Catching up on Christmas, pt. 1
I'm glad it's the weekend. The week has seemed long, and it's been tough getting back to work, but I things are getting better. I played poker last night—it was tournament style, which doesn't fit well with my style of play—and came in fifth of eleven, which didn't get me any money. There are other things I would have rather done with a Friday night, but sometimes, you have to play the hand you're dealt, or somethiing.
Now, on to catching up from Christmas. Monday, 12/20, was almost entirely spent cleaning my apartment. I really hate doing that. It takes several hours. But it was shameful before, and now it's not, though it never seems to stay that way for long. Tuesday, 12/21, I dutifully spent the day at work, and even managed to get a few things accomplished. Webmistress Amy had invited me to stop by for some goodies; so I ended up hanging out with her and some of her office-worker friends for a while eating unhealthy things. It seemed to go well. I'm not surewhere that's going, but I enjoy her, so hopefully it won't hurt to hang around and find out. I've resolved not to stress over it.
I came home to tackle packing and to blaze through the rest of my closet cleaning. I'd say that the volume of stuff in my closet is down by a good 2/3. I had bought a ticket for the Unicorns that night, since Holly had been planning on going (but backed out) and I had gotten the idea that Dan might be going (he didn't). I went to the show anyway, because they were excellent when I saw them in New York back in May. Instead, I got something very different.
The lead singer seemed very bitter, disillusioned, and pissed off. The crowd started heckling him to play some songs, and he didn't take it well. They would stop halfway through songs, and the performances that they made it through were generally half-assed. He kept referring to an impending breakup (which I had heard faint whispers of), talked about how much he hated being on the road, and so forth. He seemed generally pissed off to be in Texas (which is not uncommon, but it that was an issue, why agree to play a one-off show here?). At the end of the show, he poured a bottle of wine out on some girl and then threw water on the rest of the crowd. It was entirely bizarre, and though the spectacle was interesting, I missed seeing a repeat of the great NY show. Here's a picture of the show, which looks the way my show pictures from my phone usually look:
Will had called to say hi, so I dropped by Woodrow's—knowing that would ensure that I didn't drive to Waco that night—hung out a bit, and then went home and loaded up the car.
The drive home the next morning was nice. I had decided that I would listen to the entirety of 69 Love Songs which is almost the pefect length for the drive to Waco. That was a good experience; an album that is two hours and fourty minutes is normally outside of my attention span. I also had a Whataburger, which is always amazing.
It was good to return to Waco. It was nice and cold and felt like Christmas. Rebecca and I went to HEB to buy supplies for making salsa and chai tea. Dad cooked ravioli that night. I enjoyed some time with the family, made some fudge, and then went out with Thomas and Win for a few beers at Cricket's.
I got a haircut Thursday (12/23), ran a few errands, wrapped a few presents, and we visited some family friends. I caught up with Win, Thom, Bennett, and Goates at the bowling alley. The beautiful Kacie McClain showed up, which was absolutely thrilling as always, and we stopped off at Hemingway's for a few drinks (and were a decidely boring group) before returing to Kacie's to partake of her extensive collection of liquor samples from her new job for a liquor wholesaler. Apparently, Kacie makes excellent margaritas.
Inspired by David's past tales of a pants-optional lifestyle, Thomas decided that he would partake. I encouraged this, because it was funny, and was told by Thomas that I was "an enabler". Thom eventually got nekkid, and some nice discussions about his member ensued, providing a couple of particularly choice quotes.
Here's Thomas's progression towards partial nudity:
I stopped by to visit David on Christmas Eve before we went to church. The Ward family ate at Ninfa's afterwards, and I had the novel experience of ordering alcohol in front of my parents. Mom tried my Ninferita, but I don't think she appreciated it. It came out a little late, and as I was still working on it when we finished our meal, Dad suggested that I take it to go. I had to explain to him the concept of open container laws, and bars that don't let you remove alcohol from the premises. Oh, to be that innocent...
Thom was consigned to Groesbeck for the evening, so David and I met Win at work and got a tour of the Trib newsroom. We then went out in search of something to do, not really finding anything. We did get some Christmas Eve Taco C., and I have the observation to offer that, though the post-midnight Taco C. crowd in Waco is generally odd, it's worse on major holidays.
The Ward family opened presents on Christmas morning. In addition to the CD rack, the parents got me some socks and boxers (which I needed), a nifty tabletop bowling set, and a little food processor. Rebecca got me a sexy shirt from The Gay Latino Store. Afterwards, I was getting ready and hovering over my computer when Stephanie IMed me, started talking about how bored she was, and invited herself to drive in from Houston for a visit. Not understanding the extent of her boredom, I tried to convince here that it wasn't worth the drive but she would not be swayed or dissuaded. Lord knows whether there were ulterior motives behind that visit.
The Torrances showed up, including the illustrious Cousin Jer. We had a nice Christmas meal. Stephanie got here around 5:30 and had a plate of leftovers. We passed on going to see Meet the Fockers (thankfully), so I took her on a tour of Waco, and did a poor job of conveying mystical significance of the ALICO building. I guess you have to live here. She was most impressed (distressed?) with the bear pit on campus, to my surprise.
Stephanie declined to participate in the traditional Christmas day bar crawl, and headed back to Houston. Thomas and David showed up, and they, Cousin Jer and I soon departed for the bars. And that's when the weirdness began.
But you'll have to wait until next time for the Weirderst Christmas Day Drinking Experience Ever.
Now, on to catching up from Christmas. Monday, 12/20, was almost entirely spent cleaning my apartment. I really hate doing that. It takes several hours. But it was shameful before, and now it's not, though it never seems to stay that way for long. Tuesday, 12/21, I dutifully spent the day at work, and even managed to get a few things accomplished. Webmistress Amy had invited me to stop by for some goodies; so I ended up hanging out with her and some of her office-worker friends for a while eating unhealthy things. It seemed to go well. I'm not surewhere that's going, but I enjoy her, so hopefully it won't hurt to hang around and find out. I've resolved not to stress over it.
I came home to tackle packing and to blaze through the rest of my closet cleaning. I'd say that the volume of stuff in my closet is down by a good 2/3. I had bought a ticket for the Unicorns that night, since Holly had been planning on going (but backed out) and I had gotten the idea that Dan might be going (he didn't). I went to the show anyway, because they were excellent when I saw them in New York back in May. Instead, I got something very different.
The lead singer seemed very bitter, disillusioned, and pissed off. The crowd started heckling him to play some songs, and he didn't take it well. They would stop halfway through songs, and the performances that they made it through were generally half-assed. He kept referring to an impending breakup (which I had heard faint whispers of), talked about how much he hated being on the road, and so forth. He seemed generally pissed off to be in Texas (which is not uncommon, but it that was an issue, why agree to play a one-off show here?). At the end of the show, he poured a bottle of wine out on some girl and then threw water on the rest of the crowd. It was entirely bizarre, and though the spectacle was interesting, I missed seeing a repeat of the great NY show. Here's a picture of the show, which looks the way my show pictures from my phone usually look:
Will had called to say hi, so I dropped by Woodrow's—knowing that would ensure that I didn't drive to Waco that night—hung out a bit, and then went home and loaded up the car.
The drive home the next morning was nice. I had decided that I would listen to the entirety of 69 Love Songs which is almost the pefect length for the drive to Waco. That was a good experience; an album that is two hours and fourty minutes is normally outside of my attention span. I also had a Whataburger, which is always amazing.
It was good to return to Waco. It was nice and cold and felt like Christmas. Rebecca and I went to HEB to buy supplies for making salsa and chai tea. Dad cooked ravioli that night. I enjoyed some time with the family, made some fudge, and then went out with Thomas and Win for a few beers at Cricket's.
I got a haircut Thursday (12/23), ran a few errands, wrapped a few presents, and we visited some family friends. I caught up with Win, Thom, Bennett, and Goates at the bowling alley. The beautiful Kacie McClain showed up, which was absolutely thrilling as always, and we stopped off at Hemingway's for a few drinks (and were a decidely boring group) before returing to Kacie's to partake of her extensive collection of liquor samples from her new job for a liquor wholesaler. Apparently, Kacie makes excellent margaritas.
Inspired by David's past tales of a pants-optional lifestyle, Thomas decided that he would partake. I encouraged this, because it was funny, and was told by Thomas that I was "an enabler". Thom eventually got nekkid, and some nice discussions about his member ensued, providing a couple of particularly choice quotes.
Here's Thomas's progression towards partial nudity:
I stopped by to visit David on Christmas Eve before we went to church. The Ward family ate at Ninfa's afterwards, and I had the novel experience of ordering alcohol in front of my parents. Mom tried my Ninferita, but I don't think she appreciated it. It came out a little late, and as I was still working on it when we finished our meal, Dad suggested that I take it to go. I had to explain to him the concept of open container laws, and bars that don't let you remove alcohol from the premises. Oh, to be that innocent...
Thom was consigned to Groesbeck for the evening, so David and I met Win at work and got a tour of the Trib newsroom. We then went out in search of something to do, not really finding anything. We did get some Christmas Eve Taco C., and I have the observation to offer that, though the post-midnight Taco C. crowd in Waco is generally odd, it's worse on major holidays.
The Ward family opened presents on Christmas morning. In addition to the CD rack, the parents got me some socks and boxers (which I needed), a nifty tabletop bowling set, and a little food processor. Rebecca got me a sexy shirt from The Gay Latino Store. Afterwards, I was getting ready and hovering over my computer when Stephanie IMed me, started talking about how bored she was, and invited herself to drive in from Houston for a visit. Not understanding the extent of her boredom, I tried to convince here that it wasn't worth the drive but she would not be swayed or dissuaded. Lord knows whether there were ulterior motives behind that visit.
The Torrances showed up, including the illustrious Cousin Jer. We had a nice Christmas meal. Stephanie got here around 5:30 and had a plate of leftovers. We passed on going to see Meet the Fockers (thankfully), so I took her on a tour of Waco, and did a poor job of conveying mystical significance of the ALICO building. I guess you have to live here. She was most impressed (distressed?) with the bear pit on campus, to my surprise.
Stephanie declined to participate in the traditional Christmas day bar crawl, and headed back to Houston. Thomas and David showed up, and they, Cousin Jer and I soon departed for the bars. And that's when the weirdness began.
But you'll have to wait until next time for the Weirderst Christmas Day Drinking Experience Ever.
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 8:00 PM
