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Wednesday was a big day. After several bad barbeque fiascoes, i was going to get the real deal. and it was going to be good.
Mary and i had plans to meet up w/ some friends and to go to Rudy's BBQ, and then go to the Broken Spoke for the 41st b-day party.
Rudy's was good. so soo good. i stuffed my face on lean brisket and turkey. and some pickles.
have i mentioned it was good? rudy's has quickly become my fav. bbq spot.
after the grub we headed to the broken spoke.
it was pretty packed out.
our friends said they'd seen it more packed though.
i had not.
there were a ton of great artists scheduled to appear. unfortunately, of all those great ones, we only saw 1. it was still fun though. we drank up quite a few pitchers of Lone Star. thank goodness the brisket had lined my belly.
i'd been to the Spoke several times before. it's fun. (www.brokenspokeaustintx.com) a really old TX dancehall. it looks like it could collapse at any minute. the first time i ever went i ordered a lone star beer. it was like $3. too much. i asked how much pitchers were. waitress said $5.50. that was much better. i asked her what they had tap. "Busch". she said.
what else?
"Busch" she said.
i drank busch that night. for the first time since college. and i drank a lot of it. and i liked it.
as luck would have it, they actually have changed their one beer on tap, and it's now Lone Star.
and Lone Star is always good. it was $6.50 on wednesday night, but that's not too bad at all.
there were some characters out at the Spoke. this one game came in totally decked out. he had a bright pink suit coat, and his hair was slicked back, and he strutted around. turns out he was in one of the bands. but he wasn't the singer. he was the washboard player. and he thought he was a celebrity. he had sunglasses on, and he belted out every single song. but he didn't have a mic. i think he was the only person in the band who didn't have a mic.
poor guy.
he was way into it though.
and strutted around afterwards like he was the star.
maybe he was.
i don't know.
i bet you that way back in the day he was the lead singer of some group in high school or something. he's still clinging to the past.
i want to be a washboard player.
they put a cash bar in the back of the spoke. they called it the 'bus crash bar' b/c it was wear the Geezinslaws bus drove through the back of the club last month. there was a girl behind the bar who was honestly about 10. but she was decked out in makeup and had her hair all done up. she was also wearing a tight t-shirt which allowed her gut to hang out underneath. she definitely had the look downpat for a bartender.
i don't specifically remember what we did thursday. i know we hung out with some people and drank up a ton of gin.
then we went to san marcos for a concert. we were pretty tired, so we didn't stay long.
and then it was friday. and friday is when the party started.
As perhaps only a very few of you know, one of my
favorite shows of all time was MTV's "Austin Stories",
which only aired for 1 season.
i loved that show long before i even loved austin.
seriously.
it was hilarious.
the show was created by, and starred 3 individuals:
Chip Pope, Howard Kremer, and Laura House.
on tuesday night Howard Kremer was performing standup
here in Austin, w/ another supposedly funny group
called Hard n Phirm. and it was only $4.
i had to go.
mary and i went.
it was hilarious.
i laughed out loud numerous times.
so so funny.
the place also had $2.50 well drinks, so i had several
drinks during the show. i was feeling mighty fine.
after the show Howard was just milling around. much
to mary's dismay, i had to go tell say hello and tell
him how much i enjoyed Austin Stories. (i figure
there were only about 10 other people in the world who
loved it, so he might not get to hear it that often).
so i went up and said hi.
i told him Austin Stories was one of the funniest
shows i'd ever seen.
he said "really? thanks. want a dvd copy of it?"
yes i do.
so he disappeared into the kitchen and left mary and i
standing talking to his lady friend.
he emerged several minutes later w/ an official
unofficial Austin Stories DVD!
holy crap.
i can't tell you how psyched i am about this.
i have 10 of 12 episodes on VHS. the quality is
pretty poor. a year or so ago i got the whole season
off of ebay. that quality was poorer than mine but
had the 2 missing episodes.
the one i got tuesday night...perfect. insanely good
quality.
hilarious stuff.
Austin is awesome.
i love it when things like that happen.
i feel silly being so psyched about it.
but it was awesome. Austin Stories was perhaps my
favorite show of all time. i loved it from the start.
and there i was, on a tuesday night, shooting the
shit w/ Howie, and then he gives me a free DVD--- a
DVD i've searched for forever.
life is grand.
Merle Haggard came to the music capital of the world, and I for one was totally excited. He's one of the few true country music legends that I've never seen in concert.
I never got a chance to see The Man in Black, or Waylon, or Townes Van Zandt before they passed away, but i've seen Willie, and George Jones, and Billy Joe Shaver, and a bunch of others. Most of the great country singers that I've loved I've gotten to see.
Even though I'm on a strict budget these days, I knew that I had to see The Hag. There was no doubt about it. Tickets were less than $30 too which was a plus.
My buddy G had seen him recently and was a little disappointed because he had payed almost $50, and he said that Hag didn't play very long, but was impressed with his song selection.
That didn't discourage me.
I had to do it.
I figured if he just played me a couple of those classics, that'd be it. I'd be set. That'd make it worth it.
The concert was outside and holy crap, it was cold.
A cold front had blown in, and it was in the 50s by the time the show started. That's cold for Texas.
The concert was at the Glenn at the Backyard in Austin, a pretty new, pretty cool little spot.
The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash opened the show.
I wasn't too impressed with them, but the sound was awful, so perhaps that had something to do with.
Then, unannounced, Freddy Powers played next. That was actually really cool. Freddy is an Austinite, and lives apparently just down the street. He wrote a bunch of songs for Merle and others, so Merle apparently invited him to come play a couple. He played "Natural High", which was really cool, and "A friend in California". He played a couple other Hag songs as well. I had no idea he wrote so many classic Hag songs. (You can see a partial list of songs he wrote here: http://www.freddypowers.com/discography.htm).
I really enjoyed Freddy's set, despite the fact that the sound was still a bit muddled.
I hoped they would get it fixed for Hag.
Hag finally took the stage after Freddy, and I've got to say, he sounded great. I just sat back and basked in the classic California country sound of the Hag. He played "The Way I Am" quite early, and even though I was freezing, I was loving it. I was thinking about the review I would write, and how I would probably say something about how great he still sounded, and how he could still really belt out a song, and how, unlike Willie (one of his few contemporaries out there), Merle was really singing and not just going thru the motions.
(Don't get me wrong--I love Willie. Willie is great. Willie still puts on great shows. But Willie has been doing it for a long long time. That last couple of times I've seen him he doesn't so much "sing" the songs, he basically "talks" them).
And as my brain was wandering around, Merle suddenly started playing some songs that were newer and that I didn't know..
And then Merle played "Natural High", which Freddy had already played.
And then Merle was done.
1 hour and 5 minutes.
No encore, no nothing.
The Road Manager came out and said Merle wouldn't be back for an encore. He said that they had a long way to travel and thanked us for coming out and urged us to buy some Haggard merchandise that i'm sure was over priced.
Umm...no.
I know he's old and a "legend", and some will say that as such, I should give him the benefit of the doubt.
But no.
I don't buy it.
That sucked.
I hated it.
Lots of people hated it.
Everyone was kind of in shock that it was over so soon.
We all paid our hard earned money. (Some of us couldn't even really afford the money for the show but went anyway). And I can safely say, without a doubt, that I didn't get my money's worth.
It's easiest to just put it like this.
Here's the songs Hag didn't play:
Are the Good Times Really Over (my all time favorite Hag song)
Kern River
Mama's Hungry Eyes
Sing me back Home
Lonesome Fugitive
Swingin Doors
Ramblin Fever
I think i'll just stay here and drink
Lookin for a Place to fall apart
Branded Man
Rainbow Stew
This list goes on.
Unacceptable.
I don't care if you play slightly mediocre new songs as long as you play the classics too.
Look at the ones he left off!
And there's more classics he left off too, I just can't remember them all because there were too many.
Such a shame.
It shoulda been great.
What really gets me, and the thing that sucks the most is that I had to go. I didn't really have a choice at all. If I hadn't gone, I would have always wondered what I missed.
One time when I was in high school Johnny Cash played in my hometown and I didn't go see him. I remember the night well--it was rainy and dark and nasty, and I actually, while out on a joyride, spun around a blind corner and slammed on the brakes as i came within inches of sideswiping his tourbus. But I didn't go see him in concert, and I always regreted it.
I've seen Merle Haggard now, but I won't be going to see the Hag anymore, that's for sure.
Would i have been better off just staying home and listening to my cds?
Probably.
Or better yet, with the money that I spent on the Hag, I could go out and see 3 or so younger artists like Dale Watson, or Hayes Carll, or any of the countless other talented Texas musicians who are making, and have made, great country music.
Granted, they're not "legends" like Merle yet.
But they don't act like it either.
They respect that you're paying money to see them, and they appreciate that you're there watching them.
And they're good. Really good. No doubt about it.
"Stop rollin downhill like a snowball headed for hell".
Dang.
It sure would have been nice to hear Hag sing that.
I've got it on cd though.
Are the good times really over for good?
Shoot.
I hope not.
son of a gun.
i was just halfway thru a particularly inspired post and somehow it all disappeared. i will try again, but man i'm discouraged now.
here's basically what i said:
I finally did it. this morning, i just did it.
it was inevitable, but i didn't know when it would happen.
but it happened this morning. i didn't even think too hard about it.
that's right, this morning i made a potato burrito. all by myself. without mary's help.
how bout that?
i was craving one, and she was still asleep, i couldn't wait until she got up. so i had no choice.
i just got me a knife, and chopped that potato right up. nothing to it.
i wasn't even scared.
and it was a total success.
i had watched her closely several times as she cut the potatoes.
i mastered it.
first try. the potato was perfect. the burrito was excellent.
i learn quick.
I'M THE SMARTEST BOY IN THE WORLD!
holy crap. i'm accomplishing so much lately.
i need to slow down, lest people think i'm actually not a slacker.
on sunday it was a super gorgeous day: the sun was shining bright, and the temperatures were in the high 80s. mary and i decided to go down to one of the deeper spots of the river and play in the water, b/c it's not every day that you get to play in a river in November.
so we did.
and then we got a crzy idea.
a year or 2 ago, at the exact spot where we were playing, there had reportedly been a "natural whirlpool". some kids had placed some rocks around the one end, and changed the flow of some of the water to make it swirl. and there were little natural ledges. last year there was a flood and it ruined the whirlpool. the ledges and some of the walls were still there. but no swirl. mary and i decided to try to build it up.
so we spent several hours hauling rocks back and forth, trying to figure out where and how to place them to create the swirl effect that we so desired.
it was great.
we were like little engineers.
but engineers who had to do lots of manual labor.
holy crap. after moving a certain number of heavy river rocks the skin on the tips of your fingers starts to get rubbed off.
now, admittedly, i do have pretty delicate hands. i've never been much for manual labor, so i have very soft, white collar lazy man (or actually woman) hands. but mary got all of her finger tips busted open as well, so it wasn't just me.
(in a related note, yikes--it really hurts when you try to eat chips right after you finish moving rocks and all of your finger tips have little open wounds. salt hurts. but i push thru. i push thru because i'm a winner. and because i love chips. mmm...chips)
anyway, so basically, after several hours and many rocks and many sore fingers mary and i had actually done a decent job of trying to recreate the whirlpool.
i'm pretty at amazed that we accomplished it.
granted, it's really too cold to sit in it, but it looks really cool.
it's wacky how little actions can really affect the flow of the water.
nature is cool.
so that was a big accomplishment.
and now its fun.
yesterday i walked down there with the GUS and just sat on the edge and read my book.
yup. you read that right. i read a book.
and know what?
i should finish it today.
i'm telling you.
this is a huge week.
i make a potato burrito all by myself, mary and i design and build a whirlpool, i subbed one day this week and made us some $$, AND i read a whole entire book for the first time in at least 6 months.
lookout world!
i'm on fire.
so the potato post has struck a chord with the readers out there.
seems to be most people's favorite.
i'm scared i won't be able to live up to that totally spontaneous post.
this one will not be nearly as good.
prepare yourself for that now.
here's what i have to say though:
Increasingly mary has been concerned that we are "bums". actually it was mostly this weekend that she was concerned about it. me? not really concerned about it. yeah, we're sort of bums. but i don't care. i'm loving it. every single minute of it. i'm loving it. and it's not exactly that we are bums. we're trying to live a simpler life, an easier life, a funner life. and to do so we're being pretty lazy, and we're not working much.
that's the Wimberley Way.
we're not bums, we're just adopting the ways of the people around us.
it's true (sort of). everyone out here talks about "The Wimberley Way", and it's this whole different, slower way of life. it doesn't seem like too many people get stressed out out here. there's lots of people that don't work full time jobs. and that's cool. and people don't really like deadlines and commitments. laid back. it suits me just fine.
no, i don't worry about becoming a bum. finances worry me a little bit. i've always been really deliberate in saving money. there's not much money to save now, but my frugal, saving ways are helpful in adjusting to this drastic drop in income.
i do worry though that i'm getting stupid.
there's not much that i do on a daily basis to stimulate my mind.
on friday i was having a seriously hard time making words come out of my mouth.
it was like my brain had turned to mush.
i was concerned. i expressed my concerns to mary. she was concerned as well.
so we did the first thing that we could come up with to stimulate our brain:
we played scrabble.
on a friday night.
on the picnic table in our front yard.
and it was awesome.
(i won).
i'm the smartest boy in the word.
we even played scrabble again on sunday.
(i lost).
i'm still the smartest boy in the world.
sometimes you just don't get the best tiles possible.
and sometimes is just difficult to beat mary at word games.
she reads much more than i do.
so here's what happened the rest of the weekend:
thursday night we went down to san marcos b/c they were having a big basketball preseason festival w/ free food. we stood in line for free food. there was pizza. they gave away the last piece to the person 4 places in line ahead of us. we also missed out on the free tacos. so all we got was free sausage and coke. that suited me fine. i like sausage and coke. then i stayed in town w/ a friend and went to a killer concert and drank way too much. good times.
friday we went out yard sailin. we were in the mood to find some bargains. we couldn't find any of the yard sales though except one. so we drove a bit. we realized we were halfway to san marcos, so we decided to just head on into san marcos. we checked out a barbecue place there. a friend of mine had raved about it and even said it was better than the Salt Lick. we were excited to try it. my friend lied.
i didn't particularly like it all.
the brisket was really dry and the sauce was pretty nasty.
the sausage looked really good, but i had just had a plethora of sausage the night before.
we wasted lots of time in SM and didn't really accomplish much.
scrabble was that night.
pure excitement in the hill country.
saturday we went to Market Days here in wimberley. it's madness. hundreds and hundreds of vendors spread out over a giant space. you can get lost. seriously. it's sort of a mix of a craft show, flea market, farmer's market. and people come from miles to go to it. traffic was insane. we drove halfway and then just parked the car and walked. we discovered free samples. free samples are awesome. but mary is a sucker. she bought everything she sampled. but now we have some fun dip mixes for chips and crackers.
then we went to austin. there was a chalk art festival that mary wanted to see. we shopped at Central Market, which is like Whole Foods. we had samples there. wine and cheese. yum. mary bought the wine that she sampled. they had tons of barbecue sauces for sale there. they had our very favorite Salt Lick sauce. we were excited. until we read the label. 16 grams of fat and 130 calories. holy crap. no wonder its so delicious. the sauce we bought had no fat and 15 calories.
and it tastes pretty good.
so after that we went to eat more barbecue.
this one was a new place. Rubys. (not to be confused with Rudys).
here's how you tell the difference: Rudys is good.
i wasn't that impressed w/ rubys, and they were pretty expensive.
i won't be going back there probably, but it was good to catch up w/ some friends of mine that we met there.
back at the homestead, MK invited us over. he said he was having a BBQ and entertaining some ladies and we should stop by. we did. it was scary. and sort of hilarious. the ladies were a 40ish lady and her mom. it was them 2, the ladies kid, RM and MK. and then us. it was a weird scene, seeing MK trying pretty hard to hit on the lady, and seeing the old lady hitting on RM pretty hard.
wacky times.
mary and i split at the first available opportunity.
and that's it.
i missed 2 concerts that i really wanted to go see.
i'll try to come up w/ some funny posts for tomorrow.
my brain is a little mushy right now
Quite recently i've discovered the simple joys of potatoes. Now, i've always loved potatoes. any kind. if it's potato i like it (as long as there's no onions in it).
baked, scallopped, diced, hash browns, french fries, home fries.
potatoes are good.
but, up until 2 weeks ago i'd never fooled w/ a potato on my own.
i'd only eat them if someone else had prepared them for me.
i was scared to prepare them myself.
potatoes are kind of dirty when they're sitting in that big bag under the sink.
i didn't know what you were supposed to do w/ them, so i just let them sit there.
then mary went into her research study.
then i ran out of food.
then i remembered the potatoes under the sink.
i racked my brain trying to remember the steps that'd i'd seen my mom, and mary, and others take in preparing a baked potato.
it was quite a humbling moment, being a 30 year old and not knowing how to make a baked potato.
i surely wasn't going to call mary and ask. she would have ridiculed me forever.
the summer of my freshman year in college i lived in a house by myself for the first time ever.
my sister still laughs hysterically at the fact that i called home from harrisonburg and asked my mom how you make scrambled eggs.
i learned quite a bit that first summer.
so now i know not to ask how to do things that a normal person should know how to do. like make a baked potato. so i searched deep in my brain trying to remember how i'd seen other people do it.
it seemed like they inspected it somehow. i didn't know what i was looking for, but i pulled one out of the bag and looked closely at it. it didn't seem right. i put it back in the bag and pulled out another one. it looked a little better. seemed like a good potato to make as my first potato. i specifically remembered that you have to wash the potato. but how do you wash a potato? dang. it's been several weeks now, i still don't know. do you use soap? if so, what kind of soap? it doesn't seem like soap is edible. but it does clean well. what a dilemma. i figured i'd use just use dishwashing detergent. is this what you do? shoot. i don't know. me? i rinse the potato, and then scrub it with a scrub brush, and then put a little detergent on the potato. it seems to work.
up next i remember my mom saying that you had to "cut out all the spots".
holy crap.
there are spots everywhere.
i have a vague recollection that one time, many years ago, i attempted to make a potato and after cutting out everything that i thought was a "spot", i had enough potato to make about 1 tater tot. mmm... tater tots. i forgot to list those under potato products up above. i do like tater tots.
anyhow, i think that made me give up on potatoes until now.
so i basically skip the spot part. i don't know what spots look like. i'm tad neurotic. everything looks like spots.
so then i remembered seeing mary make a baked potato once and wrapping it in a paper towel.
sweet. my mind is strong! it's coming together.
so i put the potato in the microwave. i realize i have no idea how long one is supposed to cook a potato for for it to turn into a baked potato.
i choose 2 minutes.
i check the potato.
what it is i'm checking for, i have no idea.
i seem to remember that if a potato is too hard, it's not done.
i cook it up some more.
it goes alright.
w/ enough sour cream and butter and salt and pepper, it actually tastes ok.
it's kind of hit or miss for the next couple times that i make a potato.
i do remember that mary stabbed herself w/ a fork once while poking the potato before nuking it.
so now i poke holes in the potato.
i guess it works better.
i don't know.
point is: man, now i love potatoes.
so, yesterday was my first experience, at least that i can recall, of actually buying potatoes in a store.
i was totally scared to do it.
i had no idea what to look for.
i asked mary.
she wasn't very helpful.
she said "just get a bag, they're all the same".
but they're not the same.
1 bag was $1.38, one was $2.28, and there were 2 in between.
all the same size.
mary said russets were reliable.
russets were $1.38.
russets it was.
i cooked one up this morning.
it was tasty.
AND, just yesterday i discovered a new way to make potatoes.
once again, i learned thru observation.
my mom occasionally cooks up some potatoes in a frying pan. but to make them cook quicker, she nukes them in the microwave first. but not quite long enough to make it into a baked potato. (at least that's how it seems).
so that's what i do. i follow my baked potato routine, but stop a minute or so early.
then you chop up the potatoes and cook them in a pan.
and then...wooo buddy.
just yesterday we discovered the joys of homemade potato egg and cheese breakfast burritos.
yummy.
so i made another one today.
everything is super now.
except that i'm scared of knives.
so mary has to cut the potatoes up after i microwave them.
i don't know what i'll do if she's gone at some point and i have to make a potato egg burrito.
knives are sharp.
they will cut you.
There is a place in town called "The Burger Barn", and their sign says they've been serving Wimberley for 38 years. That's a long time.
And it's right next to the entrance to our property.
And i love burger.
and i'd never been.
so the other day mary and i were both craving burgers so we decided we'd go check it out.
it sucked.
terrible terrible terrible.
it's bad when your place is called the burger barn and your burgers suck.
i guess when there's not many other eating options in town, you can stay in business even if your food and service are mediocre.
it was quite disappointing. i would have rather had any other food than the food i had there.
last night i went to the local Pizza Hut. that was quite exciting. i saw 3 of the kids from one of the classes i subbed in. they were all in their football practice gear. what is it w/ TX and football? it's sort of bizarro.
the pizza hut didn't have beer, which was strange, b/c that's the one thing that always distinguished pizza hut from other pizzerias. at least in my head. but what's wacky is that you can apparently bring your own beer with you. TX is crzy like that.
so i subbed again yesterday.
we got to watch videos.
that was much better.
the first class of the day was rowdy anyway though. and they were grossed out by the documentary which showed skeletons and talked about beheadings and stuff.
so i had to trick all the other classes.
and that worked much much better.
i'm smarter than the kids.
all subsequent classes that came in said "are we watching a movie?" and i'd say "maybe. we have to vote". and they'd ask what their other choice was, and i'd say a quiz. and they'd get all worked up, and every student that came thru the door, they'd say--- "hey, vote for movie. hey, vote for movie". so they did. and i started out the day by showing them a shorter, more kid oriented video. i said if they were good, we could maybe watch the other video, but that other classes had said the video was too scary. mercy. i would have never imagined that the kids could be so quiet.
but they were.
it's good to trick them.
mary and i hit up the dollar theater nearby for the first time this week. twice.
on sunday night we went to see Wedding Crashers. i'd been wanting to see it for quite a while.
many people had said it was the funniest movie ever.
many people lied.
i laughed a couple times, but overall i thought it sucked.
and there were so many implausibilities.
i know it doesn't really matter for a movie like that,
but it's kind of annoying.
when owen was all depressed, and vince came to see
him, and they hadn't seen each other in ages....
well... didn't they work together? oops.
and at the beginning vince clearly didn't like the
psycho. and then all of a sudden, he loves her?
what?
and when the fiancee called his bud to check out owen
and vince---why? at that point in time he had
absolutely no reason. just plain stupid. and
there's no way the bud could have found info on them.
and...and i analyzed it too much.
but it was just plain simple continuity/story errors.
made me mad.
my friend liza says my problem is that i don't use my brain enough anymore, so it goes into overdrive analyzing things like wedding crashers.
maybe.
the other movie we saw was March of the Penguins.
we saw that on tuesday.
tuesday at the theater all shows are 50 cents.
that's a good deal.
so we went.
March of the Penguins was pretty good.
i had no idea penguins lived such hard lives.
i wouldn't want to be a penguin.
Holy crap.
since mary was heading to austin last night, it seemed to make sense to get up to the library and kill some time and then walk home.
it's not that far really.
but i didn't plan things very well.
i totally forgot about that whole daylight savings time switch that just happened.
you see-- the village of wimberley doesn't have street lights.
or sidewalkss.
so when i left the library it was pitch black. total darkness.
i almost had a breakdown.
i had no idea what to do.
i thought i might just sit down and cry.
i didn't really have any options.
i had no one to call. i know a couple people in town, but not their phone numbers. and i can't call diretory assistance because i only know their first names.
there was nothing i could do.
i had to just suck it up and walk home.
in the pitch black.
down the side of the road. hoping to goodness that no cars hit me.
it was terrifying.
in case you've never been walking on the side of the road, in the total darkness, let me assure you: it's not fun.
at one point, when there were no car lights, i took off running down the middle of the road. i fgured the quicker i got it over with the better.
i just wanted to get home.
but that was only a short stretch of road. the rest had constant cars.
there's one stretch of road where there's no shoulder either. during the day it doesn't matter--we just trek thru the grass. you can't really see the holes in the land at night though. pure suckitude.
as i reached the entrance to our property---finally---some 15 long life threatening minutes later i breathed a sigh of relief.
but the relief was only temporary.
the entrance to our property is about 1/4 mile from our actual cabin, and it's just a dirt road. and unbelievably it's even darker there. and there's a whole new fear factore.
i was no longer scared of being hit by a car. there weren't any cars on going to appear here. deer. that's what i was scared of now. and that was more scary than the cars.
now, it would suck to hit a deer at night while you were driving. no doubt about it.
i have joked several times since i moved here that it would totally suck to hit (or be hit) by a deer while walking.
it's not really funny though when you're suddenly in a situation where that really might happen.
mercy. i thought it was dark out on the real street. on this long dirt road i honestly couldn't see even an inch in front of me. it was pitch black. as pitch black as it could be.
and every couple of steps i'd hear animals scampering off beside me. RIGHT beside me. not way off in the distance, running right past my head. i was positive that at any second a deer was just going to bolt out darkness and knock me unconscious.
i don't have insurance.
i quickly devised a plan. a ;lan to avoid being hit by the deer. there are those deer whistles that you can mount onto your automobiles. i've never heard of safety skills for your own self. so i came up with my own. here's what i did: every couple of steps i would shuffle my feet in the gravel and clap my hands loudly. twice. and sometimes i'd whistle or let out shrieks. it sounds silly, but it worked. 8 times out of 10 that i did it, i heard deers running off. running offAWAY from me.
not towards me.
away is much better than towards..
80% of the time it worked, and 100% of the time i looked like an idiot. i prayed that no cars would enter the property or try to exit the property. i would have been too embarrassed to have been caught out walking without a flashlight.
i'm such a dummy.
i survived though.
and i didn't step in too many puddles or holes.
my heart was racing at about 1000 beats per minute as i made it to the cabin.
but i survived.
and then i watched TV.
TV is safer.
we had a preparty the night before the halloween party. we were sitting at MK's and then all of us decided to go over to RM's. 4 of us total. we packed onto RM's golf cart. Mary held the Gus on her lap. MK and i held onto the stood on the bumper of the golf cart and held on for dear life as RM raced thru the night. i swear... he was going A LOT faster this time. i was sure we were going to flip. my fingers hurt from holding on so tight.
i fear that the Mexican is trying to kill me.
he's totally in love w/ Mary.
i think he's trying to get me out of the picture.
at RM's house he presented her w/ a new Spanish style skirt. he bought it for her. and a cool belt to go with it.
we ate some food. we drank some wine. everybody was havin a good time, except you...
we ate a lot, and drank a lot. good times. we had a preparty feast of sausages and nachos and celery w/ peanut butter.
then we got on the golf cart and headed home.
the dog Deuce leads the way thru the night.
it's so funny. all you see is the Deuces feet kicking up in the air. so fast. he runs so fast.
he's hilarious.
have i mentioned that the Deuce isn't even RM's dog?
it's funny. it's the landlord's. but the dog stays with RM, and rides around w/ RM, and protects RM's house. don't know what's going to happen if RM ever leaves.
so i was going to post a quick rant about MK but now i feel bad cuz he gave me a leather jacket.
just gave it to me.
i can still rant though. we'll blame it on the weed.
MK is obsessed w/ junk.
he periodically stops by to tell us to come check out the "treasures" he's found.
sometimes they're decent.
most times i don't care.
sometimes they're down right stupid.
but he's fascinated.
yesterday he told us that we HAD to come over and see what he'd found.
so we did.
and there on the table was a spinning discoball and lit beer sign.
actually one of the better "finds" he has shown us, but not necessarily worth me getting up off the couch to come over and see.
cool. so we tried to leave.
he wanted to show us all the stuff on the back of the truck.
he pulled out some ratty tricycle.
"isn't is amazing?" he said. "isn't it amazing?". he likes to say that. especially when he's high.
and then he pulled out a plastic drawer that had been in a fridge.
you know the ones--the crisper type drawers.
it said "fruits and vegetables" on it.
"look at this!" he said. "isn't it amazing? fruits and vegetables. isn't it amazing?"
what?
no.
that's nothing close to amazing.
it's a stupid drawer out of any refrigerator.
farthest from amazing that i imagine an antique dealer could find actually.
isn't it amazing?
holy crap.
no it's not.
that's just plain stupid.
but then he gave me a leather jacket.
it's still stupid though.
don't do drugs
holy crap
after doing nothing for almost 2 months, all of a sudden i'm busy.
friday was my first day of work since sept 8.
i worked at the antique store.
it was totally boring, but kind of fun.
if only they had a tv there.
then it would be like the other slack jobs i've had that i loved so much--- working at the Video club or as a front desk clerk at 2 different hotels.
friday i also interned w/ the music manager.
it's looking like i might manage a band.
that'd be really cool.
i probably wouldn't make much.
but it'd be a great experience.
then today i subbed.
ha! i was so clueless.
kids are silly.
so...let's go back in time a moment.
mary got of her study on thursday. so now we have some $$. and now i don't have to stay home like a lonesome loser. so that's good.
on friday we went to "train" at the antique store.
mercy.
what an experience.
we've been there about 15 minutes when the owner tells us that he's never been robbed before. some businesses up the road have, but in 14 years, he never has. BUT, just in case, he keeps a gun in store. "right there in the top drawer" he says, as he opens the top drawer and pulls out the pistol. he advises us that if we ever feel unsafe, we just get that out of the drawer, and put it in our jacket pocket. (he demonstrates this for us). then we just pull the trigger through the pocket.
oh---yes, the gun is loaded. and it doesn't have a hammer lock. and it doesn't have a safety. "you just pull the trigger and it goes off, just like a toy gun".
ummm.....cool.
if you put the gun in your jacket pocket and pull the trigger, won't it blow a hole in your pocket?
i think it, but don't ask it.
"if someone comes in to rob you, just give them money. there won't be much in the drawer anyway" he says.
that's kinda what i was thinking
then he directs his words to mary
"But now, if they're going to rape you, that's a different story. you aim right at em and blow their ass away".
i think he was talking to mary.
i assume same rules would apply for me as well.
the owner is a bit of strange fellow. a self professed redneck, and also a self professed Christian.
mary had to go to the research place to pick up her check early friday morning.
i told the owner we might be late b/c mary had a doctor's appt. (i didn't feel like getting into specifics).
when we arrived at the shop on time, he greeted us with "wow. yall made good time. are you pregnant?"
he speaks his mind rather freely.
he buys 2 new trucks a year. at least.
apparently he's a rich redneck. he owns his business, and apparently has several really nice, like new 2005 trucks.
he tells us his wife makes enough money for both of them.
his wife runs his mother in law's motivational speaking business.
the mother in law apparently used to be pals w/ Dr. Phil.
we are in the presence of greatness.
he introduces us to his wife.
they live right behind the store.
in a trailer.
no kidding.
a handful of people came into the store during the couple hours we were there.
it was nothing too exciting.
i imagine it will be a tad boring when we're both not there together.
but i'll bring the portable dvd player or a book or something.
and then today i subbed.
first time ever.
did you know that they don't at all tell you what to do when you're a sub?
they just show you where to go.
today was fine, b/c it was 6th graders.
6th graders tell you what they're supposed to do.
don't know what i'll do if i have to teach little kids.
they won't know what to do.
little kids aren't smart.
i taught a World Studies class today.
China.
that's what the kids were learning about.
4 straight classes w/ the exact same lesson plan.
seems like an easy enough gig.
most of the kids were a little rowdy.
i didn't really care.
one group of kids were trying to glue everything they could find together.
they thought they were being so cool and secretive.
really, they were just being stupid.
but as long as they weren't harming each other or setting anything on fire, i didn't really care.
i had to tell them to keep it down a few times.
but that's it.
the lesson play for the day was this : "first 30 minutes work on journals. then read section 2 and answer the questions. then read section 3". the end.
i just sat at the desk.
i wish i had brought a book along with me.
i don't really like to read.
and, today is halloween.
woo woo.
halloween sucks.
there's kids all over town.
1 kid in class today came running into class.
"happy halloween" he yelled to me.
"oh yeah, it is halloween, huh?" i said. "are you dressing up".
"no, i'm not allowed to celebrate halloween".
sucks for you kid.
sorry bout it.
i had nothing else to say then.
so mary has gone out clubbing dressed up like a butterfly.
i can't think of many things i rather do less than go out clubbing on 6th st in austin.
it sucks down there.
if you saw The Real World Austin, you know the scene.
but i imagine it's worse tonight.
no way i could handle it.
so she's going w/ some of her friends she made in the study.
we already celebrated halloween anyway.
saturday night RM had a party at his house.
it was supposed to be huge.
100 pounds of wings and margaritas and beer.
there were no wings.
there were no margaritas.
and it wasn't huge.
but there were 20 or so people.
and there was tequila and bourbon and beer. lots of beer.
and lots of brisket, sausage, and other assorted goodies.
mary and i got there early and sat down at a table with our plate of goodness.
and we drank.
and we drank more.
and some people came.
and they said hi.
and we sat and drank.
MK was there. he loves to drink a drink called Frangelica.
it doesn't taste like liquor.
i'd never had it before.
now i've had a lot more.
and i can't say that it mixes so good w/ tequila.
or with bourbon.
my head hurt on sunday.
and MK's father in law GB was there.
i haven't mentioned GB before, but he is a character.
he's the same age as MK.
but MK says that GB has a lot more miles on the odometer than he does.
it's probably true.
GB is more than a tad burned out.
but seriously laid back.
and pretty fun.
he talks funny. but so does MK.
GB seriously enjoys drinking.
on sunday MK told me that GB had quite a bit.
he says that GB shouldn't drink that much, b/c sometimes he just drinks and drinks.
and then he goes down.
i thought MK meant that he goes "downhill", or gets mean or slurs words or something.
nope.
MK said "he goes down. smack. falls right over face first on the ground".
that's intense.
GB says he was only in Virginia once, and that he hates Virginia.
apparently at some point in the 70s he was driving thru there and had his truck stolen.
he had to wait 2 weeks.
but they found it.
then he drove home.
GB has some stories.
unfortunately half the time he's too incoherent to finish all of them.
i heard a story about him one time when he was younger, at some hippie music festival.
he and and his buddy.
rockin out, livin it up.
they met a pretty young thing.
she had a car.
GB and the girl, and maybe the friend, drive off in the car.
they were off to have some fun.
shortly thereafter they are driving around, and suddenly there are people in the street pointing at them and shouting.
and there are 5 police cars with sirens flashing.
so they stop the car.
turns out the girl in the back was the daughter of the preacher in town.
and he didn't take kindly to her running around w/ hippies.
the police came up to the car.
the preacher had a lot of pull in town.
the cops grabbed GB and pulled him out of the car.
through the window.
"they could have at least opened the door" GB states.
the next part of the story is a bit fuzzy.
i think the cops might have roughed him up a bit.
then they put him in the police car and drove him to the edge of town.
they dropped him off at the edge of town and told him that if they ever saw him in town again, it would be serious trouble. GB had no intention of ever returning to the town.
he just wanted to get home to Houston.
he told the cops this, and he asked them which way it was to Houston.
they sent him on his way.
unfortunately they lied to him and sent him the wrong way.
he ended up, on foot, in the middle of an all-black county. in southern TX. at a time when there were certain parts of TX where certain peoples hated certain other peoples just based on the color of the skin.
GB just strolled through the town.
no one bothered him.
after getting thru town, GB realized he was lost and going the wrong way.
he turned around.
as he got back to town without white people, he met resistance this time.
he was told that they let him walk through once, but that was it.
he was not welcome to walk through it again.
so GB walked through the woods.
it took him 2 days to get back home.
walking sucks.
My emotions are wacky.
You would think i was the one doing some hormone type study.
But i'm not.
Just having crzy mood swings.
So, this morning, i was kinda bummed about a job in the music biz.
then, just now, before i got back to the library, i ran into the music manager i've been interning w/.
seems like there's a decent chance he might sign this young band, and let me manage them.
holy crap.
that'd be great.
and a super experience.
and i'm friends with the band, which supposedly could be dangerous.
i like to live dangerously.
(just kidding. everyone knows i'm a wuss).
but i think it'd be ok.
and fun.
so maybe it'll happen.
we'll talk more about it next week.
keep your fingers crossed.
and i found a research study to try to get into.
much better than marys--marys that lasted 17 straight days. holy crap. i'd go insane.
no, the one i'm trying to get into is a monday to friday, and then 18 days off, and then a monday to friday, and then 10 days off, and then repeat that sequence.
so a total of 4 monday to fridays, spread over 2.5 months.
not bad, not bad.
and it's to study some sleep disorder medication.
sounds super.
i want in.
and the best part? it pays $5000.
$5000!!
holy crap.
if i got that i'd be so set.
i wouldn't have to do any more work my whole time in TX probably.
that would rock.
keep your fingers crossed for that too.
so i go in for a screening on friday at 7am to see if i pass the test.
i hope i do.
that'd be awesome.
so i forgot to write about the other day.
not sure what day it was.
sunday maybe.
probably sunday. maybe saturday.
i was just sitting on the couch, watching tv with the Gus.
all of a sudden i heard the cows making a huge commotion.
huge.
(there are cows in a field back behind the cabin. usually they just sit there. sometimes they make noises)
today they were particularly loud.
but i didn't pay it much attention.
sometimes they do get a little loud.
but then, 5 minutes later, there was a major commotion.
i heard people yelling, and engines running, and cow's mooing and just a general, overall commotion.
it sounded like a stampede.
i managed to get my lazy ass off of the couch just in time to look out the back door and see the 2 cow go racing through my back yard, being chased by 2 mexicans on a golf cart with a stick going as fast as they could.
ha!
it was awesome.
my backyard is not big.
only a couple feet wide.
probably just wide enough for 2 cows and a golf cart to go screaming by.
MK's back yard is more narrow than mine.
i thought for sure the cows would get stuck in his back yard, but they didn't.
so later, i saw RM, who had been one of the Mexicans on the golf cart.
i told him "holy crap man, yesterday i was just sittin on my couch, and then i heard a commotion, and i looked up and all of a sudden i saw 2 cows and a golf cart go racing through my back yard".
"oh yeah..that was me" said RM.
i knew that.
i talked to MK about the cows yesterday.
i talk to MK daily as The Gus has decided that every time we walk by MK's cabin, he has to go run inside it if the door is open.
according the MK, the cows are not stupid.
i had always guessed they were stupid.
apparently, they work as a team.
according to MK, the longhorn bends over and uses his horns and lifts up the fence, and the other cow goes under.
now, i'm not sure how the longhorn then gets out himself.
MK didn't exactly say, and i didn't want to seem to interested in the cows.
but somehow the longhorn gets out too.
and then they traipse around and leave giant cow patties everywhere.
that's gross.
stupid cows.
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