Starry Eyed

Let it be known: I love space.

I love the mystery and scariness of it. No amount of inpenetrable, steely Star Trek ships conquering the universe can sterilize the wonderment of it for me.

In mid-November Andy, Scott, and I drove out to watch the Leonid Meteor Shower. I saw several handfuls of meteors before we left. I could have stayed all night.

Along the same lines, only dorkier, I downloaded Google Sky Map for my phone. It maps out the sky so you can know what you're looking at. You can even search for stuff and it will point you in the right direction.

The next big meteor shower is December 13/14. This time I'll be prepared for the cold and prepared to be dazzled. Maybe I'll identify some heavenly bodies while I wait. [insert joke about readers' heavenly bodies]

Get Out of My Dreams and Into My Car

This is the story about the time I got into the wrong car:

It was cold; dusk had just fallen. Underdressed, I walked quickly ahead of the group to the car. The others were wandering down the wrong parking isle. In a hurry to get into the warm car, I called out with a grand wave, “Over here!”

Like magic, the car unlocked. Amazed and pleased by Josey’s unusual promptness, I opened the door and plopped down. As I was about to close the door, I had the strange feeling something wasn’t quite right; an empty coke can on the floor, a different arrangement of crumbs. Just then, three strangers appeared at the car, laughing and looking a little concerned. Before I could connect the pieces, the driver told me gently - and laughingly - that this was, indeed, her car. I thanked them for the ride and got out of their car, my original grand wave replaced by a sheepish flick of the hand.

I crossed the isle to the real car and waited for other people to get in to assure myself I had the correct vehicle.

Even now, it’s hilarious. I keep replaying how confidently I called out, letting everyone know I had found the car; the strangers' expressions as they watched a strange girl get into their car as soon as they unlocked it. I hope they get some mileage out of telling that story.

The Best People I Know

Heather and Jessica came down a few weeks ago and served as my first visitors in Austin!

We got off to a rocky start on Saturday morning when we discovered my cranky old neighbors had Heather's car towed. For no reason.

We didn't let it spoil our day, though. We went to a place called The Trailer Park which is a collection of trailers that sell food. Heather watched the line at the cupcake stand for about an hour, marveling at how the line never went down. When we finally got in line she said, "I feel like I'm becoming part of something great!" That is one of the reasons I love Heather.

Then we went to Mt. Bonnell to watch the sun set. It's cliffs and rocky stuff in the middle of the city. Though my pictures don't show it, it's quite pretty.

Then, we went to Kick Butt Coffee where I hoped to see workers in kimonos using nun-chuks. Instead, there was live music that was so perfectly mediocre it was terrible. The lady drove in from Dallas to play at a small coffee shop and Jessica was the only one who even took her free cd....which was thrown away when we got home.

We ate dinner, went to a norebong, and tried to photograph the security guard on a suped-up segway at the HEB by my house.

The weekend wasn't as action-packed as I had hoped due to my poor planning, but I was so glad to be with friends again, if only for a short time. I had almost forgotten how fun it is to be with people who understand and are completely at ease with each other. My dream is that they will both move here after they graduate this spring/summer. (If you guys are reading this, no pressure [but think about it!].)

Apocolypto Pete Turns Two

He's got more personality than I ever bargained for. He's more stubborn than the average 3-year old. And he's smarter than most 14-year old boys.

Tasty Pete is officially two. In theory, he should be done with his destructive puppy-ways. What better way to commemorate his first two years than to recount the destruction left in his wake?

Taken from an email from Josey, the following excerpt is a perfect example of what I encounter on a daily basis:

"P.S. An unbelievable pile of destruction awaits your arrival in the living room."

Laughing in our faces.

Here is an abridged list of the things Pete has destroyed:

- Toilet brushes. These are his all-time favorite chew toys. I now buy them instead of bones. They double as a toothbrush.

- My debit card.

- THE WALL(s).

- Four pairs of eyeglasses (so expensive!) and at least 5 pairs of sunglasses.

- A screen door...at 3 different residences - one time pulling the frame off the track and into the yard.

- At least 14 bars of soap and 23 razors.

- Seemingly hundreds of pairs of underwear and bras.

- Books, magazines, newspapers, Kleenex, and enough toilet paper to swab the Eastern seaboard.

- My retainer and retainer case (so expensive! and a fine antidote for the orthodontist)

- Several packages of thumbtacks. He opened a package of 360 tacks and sprinkled them in a fine, even layer all over my bedroom.

- Miscellaneous items: incense, a sock monkey, The Word of God, and several Boxcar Children


Though it can be disheartening to come home and find hundreds of rice noodles covering the house, there are some funny stories:

- One day I wandered into the bedroom to find him sprawled on the floor with a box of Q-Tips at his feet, which he was munching out of like a bag of chips. He was actually making the Cookie Monster sound, "Ohmmm nommm nommm nommmm," with q-tips hanging off his chin and out the sides of his lips.

- Another time, he grabbed an Arby's bag in the apartment parking lot without my noticing. As I drove along, I started smelling the succulent, enticing aroma of roast beef. I turned around to find Pete lunching on part of an Arby's sandwich and squirting Arby's sauce all over the backseat of my brand new car.


Here are Pete's favorite tricks:

1. Pinch biting, crotch biting and bootie bites.

2. Chasing our neighbor - recovering from back surgery and using a walker - down the street.

3. Uprooting my mother's prized plant. I can't find the pictures of him rolling in the dirt on the living room floor.

4. Pulling dish towels - laden with bowls, plates, and glasses - off the counter and quietly running away when the dishes shatter.

5. Uprooting my mother's prized plant again and then dancing on my mother's beloved cream couch with giant muddy paws. This one was a real doozy. Josey and I spent hours cleaning up after this one. Also, my mother does not know about this. Please do not tell her.

6. Pinch biting

7. Pinch biting

8. Pinch biting


Despite all this, at the end of the day when he takes a flying leap into your lap, crushing several organs, the mangled shoes, shattered dishes, and littered apartment all fade away as you catch wafts of the fresh, soapy scent of his beard and struggle to breathe.

Come on, it's Diwali!

A while back, Andy, Billy, Scott, Josey, and I went to a Diwali festival at UT.

Before I went to the festival, everything I knew about Diwali came from The Office.

After attending the festival, everything I know about Diwali comes from The Office.

I could deduce absolutely nothing about what was happening because it was in another language and I'm pretty sure we missed most of it. There were, however, lots of candles and pretty girls with shiny hair and beautiful saris and a stage where people were singing/chanting without shoes on.

Also, it was really crowded and I kept accidentally stepping on a girl's sari that had come undone. After she had been yanked backwards a few times, she started laughing and wrapped it up again.

Then, fireworks started!

I Saw the Sign

Here are a few funny signs that I've collected the past few months:

#1 "I'm sorry Wayna. Please take me back. Call me."
Regretably, the only picture we got of this one is on Josey's cell phone. There were hundreds of these posted with hot pink duct tape on - quite literally - every post on our side of town.

Now, I don't know who Wayna is, but I can't imagine that her ex's approach to appologizing went over so well, seeing as he had about about 12,300 people laughing at them.

#2 - All You Need Is Love

What a nice message.

#3 - A Real Dairy Queen Doozy

Dairy Queen has never been at the top of my dining list, and after this image, it never will.

Our House

Josey and I live in a condo called "Quail Village." (I think I'm cosmically drawn to animal villages because in Korea, I lived in "Squirrel Village.")

The condo set has tennis courts and a pool, and there's a creek, park, and jogging/bike trail just around the corner. It's a very ethnically diverse neighborhood with Pakistani/Indian restaurants, Tejano clubs, tons of Mexican restaurants, and sizeable Chinatowns and Koreatowns to the north and south. The other dominant population of people are the homeless/insane/beggars that live across the street. I can hear them yelling on most days.

Quail Village is a set of condos filled mostly with old people. I've met a few neighbors and they've been absolutely delightful. There's even a "condo gossip" named Linda that makes the old men neighbors roll their eyes at the mere mention of her name.

Here is the entryway:

Filled with things to get rid of.

Living room:Stairs:Kitchen:Patio off kitchen: It's about twice this size. Hopefully, we'll grow a garden.

My room:

I have a huge closet that runs about half the length of the room. It's so big, I thought about putting my desk in there, but it gets really hot.

View out my window:

Josey's huge room:

That is one ubiquitous dog.

Since real estate companies are weird in that they want their tenants to be A) employed and B) making decent money rather than living off their meager savings, we had to tell some whoppers to get this house. It involved one of Andy's friends pretending that we worked for him and made lots of money doing so. Though I don't generally support lying, it was totally worth it so I didn't have to live with Hairy Andy and the Vegetarians anymore.

Quail Village is definitely the nicest place I've ever lived, and though I was initially made nervous by the homeless pot smokers across the street, I'm becoming familiar with the usuals. In fact, I figure I should start befriending them, seeing as I will soon become one of them if I don't find a job soon.

Buggin' Out

Something about Austin vs. Abilene: There are living creatures here.

In our side yard there are raccoons and at night cute little frogs hang out on the sidewalk and make un-cute screeching noises. On the front window, we have an honest-to-goodness lizard with a puffing throat that makes no noises. On our back porch, we had multiple hornet nests. (Thanks to Josey for bravely extinguishing them by squirting them from the back door, screaming, and slamming the door.)

In our living room is a giant white dog that cautiously walks on the hard floors like an old man teetering over ice. It’s hilarious.

And, in my bedroom, we have bugs. And by bugs, I mean bugs the size of small birds.

Last night, I was on the floor putting some shelves together when one of these behemoths landed right in front of me:

It was like this. Only not conveniently bagged and frozen.

The thing must have weighed 1/8th of a pound. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t even know where one of those could hide. I mean, an efficiency apartment for that thing would be the size of a child’s Playschool kitchen. After overcoming a brief paralysis, I thankfully realized I had a hammer at my immediate disposal. Granted, I had to turn the hammer on its side in order to do more than tap the thing on the shoulder. It was GIGANTIC. And soon, it was in three pieces.

A good five minutes later, its legs were still trying to turn the body over. That’s not an exaggeration. My imagination was a little afraid it might succeed and then wander around recklessly headless, crashing into my legs, sobbing and stumbling before collecting his body parts and scampering under the bed to get himself together.

I know if my mother was here she would say, "It's just a waterbug that accidentally wandered inside." All I can hope is that he was the last of a dying clan. Please, please let him be the last one.

***Update: Disgusting. I just found out this bug is known in polite society as a "Palmetto bug" or in reality, an American Cockroach. And mom, it turns out that waterbugs ARE cockroaches.

Doing My Best to Keep Austin Weird

I have officially moved to Austin! I'll post pictures of our home when I find my camera.

For now, I would like to dispel a common misconception about Austin:
Austinians (Austinites? Austains?) are not so much “cool” or “artsy” as they are weird. And unkempt/unwashed. I really enjoy the notion that my lazy personal grooming habits are now accepted – embraced even – by the general population. The fact that I rarely shower or brush my hair and frequently wear wrinkled and/or holey t-shirts is no longer a disgusting social aberration, it’s fitting in!

I love that there isn’t pressure to be pretty, to be successful, or to dress nicely or have nice things - it really works out perfectly for me.

However, I don’t like the fact that you’re a downer if you have ever shopped at a chain store, you secretly like pop songs, or you maybe like Taco Bell every now and then.

Though I won’t completely fit in until I stop wearing deodorant, become dirty tan, get some tattoos, and pull my dog in a child carrier behind my bike, I think I’ll like it okay here.

I actually saw this! Only it was an actual child carrier.

We have plenty of room. Come visit!!

Summer!

Allow me to summarize the events of this summer:

1. Went to Disney World

2. Quit my job

3. Went to some weddings

4. Visited family in Kentucky

5. Drove to Canada and visited fun people and visited more fun people in Dallas on the way home

In between, I have vaguely and vainly looked for jobs.

Tomorrow I am cleaning the grout in the kitchen...and maybe shaving the dog's legs.


Fun people, minus the one taking the picture