** This is actually from Saturday night, but it was grouped together with the afternoon blog before our trip to Winston-Salem.  So, I decided to move it to the following day. **

After a pretty much silent trip back to Greensboro, we decided to get some ice cream to cheer ourselves up.  There's a really nice new addition to Friendly Center.  I was quite impressed.  Figures that it gets all nice after I move away.  The best part - Ben & Jerry's.  However, we were all still pretty down and once we arrived, we all just sat outside making small talk.  A little later, Charlie's sister joined us and lightened the mood.  We finally got some ice cream and then Mary suggested Arrigato's, my favorite Japanese steakhouse in Greensboro.  We were finally in good spirits again and set off for dinner.  Since Friday night at Jake's ended up so crazy, we decided to spend the rest of the evening at Brian's place.

Once everyone was awake, I rushed us all out the door to get back to Greensboro.  I was planning on meeting another one of my college friends for lunch and needed to get back to Brian's in time to make myself presentable again and head out the door.  Catching up Christy was great.  We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years, since I moved away from North Carolina.  Unfortunately, we only had time for lunch.  Christy had to get back to a family gathering later that afternoon.  When I returned to Brian's, the boys told me that they were all hung over and had been napping most of the time that I was gone.  As I was getting ready to take a shower, I found them cuddling together.  It was quite amusing.  When I got out of the shower, I heard singing and figured that they were back in the living room.  No.  They were all in bed singing Bohemian Rhapsody.  I grabbed my camera and caught a little 30 second video before they noticed me.  I'd love to share it here, but I don't know if I'll be uploading it at this point.

Whenever we have our little Greensboro reunions, Jake's is a must.  Jake's is a fun pool hall and bar that was a weekend favorite throughout college.  So, every year, we all get together for some drunken fun at Jake's.  Sadly, our reunions get a bit smaller every year.  But it was still a lot of fun.  Then Brian and I remembered that we have a special table.  It's a long story, but basically, it's just special to our friendship.  After all these years, we decided that we needed a picture together with our table.  Other than that, everything was just crazy.  So let me give you a little warning about viewing these photos.  We're all normal enough on our own, but together, we always end up with some very interesting photos and memories.  Ok, you've been warned =).

One of the things I really miss about Greensboro is Ham's. It might not look like much from the outside, but it's a great little place. I actually lived in the area for 2 years before ever setting foot inside a Ham's. There's a few scattered throughout the Greensboro/High Point area and then several other cities around North Carolina. There's nothing extra special about the items on the menu, except for the chips. I don't even like chips, but there's are homemade and a bit on the softer side. And if you're not hungry, it's a fun little place to hang out with friends for a few drinks in the evening. So whether you're in the mood for a bite to eat or a relaxed atmosphere for some drinks (and chips) with friends, definitely check out Ham's!

Rush hour heading towards Greensboro wasn't as bad as I had remembered and I was passing my old college within an hour.  My friends Brian is my only good friends left in Greensboro after almost everyone else I knew here has moved on to other places for work or more school.  A few others will be heading back to town Friday to visit with me, but for now, it's just Brian and me.  I'm not complaining.  I've missed Brian and it was so great to have some alone time and talk like we used to talk.  After I was settled in and didn't feel so sticky due to the humidity, we went out to dinner.  Our initial idea for the rest of the evening was to pick up a bottle of wine, or two, and catch up back at Brian's place.  Then, I remembered that our friend, and my former bartender =), Michael, had sent me a text earlier saying that he was working.  So, we dropped off the wine to cool in the fridge and headed to Jake's.  Ah, Jake's.  My local hole-in-the-wall pool hall and bar of my college days.  How I have missed that place.  I was amazed at how much has changed since last year.  Yes, I left North Carolina 3 years ago, but I have been back every summer!  What upset me the most was the juke box.  They had one of the old classics, but it finally died at some point during the last year.  It's been replaced by some fully electronic juke box that looked very out of place to me.  Brian reassured me that there is way more music on the new juke box and that everything would be ok, but he was wrong.  I had a little routine at Jake's.  With my second drink, I always picked out some songs, which usually involved either Billy Idol, Aerosmith, or Madonna, and always included a couple Radiohead favorites of mine.  To my astonishment, this new, special juke box did not have one single Radiohead song!  I was absolutely crushed.  I searched and searched for some good backups, but I could not find anything that I wanted.  So, my reunion with my dear friend Michael involved a bit of me yelling at a juke box while Brian laughed at me.  Oh well.  We decided to just spend the evening catching up with a few drinks, a few games of pool, and a lot of photo hunt.  I never want to come back to Greensboro, or anywhere else in NC for that matter, but being back always makes me miss my friends out here and the good times at Jake's so much.  When everyone else arrives tomorrow, the fun will really begin.  After last year's reunion, who knows what will happen.  All I do know is that at least I have some excuses for any crazy behavior, like too much air pressure =).  I'm sure it won't have anything to do with anything else, but I'll still say that it does =).

I'm not really a fan of Greensboro, NC, but I do love visiting my friends back there.  Most of us met in undergrad, at UNCG.  I was the first to run away to another town, and now there's only a couple of people left.  I'm just happy that my best friend from undergrad moved to Colorado last fall.  She's still an hour and a half away, but that's a lot closer than North Carolina!  Then a couple other friends left Greensboro for other parts of North Carolina.  So, last fall was definitely an important reunion.  Unfortunately, there was one missing person, who was stuck in Boston.  We had lots of fun while I was in town and, as you can probably tell, we did a lot of drinking.  Most of us are planning on putting together another reunion this August.  I'm definitely going to be there.  At this point in life, I doubt it will ever be all of us together again, but that's just how life goes.  As long as I can see people at all, that's great.  I just can't believe I keep going back in August, when the heat and humidity are at their worst!  I must be masochistic.