Ten Years After

I’m Falling Apart — Literally
After returning home from yesterday’s Black Sheep Hash I lost a toenail for the first time. Well, I didn’t really “lose” it, it fell off my toe. I can’t say that I was too surprised, as it had turned an off color after running this year’s snow hash. On that day I knew that my toe felt funny as I drove to the hash, but failed to do anything about it. I should really learn to follow my instincts better.

My toe was not the only casualty from the day’s activities. At about 7pm I laid down on the couch, and in a matter of moments I was asleep. I pretty much slept on the couch the entire night. So much for being productive last night.

ITP Flickr Pic
I threw my first party at my current residence on May 22, 1999. On that night I hung a big piece of brown paper and wrote “BE A PART OF HISTORY, SIGN YOUR NAME HERE” on it.

This piece of paper has been in my basement for ten years now and reminds me of better days. Sadly I’ve lost touch with just about everyone who signed this paper.

Nearly Ten Years Ago
When I moved into the house in 1999 I was looking for a local running group. Yes, back then I ran regularly and not-to-shabbily I might add. The Wendy who signed the above sign was the person who explained to me what a “hasher” was. This occurred when I mentioned one night that I was a member of the Atlanta Track Club, to which she replied “You? I figured you to be more of a hasher.”

Little did I know that on one night I’d run into a hasher (for those keeping score at home it was “Catamite”) at Gravity Pub. The hash was to have a happy hour on the Friday night that week (it was the Friday night before “Hedon”) and I was encouraged to show up. On that Friday night I was discouraged and just about to leave when I was invited to join in a game of darts by “Whiner,” who was there with “MC Hasher,” “Bunny Banger,” and “Sanitary Not.” A few beers later I was convinced to show up on the following Monday night at the Publix on Memorial Drive just outside the perimeter.

I don’t remember much about the hash that night. I do remember that I didn’t know to bring a change of clothes, however. I also remember being in a crowd of people listening to a conversation between Ultra Pastorized (a Unitarian pastor) and Goldie Locks, during which I unfortunately witnessed Goldie Locks pulling his shorts down to show of the pen work that someone had applied to his buttocks at the Hedon campout. At that moment I thought to myself “Huh, I didn’t expect that… but I’m not offended. I can hang with these people.”

I showed up for my first Atlanta Hash on the following Saturday, at which I met my friend and Moreland Day Spa proprietor Steve, who would be named five Atlanta Hashes later “Fag Pipes.”

And as Paul Harvey used to say…. “Now you know the rest of the story.”

I’ll be at tonight’s Atlanta Moonlight Hash to celebrate my tenth analversary of hashing. For this I am sure that I will most certainly going to have to do a down-down.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – a bit meh
Current Music – listening to a NPR podcast
Website Of The Day – This is a website dedicated to the band Ten Years After. I just couldn’t help myself.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – no work today!
Exercise (b)Log – hashing, about five miles. I wonder when the poison ivy will hit me.

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 15 (15)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 24
Marta Rides – 0

May Goals
Whoops, I didn’t even consider this. Perhaps something will be here on Monday.

2009 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]