26 Hours in Cincinnati!

November 12, 2005

Comparable to my 22 Hours in Columbus entry, this one marks my quick visit to Cincinnati (my first time) to visit my friend Jesseca – poet and former OSU MFA alum.

Tonight was to be her first official party in her new house, and I wanted to join in the festivities. Buying a home is a huge deal, and definitely cause for celebration.

On the ride in to town from the airport (my flight was all of like an hour), we decided to stop off to get some supplies for the party. And really, what better place than The Party Source?

Walking around inside, this place was MASSIVE. Wall to wall booze, to say nothing of all the paper plates and whatnot. Aisles devote to whiskey, to scotch, to vodka. A crazy warehouse full of sauce. These people aren’t messing around here.

A glimpse at some of the supplies we purchased. In addition to beer and liquor, we got some chips, a lot of cheese, pita bread, hummus, and some juice for mixing. Lots of good stuff.

My first glimpse of Jesseca’s new home.

Here she is with her two dogs: Bogie (left) and Zoey(right). Best. Dogs. Ever. I’m more of a cat person in general, but hanging out with these two… I’ve been won over. Suffice it to say there was a lot of hanging out (and a fair amount of snuggling).

Walking around the downstairs, taking pics.

Love all the blue here. I joked around that this mirror was the “Vampire Test,” in case you accidentally invited someone in without thinking.

Dining Room.

These signs are at the end of the block, and caught my eye. While I was wandering around outside, I got to talking with Jesseca’s neighbors (who were incredibly nice). I ended up striking up a conversation with their son, Caleb.

He was a hoot! He was dressed up in a pair of camo pants, and had the matching camo helmet and camo gun. The cool thing about his gun was that it was electronic, and made a noise everytime you pulled the trigger (you could also cock the thing, too). For a kid’s toy, I was pretty impressed.

Caleb was a bit shy at first, but as we talked more and more, he opened up. After a while, he just kept on talking (his father warned me that he was a talker, but I had no idea what I was in for).

After a while, he just came on over and sat down next to me on Jesseca’s steps. He carried himself like a little adult, which was an amazing thing to witness. He’d tell me a story and, when he hit a particular important point… he’d lean in and whisper something to me, cupping his hand next to his mouth so as to indicate the importance of what he was conveying. On top of that, he’d sometimes end his stories by looking at me and asking “I’m a talker, aren’t I?”

Too cute. He was a ball of energy, and we let him and his sister into the backyard to play with the dogs. While the video (below) isn’t terribly exciting in and of itself, I wanted to show off Caleb’s outfit. What a cool, cool kid.

Afterwards, Jesseca and I started to get the place ready for the party. There was some work left to be done on her front door, and the two of us began working on finishing the install for the screen doors. That is to say, I sort of stood around while Jesseca did most of the work.

Due to the way the house settled, the screen door install required a bit of custom fiddling to get everything aligned right. I’m happy to report that we were able to get everything done, with just enough time to get ready prior to going out.

My friend Bob (another OSU MFA alum) stopped by with his friend Sarah. The four of us hung out a bit, and waited around for Jesseca’s friend Christine to arrive. Around 7 or so, all five of us headed out to meet up with folks for dinner.

Shanghai Mama’s, downtown Cincinnati.

After dinner (I had a HUGE portion of shrimp fried rice that I barely even dented), we all split up in different directions. A few folks went off to get more booze, some went to get ice (and dog food), and some of us headed back to Jesseca’s.

Fast forward about 45 minutes, and everyone was back at Jess’ place, hanging out and sipping beers.

Christine and Bob.

As some of you may know, I played a lot of Truth or Dare while in the MFA program at OSU. I’m not sure why or how this started back then, but it did… and I learned a great deal about my friends in the process.

Jesseca and I were talking about this, and a rather low-key version of Truth or Dare started up. We all went around and most everyone chose truth – and we got some pretty interesting questions going. Jesseca had a bag full of $1 door prizes, so everyone who played got a prize.

Christine, Kate, and George.

One of the more popular “truth” questions involved describing your first kiss. And as in when we played this in Columbus, when someone answered the question… someone else in the group invariably offered their own stories/version/confession as well. Everyone told about their first kiss, and there were some great, funny (and touching) stories told.

George and me (looking remarkably sober).

Some hot dog-on-dog action. A
s it turns out, Zoey likes to show Bogie who’s boss by humping Bogie’s face. This right here cracked me up to no end.

Dan, after having won the “Best Friends” calendar. This picture is freaking awesome.

The couch is, apparently, the place to be.

Jesseca, with her awesome Elmo tee.

Cute attack!

A self-portrait of me and Kate.

I’d like to take this moment to point out that Kate dressed up as Mazikeen for Halloween. I mentioned that, my first year at OSU, I dressed up as Destiny, right? And that my friends Liz and Steph dressed as Delirium and Death?

We’ve got ourselves a little Neil Gaiman fanclub going on here.

Me, catching Kate doing a self-portrait.