Greensboro Connection: Days Zero through Two

(authors note: these events happened a few days ago, i'm only getting around to posting them now)


Day Zero

The drive from Manchester, CT to Greensboro, NC is the longest I've ever undertaken alone in a single day in my life. That morning (since I couldn't do it the night before on account of the extreme cold), I packed everything I (now) own into my car, leaving behind that which wouldn't fit and wasn't that important, and left my home in Connecticut. These factors giving a sense of profundity to my day, there actually wasn't much about the driving itself that was very memorable. I was content, and spent a good portion of the time consciously feeling myself breaking the ties that had kept me in my hometown for so long (by this I don't mean breaking the ties to my friends and family, but rather the invisible 'pull' that I feel had kept me in something of a rut for quite a while).
I arrived, finally, at 1:30 in the morning to meet my friend Danielle, whom I had visited in Greensboro once previously (with friends) since she moved there from CT. Danielle is a spiritual type, a seeker of knowledge, like myself, and I had been greatly anticipating the chance to hang out with her one-on-one, which is something that we hadn't fully done before, as most (not all, but many) of our experiences together in the past were within larger groups of friends. Anyway, I was exhausted that night and pretty much went to bed as soon as I had settled in to her home and on to her couch. Welcome to the rest of the world Nate...
The days I spent in Greensboro absolutely flew by, even when they were not filled with specific 'excitement'. I guess I'll describe some significant events from each day, in relatively chronological order, only because that is how I have already drafted this and I feel like there's way more important things to consider than how to best format and present my experiences (like considering going to sleep now, as I write this..)

Day One

The first full day I spent in Greensboro, Danielle and I drove around some (I don't remember what we did, it is blended together--was this when she gave me a tour of her workplace, or when we went to get coffee, and/or we had lunch--i can't recall at this point), and eventually returned back to her home, replete (I think that's the word) with some beers. We got into talking about our spiritual paths and processes, discussing life, and sharing poetry. Danielle is a very talented
poet--she has a knack for creating a movie-like scene in your mind with her poems. Both of us experienced a bonding and a moment of overcoming fear when we read things to each other that were personal, that we were hesitant to share at first. Next, we headed over to a nearby bar to meet with some of her friends. Now, I had not eaten dinner at this point, and while I realized this was potentially a problem I soon forgot about it and continued drinking at a moderate pace once we were at the bar (beer was much cheaper at bars than you see in CT--more on that later). We sat in a booth passing back and forth a piece of paper (writing rhyme/poem snippets back and forth, as we had once done years before in an IM chat to our mutual enjoyment), and watching as folks showed up to this bar. I met some interesting and cool people, however towards the end of the night, when everyone was sitting around a table having conversations, I began to feel that ultra-woozy 'I-cant-sit-here-any-longer' feeling. I went outside on the patio, lit a cigarette, and proceeded to put my head down on the table while the cigarette burned, not taking a single puff, as people came and went through the rear door of the bar. Luckily I was left alone with some semblance of privacy, but even this did not stave off the inevitable--in the corner area of the patio, behind the table, I pyukedy-puked! Wow. Been quite a long time since that happened... Luckily only one person witnessed this, and it was Danielle's friend Brett, with whom I felt comfortable, although still obviously embarrassed about the situation. I felt immensely better after puking of course, so Danielle and I went to an awesome 24-hour diner where I finally got my dinner. Yummm.

Day Two

Went to the ever-awesome Tate St. Coffeehouse, and posted a bunch of blog entries. Ate pizza and stood on a chair to plug in my laptop high on the wall in New York Pizza (they were cool, and suggested this as it was the only outlet). Slept. Did other stuff but nothing that I can think of now was particularly notable. This was the 'slow' day of the trip.