knocked on the door but there was no answer so I went around to kick his basement window. I came to find that his basement light was off so I continued around to the back of his house. First I knocked on the window by his computer shich still brooked no response. So I moved on to his kitchen window where I spied Brian moving about doing something or other. I didn't want to shout so I waved my hands. He didn't notice so I threw a small stick at the window. He appeared to hear it but didn't seem like he knew where the noise had come from and went back to whatever it was he was doing. I decided to increase my efforts by throwing a slightly bigger stick and waving my arms once he
looked up. He finally noticed that I was standing there and motioned for me to go around to the front of the house which I did to find a very confused Dave facing four of his friends instead of just one. It didn't take long to explain though and we were inside and downstairs in no time. Once there, the plan went pretty much as expected. We played a few games of Pokemon Puzzle League and once 12 am rolled around, Mark and I left for Giant Eagle.
We didn't waste any time at the store. We went straight for the booze section where we discovered a new variety of Zima - Citrus Zima! Whereas regular Zima tastes like Sprite with dirt in it, Citrus Zima tastes like Sprite with dead spiders in it. Here's to being 21. There was one six pack left so I grabbed it and headed for the checkout line.
As I turned the corner, I ran into none other than...
MY DAD!
at Giant Eagle. At 12:15 am. Grocery shopping. And there I was standing with a six-pack of Zima in my hand. Citrus Zima, no less! He looked at me, then at the Zima, then back at me.
"It's not even 12:15!" he shouted.
As I attempted to stammer out an excuse, he smiled and said (albeit with more than a hint of resignation) "Happy Birthday." We exchanged a few more words and then I made my first legal alcohol purchase.
After that sweaty experience, we headed back to Dave's house where we downed the Zimas while watching Caddyshack. It's really quite funny. You should watch it if you haven't recently.
After the movie, the task to drive everyone home fell on me which I had no problem with thus concluding my evening. Well, the parts worth mentioning at any rate.
Anyway, I wish I could explain to everyone what's going on for my b-day in my post but alas, I can not. You see, I was not under direct control of the planning process and now my much-touted party is a shambles. That's not to say that there won't be a party; I have had much assurances that we will do something. What that something is, however, I can not say. All I canb say is that I will do my best to include everyone and I hope that it will be worth all the time, effort, and worry that has been put into it. No promises though.