M E M O R Y L E S S N E S S

yesterday was the 4th of july. why didn’t i post this then? because i’m lazy, that’s why.

4th of july is a weird holiday. this is only the second time ever that it’s been a real holiday for me, with being off work and whatnot.

i was thinking of some previous fourths of july…

1) 1994 & 1995 - lots of fireworks with matt and crew, for a week or so before 7/4, on 7/4, and a week or so after 7/4.

2) 1996 - i was working at the movie theater. i bought my first CD that day at a certain store at 50th and memphis. well, not my first CD and certainly not my first album. but the first CD i’d bought since i actually had a CD player. i think i had one CD before that (brutal juice’s I Love the Way They Scream When They Die). that day, on my way to work, i bought Independent Worm Saloon by the butthole surfers. and it was awesome. then, that night (i think; it might have been the next day or a week later or something…it’s been 9 years, give me a break), i went to see Phenomenon (somewhat crappy travolta flick) with oscar at that theater.

3) 1998 - i worked at the store until 3ish, i think. then i went home and napped. then i went to a party at justin’s house, then another party, then another, then another. check out this entry from 7/7/98 for more details. i also finished reading Three Fisted Tales of Bob that night. all in all, i went to 5 parties that evening…got home around 5am, i think, and i made it to work on time at 10am. i even managed to sleep a bit. man, there’s no way i could do that now. of course, i wouldn’t want to, either…sleep is good.

4) 2000 - the first fourth of july i had with liz. also the first fourth of july that i was off work (i was actually off that whole week because the plant i was doing my internship at was closed that week). she worked, i think, but then we hung out that evening. we went to her boss’s house and hung out with him and his wife and some of her other coworkers, then we all went to shoot fireworks. that was a fun night, most definitely. i think she and i watched a movie after hanging out with those people, but i don’t remember which movie, or if we even watched one. either 7/3 or 7/5 that year, i also went and shot fireworks with bill. i think my mom was in the hospital that week, too. at least part of the week, anyway.

i find the details i remember about certain things to be weird. like, why does it matter when i bought Independent Worm Saloon? i don’t know. other details, though, i’m really glad to remember.

and what did i do yesterday? slept in, ate donuts, saw Star Wars again, ate burgers, ice cream, and pie. basically, i just hung out with liz all day (and all 3-day weekend). and it was glorious. best 4th of july to date.

…we finally got around to getting the car inspected, since the inspection was up in november. oh well.

today has been cool. got the car inspected, ate at taco cabana. went to the mall, bought this (for ourselves, as a late anniversary / early x-mas present) at the comic book store. we also bought some xmas presents and cards.

at the mall we ran into lynsey and her husband michael. i went to grad school with lynsey, but i don’t know her very well. she has one of my textbooks, though, dammit. she’d better give that shit back. anyway, i was tactful and didn’t mention it when we ran into her and michael at the mall. all was well.

at the hallmark store, we got xmas ornaments. liz got this really cute winnie the pooh and piglet ornament, and i got this star wars ornament, featuring chewbacca and c-3po.

‘twas a good day, yes indeedy. going to double dave’s for din-din in a little while, then we’ll probably put Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics on the stereo and put up the tree.

yo.

i was a little busy in november, what with the holiday and the anniversary and the funeral and the novel, plus there was that whole work thing. now for a recap of each of those…

the holiday - thanksgiving (duh): i got off work thurs. and fri. went to lunch with my boss’s boss and other folx on wed., after which the boss’s boss said we could go home. so i went home, helped liz clean the apartment, and then watched the end of Ju-On (the japanese movie on which The Grudge is based; it’s a lot better than the grudge, though it makes a whole lot less sense). after that, we ran various errands, then set out for the l-b-k. it took about an hour to get out of houston (we live right on the edge of town), since the traffic was so effin’ bad. we made it as far as abilene that night, so we stayed at a days inn. on thanksgiving, we went drove the rest of the way to lubbock, then went and ate with liz’s mom. after that, we went for a walk in the park, then went to eat with my parents. after that, we went to bash riprock’s with our friends amy and justin and drank several pitchers of dos equis.

the next day, we got up and went to the store where we used to work to see old friends who are still there. unfortunately, they had to work that day, the crappiest (or second crappiest, depending on the year) day of the year to work in retail. yeah. after that, we ate lunch with liz’s mom, then took a nice 3 hour nap. we got up and ate dinner with my parents, then helped them take their oodles of xmas decorations (seriously, oodles, man) down from their attic. then it was off to whiskey dix to see the incomparable icarus fixed (formerly known as nosmo king), who we used to see all the time when we lived there. good show, good show. after they played, i had nice chats with trevor and noel. torrie atchison played also, as did unspoken levels, which impressed me enough for me to shell out $5 for their CD. after the show, liz and i went to eat at “lone wolf express,” which is a decent (not too great, but not too bad) cheap all night mexican food place near my parents’ house. then it was sleep time.

saturday, we got up, chatted with my parents, then went to liz’s mom’s house to eat brunch. after that, we headed back to screwston. made it back here at about 1:00am sunday morning.

sunday, didn’t do too much, just worked on the novel (see below).

the anniversary - 5 years: 11/23 (the day before we left town for thanksgiving) was the 5 year anniversary of my first date with liz. that’s right, she’s put up with me for five years now. crazy! it seems like we’ve been together forever, but at the same time, it doesn’t seem like it could have possible been 5 years. thanks for everything, liz.

we went to din-din at a place called BJ’s (haha) Brewhouse. the pizza is better there than that at the hub city brewery in l-town, and the beer is almost as good. after that, we started watching that movie (see above). it was a good anniversary; the best one yet. and we get to do it all again in six months on our wedding anniversary. aww yeah!

the funeral - trip to st. louis: as i said, my uncle died on 11/12. we flew to st. louis (on 11/15) for the funeral (on 11/16), in which i was a pallbearer. not a fun job, but i had promised my aunt years ago that i’d do it for her husband. aside from the actual funeral, the trip was okay. really fast. we stayed at my cousin bob’s house, along with my mom and my brother (and bob’s wife brenda and their daughter kirsten). it was cool to see all of my cousins, and all but two of my aunts and uncles. liz got to meet everybody, and they all seemed to like her and she seemed to like them, so that’s cool. some of my cousins talked about how we should get together sometime aside from weddings and funerals, which would be nice. i don’t know if it will happen, but it would be nice. got back to houston really late at night on 11/16.

the novel - i finished it:

check it out. i finished my 50000 word novel (with 177 words to spare) in just the 30 days of november. (actually, i finished it in around 19-20 days. i took off 4 days around thanksgiving, 2 days for the trip to st. louis, and approximately 5 other days throughout the month). it’s about 50% based on my actual experiences as a boy scout and about 50% shit i made up. i’m not saying it’s good by any means, but it is done. so, i won. along with almost 6000 other people (including liz! way to go!).

no, you can’t read my novel.

work: still working. it’s going well. word.

when in dallas, we also saw Marilyn Manson (on halloween).

good show, though we missed the first 2 bands. the first one was called “Lo-Pro.” i thought they were the same “Lo Pro” that is/used to be a local (lubbock) rap/hip-hop group, but they’re not…white guys with tattoos. they were playing on a side stage when we got there. liz and i walked around for a while because they weren’t letting anyone sit in their seats in front of the main stage yet. she bought a manson shirt and we bought $4 waters.

anyway, we ran into my ex-boss/liz’s current boss and this guy that they work with and his girlfriend, so we talked to them for a bit, and then sat down when we were allowed to. yeah. after a while, some guy from some dallas radio station announced that “Jibe is up next” and that the first two bands had already played. whoops, we missed “Element 80,” who i’ve heard are really good…i wanted to see them to find out if that’s true, but alas.

“Jibe” is a local dallas-area band, and they pretty much sucked. Sevendust was up next, though, and they’re amazing. i’d seen them before, back in 1999 (right before liz and i started dating)…i have one of their albums, but the albums are not as good as the live show these guys put on. they’re insanely heavy live, but the albums are more mellow. odd. anyway, it was cool.

after Sevendust (anybody know what “Sevendust” means?), Staind played. liz and i walked around during their set because, well, they lick balls. we ate really salty pretzels and sat and talked and watched the people walk by in their costumes. we decided that some of them were probably in halloween costumes, while others probably would have dressed exactly the same for that show, regardless of the show’s date.

anyway, after much waiting, it seemed, manson finally took the stage. very cool, though the setup was kind of odd…the drummer was facing off to the side, sort of, and he wasn’t in/near the center of the stage, unlike the format most bands use. manson himself kept his clothes on (pants anyway), didn’t rip up a bible, and didn’t hump any of the band members, as he does in all of the live videos i’ve seen. that’s okay with me, but i thought it was weird. in his autobiography, i think, he mentions that in some localities, he has to tone down aspects of the show…perhaps ripping up a bible on stage in texas isn’t advisable; i don’t know. anyway, i knew the words to most of the songs they played, because i like the newest album and have heard it several times and the stuff he played from the older albums is the more recognizable stuff. i had a really good time at the show, though standing on the stadium-like seat was horribly uncomfortable (but necessary, since the person in front of me was standing on her seat).

after the show, liz and i called seth on the cell phone he’d let me borrow, to ask him if he could direct us to some sort of public transportation so we could get to his house. he said that his sister and brother-in-law were already there waiting for us, though, so that was really cool. liz declared that we should “walk in this direction,” and, as it turned out, we ended up right on the other side of the fence from where trish and jason were parked, waiting for us. we walked to the gate, then got in their minivan, and we were off to plano for the chach-house halloween party.

‘twas a good concert experience, yes indeed. ‘twas a good weekend overall, as i already mentioned.

this weekend was excellent. yes.

thursday

i came home from tutoring (nobody showed up, bastards), and liz and i ordered pizza (normally, we do that on friday, but this was a special weekend). we watched Halloween also, as we weren’t going to be in town on the 31st. it was, of course, excellent, as it always is. after the movie, we watched Guns, God, and Government (the marilyn manson music-video-thing), to get psyched for the show the next day. it’s pretty rad. after that, we started Halloween II but went to sleep before it was over.

friday morning

i went to school, and the prof. cut my class short…i skipped the afternoon class because we had to go to the airport and catch our flight to dallas. we had no problem getting there on time, so we ate lunch at the airport. while we were eating, they called for our flight to board. thus, we ended up not getting to sit together on the plane since it was full (we were both in middle seats; i was directly behind her). when we got to dallas, seth was waiting for us right outside the gate. being the swell guy that he is, he let me borrow his cellphone, so i could call him for a ride after the concert. he took us to the show; we got there right before the doors opened, so we stood in line for a bit.

the marilyn manson show

‘twas a good show, but that’s another post…aww yeah.

after the show, seth’s sister trish and her husband jason picked us up, as they happened to be around that part of dallas at that time. they took us to seth’s house for

The Chach-House Halloween Party

man, that’s a nice house. it’s a pity they’re all moving. the party was fun, though we were tired. drank lots of killian’s, aww yeah. talked to larry and trish and others, mostly, but also talked to seth and tara. a good time was had by all, i think. seth and tara were uber nice, and let us (liz and i) take over their room for the night. comfy-ness, as we’d expected to sleep on the floor.

saturday

woke up, cleaned up, went with seth, tara, her brother, and liz to see Bubba Hotep. awesome, awesome movie, but again that’s for another post. after the movie we ate lunch at a nearby irish/british pub/grill/thing…pretty good, aww yeah. got to talk to seth and tara some more, which was cool. after that, we went to the airport, after a quick detour to the virgin megastore.

on the flight home, the plane was about half empty, so liz and i got to sit together…we did a crossword puzzle, finishing it right before landing. neat.

from there, it was to the mall so liz could complete her halloween costume with a purchase at hot topic and a purchase at the dollar store. of course, we also looked at the puppies. we stopped for chinese food on the way home, then ate it as we finished watching Halloween II.

after dinner/movie, we got dressed in our costumes (i was a priest, liz was a devil/catholic schoolgirl) and headed over to mick’s party. had a good time, saw noel and stephanie and fastmikey, ass well as lots of other folks, many of whom i don’t know. there was one guy that was dressed as a blind guy (okay, he was just wearing regular clothes with sunglasses and a bling-guy-cane; you know, the ones that fold up). he said that he and his brother use it to preboard on planeflights. heh.

after a bit, we headed home, then went to bed.

sunday

yesterday, we slept late (until around 2pm), and didn’t do much all day. watched some TV, did laundry. i went to the store to get salad for dinner, and i ran into a friend of my parents…her sons are around my age, so my brother and i grew up with them. anyway, it was nice to see her, she seems to be doing well. her husband died of leukemia about two years ago, and she’s now engaged (to a guy who’s wife also died of leukemia) and she seems really happy. good for her, i say. her oldest son and his wife are also expecting a baby, and her youngest son is also engaged. 2004 will be a busy year for that family, i think. anyway, we talked a bit and tentatively made plans for her and her fiance and her sons and their significant others to get together with my parents and my brother and sister in law and liz and i sometime around christmas…very tentative, but it’d be fun. i don’t see those guys very often, but we used to hang out all the time when we were younger and in boy scouts and whatnot. yeah.

after that, i went home and liz and i ate dinner. yummy rotini. during dinner, we watched The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIV.” part 14? fuck, that’s a lot of halloweens.

anyway, after dinner, we started watching Brazil, but got tired and went to bed.

today so far

haven’t done a damn thing. played online for a bit, dropped off the rent, e-mailed some people about thesis-stuff, and now i’m writing this. yes.

expect more entries (about the manson show and the awesome film we saw in dallas) soon.

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word. how was your halloween?