Firsts

This weekend I went on a trip to Huntington, West Virginia to visit my best friend Pat. 

Friday started off a bit oddly for me. Mom had already left for her trip and I needed to get out of my house without becoming part of a melodramatic scene involving my Father. That went surprisingly well. I managed to get out with everything I needed for the weekend stuffed in my backpack without having to interact with him at all*.

I got to work and found that only one other car was in the parking lot and the door was locked. I was let in and learned that only Carla and I were going to work that day. It was already scheduled to be a work day since neither Doctor would be there, but everyone else called off, so we kept the doors locked. We worked until 1:00

I needed to run a few errands before taking off for Huntington. I had to run by the bank. I went to Kroger to pick up some Woodchuck and deodorant**. I went to Chipotle, because I was serving as Chiptole burrito delivery person for Pat's girlfriend. Of course, I also picked one up for my own lunch. Then I filled up my gas tank and got on the road for my trip to Huntington.

I got down there at about 5:00 after a pretty uneventful drive. We hung out for a bit and then went out to dinner at Five Guys. After a trip to Gamestop, we went back to Pat's place. His housemates went to their room and Pat and I sat around the living room watching the draft.

I had a few drinks, and in what was a bit of a surprise*** to me, Pat, Tommy and I went down to Marshall's radio station. So, before I knew it, a not-so-sober-Michael was talking about sports on the radio from about 10 until midnight. That was definitely a first for me. It was fun, but our most heated discussions happened off the air. I tied one more on after getting back to their place.

The next day, Pat, Tommy, Andy and I got up and went paintballing. The place was the backwoods of West Virginia/real Deliverance country. I'd never been before, so it was another new experience for me. After signing a waiver and getting our guns and gear, we started playing. It was fun, but I'm not very good at shooting accurately or hiding or being aware of my surroundings. My first game I took a paintball right to the mask.

I took my share of paintballs on Saturday. Most didn't hurt. However, I took one directly to tip of my left forefinger. I had even rented the gloves, but the tips of the fingers were cut out, so it didn't help. The game we were playing at the was one that wasn't elimination based, so despite my bleeding I toughed it out for the rest of the time. I washed it off after the game and came to realize how badly it hurt after a few minutes.

We played several more games and left just in time to miss the rain. We headed back towards Huntington. We ate at Steak 'n Shake. While we were there, two big church groups showed up. We started playing M/F/K and that devolved into... well... a discussion about what it would take to get any of us fellate another man. We definitely keep it classy.

When we got back to Pat's place, we hung around for a bit. I started drinking at about 7:30 and did a very bad job at pacing myself. Five Woodchucks and three hours later I was throwing up. I'd never done that before either. Vomiting isn't pleasant. I'm definitely going to avoid alcohol for a bit. The one thing I will say, is that I felt much better after throwing up. I was still too drunk to effectively function at a level higher than, let's say, a toddler, but I felt better.

We were going to go out, but kindly enough Pat made the call to stay in on my behalf. We ended up playing Uno on the floor. I don't really remember if we did anything else after that. I just remember everyone going to bed and I quickly fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up on Sunday at about 9:30 and felt surprisingly good. My head didn't hurt. I wasn't sore besides my finger and neck. My stomach was upset with me, but besides that I was doing alright. Pat and I hung out for a bit that morning and then said our goodbyes.

I went to visit my Sister on my way back. She helped me get some dressing on my wounded finger. She had my Birthday Card for me and had made delicious brownies. Sarah and I just sat around for a few hours with her gigantic dogs before I headed back to Columbus to start working on homework.

Since, I went two different ways I made a few observations. The towns across from Kentucky on the Ohio River all have very simple/literal names. There's Hanging Rock, Southpoint and Ironton. Across from West Virginia the towns have more complicated names. There's Athalia, Eureka, and Gallipolis.

Also, I think I'm going to start making that trip through Athens everytime. While going down U.S. 23 and 52 is shorter in terms of distance, it's pretty equal in terms of time. Also, U.S. 23 has some many towns that you have to go through. There's only one on U.S. 33 and the traffic is better on State Route 7 than on U.S. 52. Most importantly, going through Athens is a much smother drive. U.S. 23 is much bumpier than U.S. 33 and that is very important when riding on a truck's suspension.

And that's your traffic report.

Tomorrow is my birthday. No exciting plans. I definitely enjoyed my birthday weekend though.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*In perhaps my most passive-aggressive/Ken Thomas-type move to date left a note saying I'd be back on Sunday.
**I always forget to pack deodorant
***I'm pretty sure I was told that we were doing this several times, but I didn't remember.

P.S. Get Well Soon, Emma!