free music and free beer and fun times 

free music and free beer and fun times

Here’s what we did last night: we saw some live music, we drank some beers, we took a 2 step lesson, we ate some dinner, we got a tv, and then we went home. And we spent a total of two dollars and 68 cents. That’s a full night, and at a price that suits me just right. I love Austin. We drove down in the afternoon to catch a free instore performance by the Gourds. It was a ton of fun. We saw some music, and drank 3 free beers each. Have I said before how much I love free beer and music? And while we were standing in line for beer I noticed that the guy in front of me looked familiar. It was a kid I went to high school with. What a crzy coincidence. So we ended up talking for a while. He gave me a new term for RV living: “mobile environment”. I like the sound of that. He’s teaching to pay the bills, and pursuing his passion of filmmaking on the side. Pretty fun. He invited us out for a screening of some short films this weekend. We’re going to try to go.

After that, we were off to learn 2 step. I was not necessarily looking fwd to it, but mary really wanted to, so I figured I’d give it a shot. We drove to a place called the Dallas Nightclub, or something like that. We were starving and had exactly 8 minutes to spare, so we ate dinner at the taco bell next to the club. That’s where we had to spend the big money. It was actually good though. The dancing was an experience. I’d never had a dance class before. Especially for country dancing. The instructor, and most of the people on the dancefloor had on Brooks and Dunn style western shirts. I did not. The instructor had on his striped western shirt, and other requisite cowboy gear, and also one of those wireless microphones attached to his ear and mouth like Garth Brooks and Christina and Britney use. This was so he could dance around while still talking. He asked if there were any first timers there. Several people raised their hands. We raised our hands. He pointed at us and said that he knew that we were first timers. Busted. Dance lessons started then. Last night we were learning the jitterbug, which is also called something else. Mary and I did ok, but I felt really nervous. Especially when he said “ladies, now rotate counter clockwise and switch partners”. WHAT? I’m not trying to dance with someone else. So we didn’t switch. Which is good, because then we had to learn how to spin. Spinning is hard. Mary’s wrist almost snapped off once, and her shoulder almost popped out of place. But we did okay. Ladies kept switching partners. We kept staying together. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, that ‘dance lessons’ are big time hookup joints for single Texans. And, more surprisingly, for single Asian Texan Women. No kidding. Of the 20 or so people dancing, at least 4 were Asian women. Asian women trying to learn to 2 step with real life wannabe cowboys. It’s a crzy sight. I gave the dance lesson a solid try, and then needed a break, so we just sat and watched. That was pretty enjoyable. Some people were so good at dancing. Some were good. Sometimes the Asian ladies looked mad when they switched dance partners. But then, a couple minutes later, they got to switch, and then they were happier. It was like speed dating on ice. And by ice, I mean a dance floor. It was slick. They put salt on it or something. I tried to do the moonwalk on it, but mary wasn’t impressed. Then we left and went to pick up a free tv. It supposedly worked fine, but when we got home the picture was a little messed up. It’s watchable though, so we put it in the bedroom, and miraculously, the cable connection up there works. So now, for the first time in my life I can watch cable in bed. And I love it. Granted, it’s only 15 channels, but it’s fun nonetheless. I’ve always wanted to be able to watch cable in bed. All my dreams are coming true. It’s the little things…

I don’t know what else has happened in the last number of days. I’m losing track. I really feel like I’ve been busy lately. It’s a good busy, but I miss having lots of free time. I won’t complain though-life is still grand. Last week was super busy. We worked at the antique store Monday and Tuesday, I subbed for a world studies class one day, and I did some management stuff. The other manager—the one that actually knows what he’s doing—was out of town, so I was the point man for the band. It was pretty fun, pretending like i knew what I was doing. I did manage to actually get the band on a radio show, so that’s cool. And I spent some time trying to find some prime opening gigs for them. None of them really seemed to line up. And that sucks. I realized that perhaps being a band manager is a bit like dating. You have to ask out 100 hot girls before you get a date with one, but that one hopefully makes it worthwhile. I once heard the same dating analogy applied to soccer, so I guess band stuff is also like soccer, because if a=b, and b=c, then a=c. (See Mr. Freeman, I was paying attention some of the time in math class).

So last weekend was the first weekend that really felt like a weekend. And I needed it.

I don’t recall doing too much fun stuff. We went to the 50cent movie night in San Marcos. Sadly, we missed the actual movie starring Curtis “50 cent” Jackson, which had been there the previous week. A 50 cent movie night watching a 50 cent movie would have surely been exciting. Instead, we saw Derailed with Jennifer Anniston and Clive Owen. It was surprisingly decent. Not great, and maybe not worth more than 50 cents, but one of the better movies that we’ve seen there. (that’s not saying much though. We’ve seen some pure crap. More crap reviews in just a bit).

One night we went to Austin for a free concert by Brandi Carlisle and drank free beer. I might have mentioned that already. Mary had to work at the Backbone on Friday night so I went out there for awhile and drank. It was pretty fun, except she had drank a ton of vodka and then coffee on the job and was a bit of a freak. It was a madhouse up there. It was pretty slow for most of the night. And then at 11.15 people started storming in. lots of people. It was insane. I tried to help out as best I could, but it was crzy. Mary carded this guy earlier in the night, and she turned him down and said his ID was fake. It had apparently been cut in half. He laughed and said he couldn’t believe he was being carded at the backbone. He tried to protest, but mary held her ground, and they went to the bar next day. Turns out, according to CL the regular, the guy was a skinhead. Good riddance. No need for skinheads in the bar. Mary turned away lots that night. At 12.05 a big group of college kids came in. We can’t serve beer after 12 though, so they had to leave.

Saturday I went over to RMs to watch UVA play Duke. Mercy. For about my entire life I’ve been obsessed with UVA basketball. Not so much anymore, but since they were playing on national tv, it’d be one of the few chances that I had to watch them play, so I set that time aside on my busy social calendar. RM has a giant TV. I was looking fwd to watching it there. What RM doesn’t have is a clear ESPN feed, since he has illegal cable that is spliced off another building over a mile away. So the game was displayed on the big screen with lots of static. It didn’t matter anyway. They got crushed. I drank some beers during the game, and then RM made some pizzas and mary made dessert and we had a little meal. After the meal someone pulled out tequila. It was that $70 dollar bottle of tequila. I wasn’t feeling the need for any tequila that night, but I missed out on the expensive shots last time, so figured I should take one. But I was scared. But I wanted to. I didn’t want to use salt since it was so expensive, but I did. And I took a baby shot. And it hurt. It hurt bad. Mary encouraged me to try again. I did. It hurt too. 2 baby shots and I hadn’t even made a dent in the big shot glass that had been filled for me. So then I took 1 more shot. And it almost killed me. I heaved. Seriously. That’s not cool. I heaved. Luckily no one saw it. I put the tequila down, and hung my head. Tequila had apparently figured out where I’d been hiding. In VA, I couldn’t ever drink tequila. It always hurt me. Then suddenly, once we got to TX and discovered 100% pure agave tequila, tequila became my friend. And it was cool. But now I couldn’t even get down a shot of gourmet tequila. Or so I thought….
Mary told me the next day that it wasn’t $70 tequila—just the $70 tequila bottle. They filled the bottle with cheap tequila. BASTARDS! Trick ass bitches. Not funny at all. It almost killed me. Mary said she didn’t want to tell me in front of everyone. Sometimes mary is the devil. I almost died. And I was so disappointed in myself. But it was all trickery. It wasn’t good tequila. There’s still a chance that good tequila is still my friend. Let’s hope so.

I don’t remember anything else that we did last week. And then it became this week. Since we had plans for Tuesday, which is 50 cent movie night, we decided to go to san marcos on Monday night for some cheap eats and spend the extra dollar on a movie. We had heard about a great deal at a place in san marcos –99 cent margaritas and half price apps. So we went to find it. And the ritas were great. No foolin. Good stuff. But they trick you on apps. Half price apps are so exciting when they are originally priced at 10 and 12 dollars. I got some boneless wings, which I was really excited about. Boneless wings always sound exciting to me, and I rarely, if ever get them. So I got them. And they were so hot I couldn’t even eat them all. They were really really hot. We also ate these things called fried japs, which sounds politically incorrect, but was some fried up crabmeat dipped in some sauce. I loved it. I think mostly because I love anything fried, but also because the dip for the japs tasted almost exactly like the dip for the chicken quesadilla rollups at St. Maartens Café in cville. And that dip is GOOD.

I thought I might die as a result of the hotness of the wings, but I survived, and after filling our bellies and gettin a little buzz on, we went to the discount cinema to see The Ice Harvest, with John Cusack and Billy Bob. I heard mixed reviews, but figured it had to be decent with those 2, and since it was directed by Harold Ramis. Mixed reviews implies that some people said it was good. I don’t know who those people would be. The movie was awful. One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Even worse than Message in a Bottle. Of all the bad movies we’ve seen at the dollar theater, perhaps only Just like Heaven was worse. I was mad. I’m having a problem lately with movies. They make me mad. I do—I get really mad that so much talent and money could be wasted, and that they are then wasting my time and money. I kept waiting for the ice harvest to get better but it never did. And next thing I knew I had wasted 50 minutes of my precious life. And I was furious. I told mary I was ready to leave. She of course, wanted to stay to see the end, because she’s still under the impression that a movie can be terrible for 85 minutes, and if the last 5 minutes are good, then it’ll be worth it. But that never happens. You just wait more time. So I left without her and went grocery shopping. I picked her up and didn’t even ask how the movie ended. I couldn’t have cared less. I hate terrible movies. The Ice Harvest is a terrible movie.

Tuesday morning was a rough morning. Let me just put it like this. When we ate those death hot wings the night before, we didn’t know if we’d be able to make it through a movie, if you know what I’m saying. But we did. I think the margaritas coated our stomachs. But the next morning….yeah….
I learned a lesson that I hopefully will never forget. Cheap margaritas and death hot boneless wings the night before should never be mixed with a bowl of Raisin Bran the next morning. It’s not fun.