This will probably be a long entry. It will probably also be boring. But a lot of stuff happened that I want to record.
Today is the eighth anniversary of my dad's death and, since Indiana bars are closed on Sundays, I went last night. I went to this little dive called The Hitching Post where Dad used to hang out so I could have a Falls City beer in remembrance.
I walked into the place at about 7:30. There was one guy slumped over the bar, and one bartender smoking a cigarette and watching a football game on TV. She looked at me when I came in and asked, "Falls City, right?"
I was pretty fucking impressed that she remembered me from a year ago, when I'd come in for the same reason.
So I had my Falls City (36) straight out of the can, the way Dad would drink it. It was pretty gross, but that wasn't the point. I didn't really get a chance to see if I could pick up any vibes from Dad because the bartender kept talking to me about her dad being in the hospital.
I left after that one beer.
BadPickleGirl had been telling me about this little diner in New Albany that I should go to. She said I'd be sure to get good ideas for blog content. Well I drove past the place, but I didn't go in. I'll go there someday with BadPickleGirl if she wants.
After a quick meal at Wendy's, I got to Rich O's at 8:30 or so.
The first several minutes were pretty chaotic.
When I arrived I went straight to the restroom. There was a pretty girl who looked very familiar sitting in the front area.
There were also a bunch of special people holding some kind of special people function in the special people area.
After purging the last of the Falls City from my system, I attempted to walk through the front area to get into Rich O's proper. I tried to get a better look at the pretty girl, but this one chick from work saw me and screamed out my name.
I gave her a nod and continued walking, but another girl saw me and screamed out my name and jumped up and threw herself at me.
It was CanadianGirl! She used to work at my company up until a couple of years ago. Now she lives in Omaha. She's back for a visit.
So I'm standing there talking to CanadianGirl and I realized who the pretty girl was. She also used to work at my company. I think she moved to Columbus. She used to be CanadianGirl's boss. So that mystery was solved.
So I'm still standing there talking to CanadianGirl and I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see LuckyFucker and HatGirl making their way around me and going into Rich O's proper. I called out that I'd be in there with them shortly.
So I'm still standing there talking to CanadianGirl and I feel another tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see MisunderstoodGirl. Yay! I talked to her for a good minute or two. I asked her if she knew how to get in touch with SassyBoy. My thinking was that maybe I could call SassyBoy and see if he'd heard anything from SassyGirl since she fled the country. Well MisunderstoodGirl didn't know SassyBoy's number but she had heard through various channels that SassyGirl and JauntyGirl were doing just fine traveling around Europe. So that was a load off my mind as I'd been getting a little worried about those two.
Then I went back to talking to CanadianGirl for a minute or two. I guess she doesn't like Omaha as much as I'd liked it when I lived there. Her boyfriend and her aren't together anymore. This was her first visit back to Rich O's since she moved.
So I was standing there talking with CanadianGirl and I heard a "Hello Dave" from behind me. It was CoffeeDude making his way into Rich O's proper. I quickly excused myself from CanadianGirls grasp and followed him in. I needed to make sure that, if CoffeeDude was going to run HatGirl off with his "witty" comments again, that I at least got to spend some time with her first.
I always say, timing is everything.
Inside Rich O's proper, HatGirl was on the phone. I could tell that something bad was happening, and I was really afraid that she was going to cry. There was no way I'd be able to deal with seeing HatGirl cry, so I left her in LuckyFucker's care and went up to the bar to order my beer.
I ordered myself a yummy Gulden Draak (247)
I went and sat on the loveseat. HatGirl had gone off to the restroom or outside to finish her phone call or something. LuckyFucker said that HatGirl had been in a good mood, but that she'd suddenly developed a shitty mood. He filled me in on the reason for the change. I half-expected HatGirl and LuckyFucker to just leave, but they didn't. When HatGirl came back in, she was at least smiling.
HatGirl!
Yay!
After the chaos of those first five minutes, the rest of the night was rather uneventful. The place was packed with strangers. I did my best to just sit and talk with HatGirl and LuckyFucker, but I was accosted by CanadianGirl a few times, and by CoffeeDude a few times, and by that one chick from work a few times. My mission for the night was to do my best to keep HatGirl from crying. I did my part by making sure that CoffeeDude was kept so busy with other conversations that he wouldn't feel the need to jump into ours and say something inappropriate.
At about the time I ordered my third beer of the night, a Smithwick's (1368), this one dude sitting at the end of the sofa decided to take the picture of me and SassyGirl down. Why did he do this? I have no idea. But after about an hour of trying to get it back on the wall, he gave up and they ended up hanging it up in another location. The new location is directly above the throne. It looks better there. HatGirl took a picture of it in its new location but I have yet to figure out how to get the picture out of my blackberry. If I figure it out I'll insert it here.
At 10:30 or so, the group of current and former coworkers left for greener pastures. I was groped a few more times by CanadianGirl. She's always been a very friendly drunk.
And, just like that, the place was quiet.
I had another Smithwick's (1388) and talked to HatGirl and LuckyFucker for a few more minutes before they went home.
I spent a few minutes talking with CoffeeDude, then I came home myself at 12:30 or so.
