austin wrap up

the best laid plans. I did have every intention of blogging austin as it happened, but...well....

so day 2. and this sucks because now I have to remember. okaaayyyyy, did I tell you about the alamo?? I had to actually look back. nope. okay, here's the deal. it's a movie theater where every other row is removed and replaced with a long table with menus underneath. before the show and during the show, up until the final 45 mins, you can order anything you want. the menu ranges from bar food kind of stuff like pizza, to comfort food like grilled cheese and mac and cheese, to restaurant food like steak and salads. and a full bar, which I did not partake. I did have a tall frosty dr. pepper. I saw the wrestler, and it was seriously fantastic. I didn't know much about it and wasn't thrilled that it was the only movie playing, but I couldn't really pass it up. and it was great. I watched some of the scenes through my fingers (the extreme wrestling was, well, extreme) and I didn't understand the reasoning for the extended strip club scenes (I rarely do, I consider them the price of getting asses in the seats) but mickey rourke...I hated him before this and seeing pictures of him at the golden globes makes me think I still hate him but he was perfect in this role. anyways, that was a big highlight.

going back to the earlier part of the day, I woke up and went over to a local salon and had a massage. it was only a half an hour and I told nicole that massages actually can make me tense up. I am so freaked out about being relaxed - wait, my shoulders are tensed! I'm clenching my jaw! I'm thinking about the rest of the day and I missed like 5 minutes of backrub! - that I can't enjoy it. then I got a haircut and...surprise. I didn't like it. why do so many people think that the answer for coarse hair is layers? no! I should tell stylists that the only tool I want them to use to cut my hair is a razor. you cannot cut into it like it's a pumpkin. oh well. I only just lost 3 months of my life with that. well, 6 if you count the 3 more months it'll take to grow these layers out.

then it was a walk around town, then the alamo.

wait. the massage and haircut was day 3.

whatever, these are the things I did in austin. I did more walking and taking pictures at some point, I took a bus to what I thought would be the shopping district which turned out to be just a mall, and it was the worst bus ride I have had since elementary school, I ate brisket at stubb's, and I got a tattoo.

all in all, I loved the city. it would have been better with a car, I can tell you that most definitely. while I liked downtown, I would have loved to see some of the sights that weren't walkable, and some of straight up texas. I guess in that way, taking that hideous bus ride at least afforded me the chance to see more rural and less city areas. it's like the part of vegas that rebecca and her clan took me to when they came down to visit... it was not typical vegas. not that I love strip malls and fast food, but it's neat to see how the real folks live. what the names of their supermarkets are, what style most of the buildings are, the signs for their roads and their names. I find that stuff interesting.

I'm glad to be home. of course, I returned to a car that wouldn't start and had to be towed, but whattayagonnado. (and I was informed that for my inspection, that expires at the end of february, I will need front and rear brakes and a new windshield. total cost, just shy of $600. nice, right?)

[the tattoo is of a nautical star, red and black, on my left inside forearm. there are stars on everything, it seemed, in texas, and it seemed very fitting.]