I ride on. And on. And on.

I'm presently in Olympia Washington and tomorrow is Seattle. I'd love to move to Portland, but I miss Austin too. This isn't going to be much of a post, because I have to hop in the shower and go to dinner. I'm just letting you know I'm still here. In a couple of days I'll be in Canada--Vancouver (yay!) to be precise--and that is going to be crazy. The distance I've gone started to set in as I rode over the Golden Gate Bridge, but Canada is going to be extra special since it'll be my first time out of the States.

My journals and pictures will be put online when I get home to regular internet access and a more normal lifestyle.

I love you all.

Interview Questions Thanks to Queenie Carly

1. You used to play ball for the Longhorns. What was the greatest thing that came from that experience? What do you miss most post-retirement?

The absolutely best thing about playing ball, and not just for Texas, but for as long as I've played seriously, is the friendships I've established with some of my teammates. As soon as I got to Texas for orientation, I had 18 friends who helped me figure out so much as a freshman. Now, I'm still close with several of those friends and hope to be for the rest of my life. To invest so much mental and physical effort into being an athlete on a team, and playing a sport, that means everything to you with those people, all striving and sacrificing for the same goal, is much like being in a relationship. So there's that understanding and connection between us that will never go away. Many of my best memories in life are with those friends.

As a close second, which you didn't ask for, but is still important, is the opportunity to come to school at UT. If not for playing ball, it would be hard to justify spending so much money on my education; I was only on a partial scholarship. But the possibility of winning a National Championship in the sport I've played all my life was too great an opportunity to pass up.

The thing I miss most post-retirement is simply playing ball, in the most basic and pure sense. All those baseball movies you've seen, cliche underlying love stories aside, actually reflect a ball player's love for the game.

Today I finally let Wilson talk me into going to the batting cages and to throw the ball around. The reunion was like hugging your first love but knowing you could never be together again. Today was hard. But I will always, always love and miss just going out and feeling like a kid throwing the ball around, and feeling the gratification for all my efforts as I made a huge defensive play in a big game.

2. What is one constant track on any mixed CD you do/would make for a friend?

I can't even remember the last time I made a mixed CD. But it would have to be "Business Time" by Flight of the Concords. I love those guys and like to spread their funk.

3. Which destination are you most looking forward to on your Texas 4000 trip this summer?

Vancouver, of course! Actually, I'm most excited about the stretch from Yosemite to Whistler for all of the great cities--and scenery--I'll be seeing. Oh and Anchorage, because it means I'll get to come home to all of my friends and the boys, and that I've completed this crazy experience.

4. You were recently considering some very bold career options. What is one thing you've had in your life, one influence or one experience, whatever, that enabled you to be such a remarkably courageous woman?

It's got to be that I read so much as a kid. I would walk around with as many books as I could carry, or take a huge stack out into the back yard, throw down a blanket, and lay in the grass reading all day long. I remember doing that in first grade when we had a reading competition, and I finished something like 300 books, children's books of course, but nonetheless that's a lot of reading. When I was reading Huck Finn and anything else of Twain's I could get my hands on, I found this old leather strap to keep the five or six books I was concurrently reading at the time together so I could carry them around with me everywhere I went. When I was helping my dad on this one particular house I remember we would stay really late some nights, and that's the week I read all the Greek mythology my mom had at home.

So very early on I had so many new worlds opened up to my imagination, and was aware that there was much, much more in the world for me to see than what my tiny home town offered. This, coupled with my belief from an early age that my life here on earth is all I get so I must do as much as I can while I'm able, were my foundation for ambition.

5. What is one thing that your friends and family see and instantly think "Rachael."

Jets. My dad always calls and tells me of the programs on the Discovery Channel and the Military Channel, or Modern Marvels, about fighter jets. And I get calls from my friends when they are at sporting events with flyovers. My friend who is in the Air Force in Tampa right now rubs it in that she works on the flight line, and that the Blue Angels practice out there.

I'm stoked about becoming a helicopter pilot, but I will always dream of being a fighter pilot.

...And here are a couple of bonus questions just for you.


*What do we have to do to get you to post more than once a month?

Well I'm finished up with school for the semester, so now I have more time. And with the summer I have coming up I'll have a ton to talk about. Expect many posts and many pictures in the near future.

*I read Ten Things You Need to Know about RC online. If you get another cat, will you name him Vince?

Not that I plan on a third, but if it happens I can't see that there would be any other name for him to have...Except for maybe Cat, after "the Big O" Cat Osterman. But that'd just sound silly.

*What do you want to trade for that I Heart VY shirt? (Can you even still get them???)

I looked again at the Co-op the other day, and they haven't sold them in months. But I can be pretty crafty, so I can make it happen. You've waited all this time for it, so what's 2 more months? I will personally deliver it to you when we pass through Vancouver. July 18 and 19. Mark it.
---------------------------
Now it’s YOUR turn to play:

Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Dirty Bastard

Phew! I'm back online after not having a computer for about 2 weeks. Thanks to the Best Buy extended service plan that saved me $400 when my motherboard pooped out.

I've been suuuuper busy lately, but I'll be back more often. Right now I'm trying to stay warm. It's 32. In Texas. In April. WTF*CK?

From a conversation earlier tonight

since you already went and generalized about "us southerners" let it be known that i can detect the slightest amount of sugar in my tea and when i do, i turn my nose up at it. and i'm with you--tea cannot be beat.

it's funny that you should say that actually. a few messages ago i dug up my list of things that i want to do in my life. some of them are very small things and some are quite outlandish (of course) and some i've done before but always make my day to do again. one of those being drink iced tea on the front porch swing. my aunt has the best old farm house and every summer we sit on the front porch, she and i in the swing, whoever else is with us in the chairs and we drink tea--sometimes with some fresh mint out of her garden. we just sit and swing and talk and enjoy the day. that's one of the ones that stood out to me on my list tonight.

my mom always makes sun tea out on our front porch and with me and my brother at the house we go through a jug a day. one of my favorite things in the world is to sit on our porch (tea in hand, of course) and look out over the land we own as a summer thunderstorm comes rolling in on us. not the dark kind of thunderstorm but the summer kind where the sky stays light and the suns back out in 30 minutes. sit and watch the rain come down and listen to the thunder come rolling down through the small valley in front of us, toward us, then over us, then on past us, then wait for the sun to move down and send us its warm, soft, fleeting kisses of orange, purple and red over that same field after the storm rolls out, as if to say, i was here for you during that but it's time for me to go on too.

Well has it been said that there is no grief like the grief which does not speak.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Twenty minutes before my Texas 4000 for Cancer meeting on Monday night, which happens every week as we prepare for our ride this summer, a ride to raise money for and spread hope and knowledge about cancer, I found out that my friend's mom died--from cancer. It was one of the most difficult things I've had to do--go to that meeting and sit there while my teammates talked about how many great things our organization is doing, while one of my closest friends had JUST lost her best friend in the world, how she was and will continue to grieve, and that the efforts I am doing to help beat this disease couldn't keep my friend, her mom, and her family from suffering now. Too late. I'm too late. Tina just lost her mom...

I saw Tina right up until the time she got the call to go home and say her goodbyes, and although she seemed as though she was ready, I couldn't imagine the hurt she was going through when it actually happened.

Diane found that she had lung cancer this past summer, and over the Christmas break, after surgeries and chemo, was told that her lung, brain and lymph node cancers were all but gone. Just over a month later her doctors told her that it was back, in nearly every one of her organs, and she had a month of quality life left. So she went home to her family.

She treated us all like her children. She had so much spirit at our games that she would always make tons of UT garb to hand out to our fans so they could show their support as well--especially at the World Series--so much so that ESPN did a feature on her and Tina.

While I was having a hard time grasping the situation and also having a negative attitude about our ride, Tina is actually the person who made me feel better. She wrote a letter to all her friends saying that she would put aside her selfish desires to keep her mom with her if it meant that she didn't have to suffer anymore. Even though we are making progress in the fight against cancer and people beat this disease more and more often, we're not there yet. While I couldn't do anything to help Tina and Diane, maybe my efforts will have a small part in finding a cure. Until then I can only remember the people I've lost to this awful disease...

Diane Hendry
My cousin Luke Rollins
My grandmom Granny

So here we are

Spring time is rolling around and something weird is happening inside me. At first I couldn't figure it out then came to realize that something is missing. For the past 11 years, this is the time of year when I start playing ball again. What is missing is sinking my spikes into the dirt and running onto the grass in the outfield of a ball field with the warmth of the recently returned sun on my shoulders, my favorite mitt perfectly returning to my hand, and the excitement of the rest of my teammates because we all know it's the beginning of something special.

This spring I don't get to experience that. But by no means do I regret retiring. Continuing to play ball in the environment that I was playing in would have eventually led me to have such a bitter, hateful feeling towards the whole situation that that's all I would have remembered. If I had continued my career and this was me thinking about ball 2 or 3 years down the road I probably wouldn't be experiencing this nostaligia for the times I spent on the field. Instead I wouldn't think of it at all, rather I would completely block it out of my mind since the thought of playing would only remind me of the resentment I felt toward the things that drove me to retire.

Fortunately that's not the case, and I'm not at all bitter about how things went down. It was a difficult decision that I thought about for over a year, and one that forced me to walk away from something I absolutely love in order to pursue my happiness--even though it now comes from other new sources instead of from playing ball--but my happiness is the most important thing. Because I made that difficult decision, I can think about all those first days getting back on the field, about waking up at 6am to go bust my ass and test my limits and push the limits of my teammates because sometime soon it's going to help me beat out a basehit, about beating the hell out of our rivals--and getting revenge against them when they beat us, about traveling together, about getting sick of everyone else on the team because we'd spent so much time together and then giving them the biggest hug after pulling off a huge win, about dancing in the lockerroom and all the other crazy shit that went down in there, about hackey circles. About all of that great stuff.

Those are the reasons why I was playing all along anyway.

aah-aa, yeeah-eah

I closed my eyes and let my imagination go. It wound me up so tight I thought I'd not come down but when I did, it was on an amazing trip to places in my mind that I haven't reached in a long time. My creativity is on the loose and it's so good. It's amazing what my mind will do if I just close my eyes and let it go. Having my creative processes firing up again is quite refreshing--I'm drawing again and seeing things differently than I do every other day of the week. I'm tapping part of me that has been on hiatus for the past two years or so, but now I'm armed with the knowledge to help me keep it right this time.

It's funny to be sitting at my desk, look out the window and see the cat that was only a couple of minutes ago laying across my keyboard running around outside. I didn't let him outside and no one else is in the house. Major has recently figured out how to open the door and lets himself outside whenever he feels like roaming around. That shit ain't right!

disconnected ramblings

This dreary weather for the past 2 weeks or so is starting to get to me. I was really wishing today that I was in sunny California so I could go outside without having to put on a ton of clothing.

A conversation I was having earlier got me to thinking again about how much I want to travel and how I might possibly be able to do so in the near future. Sure I will be seeing over a hundred new places this summer, which sounds promising until I'm reminded of the fact that I will be seeing them for only about an hour as I ride on through them on my bike. Hopefully I'll get to explore at least a little bit in some of the cities.

Each day I'm wavering more and more about my decision to pursue flying after I graduate. It's got nothing to do with flying and everything to do with the fact that the military lifestyle is not one I want to live. I've wanted to fly more than anything my entire life, and always just considered the military as a means to an end, but I don't know if I can compromise myself that much for that long. Playing softball at Texas has given me some perspective on a similar situation. Although I don't regret playing for the 2 years I was there, I was definitely unhappy a large part of the time. I was playing the sport that I absolutely love, made great friends, and got to experience some once in a lifetime opportunities, but, obviously, I ultimately decided even those things were not worth my unhappiness. I could apply the same logic to flying, but in this case what scares me is that it would be a much larger--at least 4 year--commitment. And if I didnt' make the cut as a pilot I'd get thrown into something else which I most likely would dislike.

I recently have begun to be not so bummed out about the fact that some of my best friends have moved very far away from me--we're talking about opposite coasts--and today Wilson tells me she'll most likely be moving back to Houston in 6 months. Yeah it's just H-town, but what's a girl to do without her big sister?

ooooh mmm yeah, that's nice

Here's a little update for you loyal loyal reader(s) of mine. I'm alive and well and glad that school has started. Although it will be a work intensive semester academically (as well as with Texas 4000 and at the Sport Shop), I'm really excited about my classes. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain the level of motivation I've had so far to do well in my classes and finally pull off what has been to me, that elusive 4.0.

I've been reading as much as I can about the world (vague huh?), religion, listening to stimulating music, thinking A LOT and having some super conversations (which I've been missing in general) with some people.

I'm definitely taking a new approach to things, one that makes motivating myself come much more easily. I'm getting back to my old self and that is nice since I've been missing aspects of myself for the past 2 years. I'm getting back to my "let's go!" self that I was my freshman year with a little more wisdom in my head to keep myself in check and (hopefully) not make the same mistakes that I did that year to get me derailled in the first place. All the while I'm still figuring out how I feel about the world and my life and where both are going, independently of each other and because of each other. In other words, how I want to live my life, how the world is functioning and whether I should try to really apply myself to making the world function more properly or just exploit the world to create a plush lifestyle for myself. That's kind of a whole other issue to get into though.

I've rid myself (for the most part) of a cancerous burden that has been dragging me down and muddling the picture of where I want my life to go for some time and that is one of the things that has liberated me to pursue my life again. I'm seeing things more clearly than I have in quite some time which is fantasticly satisfying and extremely exciting since it's mearly the tip of what's to come.

On a lighter note, I've finally given in to myspace since, but I'm keeping it real on there. Only people who are my close friends are on my page (with only an exception or two). I am getting off of facebook too, since it has become even more invasive than myspace, which was one of my problems with myspace in the first place.

If we haven't spoken in a while, drop a line. I'd love to hear from you and you and you.

Resolutions?

I think New Year's resolutions are stupid. Why is it that people need a special day to start making their lives better? Why not just do it anyway? And what's more, most of the time the ideas are abandoned or neglected after a few days or weeks anyway. That being said, do any of you have plans for making resolutions for the first day of 2007 and what might they be? What resolutions have you made in the past that you've committed to or some that you may have given up on in the past?

A beautiful day on the hike and or bike trail, in the ghetto

"You're crazy but I like you."

It seems like they are getting crazier and crazier daily.

But cats don't like water! More evidence that they're actually pterodactyls, or possibly velociraptors.

Their sweet side

eff that noise

Thanks to Cat's "what the hell?" comment I'm back to blogging again.

So here's what's up:

Today is my bro's birthday. He's 23.

This is what I wish I was doing right now:

ALSO:
Cullen is coming back into town to throwdown before she leaves for Kuwait in the spring.

This time last year>>

Fall classes are over and after my two finals I'll breath a sigh of relief that I made it through the semester despite skipping half of my classes. Yes, half. The only class that I really enjoyed this semester was at 8am and of the handful of times that I went, or maybe even less, I fell asleep. So most of the time I didn't bother with going. Next semester is looking more promising.

I'm gearing up for the bike ride next summer. My teammates are pretty rad and we're working to get things set up, but I'm just ready to hop on the bike and get going already. I want to see some new stuff and can't wait to find myself waking up in a new city everyday. I think I've only been to 2 or 3 of the places that we'll be going through so that makes me extremely excited. Maybe it'll itch my traveling bone long enough for me to save some money for my next trip. Only six months until we leave for Alaska...
AND
I've moved into a new house for those of you that I haven't talked to in a long ass time. It's amazing.

On the three and half our trip to Connecticut, where I was sharing half my seat with the overweight person next to me, Mike and I decided to pass some time. Remember that game where you speak only with questions? This is our version:

Mike: Hello rachael, how are you doing?
Rachael: I want off this plane.
M:I have a bomb in my underwear, we are going to cuba.
R: Is it brown?
M: Brown and stinky can you deal with that?
R: Just like a Cuban huh?
M: Have you found Cubans to be like that in the bedroom?
R: Was it a dirty Cuban? In the bedroom? With a, er, candlestick?
M: How can I tell, he called it a candlestick when he kept telling me to blow it out.
R: So it’s confirmed?
M: Why should I be talking to you about such private matters?
R: Didn’t I just hear him yesterday telling everyone how good it was for you?
M: Wasn’t that right after he got done towling you off?
R: Oh that?
M: How can you be so passé about the most incredible 20 seconds of your life?
R: It lasted that long?
M: When will you stop judging me?
R: Weren’t we talking about Cubans? Sweaty Cubans?
M: Is that the mouth you use around your parents?
R: Didn’t my mom teach me well?
M: Do you know what I thought you were going to write; didn’t my mom teabag me?
R: What does that mean?
M: Don’t you think it’s a little late in life for me to be explaining this stuff to you?
R: How do you expect my mom to teach me everything?
M: Gotta lotta of what? Deeds to do?
...
M: How do you feel about enimas?
R: Why are you asking me?
M: Would you like me to give you one?
R: Are you a doctor?
M: Don’t I look like one?
R: Does this remind you of anything?
M: Does that night we spent in that Mexican prison have anything to do with this?
R: Can you repay me for the months and months of therapy you just reversed by bringing that back up?
M: Can I work off through sex?
R: Won’t that take too long?
M: Can you take some time off of work?
R: What kind of down payment are we talking about?
M: Do you accept food stamps?
R: How many of these people do you think are members of the mile high club?
M: Wouldn’t you say at least one? How many people joined on this flight?
R: How did we get seats right next to the bathroom and not capitalize?
M: Do you remember me asking you? Wouldn’t you say that we missed the boat?
R: Aren’t we on a plane? There’s motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking boat!?!
M: When did you become a large black man?
R: How many times do I have to tell you things change when you go to cuba for the weekend?
M: Is it true? Once you go black you don’t go back?
R: Have you ever tasted brown sugar? I thought you knew I prefer mocha java?
M: Can you tell me how you lost your leg?
R: Is this plane going down? JK JK. Have I ever told you about the night I went Honky Tonkin?
M: Why can’t I seem to recall that story?
R: Do you know where Anna is? And have you heard of the Coyote Den? Que? Why does my boob itch?
M: Do you have a yeast infection that you got from Napolean’s face? Or maybe you have a degree from the UTI?
R: Can you take me to the doctor to have this checked up? I think maybe I was downwind from [name changed to protect the not so innocent]???
M: I thought that I already told you that I am a doctor? If you have a second I look at it right now.
R: Where’s your white coat?
M: Aren’t cutbacks a motherfucker? Why is it my hospital won’t get me anything useful except tongue depressers?
R: How can you question the usefulness of tongue depressers? Shouldn’t you be thankful?
M: Why don’t you go screw yourself with a tongue depresser and then tell how useful you think they are?
R: Can you throw in a bottle of Vaseline?
M: For you? Do you think you deserve it?
R: I don’t need your stinking tongue depresser then!!

Sorry no posts lately..I've been swamped at work.

I ordered a new bike the other day to get started on my training for the Texas4000. Happy birthday to me.

Mike and I found a bad ass house and moved in yesterday, also a reason that I've been so busy.

The Master Cleanse lasted a day. Cayenne pepper is not nice to me. Neither is not eating.

Texas4000 is beginning to take up a lot of time as well since I was assigned to equipment committee chair. Oh and raising $4000.

Here are some more pics from the trip. These are all from NYC.

Back from life. Back to reality.

Last night marked my return home from one of the greatest weeks I've ever had. Ten days of touring New England. Stories and more pictures to follow.

For the past several weeks, or months even, I've felt quite stagnant in Austin--exactly what I had hoped to never have happen. Getting out of town showed me it already was. As cool as Austin is and as much as I love it, I've fallen into a rut which has left me rather uninspired--nothing new, no imagination, no aspirations. My favorite part of the trip was going to my favorite place--Manhattan. The trip absolutely stimulated my mind in ways that it'd been starving for (explanations to come.) It also validated how I can be obsessed with and love so much a city that I've only spent a total of 5 days in, including this past week. My mind is very much rejuvenated. For now at least. Onto my body...

For the next 10 days I'll be going on quite a different kind of expedition. I will be consuming only Master Cleanse (distilled water, organic maple syrup, lime juice and organic cayenne) from Daily Juice down the street, which my body should appreciate after everything I put into it over the past 10. To know me is to know that I love food. This should be interesting.

Atlantic City sand on my foot.

An Amish buggie in Pennsylvania only a few miles from where those kids got shot.





Tailgaiting before the Monday Night Football game.









Atlantic City.






We were a big hit at the game.







Derek Euston of Live playing in his studio for the song Doug recorded for his wedding this Saturday.

Here's for a little update

I'm presently in Lancaster Pennsylvania where earlier today a murder-suicide took place in an Amish school. Six dead including the shooter and more injured.

In other news. I spent the weekend in Atlantic City and it was nothing short of amazing. In Lancaster this morning I had the best damn cheesesteak I have never imagined. Sorry Texadelphia, you're dead to me (other than the queso of course). We are on our way to Philadelphia to tailgate before going to the Eagles game.

I'll probably spend a few days in NYC before the wedding on Saturday.

Pictures coming.

It's official

Dear Texas 4000 for Cancer applicant,

After reviewing your application and interview, it is our pleasure to invite you to be a part of the 2007 summer Texas 4000 for Cancer tour. Congratulations! In less than 300 days, you'll be pedaling your heart all the way to Alaska.

The first team meeting is proposed for Monday, October 9, at 7pm, location TBA. (Update coming soon.) At the meeting you will receive more information regarding the fall and spring schedule, team policy, answers to your questions and curiosities, and a few treats to kick-start your experience as a Texas 4000 rider.

All general Texas 4000 meetings will take place on Monday nights for the rest of the semester, so please plan your calendar accordingly to the best of your ability.

Again, congrats! We (the 2006 team and recruitment committee) are looking forward to getting to know you better. Allow us to be of any assistance throughout the year.

Lily Gross
Interim Director
Rockies '06

Pictures. As Promised. Woohoo!

Downtown from the hot air balloon ride.


Mike and Ricky Bobby.


Wilson's make up job on me for the Bloc Party concert.


A velocaraptor at the Botanical Gardens in Austin.


A Moose Deer at the Austin Zoo.


Awesome leopard. Probably related to Lance and Major somehow.

One pissed off Tiger. Can't blame him. He'd been rescued from a travelling religious circus. A TRAVELLING RELIGIOUS CIRCUS.


Wilson and I took in a baseball game after the zoo yesterday then headed downtown where I saw

Allow me to introduce...

You may or may not have heard about Emily Pitek. If you haven't, chances are you will. Cat used to drop Em's name or sometimes just refer to her as 'my friend from 'Bama'. The first time I ever saw her, I was sitting at my computer in our hotel room at the World Series and Cat said, "Look! Look! Emily's on tv!" I leaned over and this is what I saw.

I watched in awe as she led cheers. I had to meet her, and I did a day or two later at the hotel. I walked up to her and was introduced by Cat. Although denied a greeting hug, I was immediately infatuated with her. I couldn't stop laughing as long as I was around her even though our season had just been bitterly ended by UCLA for the second year in a row. I poured confetti over her head and even some in her mouth.

Those five minutes are the only ones I've ever spent with Emily.

Emily can be a pain in the ass. She's stubborn and has a bad temper. She's impatient. She'll put on a smiley face, but she's very hard to get close to. She's all about the shits and giggles, but she'll tell you that's not who she really is. She won't open up to people. Her redeeming qualities? She's brutally honest, fiercy loyal to people she loves, sees beyond the bullshit, and despite her act she's real. She would fight someone for me in a heartbeat, would have my back.

She does everything on her own terms, so she'll get to the root of your motives in a hurry and drop you cold if you're not coming correct. I've spent all of five minutes with her ever, but I can go a week or more without talking to her at all, call her at 2 in the morning, and talk to her for an hour like I've always known her.

I've got to wrap this up, because she's only got a few more minutes online before she's gone for a week for soccer preseason, and she's being impatient.

Some things I've learned from Emmy P



How to be a badass. She just broke this chick's nose.



Sometimes you should just play dead.



And you don't have to brush your hair to look pretty.

Let me catch you up

Ahhh, excitement abounds. This is long but a lot has been going on the past few days. Pictures will follow whenever I get my crap working.

I got a knock on my door at 8 a.m. on Friday morning. Granted it's not that early, but since the boys kept me awake until 5 a.m. I was not in the mood to get up. Until I heard there were free hot air balloon rides across the street at Auditorium Shores that is. I was up and dressed in two seconds, and Wilson and I were on our way. The new phone company Cricket was advertising by giving free rides. The balloon was tethered to the ground so we only went about 150 feet high, but it was awesome.

After our ride and breakfast at Magnolia we went to the Barton Creek greenbelt to run. I was telling Wilson as we passed the rock walls that we should go to the rock gym and climb. Right about that time we came across two guys climbing. After talking to them for a couple of minutes, they offered to let us climb. I couldn't get the gear on fast enough. I've been to the rock gym and climbed, but it was nothing compared to climbing a real rock face.

We got home at 11 a.m. and I had already had the day of the month. After spending the afternoon at Barton Springs, I got to hang out with Cullen and her roomie. We went downtown and thanks to Cullen's charm and our good looks we didn't pay for a drink all night. I even got to see my long lost buddies Amanda and Lacey.

That was Friday.

Saturday was a little more relaxed but we did get to see a really cool production of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Zilker hillside theater.

This morning Mike, Eric and I did a 60 mile road ride to San Marcos and back. It was so amazing, I can't wait until I get to ride my bike everyday next summer to Alaska. It's going to be such an amazing way to see the western states and even some of Canada (yay Carly!).

J-5 MCs

Mike and I just got home from the AWESOME show Jurassic 5 put on at Stubb's. I could tell they really liked each other, and they loved Austin. So fun. Thanks Mike.

Here are some pics that finally made their way onto my computer.


Mike and I planned on seeing The Format, but it was sold out so we ended up at the Slightly Stoopid show at Stubb's.



After the show I ran into C Money who played a mad trumpet in the band.



Because we can, we decided to get dressed up and go out for drinks. We moved from the Driskill Bar to Cork & Co, then Betsy's Bar for drinks, dancing and Atari. We capped the night off at Plush with more dancing. Mike, our neighbor Kate, my new roomie Wilson and myself. (Yes, that is me.)



Roommate love. Wilson and me.



I'm going to need for you to focus on Mike in this one.



Playing around with the camera and Picasa2.

ALIVE

People, calm down. Reports of my death have been widely exaggerated. I've just been incredibly busy this summer, but Rachael has inspired me to give a little update. So, I've been interning at Career Sports & Entertainment (www.careersports.com) in the public relations department and it has been absolutely fabulous. In fact, they offered me a job but I am going to finish my LAST semester of grad school before I accept it and move to the ATL for good (or for a while). I've been living with Maggie - you guys remember good 'ol Maggie right?? - in a bad ass house she just bought. I've also been commuting back to Athens twice a week for school, which totally sucks and contributes to my utter and complete exhuastion. Let's see, what else. I gave Gerry the boot for those who didn't know...I cut off all my hair and straightened it...my parents now officially live in Arlington...Beanie is bunking with them for the summer...I met Young Juc (the rapper) outside of a bar in ATL and went riding around in his white stretch Hummer limo...I've been getting my toes wet in the dating scene down here and let me tell you that has been INTERESTING. I mean, give me a guy sitting at the bar chain smoking Parliament Lights and in a band and apparently I am DONEZO. Everything else is going really well, I have finally begun to like it here and feel at home - but I still miss Austin like CRAZY. And especially all you people in it! Sorry this isn't especially entertaining, or witty, or very creative...but now you know I'M ALIVE!

Peace.

there hasn't been much going on with this blog lately. reason being, i have nothing to write about. see the thing is, i've lost sight of why i do this. last summer i was bored, and lonely, and lacking any sort of creative outlet, thus my blog was born (actually, i missed its birthday, which was 10 days ago, so happy late anniversary to you, blog). i'm still bored, but not lonely, and it's lacking purpose now. i'm indifferent to it.

bleck. (thanks em). i'm bored, and bored with my blog. this is what i've come up with. my camera is still fucked up or i would have pictures for you. thanks too, to the person who i stole this from:

Finish each sentence.....
1) My ex is.....the reason i'm so pleased with being single
2) Maybe I should.....call my parents more often
3) I love.....lance and major
4) I don't understand.....
5) I lost my......a lot of stuff, i just moved again
6) People say that I'm....a down ass bitch
7) Sex is......intense
8) Love is......possible
9) Somewhere, someone is......eating dinner. i'm hungry
10) I will always.....want to do more
11) Forever is.....imaginary
12) I never want to....be complacent
13) I think the current President is.....should be assassinated. just kidding. but really
14) When I wake up in the morning I.....give the boys some love
15) Life is full of.....possibility
16) My past.....i'm focused on my future
17) I get annoyed when......people cut me off
18) I wish......i had the pedal down on my new M3, or the throttle open on my JSF
19) my dog is...*lance and major fuckin rock*
20) Tomorrow I'm going to.....work, work out
21) I have low tolerance for....closeminded people
22) If I had a million dollars I would.....travel and invest
23) Sometimes I want to.....dye my hair

i can't get a lot of stuff out of my head lately and none of it's good