Archive for September, 2007
austin, texas
i’m chilling at thunderbird coffee watching the thunderclouds build up over the tops of the houses across the street. i’m trying to get used to being in austin again, so i’ve been haunting my old haunts. i was at whole foods earlier, but my spot on the roof was occupied by a large party. i used to be up there every day eating, reading, and watching the sun set. i feel like i’m never here long enough. i never go out in austin anymore. its seems that whenever i want to do something fun, i leave austin. this is supposed to be a fun town! i’m just not around enough to appreciate it. so, i decided to make an effort to take advantage of my favorite places and things in austin and its got me thinking about my life here.
i went to bed really early last night, around 9:30, and woke up at 3 am to roar of the television in the living room. my roommate’s day off is friday, so, she was finally spending some time with herself during her favorite time of day: an hour after the bars close. as i lay in my bed, not only did i think of how the tv sounded like it was in my room, i thought of how many of my friends are night people. i tried to stay up late when i was younger, but it soon became obvious that i’m a morning person. other people are really just night people. i’ve always gotten up before everyone else and enjoyed the solitude of the morning time before the world wakes up, but an unusually large proportion of my friends really prefer the nighttime. they stay out late and sleep until the afternoon. living with a night person is a bit of a challenge since i like to make a bit of noise in the morning while i wash the dishes or blend a smoothie. overall, though, she sleeps through it. i never hear a complaint about the noise.
thats not the only significant difference between myself and my roommate: she also happens to be vegan. i’m not vegan. i am quite the carnivore. i got an iron skillet for the sole purpose of cooking bacon. i keep ground beef in the fridge. i like to fry my eggs in real butter. i only drink whole milk. i have three pairs of doc martens and a really great leather motorcycle jacket. she only complains when she smells the meat in the air. i hate the way her weird vegan food smells. the scent of curry powder lingers in the house. i smell it when i get home and wish the weather was cool enough and the dog tame enough to leave the door open. at least i never have to worry about her eating my food.
she is also a bit of a slob where i am just shy of being a neat freak. i wash the dishes, clean the toilet, sweep the floor, scrub the bathtub… she mops when i ask, but overall, she just lets her stuff build up all over the place until it gets so bad i say something about it. when i say something, though, she always does a little, and i know that she is much cleaner now than she was before we lived together. i know she’s trying, and, even though i come back into town to a messy kitchen, its really great to come home to her.
she’s comfortable to be around. she feels like family, and when we talk, it makes all the noise, weird food smells, and messiness worth while.
my dog is looking at me. her ears perk up as she huffs; i think she’s smiling. she barked at me last night when i came home. she must have a short memory, but i still felt a bit like a stranger. i’ve never been one to stay in place. i leave all the time. i’ve not spent a consecutive two weeks in austin since i quit my job and returned to the coffee shop in july. even before i moved here i visited every other weekend. it seems that i’ve been in fort worth so much that some of the people there didn’t realize i lived somewhere else, much less three hours away.
i’m shopping about for a new place to live. i’ve always wanted to live in the santa fe albuquerque area. its close to the desert and the mountains and the weather is really nice, not frustrating like in the areas of texas i’m used to. if anything happened in texas, i could be in fort worth on the same day, although 12 hours later. maybe i should finish school there…
now that i’ve visited the santa fe albuquerque area with my parents, i wouldn’t have to worry about them visiting if i moved there. when asked why they have never visited me the entire 4 years i’ve lived in austin, my dad replied “we already saw the capitol. we saw everything in austin, what would we do there?” up until a year ago, my mother thought i lived in houston. i used to be a bit hurt and upset about my parents being like this. one would think that parents would be interested in seeing where their kid lives and what they are doing, but i’ve come to the conclusion that they really don’t get it. they aren’t like all of those parents that help their kids move into college and visit from out of town to see how they are doing.
in other news, this makes me uncomfortable.
chillin’ out at the aztec.
after the hawaiian adventure last year, i swore i would never go on vacation with my parents again. my father’s bad temper, my mother’s picky appetite, their fighting with each other… i’ve spent two entire days with my parents, and i’ve had to experience a bit of those things, but, i’ve been having a good time.
although i had my misgivings, i opted to take my parents on a hike. my parents aren’t really the kind of people that go on hikes. i tried to tell them before hand to bring good shoes, maybe their workout shoes, and wear lightweight clothing. i brought an extra daypack for my dad to carry (my mom would never carry her own daypack) and prepared myself mentally of everything that we might need.
right before the hike, i suggested to my mom to change out of her loafers and put on her shoes for the hike. she had told me the day before that she had packed her best walking shoes, so, when she pulled out a nice pair of brown shoes with flat and smooth soles, i couldn’t help but wonder what i was really getting myself into. what if she slipped on some loose rocks? my father and i would have to carry her back to the trailhead. she insisted on not borrowing my lightweight sweat wicking t-shirt and hiking with her polo shirt tucked into her blue jeans. it was hot out and most of the trail was exposed to sunlight; i was concerned of her getting overheated. my dad noticed my mom being as difficult as possible (she was refusing to drink any water, saying she didn’t feel like it) and suggested that maybe we shouldn’t go, but after a short while of arguing, we were on our way down the trail.
i had picked a fairly easy trail that followed a stream through frijoles canyon in bandelier national monument and down into the rio grande. we were to hike 1.5 miles to the first waterfall and turn around. the hike would be 3 miles. the beginning of the trail has a short uphill. i had explained to my parents earlier that the trail started downhill and then, after we reached the falls and turned around, it would be all uphill. immediately upon leaving my mother asked “is there going to be very much uphill?” “yes mom, it will be mostly downhill on the way there and on the way back we will have to go uphill.” “oh, really?” she said, as though expecting me to figure a way to make it all downhill both ways.
they were doing well, after we got a good pace and cadence, and we stopped every 10-15 minutes to drink water. i would ask if they felt hot spots on their feet or any kind of soreness. they would say no. it seems that my mom’s shoes were doing well, although she complained about them getting dusty. part of the way down the trail we met a blind couple with their guide dogs. they mentioned a rattle snake they had come across on the trail just a little ways up. i expected my mother to want to turn around, and, maybe, my dad to want to go back with her, but, to my surprise, they weren’t too concerned. we said our goodbyes and thankyous to the couple and kept on our merry little way.
the further we went, the more beautiful the scenery became. at one point in the trail, i could see all the way out to the rio grande, so i stopped to take a picture. my parents, who were a bit behind me, caught up and passed me as my dad mumbled something about wanting to be where there was shade. i took a few shots of them walking the trail in front of me then took some more of the scenery when they walked out of the frame. after i put my camera back in my bag and caught up with them, they were talking to a german couple, looking at their camera, right next to the shade, but not in it. “they were going to stand in the shade,” i thought as i approached. as it turns out, the german couple was showing pictures of the rattle snake they had encountered just a few minutes earlier resting in the shade my parents chose as shelter. again, i thought maybe they would want to turn back after having seen pictures of the offensive reptile in the exact place they had decided to rest, but the couple said we were close to the falls, so we kept onward.
after some photography at the falls (and my parents getting off the trail and wandering over to a cliff for a better view), i asked them if they felt tired. “no, i feel fine,” my dad said. hmm, i thought, maybe i should speed up the pace just to see how they do. the rest of the hike was uneventful. the trail went by quickly and, before we knew it, we were back to the parking lot. my dad declared his exhaustion. my mom said she wouldn’t walk to the bathroom so we had to drive. as a guide, i felt it was a job well done.
on the drive to our hotel in santa fe, they both fell asleep. since i’m 25 now, i drive when we go places, since my dad gets so lost. when he is lost, he gets angry, and i’m usually the person he gets angry with since i always played the part of navigator. now, i’m a real adult that is allowed to drive a rental car, so i drive the rental car on vacation with my parents, and i think its made all the difference.
now i’m in the hotel room with my parents… they are watching the cowboys play against the bears, or, with this great new latino marketing campaign the nfl is running, the vaqueros de dallas against the osos de chicago. they are yelling and screaming at the television as i publish this.
check out more photos.
today, work was pandemonium, but, in the midst of all the insanity, i couldn’t stop thinking about the cross. i saw a man with a large, ornate cross tattooed on his forearm and it struck me as to how nice it looked. there is so much meaning in the symbol of the cross that i began to think of Jesus and Christianity and realized that, somewhere over the years, i heard a comedian or someone talking about what the cross really is: an instrument of death. what if Jesus died hanging from the gallows, shot by a firing squad, pressed to death with weights, killed by leathal injection, or zapped by the electric chair? would people have a gallows, a rifle, a table, a syring, or an entire electric chair tattooed to their arms, hanging from their necklaces, erected on top of buildings, fashioned into logos? i wonder how this instrument of death came to be the symbol of christianity? how and when did someone think “hmm, i should use that cross as a symbol for my personal savior”? i can’t imagine it would have started right after he was on earth, since crucifixion was still practiced, but, i could be wrong.
anyway, my parents and i are heading out to santa fe for a geologic tour of the jemez mountains (i will be the guide, it seems). i have to admit that i’m a bit upset that my sister decided to tell my parents about her impending divorce right before we leave. my mom has already pulled me aside in the hallway to let me know she is “not happy” about the divorce. when i say i am “upset” don’t think that i don’t feel for my sister and her family, i am just a bit saddened it happened right around the time i will actually be seeing my parents.
I’ve finally decided to use a blogging software. i’ve been installing and testing different flavors and decided that WordPress fit my needs. i’m too busy these days to keep editing html, and, well, its about time i caught up with the rest of what used to be referred to as the “online journal”-ing community. There is so much great free software available for download that is seems i would be a fool to ignore the opportunity to make writing my thoughts a bit easier.
if you are interested in exploring the old site (which, i must say, is really quite pleasing to the eye) you can find it here: http://www.mimiflynn.com/allusion/