So on my way home today from my friends cabin I listened to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, notably the opening them from Fellowship, 'The Shire.' I always really liked that tune, but driving along made me miss the drives Jenn and I would take in Texas. There is something very relaxing about the area she lives in, just rolling hillocks and trees. Lakes skirting the road, a calm on everything, when you go outside it's so quiet, though there is an airport not too far away so you hear those quite a bit. Holding Jenn's hand while we drive reminds me of what I have and the potential for what I have yet to do.
Weather in Texas is intriguing, namely the incredible heat mixed in with lightning storms. Because I could very well count the number of times I've experienced lightning in Ventura on my fingers and toes it is something special when it comes up. Jenn notified me that storms were approaching thanks to an iphone app, so I went to her balcony and sat down trying to gain as clear a view of the horizon as possible. Over the apartments, beyond the trees and too far to see there was a flash of flickering gold light. I watched the flickers and flashes steadily approach, giddy to see a bolt, as Jenn grew more and more uncomfortable with the sprinkling of rain that had started to kick onto the covered space. Just like in Portland I heard a steady growl, and saw what appeared to be a mist approaching. Instead a wall of rain swept over everything filling the garden below shin deep in water in an instant. The thunder was drawing closer until finally a towering vine of electricity struck behind the apartment building in front of us. It was hundreds of feet high and almost as soon as it flashed there came a crackling boom of the thunder, so loud it felt like the end of the world. I was completely terrified, it was so loud and so close and seemed so menacing but I could hardly pull myself away from sitting out there, exposed to see more. Jenn went back inside quickly, to take a shower, and with a good cover I returned too and sat on the bed looking out the window as the cracks and booms echoed all around shaking the pictures on the walls and bric-a-brac on the shelves. I could have curled up and gone to sleep right there it was so nice.
I miss Texas now, it was familiar, yet very different. Certainly not like people expect, no cowboys walking with bow legs, Chuck Norris doesn't greet you at the terminal when you get off a plane. There aren't so many racists or republicans, then again when you're raised in a conservative stronghold county like Ventura I suppose it's tricky to perceive such differences. I miss the big skies, the rolling clouds that seem to tower into space, the clear night sky and fresh smelling air. I miss the shower, the bed and the reclining couch. I miss the new friends I made, and the places we'd congregate. I miss my girlfriend and holding her hand.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Hole In My Heart: A Story of Texas
We'll take a break from the history for a while and do a standard kind of blog, a blog about things and places and people. For starters the name of the blog post comes from a great song by Cyndi Lauper, from an equally great movie called Vibes. I recommend it, because it brings the funny...and the 80's. As for the other part of the blog post title I figure that is self explanatory, it's about a trip to Texas I just took.
Texas is of course the second largest state in the Union, with a history of struggle against whomever it happened to be under at the time. Oddly its name means 'Ally' or 'Friend' in the Caddo language, which implies that Texas actively seeks out allies, then once in the fold goes all independent. I guess then it would be àpropos that I didn't just visit but intend on moving there, it will be like most of my jobs, I'll mesh well, then go all independent, while it tries to go independent from me. We may actually nullify each other.
The reason behind the trip was so I could reunite with my lost love, get a feel for the area, and plot a possible move. I had purchased my tickets and all seemed in good order, until I received a phone call at two in the morning.
"This is American Airlines automated service, we're calling to notify you that your flight at 8:15 AM on June 11 has been canceled and you have been auto rescheduled to a flight on June 12th at 6:30 PM." Responding to this was difficult as I had just crawled into bed after hanging out with my chum Owen and Chum-ette Veronica. I was certainly shocked however, still listening in shock as my brain tried to recalculate the details of my departure. "If you consent to this departure time state 'I consent.' If you would like to speak to a representative wait on the line." I quickly stifled a stream of profanities out of the fear that one of them would sound like acquiescence, fumbling for a pen I suddenly heard an exhausted voice on the other end of the line.
"Thank you for choosing American Airlines, my name is Carol, how may I help you." I was amazed, they staffed people at this hour, they actually had what appeared to be a 24 hour phone service. That's the thing with airlines, they're the only 'flying' show in town, they can do whatever they damn well please. After a quick explanation that they had canceled my flight a few hours before departure I requested a flight earlier than the following day. I got my wish, one hour earlier, however this was the only available flight, and now I was in a pickle.
I had asked a friend to drive me to the airport, but the hour was far to early/late to notify him of the change in scheduling, and besides him I had no friends in the city, certainly not any who would drive me to LAX at such an ungodly hour. I had to quickly call all the various airporters in the area, finding that most had regular business hours of operation and were completely unreachable at that hour. Finally I found one company that was still available and I got my transportation arranged.
Obviously I made it to the airport and then subsequently had to endure all the regular bullshit associated with modern flight in this POST 9/11 WORLD! But when I landed I was off on an adventure of discovery in the large...large...LARGE, flat, state of Texas.
Alright, here's the deal, when you're flying into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport you are flying over Grapevine, Texas. The most striking thing in the landscape aside from the lakes everywhere is the Gaylord hotel, which houses an impressive ice sculpture collection during Christmas time. This photo however is of the more visually noticeable hotel down the road from my girlfriend Jenn's apartment. This is the Great Wolf Lodge, and it seemed that every time I turned a corner there were those four wolves all standing around looking...large. It really was an impressive looking place, it had an attached water park, and in fact this photo comes from a theme park website. The water park had one of those massive funnels that ejects families in tubes into a spinning cauldron of hydration. It reminded me of the Happy Gargler from Happy World Land in Tiny Toons: How I spent My Summer Vacation.
To put it mildly my time in Texas was simply grand, primarily because I found a place with temperatures to my liking. From when I arrived to when I left the temperature never descended below 80 degrees, but even better than that the humidity never dropped below 1,010%, it was like swimming in air...hot fucking jungle air, and I was so warm...so warm and comfortable...like an air blanket. Just as good as this was that Texas mandates that apartments have AC, and I discovered that Jenn's preferred temperature is somewhere in the mid 70's, warm enough that i don't need blankets at night, but cool enough that I feel refreshed when I've spent an afternoon in the 96 degree humidity.
The first order of business however was getting food, which necessitated a trip to Jenn's favorite sushi restaurant in the area. The name I think was Edohana, which presumably means 'Flower of Edo.' I took Jenn's advice and tried the much talked about 'Temptation Roll,' which was stupid delicious, like some kind of flavor Tyrannosaurus. I suppose the story of my time in Texas was simpler than that however since it's more about the people I met and the area I was in.
Texas is vast and winding, so much so that I was always confounded by the placement of roads and where I was in relation to where I was going. Part of the problem was that you couldn't go six feet without tripping over a lake, and there were only a handful of shopping or residential areas. The land is made of red clay and deep green grass, powdery dirt lines the side of the road and the sky is larger than the ground underfoot. Your uninterrupted line of sight is not to the horizon but always somewhere short of that, sometimes it seems like you can only see a footballs filed length ahead of you. These however aren't rolling hills but rather some kind of optical illusion, cresting one hill provides no superior view of another, instead you see another football fields length ahead.
Towns crop up everywhere, distinguished by water towers. As you drive you will invariably see four or five different water towers, each with the name of the town it resides in, beyond that there is no sense of entering or leaving one area or the next. The drives however can be very impressive as you cruise along two lane roads towards another town, cattle lining the road and clouds all over.
Animals in Texas are different as well. It seemed that every few blocks there was a small ranch or farm, with long horn cattle and black and white cows. However the smell wasn't there, I'm used to California, where as you approach a dairy farm or cattle ranch an impenetrable smell hits you...cow shit as far as the eye can see, and miserable cows all crammed together along a feeding trough. I was so fond of the cows and steer, wandering too and fro eating at their leisure. Better yet were the alpaca farms, mixed in with the cows, or the ranches full of horses and colts all bouncing around.
Besides these animals however I was introduced to another wonder of Texas...Jurassic Park.
Yeah, just like that.
On my last Monday there (I was supposed to stay four days, but decided once I got there instead to stay three weeks) Jenn showed me a walking trail beside her apartment. Walking across the bridge, overlooking the slow moving stream and marsh we entered into a close grouping of trees and bamboo. I noticed the cottony webs of the larger than expected spiders there. As a side note I had gone to her fathers lake house during a going away for a friend of Jenn's and while out on a nearby dock I found myself surrounded by literally dozens of enormous orb weaver spiders. Their bodies were the size of a quarter, their webs strung everywhere and apparently the food supply was so low that they had begun preying one each other. It was nightmare fuel.
Back to the story, as we continued down the trail I came to a stop at the sight of a peculiar yellow leaf on the ground. To my surprise it was no leaf but instead was an enormous grasshopper! Proceeding down the trail we encountered hundreds of these grasshoppers, leaping to and fro out of our path. Overhead we were soon surrounded by over sized dragonflies of varying colors and markings. It was the god damned Jurassic in there, bugs of enormous proportions, everywhere! And snakes, and lizards!
Earlier in my stay Jenn and I had been asked to take care of her dogs, Goldie, Juliet and Jackie. Each of these dogs is adorable in its own way. Jackie, is a Jack Russel Terrier, who by all accounts is a puppy, but in truth is actually 10 or so. Juliet and Goldie, are both Golden Retrievers, with Goldie being the oldest at 13 or more. Goldie is the best because she pays close attention to me when I talk to her, unlike Jackie who shows that she understand me, but simply doesn't feel like listening. I would take them out to do their business each evening and on one of these occasions I found Jackie hassling something in the grass, I by that point was used to Jackie giving squirrels the business, but knew that any living squirrel was too fast for her. As I approached I discovered an enormous toad! Dark brown it was the size of my whole hand, it sat quietly as Jackie prodded it with her nose, not wanting such a interesting specimen to be licked I reached down and lifted it up and away replacing it where Jackie could not reach it. In the same breath i noticed on a nearby window the silhouette of a lizard, and with no small amount of interest approached what I discovered to be a GECKO! With little suction-y feet and everything! Reaching for it it took off like lightning, and somewhere behind me Jackie snickered at my failure.
Then there was the fishing! At the lake house I had an opportunity to fish, an activity I haven't done in years, and which i have never actually been successful at. This time however! Whamo! I was catching fish like a madman! My very first time lowering the bait in the water was met with an instantaneous grab by a catfish. Unfortunately for me the fish weren't big enough to warrant eating.
That's where it happened...oh yeah and that dock further out, where the zig zaggy sidewalk goes, that's where the spiders were. Don't go to the second dock.
Lord, I could go on forever about the food, the best part is that the 'Chain Restaurant' is all I really had, places like "Ritzy's", "Dicky's", and "Saltgrass." This means that there are tons of local family places that are undoubtedly even better than that. Special mention goes to Los Burros, a small Mexican restaurant that served me the best enchilada I've had...ever.
Excuse me, I need to go have words with the chef.
So, enough about all that, lets talk about the people I met? Yes? Of course!
First off...
Jenn! She was the purveyor of the good times and is also my girlfriend. Gorgeous and skilled in language (tops at grammar and capable of reading and writing French) she was the main draw of my visit. If you want to know what the second draw of my visit was it was Sonic's Drive In. I love her to pieces...millions of pieces. Also I miss her now that I'm back in Ventura.
Then there's...
Geoff Blair. It is interesting to note that Geoff is rather a lot like my other friend Brandon, mannerisms, voice, and attitudes. the major differences are that Geoff is fairly quick when it comes to the sciences, especially physics (which I'm fuzzy on) and language. I would be hard pressed to come up with a comprehensive list of the things that make Geoff awesome. Seriously, it's not even worth trying to comprehend how great this guy is.
Then of course there's...
Jess! Jess is Jenn's friend. The reason I'm so fond of Jess is that Jenn's history with friends that are girls is kind of rocky. Primarily they were mean and/or manipulative, and they would usually ditch her in favor of some kind of perceived 'better deal.' Jess on the other hand has been awesome to Jenn, and when someone is rude to her Jess will leap to Jenn's defense. She also is chock full of good advice and ideas. Sadly though she has moved to California to finish a law degree...that's right, she's a lawyer, she can crucify you with your own words. Also, her father is the Vice President of Medieval Times, as such before she left we went there and had a extremely good time, which was also helped along by our server, a guy named Bill.
Now we have this gentleman,
JD Livergood, of the Tatooine Livergoods. JD is Jenn's friend, and a capable artist and game developer. He has a tendency to sell himself short, in spite of his multiple talents...also when you glue a cocopuff to his face he looks remarkably like Lemmy from Motorhead. JD's rating is: ACE OF SPADES!
Then there's this guy...
Oh balls! He's got a cute dog! BALLLLLS! This Jeremy, we had lunch at a nice Italian place with a very terse waitress. He is extremely knowledgeable about history and political theory, at the very least it appeared that way in conversation. He's also funny and gets my jokes.
I would keep introducing you to these people but I'm hungry and have been writing this for like two and a half hours now. Anyway, the long and short of it is that Texas was great and I'll be going there at my earliest convenience. This will however be to the chagrin of the myriad of people who all unanimously agree that Texas is a horrible place for me, in spite of often never having visited there or simply secretly wanting me to stay because they'll miss me otherwise. For these people I'm sorry, but you can always visit, under which circumstances I'll take you my favorite restaurants.
Texas is of course the second largest state in the Union, with a history of struggle against whomever it happened to be under at the time. Oddly its name means 'Ally' or 'Friend' in the Caddo language, which implies that Texas actively seeks out allies, then once in the fold goes all independent. I guess then it would be àpropos that I didn't just visit but intend on moving there, it will be like most of my jobs, I'll mesh well, then go all independent, while it tries to go independent from me. We may actually nullify each other.
The reason behind the trip was so I could reunite with my lost love, get a feel for the area, and plot a possible move. I had purchased my tickets and all seemed in good order, until I received a phone call at two in the morning.
"This is American Airlines automated service, we're calling to notify you that your flight at 8:15 AM on June 11 has been canceled and you have been auto rescheduled to a flight on June 12th at 6:30 PM." Responding to this was difficult as I had just crawled into bed after hanging out with my chum Owen and Chum-ette Veronica. I was certainly shocked however, still listening in shock as my brain tried to recalculate the details of my departure. "If you consent to this departure time state 'I consent.' If you would like to speak to a representative wait on the line." I quickly stifled a stream of profanities out of the fear that one of them would sound like acquiescence, fumbling for a pen I suddenly heard an exhausted voice on the other end of the line.
"Thank you for choosing American Airlines, my name is Carol, how may I help you." I was amazed, they staffed people at this hour, they actually had what appeared to be a 24 hour phone service. That's the thing with airlines, they're the only 'flying' show in town, they can do whatever they damn well please. After a quick explanation that they had canceled my flight a few hours before departure I requested a flight earlier than the following day. I got my wish, one hour earlier, however this was the only available flight, and now I was in a pickle.
I had asked a friend to drive me to the airport, but the hour was far to early/late to notify him of the change in scheduling, and besides him I had no friends in the city, certainly not any who would drive me to LAX at such an ungodly hour. I had to quickly call all the various airporters in the area, finding that most had regular business hours of operation and were completely unreachable at that hour. Finally I found one company that was still available and I got my transportation arranged.
Obviously I made it to the airport and then subsequently had to endure all the regular bullshit associated with modern flight in this POST 9/11 WORLD! But when I landed I was off on an adventure of discovery in the large...large...LARGE, flat, state of Texas.
Alright, here's the deal, when you're flying into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport you are flying over Grapevine, Texas. The most striking thing in the landscape aside from the lakes everywhere is the Gaylord hotel, which houses an impressive ice sculpture collection during Christmas time. This photo however is of the more visually noticeable hotel down the road from my girlfriend Jenn's apartment. This is the Great Wolf Lodge, and it seemed that every time I turned a corner there were those four wolves all standing around looking...large. It really was an impressive looking place, it had an attached water park, and in fact this photo comes from a theme park website. The water park had one of those massive funnels that ejects families in tubes into a spinning cauldron of hydration. It reminded me of the Happy Gargler from Happy World Land in Tiny Toons: How I spent My Summer Vacation.
To put it mildly my time in Texas was simply grand, primarily because I found a place with temperatures to my liking. From when I arrived to when I left the temperature never descended below 80 degrees, but even better than that the humidity never dropped below 1,010%, it was like swimming in air...hot fucking jungle air, and I was so warm...so warm and comfortable...like an air blanket. Just as good as this was that Texas mandates that apartments have AC, and I discovered that Jenn's preferred temperature is somewhere in the mid 70's, warm enough that i don't need blankets at night, but cool enough that I feel refreshed when I've spent an afternoon in the 96 degree humidity.
The first order of business however was getting food, which necessitated a trip to Jenn's favorite sushi restaurant in the area. The name I think was Edohana, which presumably means 'Flower of Edo.' I took Jenn's advice and tried the much talked about 'Temptation Roll,' which was stupid delicious, like some kind of flavor Tyrannosaurus. I suppose the story of my time in Texas was simpler than that however since it's more about the people I met and the area I was in.
Texas is vast and winding, so much so that I was always confounded by the placement of roads and where I was in relation to where I was going. Part of the problem was that you couldn't go six feet without tripping over a lake, and there were only a handful of shopping or residential areas. The land is made of red clay and deep green grass, powdery dirt lines the side of the road and the sky is larger than the ground underfoot. Your uninterrupted line of sight is not to the horizon but always somewhere short of that, sometimes it seems like you can only see a footballs filed length ahead of you. These however aren't rolling hills but rather some kind of optical illusion, cresting one hill provides no superior view of another, instead you see another football fields length ahead.
Towns crop up everywhere, distinguished by water towers. As you drive you will invariably see four or five different water towers, each with the name of the town it resides in, beyond that there is no sense of entering or leaving one area or the next. The drives however can be very impressive as you cruise along two lane roads towards another town, cattle lining the road and clouds all over.
Animals in Texas are different as well. It seemed that every few blocks there was a small ranch or farm, with long horn cattle and black and white cows. However the smell wasn't there, I'm used to California, where as you approach a dairy farm or cattle ranch an impenetrable smell hits you...cow shit as far as the eye can see, and miserable cows all crammed together along a feeding trough. I was so fond of the cows and steer, wandering too and fro eating at their leisure. Better yet were the alpaca farms, mixed in with the cows, or the ranches full of horses and colts all bouncing around.
Besides these animals however I was introduced to another wonder of Texas...Jurassic Park.
Yeah, just like that.
On my last Monday there (I was supposed to stay four days, but decided once I got there instead to stay three weeks) Jenn showed me a walking trail beside her apartment. Walking across the bridge, overlooking the slow moving stream and marsh we entered into a close grouping of trees and bamboo. I noticed the cottony webs of the larger than expected spiders there. As a side note I had gone to her fathers lake house during a going away for a friend of Jenn's and while out on a nearby dock I found myself surrounded by literally dozens of enormous orb weaver spiders. Their bodies were the size of a quarter, their webs strung everywhere and apparently the food supply was so low that they had begun preying one each other. It was nightmare fuel.
Back to the story, as we continued down the trail I came to a stop at the sight of a peculiar yellow leaf on the ground. To my surprise it was no leaf but instead was an enormous grasshopper! Proceeding down the trail we encountered hundreds of these grasshoppers, leaping to and fro out of our path. Overhead we were soon surrounded by over sized dragonflies of varying colors and markings. It was the god damned Jurassic in there, bugs of enormous proportions, everywhere! And snakes, and lizards!
Earlier in my stay Jenn and I had been asked to take care of her dogs, Goldie, Juliet and Jackie. Each of these dogs is adorable in its own way. Jackie, is a Jack Russel Terrier, who by all accounts is a puppy, but in truth is actually 10 or so. Juliet and Goldie, are both Golden Retrievers, with Goldie being the oldest at 13 or more. Goldie is the best because she pays close attention to me when I talk to her, unlike Jackie who shows that she understand me, but simply doesn't feel like listening. I would take them out to do their business each evening and on one of these occasions I found Jackie hassling something in the grass, I by that point was used to Jackie giving squirrels the business, but knew that any living squirrel was too fast for her. As I approached I discovered an enormous toad! Dark brown it was the size of my whole hand, it sat quietly as Jackie prodded it with her nose, not wanting such a interesting specimen to be licked I reached down and lifted it up and away replacing it where Jackie could not reach it. In the same breath i noticed on a nearby window the silhouette of a lizard, and with no small amount of interest approached what I discovered to be a GECKO! With little suction-y feet and everything! Reaching for it it took off like lightning, and somewhere behind me Jackie snickered at my failure.
Then there was the fishing! At the lake house I had an opportunity to fish, an activity I haven't done in years, and which i have never actually been successful at. This time however! Whamo! I was catching fish like a madman! My very first time lowering the bait in the water was met with an instantaneous grab by a catfish. Unfortunately for me the fish weren't big enough to warrant eating.
That's where it happened...oh yeah and that dock further out, where the zig zaggy sidewalk goes, that's where the spiders were. Don't go to the second dock.
Lord, I could go on forever about the food, the best part is that the 'Chain Restaurant' is all I really had, places like "Ritzy's", "Dicky's", and "Saltgrass." This means that there are tons of local family places that are undoubtedly even better than that. Special mention goes to Los Burros, a small Mexican restaurant that served me the best enchilada I've had...ever.
Excuse me, I need to go have words with the chef.
So, enough about all that, lets talk about the people I met? Yes? Of course!
First off...
Jenn! She was the purveyor of the good times and is also my girlfriend. Gorgeous and skilled in language (tops at grammar and capable of reading and writing French) she was the main draw of my visit. If you want to know what the second draw of my visit was it was Sonic's Drive In. I love her to pieces...millions of pieces. Also I miss her now that I'm back in Ventura.
Then there's...
Geoff Blair. It is interesting to note that Geoff is rather a lot like my other friend Brandon, mannerisms, voice, and attitudes. the major differences are that Geoff is fairly quick when it comes to the sciences, especially physics (which I'm fuzzy on) and language. I would be hard pressed to come up with a comprehensive list of the things that make Geoff awesome. Seriously, it's not even worth trying to comprehend how great this guy is.
Then of course there's...
Jess! Jess is Jenn's friend. The reason I'm so fond of Jess is that Jenn's history with friends that are girls is kind of rocky. Primarily they were mean and/or manipulative, and they would usually ditch her in favor of some kind of perceived 'better deal.' Jess on the other hand has been awesome to Jenn, and when someone is rude to her Jess will leap to Jenn's defense. She also is chock full of good advice and ideas. Sadly though she has moved to California to finish a law degree...that's right, she's a lawyer, she can crucify you with your own words. Also, her father is the Vice President of Medieval Times, as such before she left we went there and had a extremely good time, which was also helped along by our server, a guy named Bill.
Now we have this gentleman,
JD Livergood, of the Tatooine Livergoods. JD is Jenn's friend, and a capable artist and game developer. He has a tendency to sell himself short, in spite of his multiple talents...also when you glue a cocopuff to his face he looks remarkably like Lemmy from Motorhead. JD's rating is: ACE OF SPADES!
Then there's this guy...
Oh balls! He's got a cute dog! BALLLLLS! This Jeremy, we had lunch at a nice Italian place with a very terse waitress. He is extremely knowledgeable about history and political theory, at the very least it appeared that way in conversation. He's also funny and gets my jokes.
I would keep introducing you to these people but I'm hungry and have been writing this for like two and a half hours now. Anyway, the long and short of it is that Texas was great and I'll be going there at my earliest convenience. This will however be to the chagrin of the myriad of people who all unanimously agree that Texas is a horrible place for me, in spite of often never having visited there or simply secretly wanting me to stay because they'll miss me otherwise. For these people I'm sorry, but you can always visit, under which circumstances I'll take you my favorite restaurants.
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