So I'm happy as a clam, in Starbucks, no matter where that might be.
This weekend has been pretty crazy awesome, but a lot happened. Bear with me here.
Friday:
I woke up to a bunch of guys yelling. Turned out it was my dad and a bunch of his buddies screaming "GOAL!" at the television. Like the announcer wasn't doing a good enough job pointing that out. Anyways, I stayed in my room and waited for the testosterone to clear out. Then later we went to Grump's, a local burger joint that has fabulous fries. Said buddies were there, along with a bunch of older science professors from Tarleton. It was actually really fun, and I'll post about some of the outrageous things we talked about (which involve kidnapping and absurdly rich girls). One of the buddies' daughters showed up, and we talked a lot about gay and lesbian history, which we both studied last year. Liberal people are quite refreshing around here.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean that I hate conservatives, but coming from a place like Chicago and a college like NU, it can get a little irritating listening to people gripe about how same sex marriage will destroy the country, or how Obama is a socialist dictator akin to Hitler (I promise, I've heard both of those topics discussed here in TX).
Afterwards, dad and I went home to watch Lost in Translation, which was a somewhat funny movie. Overall though, the point was ambiguous, and it seemed like nothing was solved by the end of the movie. Still fun.
Saturday:
Dad's birthday! I told everyone we talked to that it was his birthday, even though he tried at first to ignore it as best he could. We were going to get a hearty breakfast at Jalisco's, but for some reason this town has the 4th of July parade on the 3rd. Don't ask. I don't understand. Anyways, it blocked the road we needed, so we drove a little before settling for Peacock's (which I modeled MATT'S (a restaurant in MORGANTOWN) after). It was very good. After that, we hit the road for San Antonio.
Four hours (and one more trip to Starbucks) later, we made it to my Aunt Elena's house. She lives right across from Serleena (or the actress who played her in Men In Black 2). Cool right? Anyways, we went down to the river walk with my cousins Lloyd, Byron, and Bella. As soon as we settled down for a scenic boat tour, I realized that I forgot my camera. Damn. We had a blast anyways, stopped at the Alamo, and then got a little lost. While Elena and dad scanned the map to find the parking structure where we left the cars, I saw a wasp near Byron (the youngest, about 4).
I told Elena, but before she could get to him, he swatted at it. Terrible idea, Byron. It stung him and he promptly started to scream bloody murder. Poor kid. Dad and Elena combined efforts to get the stinger out, and made sure that he wasn't allergic. Once Byron calmed down, we drove to a small Puerto Rican restaurant for dinner.
Pause.
Ok, I know there's no way to properly explain how amazing this food is, but I'm going to try. I had mofongo with carne frita, which looks a little like this:
Amazing, right? Basically it's mashed up plantains with a BUNCH of garlic, onions, and other yummy spices. Then they fry the pork with lots of other spices. Wash down with coca cola for maximum enjoyment.
My cousins are 4, 6, & 7 (approximately), so they were a bit of a handful. But when Lloyd held my hand on the way back to the car from the riverwalk, it was priceless. So adorable. What was not adorable was Byron hogging all the flan, haha. We ordered Flan de Queso for dessert, which looks like this:
A perfect end to a perfect meal.
We went back to Elena's for some English style tea (complete with milk and sugar), and on the way, something stung me.
Pause again.
What kind of cruel fate is at work when two cousins get stung in the same day?
Anyways, I didn't start screaming bloody murder, but I did start crying when Elena said it looked like a spider bite (I'm fairly sure at this point I'm arachnophobic). Dad said no, that there was only one bump, AND there had been a stinger. Then I calmed down, finished my tea, and we played with the cousins a bit more before heading out.
Did I mention how cool my aunt is? She's teaching English grades 9 & 10 next year, and we talked a lot about literary canon and griped together about how the curriculum is mostly books by white dead men. Dad tuned out, haha.
We got home at 2am and I fell asleep a few hours later. Yawn. Long, amazing, fun, Saturday.
Today (Sunday):
I woke up to my phone ringing. Dad had promptly gone to the theatre after church, and he told me to get ready, because we were going to see Eclipse at 11.
"What time is it?" I asked, checking my phone. It was 10:36.
Great timing, dad.
We made it (after a quick trip to Starbucks, of course) with a few minutes to spare, and I finally got to see Eclipse.
My opinion? Not as bad as the first, and maybe better than the second. I liked the STORY of the second one better, and the basic storyline is already kind of set in stone. There weren't as many funny lines in this one, and Jacob got a lot more awkward. I think men just become awkward once they fall in love with Bella. Like it's contagious. I loved seeing Rosalie's and Jasper's stories, and I'm so glad they weren't cut out. Lots of great action scenes, and a few great one liners from Charlie.
I'm both excited for and dreading the last installment (which I've heard they're splitting into two movies. WTF?). Excited to see the hilarious awkwardness of Jacob imprinting on a baby, and dreading the creepy awkwardness of Jacob imprinting on a baby. We'll see how it turns out.
Now I'm off to see Knight and Day, which should be a great comedy. Any role where a crazy actor can be crazy usually ends up a success (case in point: Nicholas Cage in Kick Ass).
Happy Independence day, and see you all later!
(It's not possible to overdose on Starbucks, BTW)
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