A Sad Sight

St. Patty's Day was pretty wild and I had a blast with all my friends. None of us got too crazy, but it was still a good time relaxing for the evening out at the bars. 
Friday was uneventful to say the least and was only filled with watching some basketball and eating buffalo wild wings.

Saturday was pretty much the same as Friday, although Ivy and I did go see Red Riding Hood. Great movie!

Sunday was another 4wheeling trip. We drove a few trails that are in the Hayman Burn area. This was Colorado's largest fire in history and happened in 2002. It burned over 138,000 acres. It was amazing to be driving on the top of a mountain and look to your left and see nothing but burned trees and rock for miles and miles. Then you look to your left and see the same thing.

It was definitely a sight to see. It was a great day filled with lots of fun. Today was a sad reminder however, because our state has 3 wild fires burning at the moment. One that is growing very large without any help in sight from mother nature. It has been very dry for weeks here in Colorado, and it's the driest winter I can remember. It is suppose to be warm and windy all week. Let's hope another fire like this one doesn't come around.

I didn't know they let 14 year old into the bar.

Yes, I've been MIA for awhile now, and I know y'all have certainly missed my reflection Mondays right?

Well this weekend was filled with lack of sleep. Stupid daylight savings time!!

Thursday was the usual beer pong Downtown, and unlike the past, ohh, 12 weeks, the bars were hoppin! The weather was very warm and since it was spring break, everyone was out getting their drink on, and the patios were finally open and you didn't even need a jacket. Good deal!

At one point in the night I went to the bathroom, and while at the stall, I once again was hearing strange noises. This time, it wasn't sex noises. I could hear two guys laughing hysterically like 2 teenage girls talking about penises. I heard them walk out the door as I finished my business and went to the sink to wash my hands. As I got to the sink, all you could see was the foam soap all over everything. The mirror was dripping, the faucets were covered, and the floor was soaked. It was like someone just had a foam party in their while I was taking a leak. I couldn't believe it. How old are we? What fricken retard gets so drunk that they think it would be funny to throw soap all over the place? I've done some stupid shit when I'm drunk, but this is pretty out there. Whatever I guess.

Friday night was laid back, and then Saturday I had to umpire a baseball tournament all day. I was beat when I got home, but I cooked Ivy dinner and made some bomb BBQ chicken!! I haven't made BBQ chicken before because I'm a steak guy, so I usually pick steak over chicken, but I let Ivy choose dinner, and I was up to make a solid dinner. Which I did! I am becoming quite the griller if I haven't mentioned that before. Anyways, while everyone else was downtown getting drunk since the afternoon, we just had some friends over to her place. It was a good night just chilling with people who can actually handle their alcohol, and we didn't have to deal with deafening loud music.

Unfortunately I had to get up early to umpire again, and the time change made me super tired. But when I arrived at the fields on Sunday, I was greeted by one of the most peaceful things I know. For some reason, I think that the sound of crows in the morning is very peaceful. I don't know why, they just are. I guess it reminds me of camping, when you wake up early, step out of your tent and you can still see your breath. The sun is just rising above the mountains, shadows are taller than they will be all day, and you just hear a crow squawking in the distance.

I love spring!!

Yes I know, I'm a day overdue

Well folks, today is officially my Monday. I was off yesterday, and totally forgot what day it was and that I owed y'all a reflection Monday. My bad. But y'all understand right?

Anyways, this weekend was a pretty big let down on the side of the party scene. Went downtown to play pong on Thursday night as usual and it was actually crowded for a change. I was surprised how crowded the bar was for a winter Thursday night.

For those that don't know, Thursday nights seem to be a big downer in the winter at bars that don't offer it to be "Ladies night". I'm pretty sure speaking from experience, it's because the gentlemen will go anywhere where there is a crowd of women. It ups our their chances of staying warm during the winter months.

Somehow I have developed a major Kryptonite over the past few months. Awhile ago I mentioned to y'all that I'm "training" for the beer pong tourney in April. Well, the last cup has become my Kryptonite, and I have no idea how. I think it is a total mental thing. I started to notice I was getting worse at hitting last cup, and it just keeps getting more and more worse. On Thursday night, and Saturday night, I couldn't hit last cup to save my life. If it wasn't for my partners, I think i'd still be there today shooting at that damn thing. I am in need of a serious ego boost. I think it's time to practice with just one cup.

Like I just mentioned, I also played pong on Saturday night at a friend's party. So that's that. Then Sunday I wnet 4wheeling with some guys. Here are a few picks for your enjoyment...

As for yesterday, I sat around pretty much all day watching movies on tv, besides the hour I spent at the car wash giving my baby a good bath.

Dollar Dollar Bill Y'all

This weekend was filled with money and long lost friendships.

Friday night I went out with my best friend's Nick and Jess. We went downtown, bar hopped, and spent money none of us had. At one bar, I saw a friend I haven't seen in 6 years or more. We used to play football and baseball together back when we kids. It was great seeing him, although I didn't recognize him for like 15 mins. Have you ever had someone approach you and they are like, "Hey your name! How are you?" then you're like, "HEY!!" and have no idea who the person is? That was me. I was totally trying to pull it off that I knew who he was, but really had no idea. Jerrad looked so different. After we separated for awhile, I finally figured it out, and eventually went back to talking with him. I felt like an idiot, but I don't suspect he knew I didn't remember him at first.

On our walk back to the Jeep, I took a shortcut through a parking garage, and I found a wallet. The wallet had no id, so there was no way to return it to anyone. When I opened the bill section of the wallet, I couldn't believe my eyes. 50,50,50,50,50,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20... etc...

We had just found an unidentifiable wallet with over $800 in it!!! WAHOOOO!! Our expensive night out just became a free one. We split up the money. Now I know that someone is gonna be thinking I am a bad person for taking the money, but be honest with yourself, what would you do? Like I said, there was no ID, so how do we turn the money in? It really sucks that someone lost that much money, but what would you have me done?

Saturday I drove up to Vail to see a friend from high school. She was an exchange student from Australia who spent a few years out here, and that's how we met. After graduation, she went back down under, and we kept in touch for a little while, but I hadn't spoke with her in a couple years until I saw on her FB that she was in Vail this week.

You all remember me talking about accents right? Well, hanging out with a couple Aussies all day was AWESOME! It was great to see this girl after 6 years and catch up. (check out her blog) They wanted to go tubing, so that's what we did. Great day. Here are a few pics or the scenery...

And finally, today is Valentine's Day. I know that many people hate this day, but hey, it should be just like any other day. If you are single, don't let it get to you. Be happy that you don't have to go out, spend a bunch of money, wait ridiculous amounts of time to eat dinner, do ridiculous amount of personal grooming just to enhance the sex tonight, and just think about how fake people are today. Don't be sad, because for the most part, yes, everyone who has a significant other looks happy today, but what about every other day? Those same people will probably be miserable and complaining about their companion next week. 

As for me and Ivy, we decided we're just gonna cook up a couple nice steaks, curl up on the couch, and watch some tv. Simple and easy. Just like any other day.

To Answer or Not to Answer

Yes, I am throwing in my "reflection monday" today because I have been a slacker all week till now.

Friday night I dressed up like an idiot and drank way too much. Me and some friends played bar golf. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a themed bar crawl. You get some friends, you all dress up in golf clothes, go to 9 different bars, and you get scored based on different things at different bars. For example, at our first hole, (bar 1), drinking 1 beer got you a bogey. Drinking a shit got you par. Drinking a shot and a beer gave you a birdie. Drinking both in under 5 mins got you eagle. Each bar had different requirements. Lowest score for the night wins. So like I said, you dress like an idiot and get wasted. It was fun! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

Saturday was a snowy night and so Ivy and I stayed in and watched movies. Well, let me rephrase that. I watched movies, and she curled up on the couch with me and fell asleep.

I started Super Bowl Sunday off by playing a game of 50 cup beer pong.

The first game we played took an hour to finish! It was crazy, but soo much fun at the same time. We played 3 people per team and had enough for 4 teams, so we played a mini tournament. Good times!!

And now on to some other random stuff I was wanting to write about today....

I think I might be one of the only people I know who answers the phone on a consistent basis when I don't know the number. That was a little wordy, so let me ask you this; Do you answer your phone when you don't recognize the number that shows up on the caller id? I do. All the time. It's habit. I have friends who say things like, "If it's really important, they'll leave a message." Well what if that one call is all they had a chance for? What if someone I know is calling from a different phone because it is the only one they could find, and it was dying in the process? I once had an ex girlfriend call me from jail in the middle of the night. I answered, and I'm glad I did, because otherwise I'd never know that if someone ever calls me from jail again, you really are limited to 5 mins exactly, and then the phone just hangs up. So if you don't get all the information you need in those 5 mins, too bad, your screwed. So make sure you don't ask questions of no importance or lecture someone. Just saying. Ask questions like what they need you to do. When, and where to be sorta things.

Anyways, I always answer numbers I don't know because I'm paranoid it is someone who will need me, or that if I don't answer, I'll miss something important. If it turns out to be a solicitor, then i'll just hang up mid conversation. That's how I deal with the "unknown number".

Dumbass Move of the Day V3

Friday it was fricken 70 degrees here in Denver! Talk about crazy for January. Both my bosses left work about 1pm, so I took off around 1:30. 4hr days make me extremely happy.

I walked outside, dropped the top on the Jeep and drove to my parents house where I played with the dogs and did a little work on the Jeep, as I usually do when I have free time. It was a great Friday.

Saturday I went snowboarding with a buddy and we got some awesome runs in. We took a lift as high on the mountain as we could, and then we hiked this ridge for a bit to get a good drop in down one of the chutes and into the bowls.

 

After this run, things got sour. I got a little hungry and reached into my pocket to grab one of my three granola bars. We did a few more runs and headed down the mountain.

It was about 1 when we decided to do one more run and call it a day...

I reached for my pocket to grab another granola bar...

Wait a second. Why is that pocket open?

Why are my granola bars not in there?

More importantly... Did I move my keys to another pocket?

SHIT!!

When I grabbed the first bar, I forgot to zip my pocket back up, and it was the same pocket I put my car keys in. I had only wiped out one time since then, but I had made multiple stops and sat down. We raced back up to the top of the mountain in hopes that we could comb the runs we did and find my keys. They obviously had to be sitting with 2 granola bars, so we searched and searched for those damn green wrappers.

No luck.

This dumbass lost his keys on the mountain. Oh and it gets worse...

"Just have someone drive your spare up" Jim said. That would have been a great idea except for the fact that I don't have a spare!! That was it. The only one. No others. I was fucked.

This is what I thought I was gonna have to do.

Luck would have it though, that my Jeep is still in my parents name. They also had a copy of the registration. And, it wasn't 5 o'clock yet, so they ran to the dealership to see if they could get a copy made. Sure enough, the delearship has all that on record, and my Jeep was made one year before they started installing chips into the keys, so they could just make me a copy and it should work. One year later and I would have had to tow it down to the dealership for them to program the key. That solved my key issue. Next was how do I get home? This is when you know who your true friends are. My buddy Chris drove 2hrs to pick my ass up. Then we drove 2hrs back home. Sunday I had another buddy drive me up and thankfully the new key worked. I think I'm gonna owe them beer for awhile.

What a weekend! It was a giant pain in the ass, but it all worked out. So here is some dumbass advice for all of you... MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SPARE KEY MADE!!

Revamp

This past weekend was pretty much filled with beer pong. A LOT OF IT.
Thursday night went out downtown as usual and played pong at Lodos.
Friday, went over to a buddy's place and played pong all night.
Saturday Ivy gave me a new haircut. If I haven't mentioned before, Ivy is a hairstylist. I am now rockin a pretty good looking Fohawk. My mom said it was ok, but that it looked like a 18 year old's cut. In some ways I can see that. I think it definitely makes me look younger, which I don't need. But hey, I'll rock it for awhile and see how things go. Saturday night we went to a couple parties and played a little more pong.

Yesterday I gave my Jeep a good bath and a nice wax. Is it weird that I still get googly eyed over my own Jeep?
We also went to see the Green Hornet last night.

Absolutely awesome movie!! I love a good action film with a cool tricked out car. It was pretty funny too and not completely serious all the time like most super hero movies.

On another revamp note, I decided this weekend that I really need to start being better with my money. In the past couple months I have paid off my Jeep, paid off 1 credit card, and now should have a little extra money laying around. But the fact is, I don't have extra money. I have never been good about saving because I like to go out and play all the time. If I have extra money, I tend to spend it. This needs to die down a bit. On Friday I committed to putting $100 a month into a money market account and hopefully that will help me reach some short term financial goals, like paying off the other credit card with $5k on it, or maybe a down payment on a house, or maybe a "run around" car since they are projecting $4 gas this year... ouch!! We'll just have to see how that one goes.

5 o'clock somewhere

I was extremely frustrated on Friday, hence my mid day rant. Women can get under my skin in a matter of minutes, and it didn't help that I was irritable all week from work and some other stupid bull shit. I counted every minute that passed on Friday from about 3:30 to 5. The moment I got home, I could hear a faint voice calling me...

"Ryan"
"Im in here"

"Ryan"

I followed the voice to the kitchen. I immediately threw open that fridge, grabbed that blue mountain can, and poured the most refreshing beer I have ever drank down my aching throat.

Beer tastes so much better when you are frustrated. Luckily, I was in luck to have a lot more that night. My buddy Chris got back in town from his winter vacation in Texas and he wanted to hit downtown. His GF isn't 21 so she offered to drive us. We hit up Jackson where they have $15 all you can drink till midnight. This means you gotta get like 5 drinks to make it worth it. 3 beer in, I told Chris I was getting full but not even close to feeling anything. So I switched to vodka crans. 2 of those and I had reached the 5 drink quota, but I wanted to finish off that bar with one more beer.

We were making our way to Pats when we passed a bar Chris knew of pretty well. I have never been there so he said we had to go. When we walked in, I was amazed to find they had 100 something beers on tap!! We had a beer there and ran into my friend Amanda. She was out with some friend playing bar golf. There were on there way to the Grizz next, so we followed them over there.

I was already drunk at the time, and I was still pissed at Ivy so when we got to the Grizz I regressed to my "single, out at the bars" self. I thought Amanda had a cute friend, so I bought us all a round of shots. They were about to head to a different bar and we were still in the mood for Pats, so we parted ways.

On the way to Pats I couldn't help but notice these two lovely ladies in dresses walking ahead of us. As they started making a turn entering a parking garage, one of them caught me staring at them. This happens a lot apparently like this post.

I don't know how we started talking, or even remember what was being said, but I know we were talking from across the garage when we talked them into coming to Pats with us. Again, drunken Ryan decided to buy shots. Then Chris bought a round. Needless to say, I was hammered. The girl wanted to go dance somewhere, so I told them we could go to a bar I used to bounce at. We did some dancing, and it was about that time to part ways. Chris's GF was on her way, and I certainly couldn't drink anymore. I exchanged numbers with the Cali girl but I couldn't remember her name for the life of me. She is now in my phone as "Parking Garage Girl".

Although I got her number. I will not use it. I am serious about Ivy, and I am no cheater! I know it may sound bad that I got a number, but it's not. I made no moves on her and did nothing wrong. Hey, can't get mad at a guy for practicing his game a little bit. Just because Michael Jordan goes out to shoot some hoops doesn't mean he is coming out of retirement.

I did end up seeing Ivy on Saturday before leaving town, and we talked about some things, and she is just used to getting hurt and expects it to happen again. I told her she can't think that. She has to bring things up to me, even if they sound stupid to her. One key to a good relationship is communication. I don't want to read stuff on FB about her being frustrated with me and never saying something to me. That's a little ridiculous. But hey, we got it figure out.

The rest of my weekend was snowshoeing in Estes Park with the family!!

Passenger Paranoia

My weekend was pretty uneventful, and filled with Ivy. Until last night, I hadn't seen my own bed since Wednesday. I think it's time I get a drawer so that I don't have to pack a "night bag" when I leave my house anymore.

Thursday I began my training for a pong tournament coming up in April. This will be my cousins 5th annual beer pong tournament, and last year I was the first one in the family to win it. This year I plan on being the first team to win the tourney twice. Now when I say training, I don't mean binge drinking like the movie Beer Fest. Training to me is perfecting my skill, because it's about hitting all the cups first and winning. Some people go for the drinking, but I'm competitive as hell and hate to lose in anything. So for the next 3 months I will be playing pong at least 3 times a week.

(Yes I know... I have amazing life priorities)

Friday Ivy and I watched a movie and then went home where her crazy neighbors fought till 4:30am. That couple is seriously crazy. They yell and scream at the top of their lungs all night, and I can totally hear stuff crashing and banging around. This has happened more than a handful of times, and next time I think I may call the cops. Someone needs to get a hold of this situation. But I'll let Ivy make that decision since I don't actually live there.



Saturday I realized why I prefer to drive everywhere no matter where I am going or who I'm with... I have a serious fear of riding with someone else.

I was sitting in the back of the car with one of Ivy's friends driving. I swear I didn't do any backseat driving, but the entire time we were driving I was critiquing everything she did. Tailgating. Changing lanes without blinkers. Braking too hard. Shifting too hard. Not knowing where the fuck she is driving!

Inside my own head I was going crazy. I started thinking about how I pretty much always drive when me and my friends go out. It's not because they tell me to, I guess I just feel like I'm the best driver out of all of us. (This is probably true) 

There really are only a handful of people I can ride with and feel safe. And these are people I have known for many years. To be honest, Ivy's driving scares me the most. At night anyway. She is a pretty good driver during the day, but she is night blind and doesn't wear glasses for it. So when the sun goes down, I become afraid for my life. She drives way too close to other cars, and since we sit so low I wonder how she is going to stop in time when she sees the person in front of us hit their brake. She also can't see curbs when turning, so we have totally run a few of those over.

 I am constantly asking her if she wants me to drive, even when it's her car. Or, i'll just buy her a few drinks before we leave somewhere and then i'll say, "I better drive".

Does that make me a jerk?

I'm not really sure what it is, but as I sit here writing this, I'm realizing that the friends I feel safe with, drive trucks or SUV's. Maybe I'm just scared of being in a small car. Maybe I'm so use to my Jeep and how high it is, that I don't feel secure unless I know that our vehicle is gonna win if we are in a crash.

HHHMMMMMMMM........

New Years Eve Madness

Like I mentioned the other day, one of my good friends from college came and visited me last week from AZ. He arrived on Tuesday, and it was a shit show everyday until he left yesterday. You know that Black Eyed Peas song, "Party All the Time"?... Yea... that was us for 5 days. From the moment we arrived at my house at 7pm Tuesday night, we were intoxicated in some way, shape, or form every night until Sunday morning. And what did we do all day?? Sleep and watch movies. It was a great vacation!

Tuesday night we drank some beers at my place and then went to a bar for a beer pong tourney where we polished off 4.5 pitchers between the two of us. After a few long naps on Wednesday, we headed out to a bar to watch the Arizona bowl game. Since Brain goes to UA now, this was a must. We drank heavily once again and roamed around downtown all night. Made it to bed around 4am. Thursday we slept majority of the day again and then started the best night of the 5 days in my opinion.

A really good friend of mine turned 22 that day. We went over to her place to pregame where her and her friends pregame harder than anyone I know. Before we walked out the door to the bus stop, we took shot after shot after shot after shot. Now Kel is absolutely gorgeous, and has an amazing body, so i feel it is totally ok for her to show it off. Well, it was about 5 degrees Thursday night and Kel insisted on wearing shorts. Although she said her legs don't get cold that often and that we were going to be inside all night, this turned out to be a bad decision. We hit up a few bars and had a lot more drinks before 2 am came around. I did some good old swing dancing and caught up with a few friends I saw out that night. When the time came to get on out, we had to carry Kel out. She was so wasted we had to hold her up and she was practically incoherent. As it snowing, we start looking for a cab to hale. NOTHING. We couldn't find a single cab which was very abnormal for a Thursday night downtown. We started walking to another corner where every cab that passed us had people in it already. Kel started shaking really bad because she was soo cold. Shorts in 0 degree weather for any length of time probably isn't good, so the fact that we are standing out in it for 15-20 mins can give you an idea how cold she was. My intoxicated self started to freak a bit for Kel safety and so I started running down the snow covered streets of Denver chasing cabs. Now when I say running down the streets, I literally mean, RUNNING... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. I would see a cab 2 blocks down with it's light on, so I'd sprint that way. Before I could reach it, someone would jump in. I'd then turn and see another cab, 2 block another direction. I'd haul ass to that one. Someone would get in. I'd turn again... CAB! Taking off once more for disappointment. I was finally able to catch a cab and bring it back to my friends standing in the bitter cold. HERO? Naw!! Just a drunk dumbass!

On Friday, we slept off Thursday night and started drinking again around 5pm. We played lots of drinking games that night and went to a pretty awesome party. I got my first New Years kiss in about 6 years from Ivy. Although her intoxicated self freaked out on me a little bit at the end of the night about where we were going relationship wise, it was still a pretty awesome night. I was never upset with Ivy at all, but the next day she apologized for her freak out. Saturday we all went to a hookah bar and then finished by drinking some beers at my place.

It was a week filled with all kinds of events, and I totally showed Brian I haven't lost my party touch. We totally finished out 2010 with a BANG!!

Someone Who Can't Take Their Beating

Headed to a party Saturday night where I was thoroughly impressed at first. Ivy invited me to her cousin's party. From what I was told, this was just a normal house party . No special occasion, no themes. When we arrive, there is a DJ in the living room with a full club style set up. By "club style" I mean that he had a table with a full switch board, turn tables, the works. He had a hand full of giant speakers and a huge bass. Next, there was an ice sculpture luge with his address displayed in the middle. It was like a walked into a frat house.

Who has house parties like this? I could see if this was a birthday celebration, but seriously...


The night was moving along just fine, having a blast, drinking some beer, playing some pong, when a fight broke out on the back porch. My best friend and I took a look to make sure it was no one that we came with, which was a possibility of 2 girls, and 2 guys. It was not, so we stayed inside, kept drinking, and minded our own business. After a few minutes, a small group of guys rushed out of the front door, and when they walked back in past us, one of them was holding a knife, straight out in front of him, with a determined "I'm going to stab someone" look on his face.

At that moment I decided it was time to leave. None of the other 4 other people we inside with us. We had no idea where they were. All of a sudden... POP...POP... you hear screams and people just scatter like a disturbed ant hill.
I had no idea where Ivy or her friends were.
Was she outside?
Is she ok?
Where is she?
I don't recall ever being that worried in my life. I wasn't scared or worried about being shot myself, I was just worried that something could have happened to Ivy.


Next thing I know, Ivy and her 3 friends come walking down the stairs. "What happened" they ask. "We're getting the fuck outta here now! That's what happened"

Maybe i'm mistaken, but who the fuck brings weapons into a fist fight. How I was raised, if you were dumb enough to start a fight in the first place, you better just take your beating if you can't handle it. I'm not saying that friends shouldn't jump in, because I have been in 2 fights my whole life, and both of them I jumped in because it was my best friend who was in the fight. But I brought my fists and anger. I didn't go run to my car and grab my knife because i'm a pussy, I jumped in knowing we were gonna win this fair and square. Guess it's times like that where you find out who the real cowards are.

My Bed is about to get a lot Lonelier

Ivy invited me out with a few of her friends on Friday night and I told her I would drive so she could drink and not have to worry about driving home. Good move right?

We hit some bar that was definitely an older crowd, but it was cool since it had a couple dart boards and AWESOME drink specials. Can't beat 3 beers for $3.75!! After the girls got hit on by some old creepers, we decided to make our way downtown. The night was going great until Ivy's friend passed the line of "fun drunk" and entered "annoying drunk". She kept trying to pick fights with other girls and was just screaming randomly. These are the times when I hate being DD because I hate babysitting! I had to suck this one up though and not say anything. Still trying to impress Ivy and her friends.

I drove the super drunk one home and then proceeded to Ivy's house where I walked her in like I always do, and then came the awkward "should I stay, should I go" debate. We stood in the doorway making out a bit before I said I should probably go. We then continued to make out some more on the couch. Ivy then said I looked really tired and asked if I'd be ok driving home. I told her yes, unless she wanted me to stay. She replies, "You can stay if you want".

Let me just say this ladies; don't give a man an open ended question like that. DO WE WANT TO? OF COURSE WE WANT TO STAY!! But the real question is do YOU want us to? I suppose after all these years I should just know that that type of open question always means you girls want us to. Am I right?

I totally ended up staying, and things got way hotter in the bedroom. I didn't go to bed till about 4am, and then left at 5:30 so I could run home to grab my snowboard gear and hit the mountain. 1.5hrs of sleep??? TOTALLY WORTH IT!!

My plan was to stay in the mountains at a buddy's condo for the night, when I got a text around 9:30 saying, "I wish you came back tonight. I need a swing partner and you are totally welcome to stay at my place again ;-)"

I think it was the wink that sold me... On my way down the mountain I came! I was absolutely beat from no sleep and boarding all day, but hey, you can sleep all you want when you are dead right? I had a pretty solid night, but the best part was Sunday morning when, for the second morning in a row, I awoke to this gorgeous woman with her head on my chest, and her arm tightly wrapped around my ribs.

This is something you definitely don't get with one night stands or fuck buddies. During both of those situations, you do the dirty and then you both turn your backs, curl up with yourself, and wake up ready to get the hell out of there.

If it wasn't for Ivy having to work, I could have stayed there all day in bed with her just like that.

I definitely had some mixed emotions this weekend. After Friday, I was ready to pull the rug on things with Ivy. I think this was because I have been so used to things just crumbling after that "one night together" so I freaked a bit, afraid that I wasn't going to get a night number two. The girls I have been dating for months, just get weird after a hot steamy night. Toot it & Boot it maybe? Well, that didn't happen, and Sunday I felt relieved actually. Like a weight had been lifted off my chest. I got a feeling my bed is going to be seeing a whole lot less of me.

And it Begins...

I now have successfully added "axle shafts/bearings/seals" to my growing mechanics resume. I found out last week that I had a worn our axle shaft. So down and greasy I got, fixin' the beast. Friday night I kept working on my Jeep for the third night in a row and finally got all the new crap put in. What can I say? I like fixing cars, and I usually do a damn good job. I think Jess can support that.



After cleaning up, Ivy came over to watch a movie with me. She brought along some chocolate cake since she knew I had somewhat of a rough week with work, tests at the doctors, and then the Jeep. She is such a sweetheart. Later that night, some PG-13 action went down on the couch.



Saturday I finished putting the Jeep back together and went to the Parade of Lights with Ivy and a few friends. It was crowded and cold, but I had great company and I didn't care. Afterwards we went to a bar where me and Ivy just sat and talked for a long time. At one point, I brought up how good she looked and she told me I didn't look too bad myself. The conversation continued down the looks path when she said, "If you weren't so good looking I wouldn't talk to you." At first I felt kind of hurt, because did that mean I have a shit personality? Then I realized karma was knocking on my door. This is totally something I normally say. I now understand that even if you can admit to yourself that you are shallow, you should never admit to other folks you are shallow. For now, it's ok though, because Ivy and I had a good conversation about how we are both shallow. It was interesting how that conversation made me feel bad and good. Good that she thought I was good looking, but bad that if I wasn't it seems I wouldn't have been able to talk my way into a date with her. Oh well. Karma's a bitch right?



Sunday me and my boys finally tasted the first beer we brewed together about 3 weeks ago. It turned out good, but we are still a long ways from opening a brewery. We bottle our second beer tomorrow and we'll see how that one goes.



As this is reflection Monday, I want to point out a few things. I believe that no matter who you are, you start dating someone based on initial attraction, but there is always a specific time when you realize that you REALLY like that person. For me, that moment with Ivy happened on Saturday. Maybe it was the way she laid her head on my shoulder while watching the movie on Friday. Maybe it was the "Good Morning" text I received the next morning. Maybe it was the way she wrapped her arms around me at the parade on Saturday. Maybe it's the way she smiles when I kiss her. Maybe it's the fact that I've been getting super annoyed with the way Chi has been acting lately. I don't know. But I do know that Sunday I couldn't stop thinking about Ivy and I couldn't wait to see her again.



I am a totally hopeless romantic, and recently when talking to Chi, she mentioned that she is not romantic at all and she didn't really care for romantic type stuff. Ivy seems to be a romantic as well. I have mentioned things like carriage rides, zoo lights, and stuff that is more about the company then it is what you are doing, and she just lights up.

Quickly thought I'd mention that Ivy has this one facial expression where one side of her upper lip lifts and the skin next to her nose kind crinkles up. I think it is so sexy and cute.

I think I have made up my mind of who I would really like to date, and since I really hate when girls play games with me, I will not play games with Chi. Time to start drawing back and let her know I’m no longer interested in anything more than friends.

Who I Am and Who i've Been

I have decided that 4 day weekends are a terrible thing for me. Yes they are relaxing and I can stay up as late as I want and then sleep in as late as I want, but they also leave me bored with nothing to do but ponder and think. And what does one ponder and think about when they are bored???

That's right...

The Past!


Last week was a very relaxing week for me, and the only night I went out to a bar was Wednesday night. But I didn't go that night for the drinking, I went for the dancing. Ivy didn't know how to swing dance, and so i figured I'd show her. So we went out to a cowboy bar and got our dance on. Me and Ivy actually spent a ton of time together last week. Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Saturday night! Since Chi was back home in Chicago, it left me wide open to hang out with Ivy as much as possible. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or bad thing yet.

I have always been the type to over analyse things, especially relationships. Last week I did a ton of analysing. I realized that I have two different styles of relationships, and right now I have them both. First, things with Ivy are good. They have been moving really slow and I haven't made any moves beyond making out, and I'm perfectly content with that. Ivy is a complete sweetheart and when I believe a woman to be that way, and I actually like her, I have a hard time making moves because I don't want to scare them away or make them think I only want sex. Then there is Chi. This girl is completely gorgeous and a ton of fun, but she is the sexual outgoing type. I haven't had any problems making moves on Chi, because I can just read that she is ok with everything I am doing when I'm doing it. But, I don't feel any stability with her.

There are certain girls (or guys for you ladies) that you just know you have to be wary of. You know they could be trouble, they could be heart breakers, and leave you face down in the mud. Yet, those are the type you probably fall for most often. That's been my experiences anyway. Maybe I'm self destructing things with Chi because I started things off with a lie. And although i came clean, i still feel bad. I'm also one of those that says a relationship can be just fine when sex starts very early on, but I really know that is a lie. I just try to fool myself into a good rationalization. I know when things are just booty calls, and I'm ok with that. But when I don't know what they are or what they could lead to, that's when I start questioning everything.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I have been hurt in the past, and I have also done my share of hurting, and right now I don't want to experience either of those with either of these girls. I have, and always will, believe that dating multiple people at once is a totally ok thing until you start getting serious, or that sex becomes involved. Right now, I have not had sex with either girl, but I feel it happening very soon with Chi just because of the sexual limits we have already reached with one another. So once that happens, does that mean i have made my decision on who I'm keeping around and who I'm dumping? I know this situation is not fair. Or maybe it is? How do I know that Chi is possibly just looking for a friend with benefits? Maybe Ivy isn't really that into me, but she's keeping me around till something better comes along?

How come I had 4 days off to get my pitiful-relationship-analysis-thinking-cap dusted off and slapped on?

The 2am Booty Call

Friday night I had a date with Chi and it was kind of a hard date to plan. Obviously dinner was not a problem, but I had no idea what to do after dinner. Usually a bar, or some kind of club sounds like a good choice, but seeing that Chi is not 21, I had some difficulties coming up with ideas that didn't involve ID checks. My first idea was to go to this new indoor go kart racing center, but turns out they were closed for the night for a private party. So since I had no ideas, after dinner Chi suggested just renting a movie. Sounded good to me!

We rented Grown Ups and watched  most of the movie ;-)

I don't know how in my 24 years, I had never experienced this before, but in the past few months I have now only had 2 girls pull on my shirt collar while making out, and I have to say... IT IS THE BIGGEST TURN ON EVER!!

(If you haven't already, go ahead and put that one in your bag of tricks ladies)

Chi was a great kisser, and that is a must for any kind of spark I must say. I think everyone would agree with that, but I did spend a few months with a girl who was a terrible kisser but amazing in the sack. For awhile i tried to use her awesomeness in the bedroom as the offset for her horrific kissing tactics, but I know now that that is just not enough. Kissing is probably the first thing you ever learn with the opposite sex, so you should have it down to a science by the time you leave high school. IMO.

Anyways, it was really nice to stay in for once and have some couch time with someone. I have missed that for sure. I know that I was recently writing about that, and I am assuming that would be one thing Chi will bring to the table a lot seeing that she is under age. She's going back home to Chicago for the Holiday, so I won't be seeing her for the next week.

Saturday I was downtown getting my drink on for the first time all week, and we spent a lot of time at the Cowboy bar. I busted out my swing skills to impress a few ladies and it did the right kind of charming. While talking to one lady, my buddy Gary pulled out the best wingman phrase I have ever heard. I'm not sure what made him decide he needed to talk me up since I was doing just fine, but Gary started to compare me to a salmon. Neither of us remember the entire phrase since we were drinking. But I know that he started out by telling this girl I was a great catch. He concluded this statement with this,

 "He is like the salmon of men. Like a big 24 inch salmon. You can't find them everywhere, but when one is right in front of you, you better snag it"

I have never laughed so hard in my life. But thank you Gary. And This chick must have been digging it, because she stuck around the rest of the night.

Now I know you are wondering, "Where does your title fit into all of this Ryan?" Well, as the bars were closing, I got a text from Snow White.

"Hey"

Now everyone knows, that is the 2am text that might as well read, "Let's get it on". But this was snow white. The same chick that told me on our date last week, that she only wanted to be friends.

Turns out, that didn't matter. Snow white (SW) was asking where I was at, and if I wanted to come over. It was her birthday and she needed some birthday sex. I don't ever let my friends down, so over I came. I hadn't even walked in the door completely when SW throws herself on me. We start wrestling our way to her room as clothes are being thrown off. At this point, I no longer felt like a salmon. I was totally a bear ready to ravage.

We make it to the bed where things start to get hot, when I notice I have an audience to my right. SW has a husky that was just sitting next to the bed watching my every move. At first I was a little thrown off, but I soon got over it, as it's just a dog right? Well as the dirty is happening, the dog starts to howl!! I'm like "WTF?!" How is a man suppose to perform with a dog howling a foot away from you? I guess it could have been worse though. I have heard stories of dogs barking aggressively at men during sex, or even biting them! That's something you will never find on my bucket list, "Get bit in the ass by a golden retriever while nailing his master" NOPE NOPE NOPE!

SW eventually locked the dog out of the room, so we could continue. After about an hour, we did it again. And then again when I awoke in the morning. I was thoroughly confused as to why she had said what she had the week before, but either way, this busted another slump for me. The last time I had sex multiple times in a 8 hour period, was back in March. That is definitely something else I have missed for sure.

Sleeper Sunday

I know that I have already told you all about my Thursday night, and that I seemed hopeful about Friday night's date, but it was a big disappointment as well. I originally met this girl downtown on Halloween weekend where she happily signed one of my playplace balls with her name and number. We went out to dinner, and don't get me wrong, we had some good conversations and there was never any weird, awkward moments at all, but the date was just BLAH.

When I had originally asked her out, she told me that she had some later plans that night with her friends, but that dinner sounded great. When I spoke with her on Friday, she said that her plans with the friends fell through, so dinner anytime would work. Like i said, their was never any bad moments, and she seems like a very nice, sweet girl, but I just didn't feel a spark. Usually after a date, I can't wait to get my lips on that other person. But on friday night, I just didn't feel that way at all. So, maybe little mrs sunshine was just a little wrong when she mentioned I love women.

Ok, ok. I admit I love most women, but this one just wasn't doing it for me. So, after dinner I didn't suggest any further plans, and neither did she. I took her back to her place where we hugged and she said, "Well, talk to you later I guess?" And I said yes. With that, I think she was probably feeling the same way, especially since I haven't heard from her since. I got home around 9:30 and spent the first friday night in, since who knows when. I watched the new Karate Kid and it was awesome!

Saturday came, and I was suppose to hang out with Chi, but she was working a cheerleading competition and it went way late, so by the time she text me, I was already at a buddy's birthday party running the beer pong table so I was a little drunk to drive. So, no hanging with Chi, but my ex GF from high school showed up, and kept flirting with me and putting her hands all over me and I guess I had a drunken outburst telling her to not touch me. Truth is, we're still friends, but i don't want anything more than that. So the fact of her trying to be flirty flirty when I had just finished 2 crap dates, kinda pissed me off.

Anywho, Sunday came around and I was expecting a Bronco butt kicking, but luckily I still went to the game and they KILLED IT! The Bronco win was just the start of a GREAT Sunday! On the bus ride home, I got a text from Ivy inviting me to go salsa dancing. I definitely accepted the invitation as I had a great time last weekend with her. I have been salsa dancing one time, and I sucked it up! This time we had a lesson where I could do all the basic steps part and part, by themselves, but when I put them all together I had a hard time remembering my footwork. Oh well, it's was Ivy's first time as well so we sucked it up together :-)  After the lesson we stayed for awhile where we tried to get better, and I think we did, a little bit anyway. I told her that I'm going to take her swing dancing where I'll feel more in my element. She said she has never been, so i'm gonna have to seriously brush up on those skills so I can impress her.

After salsa, her friend suggested pool. So to the pool hall bar we went. Again, I'm terrible at pool, but hey, so was Ivy! So once again we sucked it up together. Being that it was sunday, it was super mellow out. It was a nice relaxing evening where I was able to actually get to know her a little bit compared to the loud party/bar atmosphere we had been in the two times before. Ivy is totally sweet, and i totally have a spark with her. We decided to call it a nightm and I walked her to her friend's car where she gave me a sweet gental kiss that just exploded! Now when I say that, I don't mean that we turned into animals, clawing and grabbing at each other ready to ravage one another right there on the street. I mean, that once her soft lips locked with mine, they didn't want to seperate. Last week I kissed her at the bar, and outside at her car, but those had a lot of alcohol involved and I didn't feel that as a romantic kiss. Tonight on the other hand, no alcohol, and IT. WAS . AWESOME!

In the words of Bruno Mars... "Her lips, her lips. I could kiss them all day if she'd let me."

An Extra Hour of Craziness

You all know that I usually wait till Monday to fill you in on my weekend adventures, but last night was so great that I just couldn't wait to share.

I want to start with my Thursday night, that doesn't make me feel good about myself, but I dug my own grave. About 2 months ago I met a girl at a friends college party, we'll call her Chi because she's from Chicago. Chi and I seemed to kick it off pretty good. Nothing came up that night, but a few days later I was texting her and asked what year she was. Turns out she was a freshman. When the question was reciprocated, I panicked thinking she would freak if I told her I was 24 and graduated. So i lied... Senior I said.
I was never worried about the lie because I figured the chances of hanging out with her again were slim. I would randomly text her to say hi, but her interest seemed null since she would always text back, but would never be the first to text me and never mentioned meeting up again. Well, last week we were talking and she brought up the fact that we hadn't hung out since that night we met. We decided to change this and go out Thursday night. We hit up a hookah bar and I had a great night! Chi is totally awesome! I started to realize that no matter how awesome she is, I doomed any possibility of an actual relationship with her because I can't live out a lie like that, and when i tell her the truth, i'm sure she won't think of me as such a good guy, because no one likes lyers. If anyone has insight on how to solve that situation, I am all ears!

Let's skip Friday and jump right to Saturday. It was my buddy Brandon's Birthday. We went downtown where we sat around the fire at this bar and ordered jagerbombs. There was a couple probably in their forties or fifties sitting across from us. The husband at one point asked what we were drinking. I told him and he asked if we wanted another round on him. HELL YEA! Who can pass up free shots? The couple told us it was their anniversary. My first thought was they must be swingers. What is in it for them to buy us shots? Well, they didn't turn out to be swingers, but later on I was at the bar buying them drinks when they asked my friends if any of us were single. Turns out I was the only one. When I return to the fire, the couple starts talking about their daughter who is 21 and goes to CSU. They start showing me pictures of her on their phones and telling me how nice she is. Did i mention the girl was hot? NO? SHE WAS HOT! I couldn't believe that I was trying to be hooked up at a bar by a couple parents. The best part was when they took a photo of me and sent it to their daughter. The couple told me she is coming down in a couple weeks to bar hop with them and told me to come. I said it sounded like fun haha. When we left that bar, i didn't exchange numbers because I felt like that was weird. That ends that part of the night.

We moved to another bar and earlier in the night I had invited a girl down that I had met last Friday night at a Halloween party. She came down and met us at the second bar we were at, and she looked DAMN good. She was a ton of fun, and we definitely had plenty of drinks together and danced it up a ton on the dance floor. She is a great dancer, and i don't know if other people feel this way, but I don't always dance well with everyone. I feel like i'm a good dancer, but I just don't mesh with everyone I dance with if that makes sense. Me and "Ivy" (we'll call her), meshed very well on the dance floor. Total turn on!!

Since the bars were open another hour later last night, I got to spend some extra time with Ivy. Unfortunately for my wallet, the extra hour was a terrible thing! Before cabbing it back to my buddy's house, I walked Ivy and her friend back to their car where her friend drove home and I squeezed in a very nice makeout session.

All in all, I chalk this weekend up as a huge win. I had an amazing time with a different group of people each night, and although I drank way too much and spent far too much money, it was all worth it, and i hope next weekend is just as good.

Something Intriguing About Balls

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body.

But rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy Shit...What a ride!"

This past weekend was completely... (insert synonym) AMAZING! This weekend will probably always be in my life's top 5 weekends of all time!! I spent all week working on my costume, and I can't believe it turned into such an EPIC costume.

I'm in them middle if you didn't guess... Ryan's Playplace

My rules & regulations (the sign on front) were the following...

• Only females over 18yrs old are allowed
• Must be under 6 ft tall
• No shoes allowed in the ball pit
• Shirts and other clothing optional
• Hands ARE allowed in the ball pit

Friday night went to a party with some friends where it was very difficult to move around the house, but I still managed. Moving around wasn't the worst part about the costume... going to the bathroom was! I would have pull the box as high as a could, while at the same time try to pull/push my boys out the bottom of the box through an elastic whole, while trying not to lose any balls. Not an easy task by any means. Friday was not too bad since I would just go outside into some bushes and as long as I was not peeing on myself, I was good.

I knew people would think my costume was funny, but I didn't expect women to flock to it the way they did. Every girl I met wanted to "Play with my balls". Absolutely hilarious! Friday was only a glimpse of what Saturday night was about to become.

I was invited to a couple parties, including a couple from girls I met Friday night. I vowed I wasn't going to the bars downtown after last year's experience. It was just utter chaos! I started at a party in the downtown area, where the folks there all decided they were going to the bars. Well, I called my other party options, and sure enough they were all going to the bars as well. I figured what the hell. I sucked it up, grabbed my wallet and joined the crowds. Best decision I made all weekend! Once at the bars, the women flocked to me once and wanted picture after picture. Wish I knew all the facebooks I am now on.

My best friend and I started to notice that people were randomly stealing my balls, so I decided to use this to my advantage. I grabbed a sharpie marker and started writing my name and number on the balls. Some were stolen out, some I gave out. But either way, it was genius! At one point a women approached me and asked what the maker was for. I told her that I wasn't carrying my phone do to not having pockets, and that the only way for me to get her number was for her to write it down on a ball. SHE DID! Again... GREAT IDEA!

I often end a weekend looking back and wondering how I could have made it better or more successful. Today I can only wonder how I will ever live up to this weekend ever again.

The only other thing I have to wonder about, is related to the rules of dating. I managed to add 5 new numbers to my phone. Now begins the game of.. "How soon do i call" "Should I text, or should I call" "How soon do I ask her to hang out again" Perhaps you will hear of those stories later in the week.

Hope y'all had amazing weekends also!! HAPPY MONDAY!!

Winter Has Begun... at 9,000 feet

Another weekend, but not one of the ordinary. Thursday night was the night me and my pals went out for my birthday. It was actually a really lame night considering that a bunch of people bailed on coming out with me. But that didn't phase me, I still got my drink on and had a pretty good time with the small group that DID come to join me.

Friday I packed up the Jeep and headed up to the cabin I rented for the weekend. All week I was worried about who would actually show up because again, everyone was bailing on me, but Friday turned out to be a great night! Played plenty of Kings Cup and spent a ton more time in the hot tub. The end of the night had a little drama, but I suppose that is expected at a house party. When most of us left the hot tub, one of my buddies stayed behind with a girl I used to like, over a year ago. She is a good friend of mine now, and I don't think either of us would want more than that. I was ready to pass out, and my buddy's stuff was in my room. I didn't want him to come in and wake me up, so i took his stuff out of my room. And in my drunken state, I figured that if I put his stuff somewhere, he wouldn't be able to find it. So I just laid it in the hallway outside my door. Apparently when Jake decided to come in, he took this as me being pissed off at him for fooling around with the girl in the hot tub. My bad for trying to make it so you saw your shit! Oh well. Maybe he was just pissed off that I wasn't going to give up my bed so her could use it. Either way, we both got over it the next day, like most people do after some drunken drama.

Saturday was amazing! Woke up to it snowing and headed out for some 4wheeling.



It was amazing until this drift swallowed my Jeep...






After heading down a bit, it was time for a family photo. First, me and my brother...




Then another photo with mom and dad who joined us for the day...




Saturday night was a whole different group of people at the cabin, as everyone from Friday night headed home. Saturday included lots of speed quarters, and again some kings cup, where I came up with the greatest rule of all time. When I pulled the card for make a rule, I ruled that everyone had to make a sex noise before taking a drink. It was GREAT!! One girl, who i didn't know, happened to be single and came up with one of my friends, had some totally hot fake sex noises. I had found my woman for the night :-) 

We spent a lot of time in the hot tub once again where someone came up with the idea to wrestle in the tub. Stupid idea! It was fun that night, but yesterday and still today, my whole body is sore. But it was still fun. I ended up having a pretty heavy make out session with the new girl. She didn't stay with me that night, but she did give me her number the next day, so we'll see if she comes around again.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday... It's HALLOWEEN THIS WEEK!!! Time to start building my costume. Which is gonna be epic!

Juicy Details

Unlike most Mondays, I am in a stellar mood! So many awesome things are going on this week, that I just can't help but be excited for this week.

Time to regress however and take a look back at the weekend that just went by... all too fast.

I had a friend turn 21 on Thursday, and since most of her friends are still fairly new to the bar scene, and I'm a regular at the downtown bars, I became tour guide. I took my friends around the bars I frequent often and at an early point in the night they were all ready to go home. Of course I had really just started to get my drink on so I stayed behind. I am never worried about being alone, although I did start to question my decision when I was sitting at the fire all by myself looking like a alcoholic creeper. OH WELL!
My decision to stay actually turned out to be a great decision. While sitting at the fire, I met a very nice gal that just moved to Denver from South Dakota. She was very attractive and we sat at that fire until close, just rolling from conversation to conversation. Somewhere I mentioned that my bday was the following week and that I'd be in coming downtown to celebrate. At the point, she told me to take her number and let her know my plan, and she'd come celebrate with us. HELL YEA! This whole situation made me think of the recent post by this lovely gal. (Who you should definitely check out). It made me wonder if men are easier to approach when not there with all their boys and/or lady friends.

Friday was a laid back evening with the only excitement coming from my softball team winning first place in our league. Yes, its softball, but hey, winning is winning!

Saturday was the juiciest day of the weekend...
I had yet another bday celebration with a bunch of friends, and I brought along a chick from my softball team who has been wanting to hang out for quite sometime now. Well, to skip all the boring details... by the end of the night, this chick was all over me and asked the question, "So we going back to your place, or mine?" Turned out to be her place, and as the action started to take place I received a strange request. Strange for me at least. As we are going at it doggie she tells me to pull her hair. So i do as requested, and pulled...

Tangent: I once had a girl ask me to slightly choke her.
SLIGHTLY??? WTF does that mean? Of course I refused
because i'm not one that is into the wild and rough sex, and it
just seems very weird to want to hurt you while getting it on.

Now either I wasn't doing it the way she wanted, or I was just so good at it, she wanted more, because all i kept hearing was, "Pull harder, pull harder, pull harder" Finally i was pulling so hard it felt like I was trying to haul in an anchor straight up from the bottom of the ocean! How is this pleasurable?? Well, anyway. Didn't quite have the walk of shame in the morning, but it gets worse...
Awkwardness hit me again when I awoke and saw children's toys all over the apartment. MOTHER OF 2! Guess that part slipped her mind after asking "You have protection?"
Maybe if I would have answered with "NO" there would have been a follow up statement of something like, "Not sure I have enough room for a third in this apartment". Guess I can officially check off MILF from my list.

Hope y'all had great weekends as well! I'll be back later to catch up on my "Bday countdown" which i have neglected for 4 days.