A long time coming

I seem to do this every time, I have a good spurt of blogging, and then nothing for a long period of time. But the fact is, Spring is upon us, the birds are chirping, the grass is growing, and the thaw is here. As for me, I seem to be in the same place I was almost 2 years ago. I have come to learn that relations are a tricky thing, they suck and are amazing at the same time. Right now I am in the middle of figuring out where this bus is going. In no way am I lost or off the beatin path, but I think we missed a few stops. Since were on the topic of buses, I will try to sum up relationships and compare them to a bus ride. When I was kid I used to take the bus about 3 times a year to travel to the other end of the state. The great thing about getting on a Bus was magically a 5 hour trip would turn into a 2 day affair. During that time you would be seating next to some interesting characters, you really didn’t mind, but really it raises a red flag. This is much like a person you are getting into a relationship with, there might be a few red flags, but you tend forget about it and let it slide under the radar.

When you get on the Bus you realize you have no control over this metal Sub sandwich. True it ain’t a plane but at the same time there is something a bit uneasy about it. Like a relationship you really have no true control over it, there could be a pothole about 40 miles down the road, you could get a flat, hit a deer, or have a blowout and re-enact the day Cliff Burton played a game of smear the queer with a tour bus. With that being said you take a beat and go and let the wheels turn. As the bus rolls on you look around and realize there is allot to see, and you get the choice to sleep or can see and enjoy every bit of the trip, this is not to different from real life, you can sleep through a relationship, or keep your eyes open. Now here is where things start to get a bit crazy. The first few hours are awesome, you are totally take by the magic of the bus, then you take a look at your watch and realize for as long as you have been on this bus you somehow have traveled only about 20 miles.

This is the point you begin to weigh your options. You think wow this was fun and I was into it, but now I take a good look around me and see the junkie in the seat next to coming down from a 4 day bender. The smell of urine, sulfur, and cat crap, overtake your senses, and you realize the seat you are sitting in has not been cleaned since Welcome Back Kotter was in prime time. At this point you really hit the wall and consider getting off the bus and taking your chances hitchhiking, or riding this basted out and getting off at your said destination. So this is where I am. I’m 20 miles out of the city, I have been on this bus for a bit to long, and I am thinking about getting off this bus. At the same time I want to get to my destination without having to take my chances as a drifter and risk becoming a skin lamp…. I will say this for that lame attempt at an over played analogy. I really love taking the bus ride. I choose no other mode of transportation for going from from point A to point B. It’s crazy and amazing at the same time, and I love my metal sub sandwich… Irr I mean my girlfriend. So at the end of the day I love it all, the ride, the trip, the cat crap, and more then anything I love the fact that I want to go back.

My Happy New Year… And the Irish Pub

So New Years Eve has come and gone, and to my surprise I woke up the next day without a hangover and feeling somewhat confused about the night prior. I am not saying that I had a bad New Years, it was actually the opposite. I had to work on New Years eve, but nothing that I didn’t expect. We were given the choice to leave early from work if we so chose to, but the catch was we wouldn’t get paid. I decided to stay the full 8 hours and left around the same time I always do. The plan was to go downtown for a bit, but then end the night and ring in the New Year with my friend Joe. I decided to double check to make sure everything was to go off without a hitch, so I double checked with all parties involved, as usual Joe backed out so the night was to be exclusive to downtown. To be honest I really didn’t mind, since I was in the part of Denver that I wouldn’t be around allot of people, or run into someone I didn’t want to.

 

When I got home from work I decided to take a nap to make sure I had enough energy for the coming night, and ultimately kill some time before my girl got home. I nodded off and awoke as my girl came screaming through the door. I had mentioned previously that we should grab a bite to eat before we go out to eat. Now I was in no mood to get fast food, so I opted to hit up the Sushi joint down the street. Other then it being somewhat overprices, it was good. From there we headed downtown to the Whisky Bar. I had been to this place a few times. It was awesome because the bar was being rented out by my girlfriends friends, so most everyone who was there was an acquaintance of my lady. We got there around 9:30 and was treated to a man being beaten by the DPD a block away. I am not going to say it was unwarranted, but 4 cops on one twenty something black guy was a bit of overkill in my opinion.

 

When we got into the bar it was at about ¼ capacity and filling up fast. I hopped up to the bar and ordered myself a Jack & coke. Man that mother was strong, I wanted to end the night without paying my respects to the porcelain god’s so I didn’t suck’em down like I normally do. We mingled a bit and decided that the whore to normal people ratio was getting a bit to much. I have to say that New Years is notorious for this factor coming into play. I don’t know why it happens, but it’s the one day a year that there is an abundance of sub-par woman that any guy, I mean an guy, has a chance. We decide to walk down the street and hit up the Giggling Grizzly. When we arrived we saw that there was a 10 dollar cover and promptly booked it back up the street to Scruffy Murphy’s. With a name like that, you can kind of guess the theme. We plopped down at the bar and ordered a round.

 

We conversed with the present party and me and my girl got in a heated debate about wither or not it was ok to bring a woffle ball into the bedroom, or a pitching machine. She told me that it was out of the question, but I think I may bring it back up come my birthday. We counted down till midnight and then I planted a big wet one on my lady. It was somewhat predictable, but a tradition that I like to keep. I hugged a few par patrons and was feeling good. I bought a round of Irish shots for the present party and downed them with a smile on my face. I was able to sneak a bottle of champagne into the bar and proceeded to down it as well. The bar tender spotted me but only smiled and said something along the lines of it being New Years. I think it was due to the fact that he was so plastered that he didn’t know the difference between a whisky sour and a vodka and tonic.

 

It was about one in the morning, and we decided that we should get a bit to eat before heading home. We all decided to go with the Denver Dinner. Now something interesting about the for everyone who doesn’t know about this place. It’s the one place where time seems to stand still and people who fall into the background of your life make a cameo. I can say this time around I was not disappointed. Though I didn’t directly interact with the people in the background, only let them take there bow and move on. I saw one of my flings from the Summer, and she still had that empty look in her face, like she was waiting for something. I was a bit saddened, but really observing it but allot of things in perspective. As I ate my grilled cheese and fries, I saw some people coming and going who I knew through other people, or through my ex. The funny thing was, the people I saw took off for other states and cities around the country vowing never to return to Denver, but in true form they returned.

 

They didn’t see me, but I saw them, it played out like a movie or a well written final chapter. One secondary character comes back for one final hooray, but doesn’t have enough to be a central character. The chapter ended and I headed home feeling really good and somewhat bittersweet about the meal. We drove home, hopped into the bed, made some whoopee, and called it a night. The next day I made a plan to do nothing but lounge. And sitting here I can say that I successfully accomplished that. So this is somewhat a reflection, but more or less a recap. So happy New Year to everyone, and hopefully you survived to read this, because lets face it’ ringing in the New Year with death is just a downer.

 

-Ty