When I agreed to walk-on and play basketball at a division 1 school, I knew I was going to have to make some big sacrifices in my life. The biggest sacrifice I had to make was not being able to spend much time with my friends and family. This really starts to hurt most during the holiday season when I get to come home for just 4 days at Christmas. No big time Thanksgiving meal at home with grandparents and friendly neighbors. No New Years Eve parties at one of the biggest party school's in America which just so happens to be my hometown (I know it sounds appealing but it's actually not so I'm good). Nothing except basketball, school, basketball and more basketball.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that since I don't get to spend every waking moment with the people I care about most, I've started to cherish my small allotted window with them more and more. So to get a little less sappy and a little more to the point; the shit that me and my friends do is awesome.
Since I'm not around much during the school year, I'll take you through a summer day in the life of Clark, Tom, Charles, Sam, Ryan and Nathan. We live very different lives than the average college student. And you're about to find out how.
We're all starting to grow the hell up, so most all of us work during the day to make the money that we spend ever so frivolously. After our work days are over, we will normally meet at Nathan and Tom's place down by the river. It's a townhouse, not a van (RIP Chris Farley).
As we unwind from the day, we'll usually start up a hookah while Charles, Nate and Sam play their guitar, banjo and bass respectively. The rest of us will complain and crack jokes about their poor renditions of The Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons, but inside we're actually jealous that we're not as good as they are.
Once the first hookah of the night is finished, we'll figure out where we want to have dinner. If there's a game on we might choose to go to one of Morgantown's many famous sports bars. When I come to town, one of my favorite places to go is a wine and cigar shop that serves dinner on Friday nights only. I get the blue cheese burger with a side salad and some tea.
After dinner, we will head back to Nate and Tom's. Depending on the night, we will either have hookah and beer or cigars and coffee. Sometimes we'll play poker, sometimes we'll play video games. But two things remain a constant and that's good music and good conversation.
A well-informed, relatively intelligent, thought-out conversation is a rare thing with people our age and that may be one of the worst things to happen to this generation. I wouldn't trade my iPhone for a date with Miss Universe but the art of conversing with another person had most definitely been hurt by technology.
Once the clock hits about 1:30am we start thinking about having our final meal of the day. This meal is a no doubter. We get in the car, turn on some ignorant rap and head to the finest chain restaurant North Central West Virginia/South Western Pennsylvania has to offer, Eat-N-Park. Many out of towners and logical people alike ask the question, "Shouldn't it be Park-N-Eat?".... Our answer: Yes, it should. But shut up.
After we're served by our favorite waiter Robert (literally the nicest guy you'll ever meet), we'll go our separate ways and do the same damn thing the next day.
Nathan here, Ryan called me out of the bull pen to write the second half of this so here we go. Ryan gave you a great representation of a night spent in town so I'll cover what we consider a great night out of town.
I think one of the greatest ways to unwind and catch up with friends is to take an unnecessarily long drive to somewhere out of town. He covered a typical night during the summer, so I'll cover a typical out of town occasion during my favorite season, the fall. Trips out of town are generally a result of a week of monotony and a desire to get out of the house and do something. It usually starts with one person suggesting the trip.
Most spur of the moment trips are centered around a good meal. Although now that I think about it, most everything we do is centered around a good meal. Anyways, we all pile into either my truck or my parents Denali and head north to Pittsburgh. Before leaving, two things must be established, where are we going to eat, and where are we going to let it all digest as we smoke a cigar and relax. If it were up to me, we'd end up eating at a small gourmet restaurant in the suburb of Mount Lebanon, Il Pizziaolo.
It takes a certain level of intellect to appreciate this kind of dining. Its nothing overtly extravagant but it's far from cheap. To someone who doesn't appreciate it they may say, "$19 for pizza with no toppings? That's outrageous." You'd be right if it were actually just pizza, but it's not. It's a carefully crafted work of art who's creation began early that morning when the workers began to heat the giant wood fired copper oven that sits in the back corner of the main dining room. When you take that into consideration, you can taste the quality in every bite. That's no bullshit. Everyone I've ever taken there agrees immediately. The patrons are always well dressed. The presentation of the food is always simple but very refined. And the service is top notch.
After finishing dinner and taking a refreshing walk back to the car in the cold fall air it's time for the second leg of the trip. It's a bit of a hike but it's well worth it. As we start towards the actual city of Pittsburgh, we get closer to my outright favorite place to grab a drink and cigar. North Side's Executive Cigars. A modest, nondescript hole in the wall that rivals anywhere I've ever smoked. When you walk in, the smell of cigars already past their first third leads you to a back room full of big leather chairs, TVs, tables full of every kind of whiskey, beer, etc. and usually a group of regulars gathered in a circle shooting the breeze or deep in concentration, focused in on a movie that they picked to watch for the evening.
As you open the door to the back room everything stops. In a good way. The movie pauses, everyone stands up, steps away from their chair and introduces themselves, shakes your hand, and asks your name as well. The owner usually comes out to greet you and asks if he can get you something to drink. It's a great feeling to have people genuinely appreciative that you chose to patronize their shop. After finding a place to sit, being given a remote to your own TV, and lighting up, you can put your feet up and truly relax. It's honestly a hard place to leave. I mean who wouldn't wanna just hang out there all day.
About an hour later, it's time to reluctantly head home back to reality.
Yes we take fun trips, eat at good restaurants and but the core to a fun trip or an entertaining dinner is good company. Our definition of good company is surrounding yourself with people you admire and respect. As we frequently do, here's a quote to sum things up.
"Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company."
Booker T. Washington
Ryan & Nathan
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