You want to get a beer?

Sometimes people come into our lives that you never expect to meet. These are the people who's intention was never to change, enrich or influence the way you look at anything but they just happened to anyway. Rach and I made such friends the other night. The owner of my restaurant actually has two restaurants and sometimes he switches around employees from one to the other. Alicia recently joined our Stella team from the other restaurant. We were always friendly and got along nicely at work but we never had really long conversations. Her boyfriend Keith comes in every night to pick her up and sits with us while we finish up. I shook hands with Keith the first night I'd met him (a few nights ago) while he was sitting down eating dinner. About half an hour later I turned a corner to find him trying to spin around 360 degrees on his leg. Well...on his peg. I tried not to look so surprised. How did I not realize this dude had one leg? I made a joke about him being able to maybe go twice around....he said once he had. His energy was so friendly and full of life and his smile was to put it simply, adorable. We all said good night and parted ways. The next night while the shift was ending and the staff sat around to our late dinner, Alicia and Megan were talking about Keith. They were discussing how crappy the location of the other Stellas was. During this past Christmas party there Keith was stabbed outside by some random nutcase and was in the hospital for a few months. I asked Alicia if she minded me asking what happened to Keith's leg. "He lost it in Iraq". Can you get more of an intense answer than that? At that moment Keith came in with his Pirate like swagger and brilliant smile. He sat down and started eating with us. We all talked about his stabbing and he showed me his scar. He almost died but he was stabbed in the liver which pretty much grows back like a lizard tail. He was telling us that if this guy is convicted, he could get 18 years in prison since Keith in technically an "at risk" person. Joking around he explained that it was like stabbing someone in a wheel chair. Rachel was sitting with us too and since we were the only ones who were really just getting to know Keith, we were kind of just staring at him in amazement. He was the coolest, happiest person at the table. Our comrades were obviously more used to it but Rach and I were blown away. As we got up Keith asked if anyone wanted to go next door to get a beer. Rach and I decided to join him and Alicia and thus started the epic evening of "the other night". Keith left a few minutes ahead of us while Rachel stayed with Alicia and I while we closed up the rest of the restaurant. When we finally arrived at the bar Keith was sitting on a stool with four half full pint glasses of Guinness in front of him with a very menacing smirk on his face. A half full pint of Guinness can only mean one thing. The bartender with an identical smirk, was working on filling four shot glasses with a combination of Jameson and Baileys. Our "do you want to get a beer" night was about to start out with an Irish Car Bomb. This is the absolute opposite thing of "going out for a beer". We took seats next to Keith at the bar and took deep breaths before dropping our shot glasses into the beer. We were all able to drink the whole glass before the Baileys curdled. When I tilted my beer away from my mouth the shot glass dropped to the bottom and splashed excess curds of carbomb in my face. Nice. We ordered a few normal beers and headed to the Game Section of the bar. Keith and Alicia introduced Rach and I to the joys of hunting electronical deer with plastic guns. After a few rounds of digital death, Rachel and I suggested we switch to pool. As is the common case with whoever we play pool, Rachel and I lost the first game. Keith set off to use the restroom and before he got back, the bartender came over to the pool table and set down four shots of something orange and fruity smelling. Keith returned. "What are these?" we asked. Keith said he didn't know. All he had told the bartender to do was give us four shots of something yummy. We took the shots down and were pleasantly surprised that they tasted like Hi-C. I'm not sure how it happened, but this was the first of many orange, fruity, Hi-C shots throughout the night. We planted ourselves at the bar and talked about any and everything. You'd think we were a group of friends that have known each other for years. It was an instant match. At one point this guy who is a regular at the bar, Jacob, came over and started talking to me. I had got caught up in a drunk (he was drunk) conversation with him the other night. He's going through a hard time and I feel bad for him. Although it's hard to have a conversation with him, he's our age and we tried to throw him into the banter. After a few minutes with Jacob this big, Mexican guy enters our side of the bar from across the room, points at us and says "your an f*#$in' faggot", then turns and leaves. We stood there for half a second and stared across the room in amazement. Then, as if we were all wired together, at the same moment (keep in mind all our shots), we started across the bar. "What the hell did you just say?! What's your problem!?" We were in full attack mode. We were PISSED. We turned the corner expecting a further hateful remark. Instead we saw this huge guy with his head down heading out of the bar. "I didn't mean it" "I'm sorry" Keith told him he should go home. The guy told us he was leaving. Although still mad we realized that he was actually talking to Jacob. They were friends and unfortunately, its a phrase guys toss around. He wasn't talking to us. We went back around the bar to where we were sitting and ordered more drinks. Five minutes later the big dude came over to us almost in tears. "Guys please, thats not me. I'm so so sorry. That's not me, that's not me". His eyes started filling up with tears. Whoa...we had made this guy feel even more worse than he'd made us. We told him it was ok and we believed that he didn't mean it at us but that you couldn't blame us for our reaction. Rach asked what nationality he was. He said Mexican and Rach asked him how he would react if someone had shouted "Beanie" across the bar. The guys eyes filled up again. He was at the bar for about ten more minutes and he looked like he was going to cry the whole time. He felt absolutely awful. He totally didn't expect there to actually be two gay people in the group of five of us sitting at the corner of the bar. We shook his hand and promised him that there were no hard feelings. We also explained how offensive we took the term and asked him to maybe think twice about keeping it in his vocabulary. Soon, it was last call and the four of us were definitely not done baptizing our new friendships. We came to our apt and kept the party going. Rachel was the first to drop and headed to bed. Keith was next. Keith and Alicia slept over because there's a rumor going around that drinking and driving can be dangerous. We gave Keith and Alicia our bed and Rach and I slept on the couch in the living room. Alicia and I stayed outside and talked until about 6:30. She told me that Keith joined the army when he was 17. He enlisted two days after 9/11. After being in Iraq for two months a missile hit his vehicle and they had to amputate what was left of his leg. Keith's general had him promoted twice while he was in the hospital so that Keith now has the retirement of a 20 year vet. We talked about our families, our relationships, religion, almost everything. We only stopped because Rachel popped her head out to warn us that Betty would probably wake up soon so we should head to bed. It was a really, really great night with two seriously amazing people. We complained the whole time that we were just now becoming friends when Rach and I were leaving so soon. These are two people I'm definitely going to put in effort to stay in touch with. -lj

I have lots and lots to tell...

first of all...may I just say that one of the scariest things in the world is to see a spider in your bedroom... then turn around to do something....and then turn back only to find yourself unaware of the spiders location. Spiders folks... a big problem in our house lately. Freaking frightening. Aside from the spiders, a lot of exciting things for me to blog about. First of all, Nicole (my beloved cousin for those of you who don't know) will be arriving this coming Friday night for a visit. I was only able to request Saturday off, but I'm so excited and I am counting down the days until she gets here. Rach and I have been looking forward to a hiking trip to Rocky Mountain National Park and we find no better reason for a visit than showing Nicole the incredible mountains that we cherish so dearly. Now I know most of you have never been to Colorado and have never seen the wilderness of the Rockies first hand. There are songs about it for a reason. They are absolutely spectacular. There is nothing more humbling. Personally, not even the ocean can make you feel so at mercy to nature. We humans have a tendency to think this is our world that we are given to play in. The Rocky Mountains are a constant reminder that Mother Earth was here long before we were making stones into wheels and will be here long after. Rachel and I have noticed that there are a lot more car accidents being picked up on the side of the road then we are used to on the east coast. When her parents were here, every time we were in the car, they made comments on how hard it must be to keep your eyes on the road while surrounded by such beauty. The mountain range is always there, and it will always, always, demand your attention. I can't wait to share these mountains with someone that is so close to my heart. I don't think she realizes it, but Nicole has always been a role model to me and I'm so excited to finally be able to show her something that will undoubtedly have her in awe. It's one thing to look at a man made structure and be amazed, but it's a whole other realm when you stand inside of something that you can't explain. The nature that is accessible from Denver, Colorado is something that is not within reach through anywhere I have been in the US so far. I think my appreciation for nature has been multiplied by about a million because of a trip Rachel and I took a few days ago. About two and a half hours south of Denver there is a place called Canon City. In Canon City, Colorado lies the Royal Gorge. Please take a moment away from the blog here to google this gorge. It is one of the biggest in the US, perhaps one of the biggest in the world. It sits around an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level and exists far deeper into the actual Rocky Mountains than Denver does. Denver is about a twenty minute or so drive from the foot hills. The Rockly Mountains can be seen by turning your head to the west, you can't possibly miss them unless you're blind. If your blind, you can probably sense they're presence anyway. So with a full day plus the next morning off of work, we decided to head to Canon City to see this famous Royal Gorge that we've been hearing about since we got here. To make the trip not only more rustic but cheap, we stayed on a camping ground rather than a hotel for $60. Our cabin consisted of one double bed, two bunk beds and a door. It was small, primitive and there were mountains not only located to the west, but to two other directions as well (I'm not quite sure which ones). Bottom line is, we were IN the Rocky Mountains. We arrived at Canon City around one in the afternoon and after checking into our cabin went straight to the Royal Gorge. What makes the Royal Gorge so magnificent, besides it's depth, running river and overall beauty is the Royal Gorge Bridge that connects one side to the other. It's the tallest suspension bridge in the world. When I tell you that you haven't had your breathe taken away....you better believe that that I mean that nothing has ever left me standing in a communication-less state than this bridge has. The bridge is surrounded my a theme-ish sort of park. There are little shops, a train to ride,a petting zoo and a few animals on display in the park around the bridge. We paid our twenty dollars per person and walked around the park. We pet some goats at the petting zoo, took some pictures of buffalos and the biggest deer we've ever seen (even in the movies), went into a few shops, saw some of an old western reinactment, and walked across the bridge. While we walked across this incredibly tall bridge we peered below and watched the Arkansas River flow from one end of the gorge to the other. When I say the bridge is tall I don't mean that you drive across and the column like structures supporting the bridge tower over you...I mean that the distance from the wooden boards that support your feet to the river running its coarse under you is so far that you could fit a New York City building between the space. The river looks like a trail of condensation left from your air conditioning unit. Standing on the bridge and looking at the water reinvigorated a yearning that I've had since I stepped foot in Colorado. I NEEDED to go white water rafting. I saw what the river looked like from the bridge. I NEEDED to see what the bridge looks like from the river. A five minute phone call to a local white water rafting outfitter, and we were scheduled to depart at 9am the next day. After walking the bridge, buying Rachel a necklance and purchasing Kangaroo and Ostrich beef jerky, Rach and I headed back to our cabin. It was getting really cool out so we changed and Rach asked one of the staff where the best place to go for dinner was. Without hesitating, this one guy told us to go to White Water Cafe. So off we went. Not thirty seconds after we sat down did I notice something excited on the menu. The people of Colorado have adopted a very peculiar dish they call their own delicacy. Rach and I have been wanted to try this dish since we've gotten here but the dish is somewhat hard to find and we haven't been able to make the trip to the resaurant near Denver we know prepares it. Well, just our luck, I look down at the bar and BBQ menu before and I see it.... acting as if it was just another item on the menu, there it is. Rocky Mountain Oysters. Deep fried of served with cocktail sauce. 'Fried oysters??? But you can find them in restaurants easily you say. Well, my bloggy buttercup.... not these bad boys. Fried oysters may be common Creole cuisine, but Rocky Mountain Oysters are a whole other ball game. Ball game...that's exactly what they are. They are balls. The thinly sliced and deep fried testicles of a bull. In conjunction with our culinary feats that we are determined to undertake, we immediately ask our waitress for an order of this Colorado legacy. We made sure to order a strong drink (a blue moon with orange juice and a shot of orange vodka) to help our adventurous appetites be happy and strong. We took a video of the first bit. Since I am so technologically challenged, I'll leave Rachel in charge of posting the ordeal. Long story short, there were a lot of fried reproductive organs left in the basket for the server to take far, far away from us. It was a stormy night with plenty of rain and thunder. In Canon City there's basically nothing to do if the thrill filled outdoors is closed for business. For Rachel and I this leaves two options. The first option is Shark Week on Discovery Channel (how fun is that?!) and the other one, which due to our primitive lodging was chosen....is to drink as much as we can. So that we did. After our offensively off-putting oysters and below par sandwiches we decided to drink until our we pee breaks were separated only by ten minute intervals. We drank fast and called it an early night since we had our first ever, white water rafting adventure early the next morning. We arrived, with not even a touch of a hangover, at the Echo Canon Rafting office at 8:15 the next morning. We blindly signed a waiver that probably relived the company of the responsibility of our accidental death and sat around for almost an hour in our orange life jackets and helmets while about 60 other people signed their own lives away. Poor Rachel was super scared and I was trying to cross my fingers as tightly as I could hoping that we would go through rapids that would endanger our lives. Finally, a very adventure by nature looking guy loaded everyone onto the bus that would take us to our launch site about ten minutes away from the Echo Canon offices. We got off the school bus turned adventure transporter and stared at the river while the guides double checked the rafts and equipment. There were five guides attaching paddles and such to the rafts and Rachel and I immediately started observing them so we could decide which guide we hoped would take us down the river. Our eyes passed slowly and methodically from guide to guide until we saw her at the same time and looked at each other in confirmation. Out of the five guides, there was only one girl She was tan, blonde and totally jacked from guiding rafts down the river all summer. We stood in the crowd and waited patiently for our names to be called so we could be ushered to our designated raft. Two names down and her raft was still empty. Good sign. Another party called... they went to another guide. Again, a good sign. "Cappola party?" The guy that had given a safety speech on the bus ride over finally called our name. We stepped forward and meekly raised our hands for fear that looking too enthusiastic would make us looks like dorks in the presence of these outdoor gurus. "You two are with Krista." After a quick, undetectable glance of excitement towards each other, we awkwardly introduced ourselves to our guide and remained quiet until the other people in the our raft were told that they would be riding with Krista as well. After a few minutes of safety and 'what to expect' talk she pushed the boat into the river and everyone climbed on board. There was a family of four in the raft with us. A mother, her two daughters and one of the daughters boyfriend. Everyone had they're own paddle and Krista explained the commands that she would be yelling. We all did some practice strokes and then we were good to go. Our journey down the river lasted around two hours and even included some 4 scale rapids. Rapids are rated on a scale from 1-6 depending on their intensity. The highest level is a six and can only be done by kayak. We floated under the Royal Gorge Bridge and paddled in the very spots we were stared down at in awe and wonder the day before. That day before we found the bridge extremely impressive and at the top of our list of "Most Beautiful Things We've Ever Seen". Unexpectedly, the bridge was even more sobering and magical from below. It looked as if someone had installed a photoshop program into my eyes. The entire rafting experience stands as one of the best in my entire life. You're in awe the minute you arrive at the launch area to the second the bus pulls you away and the river disappears from view. We chatted with Krista the whole way since we were toward the back of the boat with her. I wish Canon City was closer so we could go rafting all the time. It was unreal. After rafting we came back to Denver and I had to rush to work and be there by four. Well, I'm exhausted and I think this post is long enough. See you all soon.