June 03, 2004
Two weeks of fun and partyin'!
So, since my surprise party, I've gone to some more parties. Teel (who turned thirty just after I did) threw a Tauruses Bash in Austin, which was way fun. With fire twirlers and kick ass Israeli chicks and dancing and music. And fire. Then, on Sunday, we went and played disc golf at Zilker park. Fun way to get rid of a hangover. Then, the following weekend, Tommy absconded with me to LOLX in Tulsa. Well, that was the cover story anyhow. Tommy really hooked me up, because my ladytype was coming in for the exchange as well. I picked her up at the airport on Friday night, and we had some good times. Saturday was dancing and hanging out with new friends, and Sunday was more of the same. Early early Monday morning, I drove the crew back to Dallas. And then slept like the dead.
So, that brings us to this past weekend. Friday was MattM's thirtieth birthday party (lots of those going around lately!). We went to Genroku for sushi, which was absolutely amazing. Had these crunchy little crabbies that you eat whole. And sushi. And whole fried prawn heads (that tasted kinda like french fries) and sashimi and sushi and more sushi and OH MY GOD MORE SUSHI. Please, for the love of all that's holy, WE SURRENDER. No more sushi!
Then we went over to MattM's place for hangin' out and birthday cake. One birthday cake committed suicide, which was (in retrospect) pretty funny. The other one we lit on fire and sang to. Then, the group gave MattM his shiny new iPod, which he was pretty excited about. Played 1000 Blank White Cards and had some laughs.
Saturday. Went to the airport to pick up the ladytype. Again. Yay. : ) Then party at Lee's house! Keg of Shiner Bock, two DJ's, burgers and dogs, and 50 of my closest chums. And I got to see my girl again. So, all in all, All Good.
Sunday night was Tommy's Blues Party, which are always good for some dancin' and having of fun. I took the keg (which was only half empty) and Barb (my girl) and some leftover yummyfood. But we kept the brownie bites. They were yummy. Much dancing and music an good times happen now.
Monday (Memorial Day), MattW and Seattle Jess and Rusty and Sarah and Barb and I went to Lake Lewisville to play disc golf. I almost landed a disc in a picnic basket surrounded by cuties, and then I threw it into the lake. Fortunately, one of the swimmers managed to help me find it. Then we went back to R&S's house, and had tostadas and game time.
Tuesday, Barb had to get on the plane (*sniff!*) and went back to Portland. I opted not to go to The Bone as the weather was nasty and I like it better when the dancing is outside.
Today, I went to the gun range with BillK and my dad. We scared a lot of paper targets really bad. Then, mom and I went to see Miss Saigon. Good show, although I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, and I still don't like State Fair Music Hall very much.
So! That's that. Still waiting to hear back when I'm going to start in LA. Getting impatient.
Posted by Lee at 11:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 21, 2003
I Miss Austin.
This weekend, I visited Austin. I had two superb reasons to do so. First, my friend Teel was moving down there, and was throwing a big party. Also, the Austin Lindy Exchange was in town, and several of my friends were headed down for that.
So, off I went! Teel and I drove down with this fellow Dan (who, until the previous Tuesday, neither of us had ever met.) He was in from LA on business, and got roped into going to the Exchange.
Teel and I dropped Dan at the dance at midnight on Friday (which, by the way, was going to more or less last for the next 36 hours), and decided that we were tired. I crashed out on the sofa, and thus endeth day 1.
On Day 2, we went shopping for food. Then there was cleaning (Becky and Gene were there to help until they went to phase III of The Dance Thing), and decorating of Teel's new bedroom (which is really nice). Teel came up with a great recipe for finger sammiches with cream cheese, dill, and cucumber. Yum. I grilled some veggies and threw some queso in the crock pot, and made pico de gallo.
Kelly (the Owner of This Abode Where the Party Is At) shows up with the keg (w00t!) and a couple cool cats I'd met at Kerrville a few weeks ago. The party then commenced.
Kelly had arranged for some bands to play. First up was Shane, a singer-songwriter guitar player guy. Very talented. Good stuff. Next up was Porter Davis, down from Boston. Very excellent.
Rusty, Sarah, and MattM came down for the party. Celena and her boy Anthony were there, which was super cool since I haven't seen them since the Superhero Party. I got to see Suzyn, who I haven't seen since the Gaud & Gaudess Party.
I must move back to Austin.
Sunday morning, I woke up and cooked waffles for them what was awake (that is, my Dallas peeps) and then we went to go play disc golf at Pease Park, where I learned the game. We played about half a game, and decided we were tired and hungry and still slightly hung over. I tried to take my friends to Kerbey Lane, but I got lost. Then I tried to take them to Magnolia Cafe, which was too crowded. So we went to Mangia for the best pizza in a 700 mile radius. It was JUUUUUST right.
Then the Dallas peeps went home, and I took a nap in Kelly's recording studio. A note about this house: It is, in fact, a compound, by virtue of the fact that there exist three buildings on the property. The house, the spa gazebo, and the recording studio (with a really cool loft which has the perfect sunlight for afternoon napping).
Teel and I went to Chuy's, thus making Lee go to two of his favourite restaurants ever in one day. Chuychanga GOOD. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get in touch with Tommy to find out where the dancing was occuring that night. This was bad, because I was saving a dance for Barb. I'll have to catch her next time.
Today, Teel and I drove back from Austin, and we went over to look at Rusty's new car. I must have gainful employment.
PS: There's a new skyscraper in A-town. I think it looks sort of like Superman's Fortress of Solitude. I believe that I shall rule the universe from a penthouse throne room in this building.
Posted by Lee at 01:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 05, 2003
Now THAT is what I call a weekend!
BIG weekend!
Thursday night, I crashed over at
help install the hot tub Friday morning.
Big Tub!
Friday night, the tub
was successfully inaugurated by a bunch o' people. But that was
just the warm-up.
Saturday, it was time for the
So here's the set up. Tommy decided to host a party to raise
money for local charities. He sent out about 100 invitations, and
asked people to bring items that they would like to auction off for
charity. All the proceeds would be paid directly from the winning
bidders, to their selected charities. We figured that it'd be
good for a laugh, and maybe we'd raise $400 or so for some needy people.
Well, we were half right.
Tommy had been sick, so after the first item or two he asked me to take
over the gavel and run the auction. It was a bit crazy riding
herd on a room full of 40 or so people, keeping track of who was
bidding how much, but several people told me that I did good
work. That made me happy!
MC 900 foot Lee
To sum up, our party guests contributed almost SEVENTEEN HUNDRED
DOLLARS. All the merchandise was donated by other generous
guests, so every cent is going to go to local charities.
So tell me that's not super-awesome, huh?
You can check out the list of goodies we sold, along with a lot of
pictures of party-goers, at the
I'll let the list, and the pictures, speak for themselves.
After the auction, it was time to jump in the HOT TUB! At about
3:30 AM, it was decided that it was time for breakfast. I'd
brought a waffle iron, and waffle batter, and some strawberries for
topping. I got to be the big hero again, and made up a big stack
o' waffle-age for my adoring fans.
I finally dragged myself out of the hot tub at about 5:30 and crashed
on a sofa.
Oddly for me, I woke up just a few hours later feeling like a million
bucks. I sat down at Tommy's computer and tabulated the bids, and
posted the results to the wrap-up site. Then I made soem vague
stabs at cleaning up. Sorta.
Sunday evening, it was Tomato Night for
Nite. We watched
Tomatoes, and ate spaghetti, and pizza, and red velvet cupcakes
(which although they did not include tomatoes, LOOKED like tomatoes,
which was neat, because in AKT the tomatoes eat people but we got to
eat them instead. Yum.)
Of course, I was beat, so I snoozed a bit and caught the really funny
bits.
Now I'm home. In front of my keyboard. Typing this.
I'm totally incoherent.
Tommy's blog is here.
More pictures
I am now going to sleep like the dead.
Posted by Lee at 11:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 03, 2003
Hippies and Wine: Recipe for a Good Weekend
WOW!
I just had the funnest time. (Yeah, that IS a word, thanks for askin'.) My plan for the weekend changed a bit when my car died, limiting my mobility, so I arranged to ride to Central Texas with my friend Teel. After meeting her folks, and having a not-very-positive job interview in Austin, we went to Kerrville.
I had NO IDEA what I was in for.
Twice a year, every hippie in a 1000 mile radius of Kerrville, Texas descends upon an RV park called Quiet Valley Ranch to camp, hang out, listen to music, and socialize. In the spring, they come for the Kerrville Folk Festival ("Big Folk", in Kerrville-speak), and in late summer, they come for the Kerrville Wine & Music Festival ("Little Folk").
I had NO IDEA there were so many hippies still around.
The first thing I got to do was help Teel's dad build a floor for Faye, the tarot-reader lady. Later that weekend, she thanked me with a reading that was LOTS of fun. More on that soon. Then, a party started right outside my tent half an hour after I attempted to go to bed. So, I got dressed again and found about a zillion hippies gathered around the picnic table. I spoke with Kendall at some length about pop culture. He and I divined the sum total meaning of Prince's lyrics: Basically, we decided, The Artist likes to have sex. A lot. I have to admire his singlemindedness of purpose, if nothing else. This seemed pretty profound at the time.
Basically, I spent the next couple days hangin' out in the river, drinking a bit o' wine, singing, and listening to a bunch of great music.
I also made gravel angels. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I got to go swimming at Monkey Island, which had neither monkeys, nor islands. I did, however, meet Curtis and Giovanna. These people wound up being on the wine-sellin' crew with me. Curtis is an American expatriate chiropractor, living on the east coast of Italy with his lovely girlfriend Giovanna. Cool people. Now I've got a place to crash in Italy. Life is grand!
Third Crossing Swimmin' Hole
That afternoon, I went to my "duty station" to set up the wine booths. (Basically, as a volunteer for the festival, they gave me two meals a day, free soda, and free beer. This is what we call a "no-brainer".) I met Colby, a friend of Teel's, who was the crew leader. Let me tell you, this guy wore me out with how hard he worked HIMSELF. Next year, if I get to be on his crew again, I'm going to tie him to a chair and make him delegate more. I met Tonya, her husband Gooch, Chrystal, and the Italian folks (again). Tommy, Erin, and Carolyn had not arrived, but they'd help us the next nights. I also met Earl, our mascot. Earl was a big ol' black and yellow argiope garden spider who kept us relatively bug-free.
Earl's Cousin.
View from my booth
View OF my booth
I was working in the Alamosa Wine Cellars booth. I had two wines to sell, both made from the Sangiovese grape (which I'd never heard of before). At first, the Risato di Sangiovese didn't really impress me much, but I had many customers who really liked it. On a second taste, I liked it better and think it'd be good with pasta. Chrystal and Curtis didn't like it at all...which was fine, since they didn't have to sell it. Heh. I was right next to the Sister Creek booth, and the Becker Vineyards booth. Both had wines that I really liked, although Becker was selling a Chardonnay, which I typically don't care for at all. Anyhow, we stayed there all night selling wine, and listening to music, and, uh, sampling the products, and talking to people...very very pleasant.
Teel and Carolyn: Two Lovely Ladies...who are CERTAINLY Up To Something.
Kids Jugglin'
I Like Wine
Three Pretty Girls, and a Crazy Tommy. Teel, Tommy, Erin, and Chrystal
On Sunday, I got my reading from Faye. She told me that I was both very analytical and very intuitive (true), that I am sensitive to the needs of people around me (true), and that I could expect several turnarounds in my life in the immediate future (yay!). I apparently already am acquainted with the woman I will marry, and I can anticipate an improvement in my financial and professional fortunes. So, pretty much good news all around! Faye and I spoke a bit, and I told her that although I don't necessarily believe in the mechanisms of tarot and astrology, I believe in their value as affirmations of what a person might already know. She surprised me by agreeing. She also told me that she really liked her floor. Yay!
Chrystal and I found a good blues-y song, and started dancing. She's better than me.
Finally, later that night, I got out of my booth a bit and listened to the bands. Chrystal and I wandered over to the band shell and caught most of Willis Alan Ramsey's set. Good stuff. I also met Hans the leather guy, who was really cool.
Later that night, the staff party happened. John, the festival organizer, bought our crew a bottle of Dom Perignon, because apparently we did a really good job that weekend. (I'm convinced it was all Colby, because all I did was sit on my rear and sell a bit of wine.) It was really cool to sit around a picnic table, taking pulls off a champagne bottle, on a beautiful Texas night. Very pleasant.
Colby and the Dom
Just after we finished our booze, there was a wedding! Teel's friend Jen married her boy Aaron, who she'd met at the last Folk Festival. This old coot in a funny hat, who also happened to be a minister, married 'em right there on top of a picnic table. Much loudness ensued.
Bride n' Groom!
After the remaining kegs were floated, everybody filtered back to their respective campsites. Chrystal and I wandered around, looking for cool music, which we found in spades. At about 5am, I decided I wasn't going to be able to make it 'till sunrise (since I was helping Tommy drive back home), and crashed.
Cool Campsite!
At about 10:30, Tommy comes into my tent.
"LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE! Get up! Chrystal gave me the keys to her car!"
w000t!
My feet hit the floor immediately. I got dressed real fast. Chrystal has a brand new Mini, and told Tommy he could take it for a spin. Since Tommy a) can't drive a stick and b) is always looking out for me, he woke me up. So I had to drive. *sigh* It's tough to be me! So we took it for a quick run. Pedal placement on this car is just PERFECT, and the shifter is a dream. Handling was sharp, precise, and responsive. The car felt really handy. I think I gotta get me one of those.
Then, it was time to go. Tommy and I hopped into the car, and headed home. That night, we were celebrating my parents' 33rd anniversary (YAY MOM & DAD!). My sister had done most of the leg-work for me, since I was out of town. She'd made a cake, some twice-baked potatoes, and procured steaks. All I had to do was make Steak au Poivre happen. Yum.
Then I went to bed. Bed good. What a great weekend!
Lots more pics here.
Posted by Lee at 02:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 18, 2003
Toobin' Rules!
ROAD TRIP!
Tommy, Teel, and I went to New Braunfels this weekend to go toobin'. Friday night, we stayed with Teel's friend Elaine, in a beautiful house not too far from downtown New Braunfels. On our way through Austin on Friday, we stopped for coffee and met two different Heathers, both friends of Teel (who, for reasons that will likely only ever be funny to the two of us, will henceforth be dubbed the Teel of Two Cities) who decided to come play on the river with us the next day. We saw a goat, which looked TOTALLY EVIL. I love Austin.
Elaine was kind enough to open her door for us at a really absurd hour, and gave us comfortable beds to crash into.
Saturday morning, I appointed myself Keeper of the Time, and proceeded to harry my party members out of the house so we could Go Have Some Fun. After going to both a Wal-Mart and a Target looking for new trunks for Tommy, and water shoes for Teel, and food for all of us, we finally rendezvoused with Heather, Heather, and Mark at Felger's Toob Rental across from Prince Solms Park.
(Incidentally, it's getting really hard to keep all the Matts and all the Heathers straight in my head. Couple weeks ago, we just decided to number them and marry them off together: Seven Matts for Seven Heathers. OK, it was funny if you were there. Trust me.)
So we got into the river a bit after noon, and ran the Toob Chute. Grand time. Everybody survived, thanks to the RALLY MONKEY! (picture forthcoming) that protected our cooler. Unfortunately, RALLY MONKEY (and yours truly) had less luck on our second run, after we'd met up with Shannon and her friends Corey and Abe. When we ran the chute, the cooler tumped over. I managed to get it back upright, but at that moment, the latch blew and dumped the contents of the cooler into the MASSIVE WHIRLPOOL at the base of the tube chute.
Doh.
I was really proud that I managed to grab both wallets, and most of the shoes. The beer was gone (WOE!), and I did lose one of Heather's white Converse All-Stars. eek.
Anyhow, we got our act back together, and continued down the river.
After our second run, we went back to Elaine's to clean up and get ready for dinner at Romeo's, my all-time favourite Italian joint. We scored some bruscetta with the GARLICKY GARLICKY GARLIC on top. Sorry, but if you go to an Italian joint with me, you will have to put up with my garlic breath until I get to a toothbrush (which I usually carry). I figure you sign up for that when you agree to eat Italian food, which is NOTHING without garlic.
So, after dinner, we headed to Celena's pad for the Superhero Party. I was dressed as the SPACE POPE!, while Tommy and Teel were Bubble Man! and Teenage Viking Supergoddess! respectively.
After chillin' with some really gnarly blue punch, we went to another party across town. Teel's friends Chris and Lee were throwing a bash for Holly's birthday. All of these people were, of course, utter strangers to me...which was even funnier when I walked in with a pointy hat and a weird robe, blessing people. SPACE POPE gets around. I knew I was in the right place when there was a Brunswick bowling alley overhead score-projector sitting in the front yard.
So then Teel decides to try on Chris's chain mail vest. Every man in the building immediately becomes slightly happier. w00t!
Spoke with a lot of cool people, but then it was time to go. We were crashing at Celena's place. Earlier in the evening, we were instructed to come in, and yell "FAHRVERGNUGEN!" to announce our presence when we got back. We did. Only to discover that the people in the living room that we'd just invaded were a) asleep and b) not Celena and Anthony.
Good thing they were c) not armed. After a bit of funny introductions (OK, they were funny to me, but I wasn't the one woken up by three weirdos coming through the door!) we got our sleeping arrangements squared away and crashed.
The next morning, we got our show on the road. Went out to my favourite scenic overlook, the top floor of the parking garage of the building I used to work at (on Courtyard Drive off 360, by the bridge). We took some pictures of RALLY MONKEY! and the skyline, and then piled back into the van for the ride home.
Dropped Teel at her apartment, which also has a spectacular view, and then headed to Rusty & Sarah's for Movie Nite. It was a good crowd indeed, although I was not nearly smart enough to watch Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, which is a superb movie IFF you pay attention to it. Which I couldn't. We did have fajitas, with beef OR chicken OR shrimp. Weyandt brought some shrimp marinade that was absolutely spectacular. Far better than my effort. Good work, man. Allison brought a pound cake and strawberries, which was yummy, and I made a Romanoff sauce to put on top. I promise I'll post a recipe as soon as it's codified, rather than *taste* needs sugar. *taste* needs vanilla. Repeat. Amy said she had a good recipe...maybe I'll talk her out of it. Gene of course made the original, and told me the ingredients...need to talk him out of the proportions too.
So, food, and movie. Big crowd. Good people. Then we stuffed 'em all into the hot tub. With squirt guns. Oh, happy day! 13 people in a 7 person tub. Good thing we're all friendly-types.
Then, home, and cleaning out the van. Gotta vacuum it tomorrow, but it's shiny on the outside and empty on the inside. Now, it's bedtime.
RALLY MONKEY!
Tommy has more pics here. Rusty has more hot-tub pics here.
Posted by Lee at 01:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 03, 2003
It's a Man Thing
Last night was Manly Men Night. Tommy and I went out to his friend's ranch, and we drank beer and rode in jeeps and lit meat on fire and played poker and shot blowguns and did all sorts of socially unacceptable things.
I was awarded the Heisenberg Award for Field Engineering for repairing a non-functional potato gun using duct tape and a Red Stripe bottle cap. Jah love! The ignition electrode had fallen off, so after a bit of very clever experimenting, I figured that a bottle cap crimped around the piezoelectric BBQ igniter would give a pretty good spark. I was right! The fact that I was able to think clearly enough to experiment with electricity leads me to conclude I hadn't had enough to drink. I was a little disappointed that I didn't remember how to solve my kinematics equations for displacement, so I couldn't estimate the vertical travel of the potato given its overall flight time. Oh well. I'll get over it.
I also got to keep the potato gun. w00t!
Breakfast was flapjacks and sausage and bacon and eggs and beer. Do we know how to have fun, or what?
Posted by Lee at 11:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack