Bad service, in a good way.

She asked for rice, and the waiter told someone to bring us two white rice. A lady soon showed up with two glasses of white wine. Add in the confusion about what table got what food, and they earned extra tip for comic relief.

Road.

Phone.

A nice guy named Tim just hooked up my phone.

11/25/05 Still no phone.

Thanksgiving is becoming more and more disorganized. Or maybe that's less and less organized. Either way, everyone's timing was off. Still, the sweet potato pie was good.

I'm hoping I'll get my phone service back tomorrow. This is not a good time to not have a phone. I have a lot of free time until I'm back on the work schedule, and contact with the outside world shouldn't be this limited. I still have a list of people that need to be called. The list is right here, on my desk.

There are around ten kids across the street making a lot of noise. Amped up about/on something. There slowly moving along. If they move any slower, I might throw a smoke bomb at them. Oh yeah, I got smoke in Tennessee. Don't know why. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I think we picked a town to spend the night based on the fact that it had a big fireworks store that was open in the middle of the night.

I fixed that stupid fucking magnetic lock on the door to my building. And by fixed, I mean rigged with cardboard and duct tape so it doesn't lock at all.

11/24/05 No phone.

It's not been going well since I've been back. Besides the physical injuries of crushing a finger between a speaker and a wall, and raking the skin off one of my shins, Verizon doesn't want me to have a phone. That includes internet access, so I'm writing this entry with no way of posting it. Plus, I think my web site is down for some reason, and I'm also almost out of toilet paper. To top it off, I just hod two really fucked up dreams last night. One ended with me being shot at, and the other ended with a car crash. In the second, at one point, I was having heart trouble, and a doctor told me to take some aspirin. I took Tylenol instead because that's all I had, and I can't take aspirin because it may aggravate my colitis. So there I was, wondering if preventing a heart attack by taking aspirin was worth a possible colitis flare-up. There was also some mutilation in there somewhere. There's a lot more that I can't sort out in words, but images from these dreams will be imposing themselves on my mind for a while.

Still, there have been some good things. I saw Hank, and talked to Rory. There was back pay waiting for me at work. I found a camera I wanted for a very good price from KEH, which means there's a 14 day return period.

I keep asking coworkers what I missed while I was gone, and they all say I didn't miss anything. Then I slowly find out that someone got electrocuted. Someone fell off his motorcycle. Someone got fired. Someone's in the hospital. And then there's that baby issue. I can only conclude that all these events are so commonplace as to not warrant mention.

I'm still back.

My phone died a slow death. I was talking to a long lost friend, and we were slowly overcome by static. I called home from work, and got a busy signal. Called the phone company, and told the computer there was static on the line. The computer said she was sorry to hear that.
Really.
Now when I pick up my phone, it's just dead. This happened once before. It was on 9/10/01. If there's a major terrorist strike on US soil tomorrow, I'll know that my phone has psychic powers.
Now can someone explain why my DSL still works?

So a girl gets pregnant, and a week later gets hitched to the dad. I go away for a few weeks, and when I return (tonight) ask some other people who know her if she's still pregnant. She's not. Apparently, it was a mistake. But the marriage still stands, mistake or not. The (related) quote of the evening was, "ya know, I told her, when you're strung out on dope, sometimes you don't have your period."

Yeah, I'm definitely back.

I can tell I'm back in NYC because I got locked out of my building for 20 minutes because the electronic lock the new owners put on sucks, and there's currently no heat or hot water. But I don't think it's enough to make me move to LA. I spent even more time there in friends cars than I ever thought I would, and there's only so many hours in a day. Still, the people are nice, and that's pretty important.
I didn't see everyone I wanted to, and the ones I did see were only for a few short hours. I blame myself for not having the foresight to plan a little better, but I got to eat dinner in a spaceship with Lydiaemily, and Jaime took me for some quality, inexpensive chicken. Both encounters just made me want to see more of them.
The wedding reception I went to LA for was very nice. Beautiful hotel. Great food. Great band. Swans. Hotel room destruction.
Disneyland is a place that I can't seem to form a concise opinion about. It seemed like a bit of a nightmare, but it just could have been the group I was with. (Nine people, including two small children, and a 60 year old paraplegic.) I was impressed with the artistic side of the rides. It all just looked so good. Even Pirates of the Caribbean, a long, slow boat ride, was actually kinda beautiful. And I can't even explain Space Mountain.
So then my hosts decided to drive me home. From LA to NYC. A newly married couple, their dog, and a newyorker without a drivers license. The major attractions along the way were; The Grand Canyon, White Sands NM, Graceland, and Sun Studios. All worth the trip in their own way.
The Grand Canyon is really big. Nothing you have ever read, no picture or film you've ever seen, no words I could say or write, could prepare you for that moment when you walk up to the first railing, and try to take it all in.
White Sands New Mexico is exactly what it sounds like; lots of white sand. Very beautiful. The mountain backdrop. The sunset. The solitude. It's also a missile testing area, and is occasionally closed to the public for obvious reasons. You have to drive a long, straight, flat road for about 70 miles to get there. The road is lined with barbed wire, and "keep out" signs, and ends with a checkpoint where a guard with sunglasses asks if you're all US citizens.
I had no idea what to expect when we went to Graceland. It's really just a big house from the 70s that got frozen in time. There are a lot of TVs. He had a lot of cool cars. He had an airplane that stylistically matched his house. He had a beautiful gun collection. He gave a lot to charity. He took care of his parents. They are all buried there. The grave markers had copyright symbols on them. They didn't let us upstairs. I assume that's where he died.
Sun Studios is where the first rock 'n' roll recordings were made. I try not to be sentimental about places, but I like being able to picture moments in history, and standing in that room brought it all together.
Still, all those sites don't compare to the people, and on top of spending time with the newlyweds, I got to see Amy and Paul in Austin. Wish we weren't just passing through. And I think you're my first friends who are having a boy. Can't wait to meet him.
So besides the fact that I'm now broke, and need to make some money so I can develop all the film, I also think it's time to get a driver's license. This is a beautiful country, and I want to see it all.
Anyone have a place for me to stay?

trip: pt6

Woke up thursday outside Memphis, and went to Graceland. It was really cold out. His house is the 70s frozen in time. He had a lot of TVs. From there, went to Sun Studios. Worth it just to see a portable disc cutter, but it's hard to beat the musical history made in that room.
Today was just us driving over 1000 miles, (I40, I81, I66, I95, NJP) and now I'm home. A more complete summary should follow once I get my life back in some sort of order, and see if I still have a job.

trip: pt5

I35 to Dallas for some BBQ. I30 to I40 to a hotel in West Memphis.
Graceland tomorrow.

trip: pt4

I10 to I35 to Austin TX. George averaged around 100MPH, getting up to 115 at times. Amy and Paul generously welcomed us into their home. Woke and drove to El Sol y La Luna for Migas, and then hit the thrift stores. Three piece pinstripe suit for $4.37.

trip: pt3

I25 from Albuquerque. Unreal fall tree colors. Bright yellow with some orange and reds, from roadside to the distant mountains.
Stopped at Denny's since our free Hotel breakfast sucked. Not a single non-white person in the whole lunch crowd.
South to Las Cruces, US70 to White Sands. Long, straight road through missile testing country to the dunes just in time for sunset. Beautiful.
I10 east. Called Amy and Paul to tell them we're coming to Austin, and ask if they wanted a pie from Cracker Barrel in El Paso.
Spent the night in a Van Horn TX Ramada. Smells like there was a flood.

trip: pt2

180 to 64 to the Grand Canyon.

There is nothing I could say, nothing I could show you, that would prepare you for seeing the Grand canyon.

Only made it as far as Albuquerque because the Grand Canyon took a little longer than expected, including driving around looking for squished penny machines, and eating an over-priced italian meal at a place called Spaghetti Western. At least they played the score to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly while we ate. 64 to I40 to Albuquerque, with Diego sleeping on my lap the whole way.

trip: pt1

Woke at 4am to pack. Headed to downtown LA to feed the cats, get some film and cameras, and get harassed by the homeless. I10 to I15 to I40. Stop in Needles CA for some edible mexican food and service with a smile at Lucy's. We ate while watching freights pass by the window every few minutes, with the Colorado beyond that. Checked into the Days Inn Rte 66 in Flagstaff. Ate dinner in town at Charlie's Pub and Grill in the Historic Wheatherford Hotel. Good food, and a roving banjoist. Shared a bed with Diego (a slightly stressed out dog) while Diego's keepers, Jennifer and George, snored on their bed. Train whistles periodically preceded the rumble that shook the room through the night. Free breakfast and high speed wireless earns a thumbs up for Days Inn. Time for check-out, and a run up to the Grand Canyon before continuing on.