10.08.09

Hello October.

This past weekend I made my first solo journey to Colorado to meet up with Brittani, Sam and Keila in Denver. My family made a road trip to Colorado Springs when I was pretty young to see Pikes Peak and the Air Force Academy, but we never made it up to Denver.

Friday

After staying up late packing the night before, I slowly got ready for class and went to Einstein’s for coffee with Andrew. We made it into lab just before things got started, but it ended up being a pretty easy three hours. By the end of the session, we were all sitting by the computers judging the merits of certain community newspapers.

After the lab, we stopped by the apartment for me to grab my stuff and we drove to the airport accompanied by the sounds of one of Andrew’s Wu Tang Clan albums. Check-in/security/egg rolls/wait.

I got into Denver around 3:30 p.m. and dealt with the train system that connects the city’s terminals. It’s a weird set-up, but it did successfully build the anxiousness of seeing Brittani even more. It sure was nice to see her after our longest separation.

After she and Sam picked me up from the airport, we picked up some of Sam’s pictures that he was getting developed and we headed to his and Keila’s apartment complex. We hung out for a bit and headed to a place called Cuba Cuba. We had to wait for a while but it was totally worth it. The food was amazing and we had a nice walk before we ate, seeing The Denver Post’s offices and the courthouse. After eating we went back to Keila’s apartment for hot chocolate, but everyone was pretty exhausted, and I was falling asleep on the couch during the movie we put in.

Saturday

We got up early the next day to get breakfast at a place Keila and Sam were raving about called Snooze. It was one of the only times I can remember waiting for seating in a breakfast place, but it was worth it for the food again. It was a pretty hip place, one that I think would fit in well in Austin.

After eating, we headed to the mountains. I had no idea where we were the whole drive out, but Sam successfully navigated to what I assumed was a state park, where there were a bunch of trails through the mountains. We opted for the “Mountain Lion Trail” and started the trek a little after 3 p.m.

I was representing my roots in the mountains of Colorado.

Along the way, Brittani took photos with her new Polaroid that Sam and Keila got her for her bday.

At some point someone mentioned the word "photog," prompting this face from Sam.

He came prepared with a bag of lenses.

It was nice to see the season of fall, since it's not exactly happening in Austin.

It was a good, though exhausting, hike and we only got mildly lost. At one point we had to travel on a service road, hoping it would eventually reconnect to our original path, but it ended up leading us right to Sam’s car. We drove into town and ate at the ritziest Mellow Mushroom I’ve ever seen. Pleasantly full, we headed back for sleep and an early morning.

Sunday

We woke up at 8 a.m. and left about an hour later to drive to Amarillo. After saying goodbye to Sam and Keila, Brittani and I drove out into the Colorado countryside. It was a nice trip, even if we were sitting in a car for six hours. Brittani was a good pilot and it was nice to hang out and talk after being in different cities for so long.

We only made one stop in Wiley, Colo., for snacks and chai tea and got into Amarillo about half of an hour before I had to be at the airport. We got coffee at Roaster’s on 45th Street (one of my lurks this summer) and talked some more before I had to leave.

Brittani took me to the airport and we had another sad goodbye. Although we already have plans to see each other at the end of October, it sucks to be separated.

I flew back to Denver because of Southwest’s lack of flights to Austin and flew back home after a two-hour layover.

Back home

We had another flood over the weekend, this time in the hallway between Andrew and Ben’s rooms. It was caused by water coming up from the pipes after the heavy rain and destroyed more of the carpet, which was repaired this week with significantly less drama and inconvenience than the last time. Then yesterday our toilet overflowed and we almost had the same problem, but I cut the water off. That got repaired today so we’re tip-top again, folks. Here comes Friday.

9.12.09

There’s really no way to soften the blow of this sentence, so I’m just going to type it out: Without a doubt, this has been one of the most miserable weeks of my life on record. Super-emo, I know, but I’ll explain.

The floods cometh

The first thing I noticed when I got back to the apartment from Amarillo was that the leaking in my room had gotten worse. The AC was officially broken and my room was flooded, along with my entire closet. We have really thick carpet in the apartment, so each time I stepped through the room, more water was forced up from under my feet.

I called the management company Monday morning with my qualm and explained the situation. The woman I talked to seemed a little freaked out. The good part was that they had someone over to the place to fix it within a couple of hours. But the problems didn’t end there.

“We’re the carpet cleaning company and we’re trying to get into your apartment”

Later in the day, when I was in the office, I got a call from a number I didn’t know. I let it ring and then listened to the message, as I am prone to do. Apparently the mechanic who fixed the AC called the apartment folks and said the flood in my room was too intense for us to dry ourselves, so they called out the big guns. In the message, the guy on the line says, “We’re the carpet cleaning company and we’re trying to get into your apartment. If you’re home, please let us in. Otherwise, let us know when you or your roommates will be home.” I told Ben and he headed back to the apartment.

“What did you guys do?”

Apparently the cleaners were also the biggest d-bag duo this world has ever seen. When they arrived, they yelled at Ben for not having the room and closet completely cleared out and made him do that. Then they started asking Ben a bunch of questions about what happened, mainly in a condescending way as if we intentionally broke our own air conditioner just so we could reenact Noah’s Ark in our own apartment.

After tearing up the carpet in my room and removing the padding beneath, they installed a gigantic pump that runs off of some sort of generator and hauls the water from under my carpet to the sink of our kitchen via a tube that looks like it’s been used in several meth labs. As if this wasn’t annoying enough to have in our apartment, the machine itself makes about as much noise as those car compactors at junkyards.

When the gigantic d-bag duo left, they told Ben they’d be back on Thursday to replace the padding and put the carpet back in order. Since all of my stuff that was once on my floor or in my closet was now stacked on my bed, I had to sleep on the couch until then.

“We don’t work on weekends”

I got a call yesterday from the same carpet cleaners. Apparently it wasn’t a big enough deal to actually be on time getting our carpet back and removing their colossal noisemaker from my room, and they informed me that they wouldn’t be able to take care of it until Monday. Even better, he said it “didn’t work in their schedule” to give us times to expect them, so he said I had to “either pick a.m. or p.m.” I chose Monday “p.m.” and informed Andrew that I would probably be unhappy for the entire weekend.

Swine flu

Normally I’d be pretty chill about the inconvenience of getting something fixed in the apartment and working with the companies who work with the management, but I’ve also been sick all week. What started as a scratchy throat and a stuffy head on Monday, became a high enough fever by Thursday that I was delirious and had difficulty functioning at work. Since we’ve had swine flu already make it to our office, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that I’ve picked it up too. I’d get it checked out at UHS but they’re turning people away now and suggesting that they just “stay at home and watch a movie,” according to a photographer who thought he might have had the flu and talked with them.

I usually shake off illnesses within a couple of days, but with the combination of moving into my living room and the stress of wrapping up tryouts, I’ve carried whatever this illness is into the weekend. When I got up this morning I had the most intense baritone voice I’ve ever had. After significant coughing for a few hours, my voice has returned to the raspy, baby-voice that I’ve been communicating in during the beginning of the week.

The breakdown

I’m not trying to make this into my whiniest post of all time to match my wackest week of all time. All I’m saying is gimme back my carpet, take away your giant noisemaker and swine flu step up off me.

9.08.09

I ended up making the trip to Amarillo this weekend, and it was glorious.

I got into town around 10 p.m., a couple of hours before Brittani got off work. I got some food, took a shower and drove up to the Globe-News to meet her when she got off. Alex came out of the building first and we talked about The Daily Texan and his trip downtown to shoot the abandoned buildings. Then the Hipster came out and started mumbling about obscure bands or something. Then finally Brittani came down, and when I saw her it seemed like it had been way more than two weeks. I hope I didn’t pop her back when I gave her that hug.

We hung out at her place for a bit and ate some of the chocolates I got for her since we were both too tired to do anything and had a lot to do the next day.

Rodeo

The next day we met up with Hilary and April around noon to drive out to Boys Ranch. After about a half hour drive we arrived at the Cal Farley rodeo. We drove in and Hilary provided the entertainment by being blown away at the sight of “real cowboys.” We had BBQ and tea and chatted it up on a concrete picnic table until it was time for the actual rodeo to start, so we bought tickets to get in and found our seats.

This rodeo turned out to be way better than anything I ever witnessed in Georgetown. We watched the usual horse racing activities (e.g. barrel racing and pole bending), but the real entertainment, of course, came from the man vs. beast activities starting with mutton busting.

To set the scene for this, imagine a 3-year-old kid laying on the back of baby sheep who wants nothing more than to run as fast as they can when the gate opens and get the infant off of it. A couple of the kids had pretty good rides, including one that wouldn’t let go even as the sheep fell, flipping the sheep over head-first. It was amazing.

The steer and bull riding was pretty good, but the animals weren’t quite as big as professional rodeos, given the fact that the riders were all still in high school.

The canyon

After the rodeo, we drove Hilary back into town so she could go to work and April, Brittani and I headed out to Palo Duro Canyon.

The drive was relatively short and I realized I had passed the road to get to the canyon several times on late-night drives before I had really settled into the area. We got there around 6:30 p.m., drove down into the canyon and abandoned the car to hike.

At the beginning of our trek I saw something move by my foot and the chase to catch a canyon toad ensued. It took all three of us, but we eventually cornered him and commenced observation and analysis.

Stare down.

Be jealous, fellas.

After we gave the toad back to Mother Earth, we attempted to reach a couple of summits but were stalled by a very muddy creek. We eventually decided to just cross it and came across a much taller climb. We first scaled an almost vertical climb to get to the first plateau and then climbed a more generous incline to get to the top.

Atop a rock atop the hill.

We took some pictures once we got up there and then started worrying about how we were going to get back before it was too dark to see. We scampered down the hill to the first summit and realized we didn’t know how to get to the vertical incline where we first came up. We wandered around until we found a somewhat friendly decline and half-walked, half-slid down the side. Once we were back on level ground, we started walking in the direction of the creek and located the road from the lights of a truck in the distance. We barely survived.

Labor Day

The next day Brittani and I were again too tired to do anything so we just lounged until she had to go to work and I had to drive back. Saying goodbye was rough again, but we already have plans to see each other again later in the month. I made the trip back, along the way seeing a Honda lose control in the rain and slide into the median. He was OK, but it could have been worse after he passed me going about 95 mph on a turn.

I went to IHOP with Joe and Richard when I got into town. Richard left this morning to go for more training in Virginia before he goes to Japan. I feel better about his assignment there than his last one. It made being away from Brittani a little less sucky for about an hour, but after I left, the emo state resumed.

Back to normality

I got back to the apartment and felt like punching people in the face. My room was even more flooded than when I left. It was messier than when I left. Everything is disorganized and it still doesn’t feel like I live here.

Ben told me today that I looked like I was ready to go off on someone when I walked in last night.

I need to get myself situated here. I need to feel moved in.

I called the apartment manager today and they sent someone to fix the AC, which had flooded my room. I feel like I’m getting sick, which is not good, so I’ll try to shake that off today too, and I’ll try to be in a better mood even if I don’t want to be.

Gotta stop being the Grouch.

8.31.09

I dropped off the blogging grid since coming back to Austin. I guess this is mainly because I’ve been absurdly busy, but also in an emo state that left me not really wanting to write. But today I have some free time and I’m bored and I need to update, so here’s the first Austin post after my journeys in Amarillo.

Homecoming

I got back to Austin last Saturday just in time to do the laundry at my parents’ house, adjust to the heat and prepare for our homecoming party. We got all our ducks in a row after I moved in some of my things and we put on quite a party.

The most memorable moment was when a group of five-or-so large Hispanic men who I’ve never met walked into our apartment, helped themselves to our beverages and then stood in our dining room watching people dance. I think they hung around for about an hour, but I never actually saw them leave.

Another highlight from the party was when a certain staffer drank too much moonshine and ended up wandering around Austin, thinking non-existent police officers were chasing him around the streets. He told us all his story the next day of how he slept in a park in fear that the cops would catch up with him if he kept walking on the streets.

It was a really great party, even if I had a cloud of unhappiness over my head from leaving a lifestyle I was growing to really like in Amarillo.

Missing the ‘rillo

It’s taken about this long to readjust to working at The Daily Texan and living in Austin. The amount of traffic and actually seeing people walking on the streets were both culture shocks following my summer in a partially deserted town.

More than anything I’m missing Brittani and the folks at the Globe-News. I got really used to swiping my card at the door, seeing the same people every day, doing the business page and talking to McBride about what’s most important for the readers in Amarillo and then chilling at night with the copy deskers and Spillman, the lone photographer cool enough to hang out with us and unfortunately the only person I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to.

I’m hoping this weekend to make a trip back to Amarillo, mainly to see Brittani, but also to hopefully see some of the folks at the G-N again (maybe even the Hipster, if she’s lucky). I didn’t think I’d feel nostalgic after working there, but maybe there’s something in the West Texas air that stays in your head. Something other than the horrible stench of cow manure.

News editor

We put out our first fall edition of The Daily Texan on my last day of work in Amarillo. It put me in a really bad mood with the stress of hiring a staff and communicating with them from 500 miles away. I also didn’t want to think about the paper while I was saying goodbye to everyone in the ‘rillo, but that’s pretty egocentric. I also regret how my bad mood rubbed off on everyone in my last week there. It wasn’t how I wanted to go out.

My daily duties as news editor, now that I’m actually in the same city, include assigning on my day to assign, editing on my days to edit, planning stories, working with K-Bomb on long-term stories, managing the progress of the senior writers and trying to stay sane during the typically hectic try out period.

I miss my old friends from the paper, (Vikram, Gabby, Leah, Erin) so I’m finding ways to manage without them around to chat with and discuss scathing topics with. But the next time something SG-related comes up, I’ll be sure to give them a call.

Although the workload is pretty hectic right now, I think our staff is showing a lot of promise for the semester. K-Bomb and I have brainstormed a lot of ideas on longer, investigative stories, and I’m trying to get our senior reporters to dig into their beats and submit at least one FOI request per week on something they think merits deeper investigation.

I’m also trying to encourage them to develop sources better than seniors have in recent semesters, by calling contacts to talk and not just for stories. I found out today that one of the sources the Texan was using heavily this summer asked the paper to stop calling him directly, which tells me we have some work to do as far as improving our reputation.

8.17.09

I am back from California, starting my last week at the Amarillo Globe-News. Coming home to Amarillo was a strange feeling, after first flying into Austin with my parents. I’m continuing to pack things into my car and trying to mark things off the list Hilary and I made when we first got here.

Marc and Anne’s Wedding

The arrival

The trip out to California was for Marc’s wedding in Pala, a small city in the mountains somewhere near San Diego. The area looked really amazing, with orchards decorating the landscape. There were three or so reservations in the area, each with their own casino. A lot of the plans circled around the casino in Pala where the maid-of-honor was staying. There was also a slot tournament going on at the same time, so the place was packed every time we went.

Patrick’s flight was delayed coming into San Diego, so dad, mom, Charity and myself hung around the area until he came in and we all drove out to our cabin in the mountains.

Mom having tea on the porch of our cabin.

After we made it out there, we had to quickly drive out to Temecula to pick up our tuxes from Men’s Wearhouse. Marc met us there and briefed us on everything going on. At the time the plan was to drive back to the cabin and have mom and dad meet Marc later to have dinner with Anne and her parents. Patrick went with Marc and dad and I headed out, got incredibly lost, and we had to cancel our plans for the evening. We picked up some food at a general store at the base of the mountain (where they also had every kind of alcohol you can imagine) and drove back to the cabin.

At some point that night Marc picked up Charity and I from the cabin and took us to the Pala Casino. We met Nicole (Anne’s sister and maid-of-honor), Yolanda (Anne’s friend from Spain), Thor (Nicole’s husband) and Patrick in Nicole’s room. We had a couple of drinks and talked about the wedding. Marc and Anne gave me a present for participating in the wedding, which was nice and unexpected. The Beherecs eventually left and had real talk in the parking lot, driving back to the cabin and crashing: Marc and I slept on the floor, Patrick in the bed and Charity on the couch downstairs.

Day of rehearsal and Afghan food

We got up early the next day to get things organized for the wedding. Patrick and dad drove out to San Diego to pick up DJ equipment, while mom, Charity, Marc and I made a short trip into the mountains until Marc realized he was low on gas. We were still able to see a lot of picturesque scenery and I got some shots of the views (check Facebook for the photos sometime later). Looking back, we didn’t do much of anything to prepare for the wedding on our trip, but it was fun.

A little later we had the wedding rehearsal. The Cabin Crew was early, so we stopped and bought energy drinks. We got to the church early as well and welcomed everyone with our drinks in our hands when they showed up. The rehearsal was quick and to the point and we wrapped up in about an hour.

Then rehearsal dinner at an Afghan restaurant with a lot of wine and good food. We all got to know each other and it was good times.

Patrick and I momentarily posted up.

Then I caught a ride with Tante Annie and we went back to the casino, and then over the Comfort Inn for drinks. Marc drove Patrick and I back to the cabin after they put in some wedding work. This time Marc slept in the bed, Patrick on the couch and me on the floor. Charity stayed with our cousin, Kate, so she’d be around to help Anne in the morning.

Wedding day

We woke up early again Saturday so everyone could have their turn in the shower. After consuming a lot of coffee and stuffing our pockets with whatever we thought we might need during the day, Marc, Patrick and I headed out the door, following mom and dad in their car to the reception site. After nearly being rear-ended by a large truck, we dropped off Marc’s car and drove to the church.

After a bunch of photos around the site and stressing out a little bit, the wedding began and went off without a hitch. Marc and Anne walked out of the church to bubbles being blown around them and more photos were had. Then we all drove out to the reception site, the Lazy-H Ranch.

Reception time

The reception was pretty amazing in a lot of ways. We had a buffet of chicken and briscuit, as well as veggies and salad. For dessert we had sorbet set in various fruits, including mine in a pineapple. The necessary speeches were given, including one from Anne’s dad and my dad, both of which were very good and received some acclaim. Now I’m breaking this down into photo highlights:

The cake was a collection of books Marc and Anne like, including Seabrook's Adventures in Arabia and the Bible.

Traditional Jewish dancing was had by Patrick, left, and an actual Jew, Marc's friend Micah.

There was a lot of alcohol served at the reception, something all of us appreciated, including refreshing Negra Modelo beer.

A clone of Ben's brother, known by some as Marc's friend Andy, knew the words to all the rap songs and was hilarious.

After the reception some of us had coffee at the casino, but things were winding down and everyone had to take care of their own business to get back home. Eventually we made it back to the cabin and left the next day. All in all, it was a really fun trip. A good wedding, good times and good people. Stay classy, San Diego.

8.12.09

End date looms

The other day I realized I don’t have a weekend left in Amarillo, and I was surprised when that made me kind of sad. I’ve gotten so used to this summer being one long adventure in a strange town, that I’ve distanced myself from the fact that I’d ever leave. My end date has always seemed too far away to seem like an actual measurement, so it’s nearness now is bizarre.

Wedding

Thursday morning I fly out to San Diego for Marc’s wedding. I’ve been psyched about it since he set the date, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. It’s also strange for me that I’ll be seeing my parents for the first time in months in a different state. I expect it’ll be a lot of fun.

Return for final week

I get back on Sunday for my last week at the Globe-News, fulfilling the 10-week obligation I need for my scholarship. I work Monday-Friday and have to get my apartment cleaned and organized when I’m not at work. I also have to put all my landlady’s stuff back in place, meaning out of the armoire and off the shelves I put everything on in the Hobbit Hole.

I’m looking forward to being back in Austin and seeing my friends there again, but it’ll be bittersweet given the fact that I’ve gotten so used to life here and hanging out with my Globe-News friends. I’ve even gotten to know the backroads and less familiar things about this city and have to admit I’m a bit charmed by West Texas life. Also not seeing Brittani every day will be a whole other bother.

A stranger’s wedding and Perryton

This weekend I traveled out to “the land of the suck” with Brittani for her friend’s wedding. She was hyped about seeing some of her old friends, and I tagged along to see what Perryton was like. The drive up was really nice, seeing the land sprinkled with grain elevators and fields of farms was unlike anything in Central or East Texas. We also traveled through some of the small towns I’ve read about in copy for the paper like Panhandle (yes, it’s a city, too), Pampa and White Deer. The drive was surreal in the sense that it felt like a walk down memory lane from all of the stories I’ve read of places I’ve never been.

Side note: I’ve decided I want to try a series of odd jobs for a year sometime in my life. Maybe after college. These jobs include: grain elevator operator, farmer, rancher, feed lot worker, train engineer and English teacher in a foreign country. My theory is that you can’t really understand people until you’ve held these jobs and lived like they live.

Perryton wasn’t as bad as Brittani speaks of it. It’s small, but it’s quaint. We stopped by her parents’ house before the wedding and ate steaks, amazing stuffed jalapenos her dad made and staples like broccoli and bread. I also had a beer with her dad which was another strangely adult activity.

The wedding was about as nice as one can be when you know no one in attendance. The bride’s dad did the service, which was pretty small-towney, and the reception was held in the church’s hall. I wasn’t sure if there was a rule against it, but there wasn’t any real dancing, aside from some ruffians who looked like members of Kings of Leon. The bride and groom also toasted with Dr. Pepper instead of champagne. Also, also, the removal of the garter felt scandalous, given all of the other tame festivities. I met some of Brittani’s old friends and got the back story on most of them.

After the wedding, Brittani and I went exploring. We drove out to Lake Fryer, making a quick detour to meander through a cornfield.

Fresh off the stalk.

I also chased some cows we saw at the entrance to the lake’s park.

Animals love me.

We made it out there just before dark and saw the stars come out, which was way clearer than what you see in Austin or even Leander. It was the end of a really nice day out and the last weekend I have in the area. Probably also the surrealist trip I’ve gone on in a while.

8.5.09

In A G-N news…

Cops and courts reporter Sean Thomas’s last day is today. Still unsure if I’ll miss him harassing me about having the same name as he does. He’s going on to be a middle school teacher and eventually go back to school.

Brittani tried to set his slinky in Jell-O, but it ended up being too heavy and we didn’t have time to make a new one.

Bill Clinton

Does our former president have some sort of magic touch, or did he threaten to sleep with Kim Jung Il’s wife to get those journalists freed? Alex and I have decided that if the former is true, good ‘ole Bill should be leader of the world.

The latest on Gates

This article in The New Yorker is probably one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read. Maybe I’ll go work for them. They have one of the most boss fact-checking departments of all time. Thanks, Gabby, for the link.

Etc etc

I might be going to a wedding this weekend, and I leave next Wednesday for Marc’s wedding in San Diego. Marriage, people! Lock in!

8.4.09

As seen on Facebook, a new Henry Makepeace Beherec photo has surfaced.

He has mastered the smile. Well done, sir!

8.3.09

Infinite Jest

Starting this post off by saying, “Hey Leigh, I liked your article about Infinite Jest in the Texan.” I don’t know why I felt like I needed quotes around that, but whatever.

Ukrainian luncheon

Read Hilary’s post about it here. Not even going to write about it and Hilary’s desire to get a photo of us in our red, white and blue.

The 212

Went to my first ever drag show last night. (It should probably be noted early that Brittani and Hilary desperately wanted to take me because the shows at The 212 here in Amarillo are apparently a big deal. Otherwise I probably never would have attended.) It was quite an experience. Lots of Ru Paul-looking women yelling at people and people yelling back at them.

After the whole drag show business, it became a two-hour long dance party, so me, Brittani, Hilary and Souljaboy, who had just come into town, danced the night away amid the most epic gay couples I’ve ever seen, including one 300+ pound woman wearing a skullcap and sporting a necklace with a bullet on it dancing with a young, much more slender Hispanic woman. (It should be noted that they knew the words to every Akon song that was played and would often gesture to each other whenever he said “You’re so damn beautiful.” The whole scene was so damn beautiful.)

And that was my first gay bar experience. On the drive home we listened to “Bohemian Rhapsody” with our feet out the windows of Hilary’s Buick.

The lead-up (Donkey makeout)

Earlier in the day, I went with Alex, Hilary and Hilary’s roommate to the Amarillo Zoo, a free exhibit of how unhappy animals can be while enclosed in a Panhandle outdoor prison. The “zoo” also featured such non-zoo animals as donkeys, billy goats and doves. Not even exotic birds. Doves.

We meandered around to the different cages and observed monkeys screaming at each other, fighting over bits of apples. Then we witnessed two doves commence coital acrobatics, but then bailing when they realized they had company. Then bears that were visibly ruffled by either each other or the electric fence that enclosed them.

Eventually we made our way to the donkeys, where I mentioned in passing that it would be “kinda funny” if I fed one of them with my mouth. Alex told me to do it, so I did.

Shameless.

Then we saw a crazy billy goat that broke his fencing and some elk from a distance. Then we got ice cream and went home.

Meeting the family

After the zoo and ice cream and Brittani got done with her Globe-News softball double-header, I met up with her to go visit her sister Rachel. She works in a law office and also lives in Amarillo with her husband and son, 1-year-old Collin, and her step-children, 8-year-old Riley and 11-year-old Saba.

When we showed up, Rachel was a bit intoxicated and invited us in where her husband and some family friends were having dinner. Brittani and I both kindly accepted rum and cokes and we hung out in Collin’s room, playing with his toys for most of the time we were there. Hanging out with Collin also made me want to see Henry even more. Gotta get up to Pennsylvania soon.

Rachel asked a bunch of questions about me and she seemed a lot like Brittani, especially with the use of certain phrases. We all bro’d for a while and I got the strange sense of being an adult. Riley even asked Brittani at one point if I was a “teenager or a grown-up.” I wonder when I’ll get used to going over to someone’s place, drinking and having to keep it away from the kids. (Note: All drinking was done responsibly inside the home.)

Arrival of Souljaboy

Souljaboy is now in town, meaning Hilary is taking time off to hang out with him. We all went out for steaks (and rocks and dirt for Hilary) at Outback last night. It was my first steak since coming to Amarillo, and with the rum already in my stomach, made Sean quite the happy camper. I have to say that Souljaboy isn’t half bad, aside from the fact that he’s kind of a hispter too. He picked up the tab while we were out - which was quite the gentlemanly maneuver – and it was appreciated. The whole thing also felt really adult-like, which was kind of strange.

I’m getting old.

7.30.09

It’s Leah’s birthday today. If you missed it, send her your belated wishes and beg for forgiveness. I’m missing my Austin friendz…

Speaking of, Gabby made me real nostalgic earlier when I read her post mentioning the whole SG business. I’ve never had more fun with a story and felt like it actually mattered, even if everyone ended up forgetting about it after Spring Break. It was also a really nice bonding exercise with Leah, Gabby and Vikram. Good team-building, everyone. (Straight-up stole both of those links, Gabby. Sorry I’m so lazy.)

In recent news, Brittani directed me toward Amarillo’s best radio station a while back and I have become a devoted listener. They were recently playing the hell out of this Loquat song, and I’m afraid me liking it might make me a bit of a hipster. I’m just a sucker for good female vocals, I guess.

In other other news, we’re running a story about texting Shakespeare in tomorrow’s paper and the photo kicker that’s running above the DOM photo reads “wuz dat lyt n d wndw.” Try to beat that, Gabby/Texan/world.