How was your visit to Texas?

Oh, thanks so much for asking! I have been trying so hard to repress all memories of the weekend. Acutally, I think the jello, tequila and jaegermeister shots effectively wiped all hugely damaging and embarrassing memories from my mind.
Of course, I forgot to pack my camera. So there are no pics of the nieces or of the wild Memorial Day party.
So, with that being said, I arrived on Thursday to be hijacked by my parents. It was my niece's birthday. Not one of the fun nieces, mind you, but the one with the crazy parents. My half-brother and his wife are much closer to fundamentalism than my parents and my half-brother has even been known to circulate anti-gay e-mails. I have never officially "come out" to him because he is much older than I am and we have never had much of a relationship. My mother has let his wife know that I smoke pole, and I am more than certain that she passed this information along to him. He looks at me with eyes of sadness (and mild contempt). Eyes that question, "How could you choose this lifestyle." I look at him with eyes of sadness (and mild contempt). Eyes that ask, "For someone who is so heavily schooled, how can you be so uneducated?" Of course, he went to the fundamentalist college masquerading as a governement college. When he walked across the stage for graduation, he shook Ronald Reagan's hand. From that moment on there was probably no hope for him (even if the hazing aroused in him feelings of confusion).
Its funny how I, for whatever reason, cling to the hope that education will defeat ignorance--when it is increasingly clear that people are getting dumber.
So Friday, hit up the old mall with the old mom. She's doing pretty well with her hugely misshapen ankle. I was surprised she didn't ask to sit down more. My parents are getting old. My father turns 70 next year. My mother likes to tell me how much everything has changed. Like maybe I didn't notice the huge super Wal-mart, Albertson's and CVS on a corner where before there had only been fields. She also likes to tell me how jeans today look dirty, as in not clean.
Oh, a word of advice, do not expect to be helped by Clinique salespeople. They may make an ok product, but they really don't want to sell it to you. Maybe Texan Clinique saleswomen are just intimidated by bearded dudes.
Ate some amazing Mexican food. That was nice since the only Mexican food I eat in Seattle is completely bastardized or highly provincial. You know its a good restaurant when all of the patrons are a minimum of 40lbs. overweight.
Played toll road with the nieces. Not to be confused w/ Towleroad, but equally as gay. The game consists of them running around the couch and me requiring some form of toll. Generally an object within reaching distance. Sometimes, money from grandpa.

Saw tons of people from high school who I thought I would never see again. Some of them were people who, in my mind, were still 13 or 14, but they are all strangely grown and married with kids. Saw a kid who was a freshman when I was a senior. He lived in Bozeman where I went to college. We knew some of the same people. The world folds in on itself in a place like Texas.

It was unbearably hot.

Was flying stand-by and got stuck in first for the return trip. Total bummer. I was plied w/ food and alcohol, and finally started my journey through David Mitchell's newest. If Mitchell has left you cold with his obsession for structural arrangements in the past, you can easily leave all of that behind w/ this novel. It is the perfect summer book and has fit into my as-of-late nostalgic mood with its 80's England setting.

So, yeah. That was my trip.

Can you imagine how excited I was when I came home and found a 3hour mix by Michael Mayer and Superpitcher?

Things are finally starting to seem routine. Reading on the bus. Getting up at the same time. Stuff like that. So time to expect more frequent posting. Like an entire post on WoW. God. I. Love. That. Game.