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

so today is our one year anniversary. well, our one year wedding anniversary…liz and i have been together for 5.5 years today. it’s been a year since we went to vegas and such.

i’ve taken thursday, friday, and today off work so we can have a long weekend to celebrate. and celebrate we have…we went to Star Wars on wednesday night and thursday afternoon, and we’ll likely go again later today. we’ve also watched the original Star Wars trilogy, just to see how they match up with the prequels…Episode III fills in a lot of the holes, but there are some discrepancies. we missed the Reverend Horton Heat show, but that’s okay. like i said, i’ve seen them about 10 times (more like 12, actually, i think). they come here a lot, too, so we’ll catch them next time. anyway…

on friday, we went and walked around the mall. that’s always fun. i bought some stuff for liz (anniv. presents). then we went home and ate pizza. aww yeah. on saturday, we hung out, slept in, etc. then went to see Dominion (the Exorcist prequel). more on that later. yesterday, mick and lara came to town (for the graduation of a friend of theirs). they came by our apartment, then we went to lunch together. it was nice to see them, and it was nice to meet their baby, keegan (even though he was a bit fussy when they first got here, and then he slept the rest of the time). it was fun. after that, liz and i went to the downtown aquarium. that was neat. we’ve been meaning to do some of the “tourist” stuff around here, so we did…that seemed like a better bet than the zoo, too, since yesterday was really hot. the aquarium is cool; lots of fish. and, for some reason, they have white tigers and a ferris wheel. with the fish and tigers, it was almost like we were back in vegas. the aquarium also has a cool bar that makes goos margaritas.

after the aquarium, we went to the hard rock cafe for dinner, only partially because we’d eaten at the one in vegas the night before our wedding last year. that was fun, but we both felt yucky after having eaten so much yesterday. we went home and walked on the treadmills for a while, then watched The Science of Star Wars on the discovery channel. it’s pretty cool. today, we slept in again (well, i did. liz couldn’t sleep well, so she’s napping now). i got up after a while, got us bagels for breakfast, and then we exchanged anniversary presents. she got me cool cool stuff. the novelization of Episode III, for instance, to go with my copies of the novelizations of the other Star Wars films. she also got me Joey Ramone’s solo album and Lucky 7, the one Reverend Horton Heat album i didn’t have. she also got me the second season of Quantum Leap and Team America on DVD. i tell ya, that girl spoils me. it’s all stuff that i wanted, and now i have it, aww yeah.

i got her some things she seemed to like as well (The Crow box set, Blade box set, the new System of a Down album, the new(est) Prodigy album, The Donnie Darko Book).

so, we’ve got a lot of music to listen to and movies to watch. but that’s just how we roll. hah. all in all, it’s been a great anniversary and pre-anniversary. and it’s not over yet. still going to see that movie one more time, then it’s off to dinner. aww yeah. and i’ve got a 4-day work week this week, then there’s another 3-day weekend. excellent.

love you liz. happy anniversary.

today is liz’s birthday. happy birthday, liz!

i’m quite lucky to be with the most amazing woman in the world. for instance, you know she’s a keeper if she wants to go out for pizza and beer for her birthday. that’s awesome, and that isn’t even what makes her great, it’s just a symptom of her greatness.

i love you, liz. happy birthday!

…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.

liz and i are about to leave for vegas for a week. we’re getting married tomorrow and then honeymooning there. aww yeah. we’ll be back 5/29. no cell phones (since we don’t have any), minimal (if any) ability to check e-mail. i’ll get back to you when i return to the l-b-k.

if you need immediate assistance in the chach department, please contact seth the man or bob the master of the world.