Monthly Archives: May 2004

Oh hey! What's up dude?!!!

7pm

I cracked open a Coors Light and started the coals. 30 minutes later I slapped some chicken titties (credit goes to Super Brannon for the term) on the grill and chilled the fuck out to some skillet radio.

What’s that? That… that sounds like The Silver Fox’s truck. Nah, can’t be. I sat on my balcony in my camping chair, drank my beer, and relaxed.

The Silver Fox’s truck ROARS into the parking lot. What the fuck? The Silver Fox stormed up the stairs, not saying a word to me. He went to the fridge, cracked open a beer, and slammed it. He slammed another. He opened his third, and finally joined me on the balcony. We still haven’t spoken.

The Silver Fox takes a seat in the lawn chair next to mine.

“WHAT’S UP DUDE? SORRY I DIDN’T CALL AND WARN YOU. I COULDN’T FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE DUDE.”

Shit, I don’t care. The Silver Fox, hell, any of my friends are welcome at my pad at any time. My mind was racing. The Silver Fox’s here, I’m unprepared, what are going to do?

We had a nice dinner of shicken, rice, and green beans washed down with ice cold beer. We stood on my balcony, music blaring, and pounded beers.

10pm

“Let’s go to the Oasis dude! We’ve never been there before!  It looks cool, let’s go!” The Silver Fox slurred, already on his 8th Coors Light.

I shrugged. “Fine with me, let’s rock.”

We walked past Joe’s–dead. We continued downtown to the ATM–nobody’s out and about.

As we get closer to the Oasis we see quite a large crowd milling about in the parking lot.

“What the fuck dude? What is this place? Is that the line? Are we going to get in?”

Shit, I don t know. The place looks hoppin  tonight. We must be in the right place!

11pm

Tuesday night, 11pm, Chico, Calfornia, The Oasis. The bar is slammed. Jam packed. Overflowing. All four pool tables in the back are taken. The foosball table is taken. The ping pong table is taken. Galaga, Dig Dug, and Star Wars pinball are all taken. Jesus, don t these people have school tomorrow?

The Silver Fox and I mosey on up to the bar and order a pitcher of Coors Light. The bartender plops the brew down and gives us two ice cold pint glasses.

Three dollars please.

WHAT? WHAT DID HE JUST SAY? The Silver Fox and I look at each other at that moment, dumbfounded, stricken. The deer-in-the-headlights look, so to speak.

Guys? Three bucks please.

Our vacant expressions slowly turned into goofy, shit-eating grins. We slowly began to nod our heads, conversing in that unspoken guy-language. Tension mounting, and releasing with some sort of Beavis and Butthead laugh.

I gave the bartender a fiver, shit-eating grin still plastered on my mug. I poured The Silver Fox a beer, then me. I turned to The Silver Fox and we both said at the same time:

“I think we’re staying here.”

We drank deeply of our Coors Light, the nectar of the gods. Many pitchers later the room began to spin. Not long after that we were forcibly ejected from the establishment. One pedicab and five bucks later we were back at my apartment. Passed out.

9am.

That motherfuckingcocksuckingpieceofshit alarm clock is going off. I have to get up. I HAVE to get up and go to class. I was still drunk. My head was pounding. I was dehydrated, I felt like crap, and I had to go to class.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have three classes. The first two classes I m allotted three absences for the semester. For every class after three that you miss, it s one letter grade off your final grade. I ve already used my three absences. I had to go to class.

I suffered through a few hours at school, and managed to pound three liters of water. All I could think of was going home and napping.

1pm

When I got home, The Silver Fox was still there. Still there, and drinking a beer.

Let s go play golf dude! I slept in, showered, had breakfast around the corner  I m ready to roll! Let s go, come on! Don t be a pussy!

Dammit. I can t be a pussy. Fine. FINE! Let s go.

The Silver Fox and I drove out to Bidwell Park Golf Course. We played like shit, but it was still fun. I love playing golf with The Silver Fox. We aren’t competitive at all. We don t even keep score. We just go out, drink beer, and have fun.

Why play a sport if you re not going to have fun? I don t understand why some people get all serious and competitive and aggressive when it comes to sports. They want to win SOOO bad. When they don’t, or when they play poorly, they get all bent out of shape. That doesn t sound like fun to me. Why play if you’re not going to have fun?

The Silver Fox and I played with two guys that took golf way too seriously today. These two jackasses were all gussied up in their $200 golf shoes and $100 Ashton polo shirts and crap. One guy talked on his cell phone constantly. They lined up all their shots, cleaned off their ball on the green, took off their gloves to putt, all the dumb shit. They took forever. They hardly spoke to each other. Maybe they were in  the zone ? Who knows.

What a couple of jackasses. The Silver Fox and I were hung over, and drinking, and drunk. We were playing shitty golf, laughing hysterically when one of us sliced a ball off into the woods. I once swung the club so hard I fell down. The two PGA tour guys got all huffy and starting sighing loudly and forcibly. I cracked open another beer, pounded it, and burped as loud as I could all the while staring the two jackasses in the face.

Dude, if you re not going to have fun, why play golf?

6pm

We finished 18, finally. We bought some Coors Light tall boys and drove up to Bear Hole, and swam for an hour in Chico Creek. It felt fantastic. As I laid in the sun I kept repeating, “I love this town.” The Silver Fox agreed with me.

7pm

Exhausted, we drove back to my place and bbq ed some tri tip. We hung out for a bit.

10pm

The Silver Fox drove home.

I am so tired right now I can barely type. I might even fall asleep before midnight tonight. Hey, isn t today Cincqo de Mayo? Hmmm… Maybe I ll just go out for a bit. I ll just have ONE beer

Ole!

I heart Chico

The alarm went off at 9:00am, and my heart lept out of my chest. I hate that alarm clock. I reluctantly got out of bed and slammed my fist down on the snooze bar. I stood there for a moment quietly contemplating whether or not to stay up or go back to bed. With a sigh I turned the alarm off and began my day.

After breakfast and a shower I rode my bike to school. It was already 85 degrees at 9:30am. Shit. I’m still not used to this weather. I grew up in the Bay Area and lived in Long Beach for 10 years. This 100 degrees every day for six months bullshit isn’t something I’m ever going to like. By the time I got to school I was even more hot; and I was thirsty.

I stopped off at the waystation and bought two liters of bottled water. I walked outside and guzzled the first one, then put the second one in my book bag. I went to class.

My three classes today were awesome. I sat in the back of the room and talked to my favorite girls. We laughed and made plans for lunch. I felt pretty good.

We went to Kona’s and bought a couple of sammiches; then took them down to the amphitheater by the creek. We sat in the sun–it was 95 degrees–and talked. I love my two blonde surfer girls from SoCal. I’m really going to miss them when we’ve all graduated and gone our seperate ways.

After school I rode my bike home in the sweltering heat. I took careful notice of the greenery turning not-so-green. Summer is almost here. The heat is certainly here… soon everything will be brown and dead. I rode hard the rest of the way, and my heart was pounding by the time I got home.

Holy shit my apartment is an oven. It had to have been 110 in there. I changed into my gym clothes quickly and raced off to Chico Sports Club. Today was my heavy lifting day–all upper body. Heavy weights, low reps. I’m trying to build muscle. So far, after 3 weeks back in the gym, I can tell the difference. I did my 30 minutes on the treadmill, drank my gallon of water, and drove home.

After a small meal of tri-tip and rice I grabbed my golf clubs and headed off to the driving range. I hit the jumbo bucket (125 balls) and took my time. There was a class there of young ladies learning how to play. One of the girls was giving me the eye and smiling from ear to ear. I smiled back and finished up.

By now it was 6pm and the temperature was still in the mid 90s. I bought a big ol’ can of Coors Light and drove five minutes up the road to my favorite spot by the river. I jumped in–beer and clothes and all–and immediately cooled off. I carefully waded over to “the spot”. There is a rock formation underwater that resembles a lawn chair. I can sit comfortably, lean back, and let the cool water flow over my shoulders, torso and legs. As I sipped my beer I watched all the cute girls float down the river in their innertubes. I soaked until my beer was gone, then I drove home.

Back at the apartment I started the charcoal and made some patties out of the ground beef I bought at the local market. I sat outside and watched the sun set, eating my burger and sipping a beer.

What a fantastic day! I love this town. I’m really going to miss it.

Three weeks

In exactly three weeks I will be done.

Ceremony over, walked across that stage, waved to my family, and done.

I knew this semester would go by fast, but damn…

I have one more week of instruction, one week of nothing, and one week of finals. My heart is all a-flutter right now just thinking about how close I am.

I’m scared.