Speaking of people I know that live in Knoxville, Tennessee:
What was the best night sleep I have had recently, you ask? I would have to say the one in which I slept on the overnight Megabus down to Knoxville. I am not sure why that is really, but I think the answer to your question there is going to change soon though. It is getting colder out so I no longer sleep in a sauna. Also, we now have a foosball table at the house. Don't lose me here. This is relevant in that when you play a few games of foosball right before bed, or at least as intensely as I do, you are extra ready to sleep well. We may not utilize the pool table as much as we should, but I have a good feeling this foosball table will be used to the max. Or at least until I throw it out the window because I suck too much.
I love Knoxville. It is like the perfect little town. A friend asked me this weekend why I don't live there now then. Well, the 'little' part of the sentence above is the reason. I could barely get a job in DC so there is a pretty good chance I never would have found one in Knoxville. And it was great to live there and experience it for the five years I did, but I probably would have grown restless there. I especially would have after living in a moderately large city like DC. But, if I may say so like 40 years before the fact, I think I will want a more laid back locale for retirement so I'll move back then.
I lived in Knoxville for most of August 2003 through July 2008 so you would think I saw pretty much all there is, right? Kind of wrong. Point and case: Knoxville Museum of Art. I think that's because when I lived there you had to pay, but when I was there this past weekend it was free. So there was that.
It actually was almost like 8 years exactly since I first went to UT, so driving around campus with the familiar fall semester weather was pretty weird. But so much has changed on campus since then. And since I left a couple years ago, really. For example, there is now an amphitheater outside of Alumni Memorial in front of the stadium, whose facade is pretty much all new as well, in case you were wondering. Again, this weblog is about me not you so try to keep that in mind when wondering why you would care about the above paragraph. I don't expect you to. But thanks for reading though.
O hey perfection (this is me waiting for my friend to meet up for lunch. you probably can't tell here but this little snack achieved the near impossible feat of providing just the perfect amount of chips for the salsa. remarkable):
this is one of my favorite gastronomic experiences in life: chips
and salsa with a porter from Downtown Grill and Brewery
I don't know why, but I had the idea to go to McKay's--which is about the biggest used book store ever--after lunch. I thought I would be inspired maybe to expand my personal library; however, it had pretty much the exact opposite effect on me. I didn't purchase anything for myself and decided that I no longer care about having enough books in my possession to fill out a stately mahogany personal library, unless they were gifts, of course, or could be used as a coffee table book. So, if you would like some used books let me know. I'll send you a couple. And just like that life became simpler.
North Knoxville: Closer to what you think of when you think Tennessee than what you will find downtown or near campus. On our way back to my friend's house this little gem of a blogworthy photo popped up:
that is a lot of pride you must have in
your name to put it on your storefront
Another Knoxville staple I never experienced while living there: Sonic. Oh yeah, so the point of this trip down to Knoxville was to meet up with people to drive down to Atlanta for the wedding of one of my college friends. On the way we stopped to eat at Sonic, which I had never done before. Nothing really to write about but there's no turning back now. I'm really bad at making decisions so I regrettably asked for a Dr. Pepper when I really wanted a cherry limeade, which they are known for. So the roller skating waitress food deliverer lady comes up and on the way drops my Dr. Pepper, which I replaced with a cherry limeade. So I had that going for me.
After three hours of what felt like five hours of driving we were in Norcross, Georgia. I'm sorry, I lied when I said the wedding was in Atlanta. It wasn't. Here is pretty much the story of most of my experiences with my college friends and, coincidentally, Friday night as well: we sat around and drank a lot of Natural Light. Next thing you know I am spending like $20 on munchies from Walgreens and we're eating frozen chicken wings at like 6am.
Let's talk about bad ideas, shall we: eating at a chinese food buffet the day you are attending a wedding. There is very little more to do than go to sleep and regret expanding your stomach so much after such an experience. So, yeah, if I could do it over again I would have chosen Mellow Mushroom over the chinese buffet. Who am I kidding though? My most insurmountable vice is probably my affinity for chinese buffets. All was well by wedding time though, which was at a delightful, old mansion with wood-paneled walls.
I think most people think at weddings, "I am so happy for this couple. The romance makes me want to cry. Now I am crying. I must dry my eyes." Personally, weddings make me realize how void of any real emotion my life is. Which would be sad, except that's one of the emotions I don't have. Now this might be because I live a moderately uneventful and uninterpersonal life. Or it could mean that I just don't have emotions. Probably a little of both. The most emotional experiences I have nowadays are when I listen to Harry Potter at work. I know what you're thinking, "you must mean the harry potter soundtrack because you cannot listen to the actual Harry Potter books on disc at work." Incorrect. That, in fact, is one of the best ideas I have ever had.
And then there is the documentary, Senna, that I saw recently. It's about a race car driver. I don't know why I went to see that based on that premise, but I had heard it was like the best sports documentary ever. Spoiler alert: you get to know this guy, like get to see him up close throughout the whole thing, and then he dies. Just like that. Such is life though, right? That was depressing, which is an emotion. It is nice to know you are capable of feelings every once in a while.
Anyway.
Then the wine and cheese appetizers came out. Maybe I feel I have no emotion because I have replaced real emotions with the feelings I get from eating delicious stuff. There's a good chance I am going to be obese one day. And then I made a goal for myself to be able to run a six minute mile by winter time. These are probably conflicting interests. And eating is so much easier than running. I should set more realistic goals.
It's no secret I am an awkward person, as you know since that is kid of the premise of this blog (I thought about changing the title to "Jeff is Such a Fucking Awkward Person. Here is How."). So when there were no place cards on the tables at the wedding and I was supposed to be sitting with one of the bridesmaids at a reserved table that were swiftly filled with people that were not bridesmaids, who were upstairs waiting to be introduced, I believe this situation affected me much more adversely than normal people. But it all worked out in the end, which I was thinking for a time would have to be me hiding somewhere until I saw my bridesmaid friend sit down like everyone else. Close one.
A few plates of delectable food and about a dozen glasses of wine later and the show was over. Next thing you know I am back at the hotel drinking Natural Light out of a Hulk hand. At one point it was asked how I knew the bride or groom. My college friend was the bride. I told the story how after the party on the night I met her--and half my college friends, actually--she rode down the street in a shopping cart yelling "I'm free, I'm free, I'm not a slave anymore," which I thought was funny. A little background: when telling this story this weekend I was one of only like 3 white people in the room. Apparently this story could be interpreted as something other than funny. Who knew?
When I was in college I went to Moe's almost every Sunday, and that is hardly an exaggeration. There are few things in life I enjoy more than a Joey Bag of Doughnuts with steak, no beans, rice, cheese, salsa, cilantro, onions, fresh jalapenos, and vinaigrette. And if you believe Chipotle is better than Moe's there's a good chance I will think less of you. Because you are wrong. And probably lacking competent taste buds. Anyway. Moe's was born in Atlanta so I couldn't leave the area without having one of the above described burritos. This need was satiated in the airport.
That there is a good weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment