Day 120: Tiramisu

I've never had it before, so I decided to make it myself. It's actually really easy to make one of these. It's basically just mixing a coffee flavor with a light cheese, a bit of vanilla, and some sugar. I skipped the coffee liqueur, mostly because I didn't have any, but I did toss in a load of cocoa powder.

Still, I would be just as happy with those chocolate covered strawberries that I made a couple months back.

Day 119: Free Ride

Today was an easy one. I rode a full loop on the Greenville Trolley, just for the hell of it after lying around in the sun for a couple hours. Today was the perfect day for it. 80 degrees, sunny, and windy.

Not that I'm counting this one, but I also saw Stranger Than Fiction for the first time. Wonderful flick, but Harold Crick eerily reminds me of myself. I just need to find my Ana Pascal.

Day 118: Fruit that gets you drunk.

I haven't found it yet. :)

But I did try a few different types of fruity shots tonight at 221 that I've never had; namely the lemon drop, apple jack, and an orange crush. My rampant need for a little excitement tonight kind of came together at the last minute. I got a text message from a friend of my tennis coach, so I wandered down the street to join the party.

I can't say that I enjoyed any of the shots, but they sure as hell got me buzzed in a hurry. Nothing else really came of the night beside a girl at the table asking for my number. Whatever. I feel like I have so much shit on my plate right now that it's not even worth starting something again.

Day 117: My ears are still ringing.

I went to go hear my Dad play with his band for the first time over at the Wild Wing Cafe in Sparkle City. The music was pretty darn good, mostly covers. They played everything from Audioslave to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Unfortunately, I arrived late and had to sit right next to the band. My ears just finally started popping a few minutes ago, thank goodness. I did miss the no-smoking policy that Greenville adopted though. I reek of cigarette smoke. Bleck!

Day 116: That Bill Shakespeare is pretty entertaining.

But Arthur Miller, not so much. I went to see the Crucible tonight and almost dropped dead of boredom. Perhaps it was the constant screaming or the oddball mesh of old & new wardrobes, but it was just god-awful. I was literally attempting to find a way to fall asleep with my eyes wide open.

At least I tried.

Day 115: Simian Chedda'

I polished off a book in one sitting today, completely out of my apartment. Half laying out in the sun and the other half at Coffee Underground. The book is called The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd.

It's quite the funny tale about a college age kid entering college back in the late fifties and declaring his major to be art. He despises art, but needed something to major just for the sake of a major. The writing reminds me of David Sedaris, but with a Dennis Miller speed of jokes flying at you. Quite the entertainment.

Day 114: Oops.

After a two episode Shield marathon, I got into a long conversation about skinheads, drunk midgets, and college life with a friend of mine and completely forgot to update last night before I passed out. Anyway, my bad.

Yesterday, I walked in the perhaps-polluted Reedy without shoes for the first time. Nasty, I know. But I couldn't help myself. I've been heading down there to lay out recently for a bit of color on my pale hide and I just had to finally do it. I may do it again today after tennis.

Day 113: Hispanic Health food

I ate at Cantinflas (the health-oriented, Mexican joint on Main) for the first time today. I had a portabella mushroom pizza and some black bean soup. It was surprisingly good and reasonably priced for Main Street. Anyway, it's worth a return trip. I had always wondered how the food was there. Now I know. :)

Day 112: Bubbling crude.

I spent half the day outside today, partly playing frisbee and just chilling out in the sun. But there was actual work to be done. I decided to change the oil in my car all by myself. It's something I've always relied on others to do for me and perhaps a decent skill to learn. It's pretty cheap when you do it yourself, less than $10.

Unfortunately, a bit messy. I didn't get the oil pan underneath the car in time, so there was a nasty stain on the concrete. I soaked up most of it with some cat litter though. Although I had absolutely nothing to do, it really wasn't worth my time; especially not with the quickie oil joints all over the place.

Day 111: Mooooo.

Holy crap, I ate at Charlie's Steak House for the first time tonight. I had dinner 4 hours ago and I'm still full. I had a kickass Tenderloin Filet (Medium Rare) with a heavy mushroom sauce and some grilled onions. I haven't had a really delicious steak in ages, probably since last year. And oh my god, the dessert! Homemade Baklava with some vanilla ice cream.

All I know is that I'm going to have to run my ass off in the morning. But it totally worth it. Yum!

Day 110: Unexpected.

I got a call out of the blue today from my new tennis coach, Jennifer. It turned out we knew alot of the same people from that yoga class I take. Long story short, she wanted me to come out with her friends tonight, but specifically more of a setup. The cool thing about it was she was straight about the whole thing. No stupid games.

Anyway, I met them for dinner at Cheeseburger's in Paradise (which I've been to before). The Chocolate nachos and mini-cheeseburgers are scrumptious, btw. Due to the college age of the crowd, we stuck to the movies, which was perfectly fine with me. The girl that Jen set me up with was very cute, but sadly a borderline ditz. Trudging through a conversation with Katie was next to impossible and she just wouldn't shut up during the movie because she didn't get half of the jokes.

But I digress. It was an absolutely entertaining evening and it got me the hell out of my apartment on a Friday night. That the important part. FYI, Hot Fuzz (the movie) is bloody hilarious. The flick has an excellent mixture of British and American humor going for it.

Day 109: Alive in Downtown.

I wandered down to Downtown Alive tonight, listened to a very under-whelming band called Obsession Day, and hung out for a while before it started to pour down rain and thunder down lightning from the bleak sky. The band seemed like a Coldplay knockoff, which is already a pretty shitty place to start.

Anyway, it was slightly entertaining. I'm trying to get out more to these sorts of events. Circulate among the young crowd I suppose. I also peeked my head out the door for the fireworks tonight. The city shot a few packs of colored gunpowder in the sky to kickoff the mediocre display that is Artisphere. At least the food might be decent.

Day 108: Accosted by Squirrels

I spent half the day outside before my long night at work, some of which was getting some sun down in the park. I drifted off into that half-sleep dream state at some point and woke up to see 2 squirrels about 1 foot from my head. They were poking through my gym bag that I use to hold my towel and bottled water. I did a freakout jolt maneuver, partly because I still thought I was dreaming and perhaps a bit because I was frightened by small woodland creatures.

They scampered off insanely fast and my heart finally slowed down about 2 minutes later. I just hope to god nobody was filming that embarrassing moment.

Day 107: Sampras, I'm not.

I took my first tennis lesson today. I bought a racket about 5 years ago, but never did anything with it. I broke it in after work though and what a kick ass day for it. 75 degrees outside and sunny. So nice.

Anyway, one of the fitness instructors at my school hooked me up with a local Furman girl that offered cheap lessons. We mostly worked on returning lobs with my forehand & backhand, but had me do some serves as well. She also blasted a couple serves past me to give me an idea how fast my reaction time is supposed to be. I was having a hell of a time getting the timing down for serving, but it started to click at the very end. I definitely have the stamina for the game. She had me running all over the court grabbing the errant shots and I didn't have any problem keeping up.

All in all, a pretty entertaining afternoon. I scheduled another for next week.

Day 106: I hate folding paper.

Origami stinks. Probably because I don't have the slightest bit of patience for it. I tried to teach myself a bit about it today in the spirit of newness, but failed miserably. The beautiful swan I was supposed to be folding looked more like a mutant camel-giraffe. The wings were deformed and the neck appeared broken. A 3-year-old Japanese child could have created a nicer looking swan than me.

From this day forth, all animals created by me will have to be doodled or formed out of a ball of tin foil.

Day 105: I'm skipping right to chainsaws.

There's a guy down in the park who I see on a constant basis. I have no idea if he has a real job or not as he is always down there juggling. Sometimes I'll see him when I go to lunch and when I go home on the same day. He spends hours upon hours juggling under the sun.

So, I decided to give it a shot. I've never tried to learn how to juggle properly. There's actually quite a bit of technique involved for the novice. I started with two rubber balls and worked my way up to three. The trick is to kind of turn your brain off and focus on the rhythm of the throw. I had a heck of a time training my brain to throw the third ball when the second was in the air. I also learned that you should practice in front of a wall when starting to avoid walking with the throws.

I won't be joining the Ringling Bros. anytime soon, but it was a fun first today.

Day 104: A Night out.

I strolled down Main and tried out Tassey's Tavern tonight for the first time. I can't say I really enjoyed it. While it's marginally better than the Bait Shack, the clientelle left much to be desired. It almost seemed like more of a rednack bar than a downtown hangout. On the plus side, the drinks were really cheap.

I also have really bad timing. My exit from the bar was greeted by the kids leaving the Hyatt from their prom. Hopefully, my drunk stagger wasn't too prevalent.

Day 103: Expanding my palette

I've never been a wine drinker, mostly due to me ignorance on the subject. After dinner, I trotted over to the Cazbah to try a few different wines. I'll never know what I like until I try new types of wine. I tasted a french merlot, a tuscan cabernet, and an italian pinot grigio.

I liked the cabernet the best. It had a smooth fruity flavor while the other two seemed far too bitter for my taste buds. I doubt that wine will replace my drink of choice (Vodka & Cranberry), but it's nice to have the option in case I'm in a situation that requires such knowledge.

Day 102: A comical night

So, I bought a cheap ticket for David Sedaris at the Peace Center a couple weeks ago and the show was tonight. He's a heck of a storyteller, much funnier than his sister in my opinion. He used a variety of the stories from Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim along with some of his other books. All in all, it was a hilarous show. I kept laughing so hard that my sides started to hurt. I'm actually surprised some of the material went over with the Greenville crowd as well.

Day 101: Yeah, I'm silly.

Today, I chased around ducks in the park. I had a few minutes during lunch after I picked up a cup of hot chocolate (It was freezing today), so I took the long way back to work next to the river. I came across a flock of 6 ducks grazing by the riverbank. I looked around to make sure no one was looking and I chased them all the way from the Riverplace development to the waterfall area.

Just felt like being foolish today. :)

Day 100: Very relaxing

Wow, it's been 100 days already. The year is flying by. I'm finally starting to feel better today. Just getting rid of all those nasty fluids.

Today, I got one of those quickie public chair massages, oddly enough at Whole Foods. I drove over there after work to pick up some fresh shark to celebrate my freedom of germs and they had a booth setup. The lady giving the massage was very good. Just enough pressure to be comfortable and stimulating at the same time. I left the chair feeling so good that I almost forgot to buy the shark.

Anyway, it was the first time for something like that. I'l probably go to one of these spas around here and get a longer massage soon. Plus it will help in my massage studies. I've gotta learn how to do it right.

Day 99: Spent 15 minutes at a Greenville Drive game.

So, I was given tickets to the opening game for the Greenville Drive, the minor league team here in Greenville. I never went last year, so I gave it a shot tonight. Wow, what a snoozefest. I already knew I disliked the pacing of baseball, but watching that game was ridiculously boring. I spent a few minutes talking with a couple people I knew there and excused myself asap. Perhaps if I was in a mood to drink heavily, I might have had a better time.

So I jacked myself up on cold meds and spent the rest of the night getting rid of this darn thing. Plus I've been playing the hell out of some Guitar Hero. Whoever created that game was a friggin' genius.

Day 98: Tried a little meditation.

With all of the gadgets and entertainment I surround myself with, I never really take time to just think. I can't remember the last time I produced a truely creative idea. So I read up on a couple different meditation techniques and gave it a shot this afternoon. Much of what I read about was far too new age for my tastes, but the core of the idea is pretty solid. It's very similar to clearing out my head before falling asleep. More specifically, just switching off my brain. I managed to pull it off for about ten minutes, then my brain told me that I was really bored.

Anyway, it was very relaxing. I might toss in a few minutes every day.

Day 97: Dessert at Devereaux's

Still stinkin' sick today, but I'm fortunately functional. I've got a nagging cough that feels much like my bout of bronchitis in college. Yuck. But I do have an extra deep, raspy voice. That's kinda cool.

To more delightful topics, I ventured out into the unusually chilly night air and went into Devereaux's for a little dessert. It's very cool being able to cook my own dinner and walk 100 feet away to get my sugar high on. Plus that's about all I can afford at that joint. :) I tried something I've never had before, Goat Cheese Cheesecake. That actually sounded disgusting to me, but I'm open to anything. It was surprisingly delicious. It had a distinct ginger / cinnamon flavor that thankfully registered with my sickly taste buds.

Day 95 & 96: Sick as a dog.

Goodness, it's been an odd couple of days. For my new thing on Thursday, I cooked up some giant stuffed mushrooms for lunch. I saw some massive ones at the store this week and couldn't resist. I stuffed them with three different types of cheeses and a little bit of crab meats. Insanely good stuff, but probably terrible for me.

Anyway, I had been feeling a little under the weather for most of the day; lack of energy, sore throat, slight headache, etc. When I got off work at 4:30, I walked home and crashed around 5. I'll be damned if I didn't wake up until 9 a.m. today. I woke up, stumbled around like I was drunk, and stood in the shower like a zombie. I still felt like total shit, so I laid back down and passed out yet again. I woke up about an hour ago and I finally feel much more normal. All in all, I nearly slept for the entire day. That's certainly a first.

Day 94: Checked out the Jazz Caverns.

And I had a mocha filet. I've never heard of such a thing. Chocolate and steak mixed together into a odd blend. It was delicious though. I think it's because the wine bled through the mocha taste. Tonight also happened to be open mic night, so I heard some pretty crappy jazz. I'll have to go back when they have somebody of note at the place.

It's a comfy setup on the inside. Plenty of places to chill out around the bar with some friends. They did a good job decorating the place as well.

Day 93: Strange bout of morality.

I kicked my Starbucks habit a couple months ago, but I had a hankerin' for a iced mocha something fierce after laying out in the park before work. After I left the corporate coffeehouse with delicious iced drink in hand, I strolled back up to my apartment. When I emptied my pockets, I realized that they gave me too much money. In fact, I made $5 when attempting to purchase a $4 coffee. Bascially, I gave them a $20 and they gave me back two tens & a five.

So what did I do? I did something I typically wouldn't have done, I returned the money on my way to work. Does Starbucks need the money? Doubtful. Does the barista girl who rung up my coffee deserve to get chewed out by the boss for being short on the register? Not when I can rectify the situation. Anyway, my good mojo was rewarded. The manager gave me a $20 gift card.

In a totally unrelated matter, I picked up Guitar Hero II this morning and I really suck at it. But holy hell, it's addicting. I'm trying to perfect "John the Fisherman" by Primus, "You really got me" by Van Halen, and "Stop" by Jane's Addiction. If anything, it's expanding my musical interests.

Day 92: Worked for UPS for 7 seconds.

Out on my run today after work (gorgeous day!), I was racing back down Main street down by the one-way street near Atlanta Bread Company. Anyway, the UPS guy had already crossed the street with a handcart filled with packages. He didn't seem to notice that he dropped an overnight envelope in the middle of the street and he was about halfway down the next block.

So in one fell swoop, I picked it up without breaking my stride, tossed it on his handtruck, and kept on rolling. I tell ya, I'm like an incredibly weak superhero out to solve the world's mundane problems when I'm running. Then again, the package could have contained something that fate didn't want to make its destination. In that case, I shouldn't have intervened.

Anyway, I realize this isn't anything epic. But I was extra tired after my run, so I've been taking it easy tonight rather than trying something else new.

Day 91: Sketch.

I went into a lovely part of town on this rainy Sunday to hit up the closest pawnshop. I've never been into a pawnshop before. I've been looking for a place to dump my golf clubs, as I never play anymore. It's a bit of an expensive hobby and the darn things are too big to sell on Ebay. Tennis seems much more affordable and better exercise anyway.

So I checked out Luthi's pawn shop. Unfortunately, they offered me absolutely jack shit for the clubs, so they are still in my trunk. Overall, it's a nice store, just in a really sketchy part of town. It's interesting to see how Greenville starts to fall apart when you get a few blocks away from Main Street. It's almost like venturing into a separate, less affluent city.