I haven't updated from Jacksonville because there's been nothing to say, really. Every trip home is about the same. Lots of sleeping in, driving around aimlessly, traveling long distances for decent coffee (although I gave the new town cafe's iced latte a try and it was stellar, actually). There's not a whole lot else to do here.
But I had a pretty decent night tonight. There's a new rather classy, hip restaurant in Oxford where a friend of mine from high school works, and tonight we all went out to celebrate my mom's new job, which involves a salary three times that of mine in a place where the cost of living is a mere fraction of what it is where I live. I drank a lot of sangria and kind of enjoyed not finishing my $19 entree on her tab... and I think this is the first time I haven't felt guilty for taking money from my mother. Needless to say she's pretty excited about the job, too... and with Adam and I both recently graduated from high school and college, respectively (and Adam moving into his first place of his own), it feels like all our lives are on the upswing. For the first time in a while I think we all, as a family, feel like everything is going to be all right. More than all right, even. Awesome.
Tomorrow Adam and I leave for Asheville by way of Seneca, South Carolina. After that, DC one more time, and then Boston by Friday evening. Next week's Boston adventures include, but are not limited to, Cantab poetry slam and Boston Harbor booze cruise. So even though I have to go back to work on Saturday, I guess the vacation's not quite over yet... the summer of 2009 is in fact just beginning.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Recap
Tuesday: Traveled to Austin with Eva, via west Texas back roads, stopping in historic downtown Hico and Lampasas. Early dinner at Dairy Queen in bumfuck somewhereoranother 80 miles outside of Austin. Arrived in Austin just a little too late for a concert where a friend wanted us to meet him, so we went to the Driskill bar and had expensive martinis instead. When we realized we spent $50 in like five minutes, we mosied on down to a sports bar instead. It had a roof deck and $7 double jack & cokes, so... done. Got nice and toasted, hopped across the street for pizza, then stumbled back to the hotel for bed.
Wednesday morning it decided to thunderstorm. Eva, a native Texan who hardly ever gets to see the rain, was excited. I, a transplanted New Englander who gets to see the fucking rain all the fucking time, was pissed. This also appeared to ruin our plans to go swim in Barton Springs, one of the few really fun and really free things we were looking forward to. So we hopped in the car and ended up in another historic Texas town: Gruene. A few antique shops & one glorious hot dog later, it is nice and sunny and scorching out again and we head back to Austin for some swimming after all.
Barton Springs is apparently the place to take your dog to play when you live in one of the hottest places in the world, so there were a good 15-20 dogs in the water, and I was having a great time just watching them.
After an hour or so of this, we headed off to what would be a free dinner & glorious desert courtesy of a family friend, followed by drinks on 6th street (again!) with Eva's friends, and Eva's friends' really hot single friends. The good news is that Eva and I have enough of a taste difference in men that she liked the one and I liked the other. The bad news is that we had to get up at 6am so we left too early for any of that to matter. Damn.
Thursday: Eva leaves at 7am to get back to Dallas for a 12-5 shift, and gets stopped on I-35 for an hour. I check out of the hotel at 11am, take the dogs to Barton Springs, where they wore themselves out swimming for like 20 minutes. I don't have a towel, so we walk around in the sun for a bit until I'm dry enough to put my clothes on over my bathing suit, and then we take off eastward, toward Alabama. On a whim I decide it would be fun to see New Orleans, so at 11pm I arrive at a La Quinta in the French Quarter.
Friday I run out of money. I spend the morning walking around downtown New Orleans, taking pictures of the city and the river. I stop in a souvenir shop and try to buy my brother a housewarming gift and my credit card is declined.
So I guess it's time to get my ass to mommy's house, since I've acquired $3,000 worth of credit card debt in the last 10 days alone. I just hope it still feels worth it when I'm back in Boston working three jobs to pay it all off. Bah.
Wednesday morning it decided to thunderstorm. Eva, a native Texan who hardly ever gets to see the rain, was excited. I, a transplanted New Englander who gets to see the fucking rain all the fucking time, was pissed. This also appeared to ruin our plans to go swim in Barton Springs, one of the few really fun and really free things we were looking forward to. So we hopped in the car and ended up in another historic Texas town: Gruene. A few antique shops & one glorious hot dog later, it is nice and sunny and scorching out again and we head back to Austin for some swimming after all.
Barton Springs is apparently the place to take your dog to play when you live in one of the hottest places in the world, so there were a good 15-20 dogs in the water, and I was having a great time just watching them.
After an hour or so of this, we headed off to what would be a free dinner & glorious desert courtesy of a family friend, followed by drinks on 6th street (again!) with Eva's friends, and Eva's friends' really hot single friends. The good news is that Eva and I have enough of a taste difference in men that she liked the one and I liked the other. The bad news is that we had to get up at 6am so we left too early for any of that to matter. Damn.
Thursday: Eva leaves at 7am to get back to Dallas for a 12-5 shift, and gets stopped on I-35 for an hour. I check out of the hotel at 11am, take the dogs to Barton Springs, where they wore themselves out swimming for like 20 minutes. I don't have a towel, so we walk around in the sun for a bit until I'm dry enough to put my clothes on over my bathing suit, and then we take off eastward, toward Alabama. On a whim I decide it would be fun to see New Orleans, so at 11pm I arrive at a La Quinta in the French Quarter.
Friday I run out of money. I spend the morning walking around downtown New Orleans, taking pictures of the city and the river. I stop in a souvenir shop and try to buy my brother a housewarming gift and my credit card is declined.
So I guess it's time to get my ass to mommy's house, since I've acquired $3,000 worth of credit card debt in the last 10 days alone. I just hope it still feels worth it when I'm back in Boston working three jobs to pay it all off. Bah.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Dallas... sort of
Arrived in Dallas this evening & promptly escaped to Addison, TX, for drinks & apps at a place called The Flying Saucer with Eva & friends. A little out of the way, but they had a great beer list (I stuck to Brooklyn Brown Ale, but there were at least a hundred more, half of which were only $2.75/pint!), and some decent appetizers (buffalo wings for me, always, of course). I got hit on by two guys simultaneously and I was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans so I considered that a great compliment. Gave out my number because what harm could it do. I'm only in Dallas for the one night anyway.
29-year-old divorcé: "So what do you do?"
Jamei: "I'm a vet tech."
29-year-old divorcé: "I love you."
Oh, The South... you and your seductive attempts to win me back over. I will admit that I'm having fun on this trip. A lot of fun. Though I still think that New England will always have my heart...
29-year-old divorcé: "So what do you do?"
Jamei: "I'm a vet tech."
29-year-old divorcé: "I love you."
Oh, The South... you and your seductive attempts to win me back over. I will admit that I'm having fun on this trip. A lot of fun. Though I still think that New England will always have my heart...
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Details to Remember
Favorite text exchange of the day:
Jamei: "Aww now I want to get married. They played the Beatles as she walked down the aisle!!"
Johnnie: "Are you smokin again?"
Jamei: "No, I just finally experienced a truly beautiful expression of love. Hooker."
Johnnie: "I covered your shift last night. TRUE act of love. Do you want to marry me?"
Jamei: "Only if we can play the Beatles."
Favorite pictures of the day:
And God said, "You have twenty minutes, and then I am going to downpour again. aaaaand GO!"
WHEW! Finished just in time!
"Wait... we have to cut ANOTHER cake?!"
Congratulations, Seth & Kariann! You two are so cute I might puke. And those were definitely rain drops in my eyes, not tears.
Jamei: "Aww now I want to get married. They played the Beatles as she walked down the aisle!!"
Johnnie: "Are you smokin again?"
Jamei: "No, I just finally experienced a truly beautiful expression of love. Hooker."
Johnnie: "I covered your shift last night. TRUE act of love. Do you want to marry me?"
Jamei: "Only if we can play the Beatles."
Favorite pictures of the day:
And God said, "You have twenty minutes, and then I am going to downpour again. aaaaand GO!"
WHEW! Finished just in time!
"Wait... we have to cut ANOTHER cake?!"
Congratulations, Seth & Kariann! You two are so cute I might puke. And those were definitely rain drops in my eyes, not tears.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Traveling with pets
... is frustrating. I mean this specifically about finding pet-friendly hotels.
1. You can't call something a "deposit" if it's non-refundable.
2. These FEES range between $25-250 per pet. $250?? For real?? In most cases this is more than I'm even spending on the hotel itself.
3. Communication between hotels and their ads on Orbitz seem to be lacking, since whether or not the Orbitz listing says "Pets OK" seems be irrelevant to whether or not pets are actually allowed in the hotel.
Most Comfort Inns & Suites appear to be pet-bribable for a non-refundable "deposit" of $25 per pet over 25lbs per stay. The one I'm at in Memphis now let Echo slide under the weight limit even though I was honest about it. So okay, I'm not too put off by that. After all, it's still cheaper than the cost of parking my car in DC.
Who I really love right now though is La Quinta. La Quinta hotels are apparently pet-friendly with no fees or deposits or first-born children required. They also have affordable rooms. With free internet access. And sometimes even parking.
I feel like the more expensive the hotel, the more they charge you incrementally for basic amenities. Yes, you can stay at the Westin and have a bellboy and a valet, but it's an extra $10 to use the internet, and an extra $40 to park your car, and an extra $350 to get ice from the machine...
1. You can't call something a "deposit" if it's non-refundable.
2. These FEES range between $25-250 per pet. $250?? For real?? In most cases this is more than I'm even spending on the hotel itself.
3. Communication between hotels and their ads on Orbitz seem to be lacking, since whether or not the Orbitz listing says "Pets OK" seems be irrelevant to whether or not pets are actually allowed in the hotel.
Most Comfort Inns & Suites appear to be pet-bribable for a non-refundable "deposit" of $25 per pet over 25lbs per stay. The one I'm at in Memphis now let Echo slide under the weight limit even though I was honest about it. So okay, I'm not too put off by that. After all, it's still cheaper than the cost of parking my car in DC.
Who I really love right now though is La Quinta. La Quinta hotels are apparently pet-friendly with no fees or deposits or first-born children required. They also have affordable rooms. With free internet access. And sometimes even parking.
I feel like the more expensive the hotel, the more they charge you incrementally for basic amenities. Yes, you can stay at the Westin and have a bellboy and a valet, but it's an extra $10 to use the internet, and an extra $40 to park your car, and an extra $350 to get ice from the machine...
So I decided to do some self-grooming today...
Ladies! I have some recommendations and unrecommendations for you today.
Recommendation: Home waxing your lower legs. It's really not as painful as it sounds and after the first couple strips, you really just kind of stop feeling pain at all. It might take a little longer than getting it done professionally, but it can be done, and it's way cheaper to get the home kit than to pay salon prices, by far.
Unrecommendation: Home waxing your bikini line. It is not as painful as it sounds--it's worse. Way worse. Worse than you could ever imagine. And every strip hurts worse than the last. There are apparently no natural endorphins that go to your bikini line. Eventually, it will hurt so badly that your hands will refuse to rip the strips away from your body, leaving your hairy vag covered in fucking wax. You will then spend the rest of the afternoon pouring that blue oil all over yourself and trying to wash the wax off in the shower. You will still have hair on your bikini line. Where you don't have hair, you will have little capillary bleeders everywhere, which is probably equally unattractive. Alternative: wear fucking shorts to the beach. Oh. My. God.
Recommendation: Home waxing your lower legs. It's really not as painful as it sounds and after the first couple strips, you really just kind of stop feeling pain at all. It might take a little longer than getting it done professionally, but it can be done, and it's way cheaper to get the home kit than to pay salon prices, by far.
Unrecommendation: Home waxing your bikini line. It is not as painful as it sounds--it's worse. Way worse. Worse than you could ever imagine. And every strip hurts worse than the last. There are apparently no natural endorphins that go to your bikini line. Eventually, it will hurt so badly that your hands will refuse to rip the strips away from your body, leaving your hairy vag covered in fucking wax. You will then spend the rest of the afternoon pouring that blue oil all over yourself and trying to wash the wax off in the shower. You will still have hair on your bikini line. Where you don't have hair, you will have little capillary bleeders everywhere, which is probably equally unattractive. Alternative: wear fucking shorts to the beach. Oh. My. God.
Shelby Farms Dog Park
The first time I tried to find the dog park, I ended up at a prison. But the real funny part about that one is that my first thought was, "Oh, that's a nice big fence!"
The second time I tried to find the dog park, there were bison in it. That wasn't the dog park, either.
I finally stopped at the visitor's center and got a map, where I was told that yes, there was a large fenced-in dog park. And they weren't kidding about large... it's 250 acres. Fenced? Oh yeah. There is indeed a fence around the perimeter of the 250 acre park. The thing is, the fence is the thing that is supposed to prevent me from losing my poorly trained city dogs, and I'm not sure that I can keep track of all 250 fucking acres. I mean yeah, the North American continent is almost entirely surrounded by water, but I'm willing to bet I could still lose them in there.
Still, it was quite beautiful. There's a bunch of large, stagnant bodies of water, too, and Dizzy found a way to plop himself right down in a big ol' pile of mud before I could say anything about it.
The second time I tried to find the dog park, there were bison in it. That wasn't the dog park, either.
I finally stopped at the visitor's center and got a map, where I was told that yes, there was a large fenced-in dog park. And they weren't kidding about large... it's 250 acres. Fenced? Oh yeah. There is indeed a fence around the perimeter of the 250 acre park. The thing is, the fence is the thing that is supposed to prevent me from losing my poorly trained city dogs, and I'm not sure that I can keep track of all 250 fucking acres. I mean yeah, the North American continent is almost entirely surrounded by water, but I'm willing to bet I could still lose them in there.
Still, it was quite beautiful. There's a bunch of large, stagnant bodies of water, too, and Dizzy found a way to plop himself right down in a big ol' pile of mud before I could say anything about it.
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