Happy Hashiversary!

I hadn’t intended on posting a blog entry today. Then I remembered that Memorial Day is my hashiversary.

In the mid/late 1990s my friend Wendy introduced me to the term “hasher.” When I told her that I was a member of the Atlanta Track Club she shrugged and said (something to the tune of) “Huh, I thought you’d be a hasher.” When she described the what hashing was, I was intrigued.

In 1999 I moved to East Atlanta and was hanging out at my (then) home-away-from-home Gravity Pub when I ran into a guy named “Catamite” who was talking about running to another guy. He informed me that the Hash were to have a happy hour at Gravity Pub the following Friday (the Friday prior to Hedon).

At that happy hour (which didn’t get happening until 8pm) I ran into “Sanitary Not,” “Bunny Banger,” “MC Hasher,” and “Whiner” who invited me to join them for darts. On that night Sanitary convinced me that I’d enjoy hashing and that she was laying the Memorial Day trail and that I should show up. Funny thing when you are drunk, you agree to do almost anything and you can remember odd details, like the Moonlite Hash would be starting at the Publix on Memorial Drive just OTP.

On Memorial Day in 1999 I became a hasher. On that night I stood next to a Unitarian Pastor (“Ultra Pastorized”) drinking beer as we watched “Goldilocks” drop his pants showing off all of the writing someone did on his ass at Hedon. Neither of us seemed offended by this action, I knew right then that hashing would be part of my life.

Who’s the young stud on the left? Moi! (circa 2000) This was with my first, and only, hash girlfriend “Arbitrary Sex.”

Young, dumb, and full of [insert your own nasty word here] (circa 2001/2002). fwiw – the toilet paper belt doesn’t work well.

Me, no longer the svelte young man pictured above, camping at Hedon (circa 2005)

Me, Boner, and Sanitary Not! busting a gut once we realized that Tastes Like Shit wasn’t seriously hurt when he spit alcohol into a fire. (circa 2007)

I’ve gone in and out of the hashing world over the past eleven years. For a while I was a twice-a-week hasher, but for some reason decided to become selfish with my time and became a twice-a-month hasher limiting myself to Black Sheep hashes and the occasional Atlanta / Pine Lake / Wheelhopper / *cough* Southern Comfort *cough*.

It is through hashing that I’ve met people I call my closest friends. Most of the friendships I’ve formed with hashers have lasted longer than most I’ve ever had in my life — there is the rare friend from high school with whom I still communicate, the Turner Kids who I started drinking with when I first moved to Atlanta, and the Penn Staters and Wendy with whom I played sports in Atlanta and saw a lot before I moved to East Atlanta. Many of you ITP-Readers are hashers, and want to thank you for being my friend past eleven years.

I’ve decided to treat myself to a hash tonight. If you are interested, it starts at Henderson Park at 5pm tonight and will cost $8. Even if I could remember and still owned what clothes I wore in 1999 there is no way in hell that I could fit into them today. Pity, that.

On-on.
Wee Little Bit

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though my self-imposed sequestering is going poorly
Current Music – listening to a CBC Radio 3 podcast
Website Of The Day – nothing today
Mode Of Transportation To Work – n/a, it’s Memorial Day
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~4 miles, Wheel Mileage – ~53 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 30 (30)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 29
Marta Rides – 0

May Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
– Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]