Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Out on the Road

I've been away a bit. Took a bit of a vacation from New York and disappeared into the Midwest's variegated landscapes in order to watch my brother take part in a storied football tradition and arguably one of the best rivalries in the state of Indiana. But first Cincinnati.

Have you ever been to Cincinnati? It is an odd place. A brick and mortar place that vaguely resembles Brooklyn minus the hustle and bustle. On Wednesday night last week I joined my friend and his girlfriend for some trivia. Back in the day, my pal and I used to dominate trivia night. In a bibulous orgy of chicken wings and eureka insights we would rack up point after point and take home the $40 prize which was often just enough to cover the tab. We hoped this time around to have similar success but found that our stockpile of minutia was not well suited for this particular trivia. As our team, tactlessly named "The Waterboarding All Stars," slipped farther and farther behind the other teams as questions dealing with a pop culture long before our time continually stumped us. Needless to say we had to pay our own tab and the prize went to a group of 50+ Ohioans, ironically called "The Boy Geniuses."

After trivia we went to another bar. Mostly because the heat at my friend's place didn't work. At the bar we chatted it up with a local couple while sliding beau coup dollars into the juke box. I woke up the next day in a cold haze and hopped online where I found a dear friend Jen who lived in the "Nasty" as some of the locals like to call it. She told me that I should go to a place called "Siitwells" to get all the coffee house mystique that this town had to offer. I thought that would be just as good a place as any to write my novel and get some breakfast. Before I left she told me "I want you to kiss my city full on the mouth, Paul." I suggested I would do more than that.

The coffee house was "OK." I hate being this way, but I've got to say that nothing compares to New York, they just know how to do it, at least when it comes to coffee houses. Every where else is just posturing. I had a decent sandwich there and then hit some letter keys for a little while. Eavesdropping on conversations and watching the occasional child run around. There was one brunette I noticed. She seemed to be pals with the people running the restaurant, but then again I think everybody in Cincinnati is friends.

I decided to do some shopping because the heat at my friends was off and I could, being out of Gotham. Eventually, I went home to discover the heat was back on and that made me glad. Then because I couldn't get any work done, I moved to another coffee house. I found myself reading Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," more than writing. But that too didn't work out as there was a guy at the bar with an annoying laugh. So I split, went back to my friend's house. He happens to be a wine salesman and happened to leave out some fine wines which he said I could drink, so I sat in his kitchen enjoying fine wine and reading Kundera.

He eventually returned and then we went to a place in Northside? Cincinnati. And here's where the weirdness seemed to culminate because the couple from the bar the night before, the woman from Sitwell's and the guy from Kaldi's with the annoying laugh were all gathered in this one bar. I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge and all my moments were coalescing into a single event and that event was called Cincinnati. Honestly, I think you could have the makings of the next Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure in this town. Just a weird collection of bizarre characters who sort of meander about. Though those kind of shows don't seem to have much staying power or sell a lot of sports drinks.

The next morning I snapped awake and sort of meandered myself around my friends apartment. The time finally came where I was like I can stay here and get in the way or I can go. So I just went. Off to Indiana to watch my brother play football. I met my father in the Indy airport and we took a trip to Greencastle, Indiana, home of DePauw, and the DePauw Tigers. I was there to watch my brother play in the final game of the season and one of Indiana's greatest college rivalries, Wabash vs. DePauw for the Monon Bell.

I met my father in the airport after turning in my hybrid car. Those are strange little devices. No keys to turn, just buttons to press. Feels odd. How do you jump start something without a starter. Anyway, my father and I made our way to Greencastle and the inn where we would be staying. A special place indeed.

I stayed at a very small inn named after and dedicated to the world's fastest lawn lawn mower. In the lobby they had a zero-turn-radius lawn mower with two propane fuel tanks attached to the side. I don't know how fast it goes, nor had I ever heard of this particular craft of vegitation mancuring. But it was apparently interesting enough for those dudes from Orange County Chopper to pose for a bunch of pictures in front of it. If you are interested go here. http://www.dixiechopper.com/

After an evening of touring wal-mart, introducing my father to the Nintendo Wii and marveling at the extra girth of midwesterners we woke to anticipation of the day's main event. The Monon Bell Game. Every year the tribes of Wabash college and Depauw University get together and battle it out on the grid iron. The winner of this contest gets to take home the Monon Bell, an old railroad bell that is painted red and gold, colors from both teams. Last year the trophy was won by the Wabash Rebels. When my father and I approached the stadium we could hear the bell clanging. Wabash Rebels had been drinking in the parking lot since the afternoon before as far as we could tell.

We went into the stadium about an hour early to make sure we could get a seat. It was about 50 outside and the aluminum benches were about negative 30 degrees. Though I bundled up I was still cold. I'm going to have to attribute my lack of subcutaneous insulation to the fact that I only spend $10 a day. So I was a bit grumpy before the game even started. And then when it did start I got grumpier and more frustrated and a bit nauseous.

DePauw played a great game. They worked hard, rammed the ball down the Rebels center time after time and fought hard for every yard they got. But many times, they couldn't commit. The ball got stopped short. But the whole game they trailed. It didn't help at all that the first pass DePauw threw was at my little brother and intercepted. I felt my heart sink in the beginning and I could see my little bro (who incidentally towers over me by a good half foot) beating himself up on the sideline. And then there was a failed field goal attempt and an extra point lost.

But like I said, DePauw played a great game and they managed to make up that extra point by getting a two point conversion. In the final minutes of the game, DePauw stopped a strong advance by Wabash with an interception on the DePauw 4 yard line. Directly across from us was a sea of red. During the pre-game I took a rough count of the Wabash team, my math put their numbers between 60 and 70. Keep in mind that Wabash's enrollment is only about 600 students, all of them males. With 10% of the team on the field, the other 90% had to be in the stands. And they were rowdy, loud, and sort of intimidating.

Well, Depauw moved the ball from their 4 yard line to the Wabash 37 and were stopped cold. The score was 21 to 21 and we were just counting the seconds to overtime. They sent the kicker out to the field, a kid who had never made a successful field goal attempt in his short college career. The Wabash Rebels yelled and screamed, they were an pulsing mass of noise and red. The Monon Bell rang and a hush fell over the DePauw backers. With a clean snap and a cleaner kick the football sailed through uprights. The team began to jump up and down and I waited for both arms of the umpire to go in the air but the rush of DePauw students on the field and the stupefied silence of the Wabash stands told me that goal was good and the Tigers had won the game with an amazing 47 yard field goal.

My family joined the torrent on the field. Black and gold clad co-eds were screaming and shouting and through the din you could hear the Monon Bell ringing over the chants of "We are...Tigers." My sister and I spotted my brother in the tight crowd of football players I can't say I've ever seen him happier and he smiled proudly when he spotted us on the field with him cheering him on. Hugs, yells, and lots of ringing of the bell followed after. The crowd eventually cleared out, the students had drinking on their minds, but that bell never stopped ringing its toll of victory not even an hour afterwards when my family left.

I have to say it was probably the best game I ever witnessed, and I hated every minute of it. Every minute until the last couple of seconds. You can check out more about it here: http://www.depauw.edu/ath/football/index.asp?id=20364 . There's a nice picture of my brother catching the ball.

Since then I've returned to New York City. It's life as usual as I go to both of my jobs and just punch away at my novel. I've still got about 30,000 words to write over the next 10 days. Thankfully I have lots of vacation time. But I'm really shooting for a two time victory. So wish me luck. Sorry about the absence but much of my writing energy has been focused in the novel direction. The word counter will go up as well as my balance. Speaking of which.

Long over due breakdown:

STARTING BALANCE: $-9.50

IN: $110

November 6
Groceries: $6.75

November 11-15

Sunday 11
Fancy Tacos: $9
Haagan Dazs: $4

Monday 12
Tamales: $2.50
Halal: $4
Cokes: $2.50

Tuesday 13
Bagel: $2.25
Baugette: $2.50
Groceries: $5.75
Beer: $2

Wednesday 14
Pizza: $2
Coke: $2.50

Thursday 15
I forget: $16

Friday 16
I'm guessing Groceries: $7.75

Saturday 17
Dunkin Donuts: $3.25
Falafel: $3

Sunday 18
Dunkin Donuts: $3.25
Soda: $3.50

Monday 19
Laundry: $12
Coke: $2.50

Tuesday 20
Bagel: $2

Out: $89.75

Balance: $4.25

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