- Woke up at 8:45am on Saturday morning and proceeded to mow the lawn. Two weeks of home ownership and I'm already doing things like this.
- Did not play my xbox all weekend long.
- Went to the City Wide Garage Sale. Bought a lamp and Battle Armor Skeletor (only a buck. Skeletor that is, not the lamp). Also bought a mayor McCheese drinking glass.
you are Skeletor's bitch now!
- Attended a BBQ. Drank some beers. Discussed politics and gardening.
- Went home. Started watching American Psycho 2. Fell asleep.
- Woke up fairly early.
- Reinstalled Windows XP on the desktop computer for the second time in a month. Everything is working perfect now.
- Unpacked some things.
- Realized it was only noon. Thought I had accomplished more than usual for a Sunday.
- Decided with Kristin to make a trip to IKEA.
- Rented a U-Haul van and drove to IKEA. Bought Kristin a desk, bookshelves, two bedside tables, and a box spring for the bed.
- Almost died loading the above into the van at IKEA. Also almost died unloading it at home.
- Realized I am in horrible shape and need to excercise.
- Ate dinner with Alison and Brendan (chicken and snow peas).
- Lost one game of Sorry! Dominated the other.
- Went home, watched the Soup.
- Fell asleep.
I kept repeating the above after eating a particular braised short rib from some restaurant at the Texas Wine and Food Festival this weekend (where we celebrated Kristin's birthday…Happy Birthday sweety!). Unfortunately, I don't remember what restaurant it was since I had tasted several wines and run the liquor gauntlet. Within five minutes I had a shot of vodka, a shot of bourbon, a shot of Petron tequilla, another shot of vodka, and a shot of vodka mixed with some iced tea. You'll have to forgive me that I forgot the restaurant's name.
Other favorites at the festival:
- pork wrapped in bacon "lollipop"
- espresso rubbed seared bison on shiner beer mashed potatoes (the best potatoes I've ever had)
- hazelnut mousse with hazelnut sorbet from Uchi (see picture below)
Apparently, the hot thing in food right now is braised short rib and cheese grits. I had some form of this from at least four or five booths throughout the night. I'm not saying it wasn't tasty, but I wanted some variety (although now I'd like to try my hand at it).
It was an exhausting weekend of packing, moving, and unpacking. By Sunday, I just wanted to sit in my new recliner and, well, recline. So I did. I watched a little hockey, set up the DSL so I woudln't have to steal (a very unreliable) wireless connection, and cooked dinner for friends. I was so tired but there was one other thing I had to do…the Morrissey concert.
Kristin and I went with Jana (her seventh Morrissey show, my first) to the newly renovated Bass Concert Hall. According to Jana, the renovations are all anyone in Austin is talking about. I haven't heard anyone talk about it but she does go to grad school. Who knows what crazy things those kids on campus are talking about these days?
Our tickets were excellent (Row V, seats 145-147). We executed the "miss the opening band" maneuver to perfection. There were weird 1960s videos playing on a screen on stage. Kristin at one point remarked it felt like we were at the Alamo Drafthouse waiting for a movie to start. Then the lights started to come up. Music swelled. Moz appeared and the crowd went nuts. He was in a tux and kicked off the concert with "This Charming Man". It was a nice start.
At one point in the concert, Morrissey said something that really resonated with me. I can't remember exactly how he put it but I'll paraphrase: Everyday our words and our minds create the story of who we are. Create for yourself a leading roll. That really hit me hard. More often than not I feel like a supporting actor in my own life. I feel like Peter Boyle's character in "Everybody Loves Raymond". I sit in my chair and throw out a zinger every now and then. It doesn't help that almost all of my friends and family have huge, loud personalities. No one wants to watch a movie with the quiet guy as the lead. Hell, even "The Quiet Man" was John Fuckin' Wayne! I told Kristin and Jana I was just going to try to "out-loud" them…which is probably impossible. Anyone know where you can get cheap bullhorns online?
Finally. It's ours. After much blood, sweat, and lots of tears we have our first home. Painting started yesterday. We'll move in this weekend.
My plan (and I hope I will follow through on this one because god knows I never do) is to take a picture of some aspect of the house everyday for the first year. Above is the first. Make me follow through.