Spinning out-of-control at Club Diversity

Sometime during the night I got up and took three Advil. I had to ask Mindy if she saw me take some earlier after an overwhelming sense that perhaps I had. Neither of us could recall with any certainty, so I took more. I got up at 8am, and was still a little on the tired side but otherwise felt fine. It was sunny, which was reassuring after a run of ugly Saturday’s all through July. It proved to be a warm morning, too as Ykraps and I discovered while on our morning walk. It occurred to me during our walk that I had absolutely nothing planned for the day. And even better, the weekly lawn chores were already done, leaving me with a tabula rasa. Honestly, it felt a little odd. After returning home I tried lying down for a few minutes on the sofa thinking that I might get some more zzzs. Albeit, cozy, I didn’t get any additional sleep. I poured some coffee and fooled around online for quite a while. Mindy remained asleep. I headed out for my run around 10:00am. While running, I thought that I might see if Tom Clark wanted to golf later. Of course I’d need to run that by Mindy as well. At the time I still expected her to be up and leaving for her 11am yoga class by the time I got home. But when I got back home she was still asleep. I chose to let her keep sleeping. Mindy eventually got up, but it was already after 11am. She made some coffee and went out to sit on her patio. I joined her for a little bit. I asked about golf. She was good with it. In fact, she saw it as an opportunity to have some free time of her own. Already noon, I called Tom Clark to see if he was interested. He was. I didn’t want to drive far, though, so I called Raymond. They gave me a 2:24pm tee time. Mindy suggested I call Kenny too, after I shared that their weekend trip to Lake Erie looked like it was postponed. I was surprised to see their car still setting in the driveway when I went for a run. However, when I checked the weather radar a little later I could see why. There was a big storm over the lake and it stretched all the way back into Wisconsin. Lucky for us, it was well to our north, and it wasn’t supposed to impact our local weather for once. I called Kenny to measure his interest. He sounded interested. I clarified the time but got the strange sense that he thought the tee time was for Sunday afternoon. I didn’t give it much more thought and headed outside on the deck to bask in the sunshine. An hour later Kenny came over and said he wouldn’t be able to join us after all. As we continued to talk, it became clear that he thought it was Sunday, not this afternoon. They had a family birthday party to attend this afternoon. He still couldn’t squeeze it in. It would be just Tom & I. I hustled off to the shower. Even though the afternoon was heating up nicely, and warmer than it’s been all summer long, I was determined as ever to walk the course, which is something I haven’t done for about two years. To that end, I went to the garage and grabbed my golf bag to try and lighten the load a little. Much to my dismay, I pulled nine dozen golf balls from my bag, all of which have been found during the numerous rounds of golf over the last couple years. After the purging, my bag was considerably lighter. I kept about fifteen balls on hand – mostly Titleist Pro V1s. I left for Raymond at 2:00pm. Because it’s across the street, I was there in less than three minutes. While waiting on Tom I practiced some putting. It was discouraging to see as many as four foursomes backed up on the number 1 tee box, but then again, that’s Raymond - always crowded- always backed up. I phoned Tom just before he pulled in to tell him that I wasn’t going to wait/play Raymond. In turn, he immediately called Thornapple, who said they could get us off in 25 minutes. Cool! I threw my stuff in his truck and we headed off to Thornapple. We left the Trooper at Raymond. As promised, they got us off the first tee at 2:50pm. Being a twosome, we were concerned that they might insist we join up with another twosome, but they didn’t. Cool! Hole #1, I hit a long drive straight down the middle, but followed with a sub par second shot leaving me about 90 yards to the green. And just when I thought that my short/mid-iron shanks were gone, I shanked a PW well left of the green. Man! I wasted that great drive and ended up with an ugly 7. For the remainder of the front nine I drove exceptionally well, leaving myself in great position to score almost everytime. However, I continued to struggle with my irons although not nearly as bad as I had been prior to Wednesday. Clearly trying to over compensate for the sharp slice, I pulled a number of iron shots on my approach well right. I had four 7s on the front and shot a 50 overall. But as well as I was driving, I should’ve broke 40. The back didn’t start out much better. After a brief stop in the clubhouse for a hot dog and Gatorade we tee’d off on # 10 – 580 yard par 5. I hit my drive about 250 yards but in the left rough. My second shot was a 3-wood that I mis-hit. It went only about 100 yards. I ended up taking a seven or an eight, can’t recall for certain. Not a good start on the back. The next hole, #11, is a long par 3 – 250 yards with a creek crossing just in front of the green. Landing one on the green is rare. I hit a 3-wood that carried the water but landed left, about 15 yards from the pin. I was pleased. Tom hit his onto the left fringe. Nice! He got a par. I got a bogey. Finally, I got my act together and went par, birdie, bogey, par, bogey, bogey, bogey. I shot a 43. I felt good about my back nine but still left a lot of easy scoring opportunities on the course. Hopefully I can get my iron shots fixed soon. Tom drove me back to my Trooper, which was still setting at Raymond. It was almost 7:30pm. I told him that we’d pick him up around 8:30pm. He was joining Mindy & I at CBC and then Club Diversity in the Brewery District. Mindy spent her afternoon shopping for her classroom for the coming school year. Said she spent $175 on materials. I’m troubled that she has to spend her own money on the class room. There’s something not quite right about that. I took a much needed shower and changed my clothes. I was ready to go shortly after 8pm. I didn’t waste any time getting ready. We left to fetch Tom at 8:15pm. It was a gorgeous evening. Tom was playing his electric Fender guitar when we pulled up. He let me pick around it, but it’s strung upside for me (I’m a lefty). We were on the road to CBC just after 8:30pm. We took Riverside Dr all the way into downtown then Civic Center Dr south all the way to Mound St then to Short St. Easy drive. Kate was working the bar. Most of the help at CBC has been there forever. That speaks volumes about the owners. Friendly, loyal employees. We love it there. Mindy ordered a rum & Coke. Tom & I beers. I ordered their seasonal offering, a hi-test Belgium. They were out of both their IPA and their new lager, Summer Teeth. We ordered some calamari to share and then separate entrees. Tom declared that he was picking up the check. Bring me filet please! ~ :) Actually, I ordered a wood fired pizza with peppers, sausage and pepperoni. Mindy had the wood fired tuna or salmon. Tom a pepperoni pizza. I drank just the one beer. I planned on being the DD. Meanwhile, Mindy had a second rum& Coke, and Tom had another beer. We left for Club Diversity near 10pm. Tom knew right where it was. We found a parking spot right along High street within eyeshot of the door. Cool! The venue is an old house converted to a bar. The band was just warming up as we entered. First thing you’ll notice in the door is just how small and intimate it is. Looks like an old living room/dining room combo. We haven’t seen Deanna’s band since the 2007 pumpkin show. We ran into her at Barley’s one night which I think was after that, but can’t be sure. Mindy & Tom ordered martinis, me only water. The club has a reputation for making some of the best martinis in Columbus. Mindy went with chocolate. The band started right away. Kevin, Deanna’s husband, was on piano. He’s a classically trained pianist and very, very good. Tonight’s rendition of the band featured Deanna on vocals and acoustic guitar, John Zuck on bass, Kevin on piano and vocals, and Brian Coon on saxophone. They played some old standards and a few older pop hits, too. Very nice! Even before the first few songs were played, Mindy was showing signs of having quite the buzz. I asked that she slow down her consumption of the martini, but she didn’t listen. And soon she fetched another. All the tell-tale signs were present. During break, I headed to the restroom. When I got back, Deanna was sitting at our table with Mindy & Tom. We chatted for a good while catching up on what’s been going on. Mindy invited Deanna & Kevin to my 50th birthday gathering at Barley’s, of course. As soon as Deanna got up to go socialize with others, Joe and Danny arrived. While Danny & I chatted, Mindy took Joe to meet Deanna. She retuned with another martini, her third. Not good. The band started playing again around 11pm. Most of us danced. Uh-oh! Mindy was crashing fast. I could see it in her eyes. Minutes later she asked if we could leave. Into the next song she asked if we could leave then. Yes. I said goodbye to Joe, Tom, and Danny and then went to settle our tab. I found Mindy already waiting outside sitting in a chair chatting with other friendly patrons. They joked about Mindy’s hefty buzz. Honestly, by then she could barely walk and was beginning to slur her words. Good grief! I loaded her into the Honda and was just about to pull away from the curb when she advised that she was gonna throw up. I sat there patiently while she tried throwing up with the door opened. We sat there for a good five minutes, but she never did hurl. She lied back in the seat and I pulled away for home. But just as we were pulling away I spotted Tom Clark leaving the bar. I stopped and offered ride, but he had already hailed cab destined for another nearby hangout. Even before the evening had begun, he talked of taking a cab home. We headed for home. I can’t remember exactly where we were along our drive home when Mindy suddenly woke and threw up all over herself and the Honda’s interior. I do know that we were on the freeway and couldn’t pull over. I put both front windows down to drown the smell. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. We arrived home around 11:30pm. I left Mindy in the car while I unlocked the house and retrieved a beach towel. I had her wipe off the chunks before she went inside. I helped her up the stairs then went back out to clean up the Honda as best I could in the dark. Lucky for us, the majority of the barf landed on the passenger floor matt. Furthermore, it was dry and chunky. It cleaned up easier than I expected. I hosed off the floor matt and hung it over the deck railing. I scraped what was left and what I could readily see out of the Honda and onto the drive. I’d clean it more thoroughly come Sunday. Inside I went to check on Mindy. Somehow she got herself in the shower. I helped her into some PJs and then lifted her into bed. Still resting in the shower were her shoes. I went back downstairs and watched TV until I fell asleep. I can’t even recall what I watched. I went up to bed around 2am