Tuesday, April 15, 2008

'Cause I Remember What a Night

Here is a picture of the mighty Mississippi for Gyuss. Since he's going to be canoeing down it in a few months, I thought he'd want to see how it's doing right now.

Today I'm combining a couple of things. I never got around to doing the Saturday Scavenger Hunt thingy. I thought I'd mix it up with the rest of this post. So, here goes:

I know I said last week that Sunday the 13th marked the two year anniversary of the tornado that took the roof off my house and the back window out of car, right? Well, let me tell you what we did to commemorate it.

This is where I do the Scavenger hunt part. The word this week was sharp. This is the house right next door, and the tornado took all the cars and smashed them together making for many sharp edges. It also busted out most of the windows in the neighborhood, and all that sharp glass meant that we probably still shouldn't walk around barefoot even two years later. See how I tied it all together?

In my neighborhood, we like to celebrate everything - even the bad stuff. We also like food and beer and music and apparently, very loud people. Have I ever mentioned how much I like my neighbors? Anyway, we had the party in the alley between Hotz and Rochester Street. There was an outdoor fireplace, much alcohol, tons and tons of food, and this guy, Dave Zollo played and sang in one of the neighbors garages. We joked a little about how much our neighborhood had expanded in the last year, as it seems like a lot of people from other places crashed it to get to hear Dave play for free (or a small donation). I did not choose to partake in the drinking of alcohol, since I didn't see the need for any more after Saturday. I did eat food and enjoy the music (especially the part where one of our neighbors was drunk dancing and actually fell down).

Mostly, I was happy to hang out with my friend Joanne and her girlfriend Stacy. They really crack my shit up. Joanne always laughs at me for dating men, but she seems to get a kick out of my awkward male/female relationship stories. On Sunday, I had plenty of goofy dating stories for her to make fun of. I'm always happy to brighten someone's day.

During these events, the kids in the neighborhood generally run around in packs. I remember last Summer one of the neighbors saying, "Maybe if we cut one away from the herd, we can weaken them and they won't be able to hunt us down later on." Which is what it feels like when you get all those kids together and many of them are now teenagers - like we'll all end up with our heads on sticks before the party's over.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. There's nothing more entertaining than trying to watch a bunch of White people dance and I would have loved to present you with that. You'll just have to wait until the next neighborhood party, when I haven't spent the weekend at a pool tournament and my mind is a little sharper.

13 comments:

rel said...

Churlita,
You are certainly sharp tonight!
I'm wondering what the sales tax is on a pack of kids? I could put them to good use....There are some folks I'd dearly love to see with their head on a stick.
rel

NoRegrets said...

Ha. Sounds like a wonderful neighborhood.

Tara said...

Very appropriate photo for "sharp". Because of tornado-shredded houses, I would imagine there'd be sharp glass, sharp, splintered wood...sharp shards of everything.

Poptart said...

I think it's good to forget your camera every once in a while - you can just enjoy yourself and be in the moment, and we can imagine based on your (great) writing what it all looked like...

Mr Atrocity said...

When your neighbours drunk dance and fall over in front of you then you know you're either 16 years old or that you're an adult with great neighbours.

booda baby said...

It is so hard to beat a good IC neighborhood party. Sigh.

We caught Dave at the Mechanics Shop or whatever that joint at Iowa State's called. All those musicians we know on that label they're on were playing. So we drove and drove and drove to go there and after that, I thought, WHAT THE HELL? Why don't we just have another house party and fuck the billion hour drive.

Nate said...

Yikes! That looks like a scary river. If I didn't already have the promise of a beer and good conversation waiting, I'd probably chicken out.

But not nearly as scary as trying to supervise a room full of teenagers. I've read Lord of the Flies, I know what they'll do to me.

laura b. said...

That is some scary sharp!

My neighbors don't party like that, so I am obviously living in the wrong neighborhood. When we are all feeling really wild, we might greet one another from our yards or something....

minijonb said...

i will now replace the word "fierce" in my lexicon with the more appropriate and conventional "sharp" ...thanks!
=:-)

Anonymous said...

You win on the sharp objects front. Nothing is sharper than pieces of house coming at you at about 150 mph.

Watching white people dance can be almost a painful experience. You laugh so much it hurts.

TLB said...

Ohhhhhhh, I do miss Hotz and our cute little house, and the kids and neighbors and music.

Thanks for making me homesick, damn you!

AlienCG said...

Perfect way to commemorate an event and do the Saturday Scavenger Hunt at one time. It sounds like you have the rockingest neighborhood on the planet with these parties. I really have to come to Iowa.

Churlita said...

REl,

It's probably higher than you remember.

Nor,

It's very cool.

Tara,

You're right. Everything was sharp around here.

Poptart,

Dude. You had to see the guy who fell down though. It was hilarious.

Mr Atrocity,

There were sixteen year olds AND great neighbors.

Booda Baby,

You probably would have had a lot of fun at the party. you may have even known some of the people there.

Gyuss,

It's big, but I bet it goes down some by the time you get ready for your trip.

LauraB.,

I don't know why, but there are some really great neighborhoods in this town.

MiniJonB,

Please change your Thesaurus now.

Evil-E,

Exactly - on both counts.

TLB,

I'm just hoping the homesickness makes you come and visit soon.

AlienCG,

Yeah, and a good town in Iowa. Because there are plenty of scary ones here too.