an excellent adventure

[ateolf]

after a full day of sitting around the house doing nothing (and The Simpsons), i talked to Brad and then drove out to Keith's apartment to kick it w/ them...also Chris, Shawn, and Paul (Other Other Paul) were there...for a while we played video games then it was decided to go up on the roof...so we went on the roof...it was cold...it's a nine story building...none of us had been up there in a while...then, back down in the apartment, it was decided to go to the Old Bridge and hang out on the catwalk underneath...none of us who had been before had been in years...i think i was 17 or something since i last went...Keith remembered it wrong and we ended up parking in the Channel 3 lot, which has two train bridges between it and the Old Bridge...(here i'll mention for the non-Memphians that this is one of the two (the older obviously) of the car bridges that go over the Mississippi River into Arkansas...it's highway 55 or something...) so we walked under right up at the top, surprisingly there were no homeless ppl hanging out down there...we went to the other side and walked down the sidewalk a ways 'til there was the first trapdoor hole thingie...and we climbed down onto the first "pavilion" pillar platform...we hung out there and then found the ladder for the catwalk...this being the relatively narrow catwalk that hangs from the bottom of the bridge running its entire length...the "ceiling" there is pretty low so you kind've have to duck as you walk...it also lowers down when it intersects w/ rafters...but we went out to the next huge pillar platform which is about 1/3 of the way across the huge river...i'll also mention now that all this is somewhere between 6 and 10 stories above the water...so we're hanging out over there...some of the guys found a sign hanging just below the "ground" on the north side...it was just held on by some wire so they (Chris and Shawn, i think...) took it off...it was pretty damned huge...4x5 maybe...they were wanting to take it back but we noticed it was far too big to fit through the openings from the platforms to the bridge sidewalk...we hung out for a while then Chris decided to walk out on a metal rafter going out off the platform...i couldn't even fucking watch...he went out to where it intersected w/ another and then took that one back...it was higher and there was a weird drop he had to make stepping onto the platform's little guard rail...he didn't fall...then Brad decided it'd be a good idea to do that too...(i'll also mention that they were drunk...) we were like "no, Brad" but he went...Chris went again too...Brad couldn't make it down that drop so he just went back around again and got off where he got on by the catwalk...and while i'm not even able to watch, Keith is over there yelling "yea! hardcore! badass!" then Chris decided he was gonna try to get the sign out...we tried bending it so it'd fit up, but it wouldn't bend...we had thought about the platform but there are a couple of spots where there are sharp corners and we didn't think it'd make it through...but this time Chris went out there and was determined it'd fit...so Chris, Brad, and Shawn drug the sign back across the catwalk towards land...Keith, Paul, and i went up to the top to go meet 'em back where we came from...we were gonna have 'em toss it over the side when they got over land...we got to the edge and climbed down the very steep bluff covered in dead kelp...Keith tripped over some at the top and going down the bluff Paul fell and smacked his shin...down at the bottom we realized the next little step down to the shore, right where the first pillar is was near impossible to get down...and that's where we were gonna have 'em throw it...so we were gonna call 'em (cell phones, woo...oh yea...i've forgotten to mention this, but this week i got my sister's old phone, she was on a shared plan w/ my mom but used it far too much...so now i am...yea...) Keith realized his phone was missing...he was pretty sure it fell at the top when he tripped so he went up and i called his phone...he finally answered and then i hear stuff along the lines of "ah i'm falling" well, he fell again and like rolled down four or five times...i climbed back up to meet 'em...fuckin' mountainclimbing, yo...we back up to the sidewalk and down onto the first pillar to meet the guys and make sure they throw the sign off in the right spot...it was pretty good timing 'cuz they were almost there...we commented on the bitch it'd be carrying the sign up the steep bluff...the catwalk went further towards the end of the bridge so Shawn went out to see how far it went...it went all the way...so the three sign dudes did their sign toting duty and the three land dudes went back out to meet 'em over there...we realized from the very top that you could climb up onto the catwalk so Keith and i went up there and met 'em as they were dragging the sign down...the sign couldn't get all the way down 'cuz there was this small doorway thing a little ways before the end and the sign wouldn't fit but it was close enough so they threw it down there...we went to the end got down and got it...carried it back to the cars...Shawn had to tie Paul's rental car's trunk down w/ his and Chris' belts...we got this far, we weren't going to just not get the sign back...back at the apartment we all signed it w/ a marker...oh yea...i'll also mention that this sign was a reflector so stuff won't run into the bridge i guess...there was a light above it and it's on the side towards the other bridges that are right by...i doubt it was too important...but i'm not the one who took it...what i wrote was pretty cool: «Robert sez "deth to false metal!" (this sign is real metal)» then the other guys went on their quest to switch around the numbers on each floor (to tell you what floor you're on when you get off the elevator...) i went home...and thus concludes this very excellent adventure...

Comments

[goreygirl.livejournal.com]

OH, the sheer wackiness!

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

hell yes...as Other Other Paul said last night "are we 20 or are we 12?"

[newness-ends.livejournal.com]

what to you think of the s25 cd?

[ateolf.livejournal.com]

i quite like...