NYCH3#1213
May 16, 2007
Start: Mister Wright Liquors (88th and 3rd Ave)
Hare: Joey Pennsylvania
On-In: Aces and Eights (86th and 1st Ave)
Scribe: Blackout
It was great weather, if you were a duck that is…
A surprisingly largish crowd showed up for the evening’s trail, taking shelter under some scaffolding while Joe P. did the chalk talk. I’d guess it was the second wettest trail of the year so far (behind the deluge the week after Easter), and definitely the most soaked (by water rather than booze) I’ve been in a while.
The trail took off west-ish and north-ish, where after some searching the pack, keeping close together since the marks were rare and hardly visible, realized the trail headed not too surprisingly into Central Park. However, the trail was never too easy to follow, and the pack got wetter and wetter as the evening progressed, the rain and Joe’s pesky trail both not letting up. Eventually we exited the park again on the east side, and might have followed the occasional flour mark to the on-in, though it quite possibly was one of those days where we were just following the hashers who knew the on-in location. Oh, it was a relatively new on-in as well (at least for me it was): Aces and Eights. For all you trivia buffs in the crowd…how about this one: what is the significance of that phrase? Answer in the third quarter.
I’m sure the locals were surprised to see such a sorry, soggy pack trudge in, but we soon warmed up and started the imbibery. Our hare Joe Pennsylvania managed to work out quite the deal that night: all you could drink Bud Lite ‘till 11 (good news except for the hashers with delicate taste buds I suppose).
Down-downs started with the hare, who was strutting around like Ahnold from the early 80’s for some reason. If you ask me, I’d say he’s been pretty cocky ever since being appointed trailmaster, and not for any particularly good reason. FMIG noticed the antics and made him drink again. There were three virgins in the house, and one (Adam?) got a second down-down for being caught cavorting in the puddles only to shower after the r*n. At this point FMIG asked Rich for a song, and the exact title escapes me, but it displeased FMIG enough to give Rich a down-down himself, accompanied by perhaps the longest song in the NYCH3 arsenal, the Horse’s A**. Leslie then got to drink (and got a cake! courtesy of Mean Jean) for her birthday. Assh*le of the week went to yours truly, for recklessly suggesting the saddle at the bar would be a good location for said AOTW drinking.
Okay, back to that trivia. Any of you folks know it? Perhaps the Western theme of the bar helps? Well, it comes from the poker hand that Wild Bill Hickok had at the moment he was shot, in Deadwood or some similar Western locale. He was shot from behind and as he slumped over, in his hands the crowd could see his hand of you guessed it, aces and eights. So there you go, another useless factoid from your faithful scribe.
{mospagebreak}
Just like the week before, the food was courtesy of the bar. However this time there appeared to be more of it, or maybe it was just that I happened to be sitting at the bar and had front row access to the plates this time. I have to say, the mozzarella sticks were superb, with very tasty seasoned batter. In addition the onion rings were cordon bleu…personally I consider a ring to be top-notch when you can bite into several and can always avoid pulling out the entire onion inside, though I’m no professional food critic. But as long as I’m on the subject, the other two dishes (nachos and some thick-cut fries) were also quite good. And oh yeah, kudos to Jean for bringing the excellent ice cream cake.
At any rate, the light beer continued to flow, and the hashers reliably drank on until the hash cash ran out, we even got 15 bonus minutes of Bud Light, yeehah.
On-out.