On Tuesday November 11th, after work I made Jack Daniels Pulled Pork mini sandwiches for Rachel and I. She made a side of sweet potato fries which were really tasty. Just slice up a sweet potato, throw on a magic seasoning and toss em in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Scrumptious meal. That night we finished House of Cards and I'll I will say is knock knock. Also jammed out to some more Deer Tick Vinyls on the record player. Oh Happy Veteran's Day to all the Vets out there. Thank you for serving our country! Solid day.
Wednesday November 12th introduced me to the dark side of iTunes and their RED logo? This is a change and interesting. I am still searching for the blue logo I have come to know for so long. Once on the new iTunes I found out that Deer Tick had one more album that I did not own. Fuel for the Fire EP. A four song album with 3 new jams I had never heard, so I purchased that up and now have all of Deer Tick's songs that I know of. After work I watched a few episodes of Video Game High School. A pretty cool show my brother told me about. Basically a high school where kids play video games all day for class, seems like a good time!
For dinner on Thursday November 13th, I made some delicious pizza breads that my mom taught me to make, that her dad taught her to make. So thanks Grandpa for the easy and delicious meal! Although I did throw a curveball into the recipe and made them in the oven wrapped in foil instead of the microwave in order to make the bread a little crunchier, although the cheese did not melt with the same properties. Food! More Video Game High School that evening before bed.
Friday November 14th was a long eventful day. Let's skip ahead to 8:30pm when I got off work. First I filled up with gas for $2.89, the cheapest I have ever filled up for in the area. Then I went home, slammed two pieces of deep dish Giordano's pizza. Rachel and I got in the car and we headed down on a 2 hour 20 minute journey down to U of I. We arrived to John's apartment in Champaign around 11:30pm, right when everyone else: Brian, Adam, Dan, Chris, & Alyssa were gonna head out to the bars. Rach and I stayed a few minutes and had a couple more drinks with John in his place, then we met up with the others at Murphy's. At Murphy's we all came to love and remember cheap alcohol. $2.50 beers, $2.50 shots. After an hour or 2 at Murphy's we were graced with the presence of a new 24 hour McDonalds right next door. We couldn't resist the golden arches and headed over for 4 McDoubles & 4 McChickens and a value fry, for John, Rachel & I. We then walked home, ate our fill and headed to bed.
Saturday November 15th was an early rise for such a late night. We woke sometime around 5 am to the sounds of war outside the window. Oh wait, it was just some metal behind dragged and scrapped by construction workers across the street. After being in and out of sleep with the war sounds in my brain, we all woke up for good around 8 am. We put on our layers and got ready for the big Illinois vs Iowa football game. We headed out to the tailgate area and circled around our 2 cases of beers. We then realized we were kind of hungry and thirsty for actual liquids, so Adam and Dan ran over to the gas station and picked up some gatorades, chips, & granola bars to add to our tailgate. Things were getting wild.
Minutes later we got our shot glasses and began our power hour of fun before the game. Only after a few shots of beer I headed to the porter john. Now I am not sure how many of you have used the facilities in some ice cold weather, but let me tell you about it. I watched my feces fall from human to toilet and while it came out and was falling, it was steaming with quite a force. I now know where the phrase "Steamy Dumps" comes from.
Aside from the steamy dumps, we tailgated for about 100 minutes, thinking about inviting the guy who was sitting in his car alone drinking a beer next to us to our tailgate, and only being spoken to by a woman handing out $1000 bills which we showered Rachel with. Once all finished with our drinks and foods, we headed into the game, with a couple of sock beers and jacket drinks.
When I was using the bathroom initially and talking to Rachel, somehow the rest of our group got separated from us, aka they left us behind, so Rachel and I made our way to the student section and joined the Block I for the initial part of the game. We had some quality endzone seats close to the band, but were separate from our friends. Once the first quarter ended we headed up to the 200 section to join our friends, only to leave that section and find our actual seats after halftime. We stayed until the end of the third quarter when U of I was losing 30 to 7, almost getting a view from every spot in the stadium. It was my first U of I game and if I am correct, it was Rachel's longest time at a U of I football game, not bad for having season tickets during her sophomore year of college. But we had both ran sprints on the football field during her senior year of college, so we were no strangers to the stadium. Check out some shots from the game!
After the fooseball game we stopped at Rachel's old apartment to recollect the start of our relationship and such beautiful memories at 201 E. Armory. Snapped a photo and we then hit up Maize on the way back to John's apartment, a small quesadilla for me as my stomach was pretty full. Around 2pm, once everyone was back at the apartment, we all agreed to take a short 30 minute nap. 3 Hour later we woke up at 5pm. It was like a hobo shelter in there. Everyone wrapped up in their coats, I still had my shoes on, people were laying all over the studio apartment, and there was food and beers spread about. Once we were all up, Chris and Alyssa departed us and the games began. We still had 2 cases left and 6 humans left. Let's just say by the time we left to go out to Blind Pig around 11pm. All 48 drinks were drank. We played a variety of fun games to manage such a feat, but we did so in stylish fashion. We left for Blind Pig around 11, and Rachel called it a night, staying home. So, John, Dan, Brian, Adam, and I walked a few blocks in the snow to reach the Blind Pig. Supposedly one of the best bars in America? Or maybe it was Illinois? Anyway, it was a nice cozy joint, filled with hipsters and a weird guy named Stevie who claimed he didn't own anything he wore and had 76 cents to his name. This San Fransisco man was the only person to chat to us that evening and even let me try his hat on. Which means I probably have lice now. Thanks Stevie. After the Blind Pig papa was in the house as we devoured 2 large pizzas. Thanks papa.
We awoke on Sunday November 16th, packed up our goods, and headed to Kankakee to visit Rachel's grandparents. First we picked up a Jimmy Johns sub and a day old loaf. Tasty. After a nice visit with the grandparents that included a lunch of chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and ice cream; as well as fun games like Kings in the Corner and Farkle, we headed to Rachel's parents place. We made a pit stop there for a couple of hours then headed to see my cousins Emma and Anna star in the play Peter Pan. Emma was a pirate and Anna was a lost boy. A nice show and they both did great, and so did the people making the popcorn, yum!
The long week ended on Monday November 17th with some American Horror Story Season 4 which I find to be more interesting than scary and a Panda Express dinner with the sister. Although they made me pay an extra $1.25 for the steak I got. Outrage! Although the steak was delicious, a sly way to get extra money from me. Yarrr.
Friendsgiving ahead.
See ya there
Josh