Christmas, Robyn, poker, the obligatory night of nothing, bar hopping, return to Houston, NYE
12/25
We awoke, had a nice breakfast, and then opened presents. I got my Nintendo DS and some games, plus some comics, CDs, a nifty vintage shirt from Becca, and a set of cutting boards. Becca liked the fancy remote I got her, Dad liked the presents that he had pretty much picked out. Mom was taken aback by the pottery lessons we gave her, as if she was scared of actually taking them, but I think she ultimately enjoyed them.
Lunch was good too, particularly the Turkey that had been the source of so much contention.
Eventually the evening rolled around, and David, Thomas, Win, Bennett, Goates, and myself all piled into Thom's grandparents' Buick. Someone (*cough* David *cough*) insisted on going with his intellectual "let's slum it with the common man" bullshit and we went to some small bar on N. 19th not too far from MCC, got weird looks when we came in, had a round and played a game of pool, and left for the next spot just up the road, which was, thankfully, closed. From there I think we went next to the bar (Shooter's? Booter's?) on Valley Mills near New Road, which had seen a bit of a country western face lift, had a couple rounds there, and then on to the sister bar on Lake Air (which could also be Shooter's or Booter's), which still looked like it used to be a strip club. Next to Chapter 11, which I'm actually kind of fond of.
There was a girl there who spotted my "Remember the Alico" t-shirt and introduced herself. She asked about the shirt, and after my brief explanation of living in Houston, etc., she summarized it by saying that I was "representing", which I suppose was accurate. We chatted a little more; turned out she was an art person and trying to do something for the art "scene" in Waco. She compared herself to a Buddhisatva (which I think was just meant to be humorous rather than arrogant/condescending) in that she had found "enlightenment" (i.e. moved away from Waco) but come back to teach the unenlightened (i.e. the Wacoans). Also, she mentioned that she had dated two girls I knew. Huh. She invited me some art show she was putting together (which I wouldn't be in town for) and insisted I track her down on myspace. Check.
Anyway, there was lots of drinking that had been done by that point, and thankfully the driving was not my responsibility. As was pretty much inevitable, Two Minnie's (right down the block) was settled on as the next destination.
Two years prior when we went, it was basically deserted, but this year the "joint was hopping", as the kids say. I wasn't particularly excited about Waco strippers, but the beer kept flowing which was good enough for me. David kept handing me dollar bills to use, and I kept redirecting them to Jordan and Bennett.
By closing time, we were even drunker, particularly Bennett. We went on to IHOP to get something to soak up the alcohol.
So, another nice, debaucherous Christmas night. But, thankfully no emergency room trip this year.
12/26
As is also traditional, we tried to catch up with Robyn. We ended up meeting her, first trying Cricket's (too fucking crowded) and then heading next door to Bogart's (formerly Malone's). Robyn had Cara Beth in tow, much to my surprise (they tend to go in and out of speaking to each other). After a round or two, we migrated to Scruff's (which had rearranged, much to my shock and consternation), I had my "Ziggy Jack" (Ziegenback and Jack Daniel's, a creation of one of the bartenders), and then we made a second night of IHOP.
12/27
David decided to host a poker night at his father's place in Temple. A lack of planning meant that Win had already gone there without giving us the chance to carpool, which briefly pissed me off, but really going to Temple is no different from going to visit my Aunt and Uncle (except perhaps not as visually interesting), so it wasn't a big deal.
So there was beer and poker. Despite Win's online poker activities and David's frequent mocking of my decisions, in the end it was down to me and Bennett, with me leading substantially. But I tire of poker quickly, so we negotiated a truce. But hell, I won $15.
12/28
As always, there was one night when shit just didn't happen. In this case, David fell asleep. So, it was a night for me with the DS. Which is not all bad.
12/29
The last night in town. David once again pushed the blue collar bars, and we compromised on Fred & Wally's. Beer and pool were consumed and played. We tried to catch Kacie McClain but no such luck. David was leaving the next morning, so I picked that day as the time to...
12/30
...go back to Houston. I left in the early evening, car packed up. With my new phone complete with screws, and leaving Waco where it got crap reception, I oficially called and got my number transferred to the new phone. Which meant I incurred a $150 charge with Cingular for breaking my contract (and was also charged sales tax, what the fuck were they selling me that got taxed!), but that would later be mitigated by Ebaying the old phone, and since the new one was free, I ended up getting teh whole deal done for $50 or so. Not bad.
Anyway, I got back in town, got unloaded, and caught up with Cindy. It was good to be back.
12/31
I saw a post online that Toys 'R Us had a nice clearance special on DS and Gameboy games, so I went for the first time in years. Actually the last time I went was sophomore year of college in Waco, when I was having some difficulty tracking down the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Anyway, I ended up finding a couple of good bargains. After that I made a comic store run, and then met Cindy back at my place.
We decided that for NYE we would make some fresh salsa and then cook dinner. The salsa turned out well. Dinner was some NY strip steak that Dad had sent home with me, green beans, and mashed potatoes. We learned a couple of lessons from that dinner.
First, if you don't have something to mash with, don't use a food processor. The potatoes will resemble library paste. Second, if you combine garlic, butter, and lemon juice, and heat it up (as in making a lemon butter sauce), it turns a strong shade of cyan. Strange but true.
One option was to join Dan at the Proletariat for the NY party there (it turns out that things had gone south with Kristin and that she had decided to move to Austin after all). But since we don't hang out with Cindy's friends much, we opted to go to Jim and Nikki's place to join them, Tyson and Louisa for a relaxed evening. There was beer and the salsa was a hit. By the time we considered leaving, Dan was already gone from the Proletariat, so we stuck it out there.
It's not quite the wild party I really want for NYE, but it was nice enough, and we still managed to stay out pretty late.
P.S. I want it noted that I stayed up late just to finish this post. There's a token of committment there for you.
We awoke, had a nice breakfast, and then opened presents. I got my Nintendo DS and some games, plus some comics, CDs, a nifty vintage shirt from Becca, and a set of cutting boards. Becca liked the fancy remote I got her, Dad liked the presents that he had pretty much picked out. Mom was taken aback by the pottery lessons we gave her, as if she was scared of actually taking them, but I think she ultimately enjoyed them.
Lunch was good too, particularly the Turkey that had been the source of so much contention.
Eventually the evening rolled around, and David, Thomas, Win, Bennett, Goates, and myself all piled into Thom's grandparents' Buick. Someone (*cough* David *cough*) insisted on going with his intellectual "let's slum it with the common man" bullshit and we went to some small bar on N. 19th not too far from MCC, got weird looks when we came in, had a round and played a game of pool, and left for the next spot just up the road, which was, thankfully, closed. From there I think we went next to the bar (Shooter's? Booter's?) on Valley Mills near New Road, which had seen a bit of a country western face lift, had a couple rounds there, and then on to the sister bar on Lake Air (which could also be Shooter's or Booter's), which still looked like it used to be a strip club. Next to Chapter 11, which I'm actually kind of fond of.
There was a girl there who spotted my "Remember the Alico" t-shirt and introduced herself. She asked about the shirt, and after my brief explanation of living in Houston, etc., she summarized it by saying that I was "representing", which I suppose was accurate. We chatted a little more; turned out she was an art person and trying to do something for the art "scene" in Waco. She compared herself to a Buddhisatva (which I think was just meant to be humorous rather than arrogant/condescending) in that she had found "enlightenment" (i.e. moved away from Waco) but come back to teach the unenlightened (i.e. the Wacoans). Also, she mentioned that she had dated two girls I knew. Huh. She invited me some art show she was putting together (which I wouldn't be in town for) and insisted I track her down on myspace. Check.
Anyway, there was lots of drinking that had been done by that point, and thankfully the driving was not my responsibility. As was pretty much inevitable, Two Minnie's (right down the block) was settled on as the next destination.
Two years prior when we went, it was basically deserted, but this year the "joint was hopping", as the kids say. I wasn't particularly excited about Waco strippers, but the beer kept flowing which was good enough for me. David kept handing me dollar bills to use, and I kept redirecting them to Jordan and Bennett.
By closing time, we were even drunker, particularly Bennett. We went on to IHOP to get something to soak up the alcohol.
So, another nice, debaucherous Christmas night. But, thankfully no emergency room trip this year.
12/26
As is also traditional, we tried to catch up with Robyn. We ended up meeting her, first trying Cricket's (too fucking crowded) and then heading next door to Bogart's (formerly Malone's). Robyn had Cara Beth in tow, much to my surprise (they tend to go in and out of speaking to each other). After a round or two, we migrated to Scruff's (which had rearranged, much to my shock and consternation), I had my "Ziggy Jack" (Ziegenback and Jack Daniel's, a creation of one of the bartenders), and then we made a second night of IHOP.
12/27
David decided to host a poker night at his father's place in Temple. A lack of planning meant that Win had already gone there without giving us the chance to carpool, which briefly pissed me off, but really going to Temple is no different from going to visit my Aunt and Uncle (except perhaps not as visually interesting), so it wasn't a big deal.
So there was beer and poker. Despite Win's online poker activities and David's frequent mocking of my decisions, in the end it was down to me and Bennett, with me leading substantially. But I tire of poker quickly, so we negotiated a truce. But hell, I won $15.
12/28
As always, there was one night when shit just didn't happen. In this case, David fell asleep. So, it was a night for me with the DS. Which is not all bad.
12/29
The last night in town. David once again pushed the blue collar bars, and we compromised on Fred & Wally's. Beer and pool were consumed and played. We tried to catch Kacie McClain but no such luck. David was leaving the next morning, so I picked that day as the time to...
12/30
...go back to Houston. I left in the early evening, car packed up. With my new phone complete with screws, and leaving Waco where it got crap reception, I oficially called and got my number transferred to the new phone. Which meant I incurred a $150 charge with Cingular for breaking my contract (and was also charged sales tax, what the fuck were they selling me that got taxed!), but that would later be mitigated by Ebaying the old phone, and since the new one was free, I ended up getting teh whole deal done for $50 or so. Not bad.
Anyway, I got back in town, got unloaded, and caught up with Cindy. It was good to be back.
12/31
I saw a post online that Toys 'R Us had a nice clearance special on DS and Gameboy games, so I went for the first time in years. Actually the last time I went was sophomore year of college in Waco, when I was having some difficulty tracking down the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Anyway, I ended up finding a couple of good bargains. After that I made a comic store run, and then met Cindy back at my place.
We decided that for NYE we would make some fresh salsa and then cook dinner. The salsa turned out well. Dinner was some NY strip steak that Dad had sent home with me, green beans, and mashed potatoes. We learned a couple of lessons from that dinner.
First, if you don't have something to mash with, don't use a food processor. The potatoes will resemble library paste. Second, if you combine garlic, butter, and lemon juice, and heat it up (as in making a lemon butter sauce), it turns a strong shade of cyan. Strange but true.
One option was to join Dan at the Proletariat for the NY party there (it turns out that things had gone south with Kristin and that she had decided to move to Austin after all). But since we don't hang out with Cindy's friends much, we opted to go to Jim and Nikki's place to join them, Tyson and Louisa for a relaxed evening. There was beer and the salsa was a hit. By the time we considered leaving, Dan was already gone from the Proletariat, so we stuck it out there.
It's not quite the wild party I really want for NYE, but it was nice enough, and we still managed to stay out pretty late.
P.S. I want it noted that I stayed up late just to finish this post. There's a token of committment there for you.
Labels: bars, electronics, music, trips, video games, Waco
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 2:44 PM
