This is it folks
Rei continues to paddle us far ahead of the others. She pays no heed to the pace of Fort-he. He warns her that the canoe will flip. At several points we nearly crash into a log and he yells “Left Left!” or “Right Right!”
Suddenly it’s a tree that stretches across half the river with it’s web like branches. Long stick limbs like fingers stretch across the river and reach out from under water for us. The water itself had suddenly picked up speed and it all happens too fast. Fort-he is yelling and I fumble with my umbrella reaching for my paddle. Too late. The boat flips and we are in the water. I feel my umbrella pressed against my back as the half turned boat is before us is held tight in the might trees grip. I can see it being pulled further into that branchy web by the force of the current. Fort-he grabs the boat and stops it from being pulled in further with the panic strength of he-man on adrenaline. Rei does the same with silent determination and concentration. All this as I hold my twisted tea in the air and grab the cooler. Booze first you know. I’m quickly handed their two paddles. “Hold these they cost money!” I am told. I step back away from the battle. I am the keeper of items, our valuable treasure. I suppose my ability to maintain my umbrella, beer, and save the cooler proved my place on the team.
“We’re missing a paddle!” I inform them.
Much to my horror I realize the current is stronger there at the tree. Both Rei and Fort-he are being pulled into the branches with the sinking canoe. They are literally within the web of sticks and twigs getting sucked in deeper by the second.
Help arrives in the form of a well experienced father daughter team. The girl may be a teenager but they both seem to have done this before so we welcome the assistance. They walk right into the web of branches showing no fear. They grab the boat and help begin to pull it out of the monsters grip.
My paddle is found and it is handed to me. I am holding a large stack of things at this point standing right in the middle of the river as other canoes float past me. Someone yells to me that I am doing the most important job. I simply smile with gritted teeth for all the stuff I am holding requires balance to maintain.
They all work together and the canoe comes forward slowly but surely. I am handed another paddle. This is a forth paddle with a green end and a lighter wooden handle. “What?” It was found from within the beast. I suppose it was our prize for conquering the thing. Rei and Fort-he had lost their beers but nothing else was lost. A new paddle gained seemed quite a triumph in my eyes.
It took us a while to get back on the river. Much thanks to our family team saviors. Rei is focuses her energy into paddling and I help this time with the cool new paddle. In no time at all we have caught up with the others who had passed us during the chaos
Inside the music was steady rhythm and the lights danced in pulsing colorful synchronization. The people moved right along with with the motion of lighting effects and sound vibration frequency. I was under the sea in a sea of human beings. We danced on stage. We danced in circles around a guy and made plans with strangers to have a party at my apartment.
I ran upstairs for no reason. We went outside. I felt like I was going to throw up, I felt like I had a fever, I felt very happy I had a wonderful time.
Skullys is a fun bar and a fantastic venue. There is a good dance space, upstairs is cool, it’s easy to request a song, and the outdoor space is nice too. The bar is so so priced and usually there is a cover charge. Despite everything I still find the crowd on ladies 80s night to be delightful.
Back out we walked into the rain like entering another world. This world was wet cold and harsh. People were clumsy and drunk out here. They are the stragglers and stumblers left over from other locations who finally yelled out last call like a night bell ringing out over the town. Greencoat decided he wanted some Late Night Slice pizza. This is the cool pizza place that projects movies onto the wall. I’ve been wanting to hang out there and watch a movie for some time but I realized on Friday at least the play music so you couldn’t hear the movie if you wanted. None the less I’d still been wanting to try their pizza. I ended up buying a piece of cheese and garlic and yes it was delicious. I really want to try their spicy so I may have to make a meat exception in the near future. Here Rei got pissed about something and reached the point of yelling. I just sat inside out of the rain and ate my pizza peacefully. That food was too yummy to worry about her passing grump moment.
We walked back to the car as the rain became a genuine downpour. It took a moment to find because I’d had to park somewhere out of the normal. There in the steady shower of rain. With my feet and shoes getting soaked completely through, It was like walking across a bathtub this steady even layer of ground water, there was my car baconator with a ticket on the window. A soaked through piece of paper. A slushy bit of parchment and ink. $40 when I’d just spent the evening using a credit card. My bank account held but a mere $12.
I saw a lot of fancy nice designer clothes. I saw a million well put together outfits. I saw yuppies and yacht owners.
I saw homeless and stinky.
I saw tourists walking around with wide eyes and cameras at the ready.
I saw families. I saw couples of every possible sort. I saw a million dogs many of them small and so damn cute. Apparently one of the custard shops on High Street was giving out free plain custard with a dog bone to any dog for free this day.
I saw furies. I saw a bunch of full on dog costume people with masks, tails and collars. There were actually a lot of them.
I saw people and children wearing fairy wings.
I saw Drag Queens in beautiful gowns.
I saw organizations which had all their people wearing the same color shirt. Some slogan was printed across I’m sure it said who they were and what they did but I never saw close enough to know what that was. There were at least three different shirts out there a dozen or so being within each pack.
I saw a large group of girls dressed as airline stewardesses. I believe they were handing out flyers for something maybe?
I saw a group of five skate boarders all ride down the street. In unison they kicked off down the road at full speed basically keeping up with the cars who were trapped in the busy High Street stop and go.
And all along the sidewalk you could find tables selling local art, handcrafted jewelry, printed T-shirts, organic goods and more. Many corners featured fantastic musicians playing for money and dressed in their own cool ass style.
When I was off I was off. YHA was set to play at 10:30 at Kafe Kerouac which is on High Street. I walked as fast as I could. I dodged and bobbed in-between the sea of human beings. I squeezed through and I excused. I hurried and scurried. I ran across green light roads. All the while I ignored the pain in my legs and feet.
Boone is a tea natzi so he got a particular boner for the tea section. There are large jars of various teas from which you can purchase by the pound. There are little tea trays which Boone was initially excited over. They have multiple types of tea pots, mugs and all sort of tea accessories. The only complaint that can be raised is one that has been said about every place like this in the state. Nobody has a Gywan. It’s supposed to be a tea cup used in China very regularly. Boone looks for them everywhere but they are oddly no where to be found.
My alarm went off and I hit snooze. I’d meant for a little more sleep however the excitement of the day sprung upon me like a cup of hot coffee dropped in your lap. My blood was pumping with excitement it flowed static with kinetic energy. I couldn’t sit there a moment longer let alone sleep.
Mel-Dog was really excited to see this last band unfortunately the lack of food, sleep, walking constantly, lack of water and having not partook in so long caught up with me. I started feeling really dizzy. I was getting super light headed and felt like I was swaying on my feet. I told myself not to. I told myself not to ruin everything by being that girl who passes out. I really didn’t want to but I must admit I have passed out several times in my life and I suppose something I’m prone to do. The world began to go black and white and I was numb every where but a flush of heat across head. I was falling backward and I said quickly “I have to sit down.”
They sat down with me instantly concerned as I was instantly humiliated and mad at myself. It felt like dehydration and I think to myself “Damnit, this is what you get for all those times you deliberately dehydrated yourself to stay trashed longer. This is karma for treating your body like that.” I’m not willing to accept that I’m getting too old for fun however I will acknowledge a need to eat better, sleep more and drink more water.
So we sit there and we can hear Mel’s band and I feel really bad that we can’t be standing up listening. We sit in a circle and I drink a Gatorade, and nearly two bottles of water. I drink all that but my head is still swimming and my mouth is still dry.
I feel a little nauseous but I’m less dizzy when we decide fight to get up and see the band. Next thing I know I’m following Mel through a thick sea of humans. We are weaving through them like a tight labyrinth maze. We stand to the side because Mel knows some guy in the band. I think he says Hi to us in passing, or maybe he stopped to talk to her.
I’ve often said that illegal adventures are the best but truth be told I’ve never seen a cop give a shit about J-walking. Wearing a blue flower dress, white sunglasses, carrying a pink Asian parcel as I dashed across the street and walking through the tall littered sprinkled grass along a busy road… I must have been an unusual sight. However not all that unusual for this is Columbus.
This article originally appeared in Dayton City Paper
Surrounded by trees walking down a staircase made of rock your eyes might catch glimpse of sun patches that sneak between leaves from the canopy overhead. It’s highly possible that you’ll encounter butterflies, squirrels, deer or any other sort of local wildlife. Following the sound of trickling water there is a small fall over rocks where the sunlight sparkles across the waters dancing surface. This is a scene you can easily encounter at any of the hiking trails located within and around Yellow Springs. As the weather heats up outside and the great outdoors call to you in a voice too loud to ignore, I suggest you think about hitting up this area.