Daybreak; Ohio
At 4:57 AM I gave up on the notion that I could go back to sleep and wake at some normal hour. Up before Taos, out there on his mountain in the desert. Up before the Cincinnati Enquirer... not that that's much of a feat and , anyway, how would you tell if that rag of a newspaper was ever up?
It's game day and don't these 63 year-old bones know it. I'm ready for the first class of the semester. Got the syllabi's ready, e-mailed them and the first assignment rubric and the poem of the day. Still need to do the final calendar for both courses and attendance records. That's what Tuesday's are for. Got my scarlet and gray rugby shirt on and my 02 NC Champs hat rests on the front seat of the car. Today is the day that 43 Northern Kentucky University students find out Ohio's here!
So, here's the game plan: Depart for school at 6:45. Teach at 8 and 9, trudge across campus, check my mailbox before leaving, climb in car and head for Party Source in Newport. Pick up a bottle of Mum's and good Red Auerbach victory cigar, cross the bridge to downtown and hit Averill's for sweet Italian sausages, back out to Anderson picking up bag of ice along the way, get the chili started and put it on simmer, ice down the beer, try and do an hour long power up (kids and people in rest homes nap, I power up). Spend an hour or so on BP getting the harmonics established. Set the DVR for 6:30 - 2AM, Set Tivo as the back up system. Get the grill ready, Cheeze-Its, peanuts, chips and salsa out, buns, three kinds of mustard, horse radish, Tabasco and crackers for the chili. Put the Big 10 pennants up along the fireplace mantle, crank TBDBITL another notch, make sure the big O flag isn't furled around the post, ignite the coals at 7, toss first sweet Italian sausage on the grill at 7:15, open the doors for guests at 7:30, try not to do a David Patterson before kickoff, open up huge can of Buckeye Whupass, let the game begin.
Can I make it? I'm so psyched now I'd like to bottle a bit of this adrenaline for say, about 11...