02.02.02
watering my roots
well folks, if it wasn’t obvious, i’m in texas right now. i’m currently staying with my friend nicole, who i used to trot up and down the aisles of eckerd with when i worked there in high school.
so it’s time to recap my thoughts for the week.
sunday evening, i arrived in austin at the airport. it was a good thing that mark wasn’t with me because the first thing i saw after i got out of the airport was a cowboy. the whole time i lived here i never saw a cowboy (that i can remember) and so i find it ridiculous that stereotypes seem to show up at the oddest times. if mark would have been there it would have been terrible, because that would have been his first impression of texas. go figure. 
so, jason, his roommate bren (which may be misspelled) and his friend claudia all went to taco cabana. it’s amazing how easy it is to romanticize things when you’re not near them. taco cabana was nothing more than the same old dried up crappy meat on a tortilla that it used to be. after that, we went back to his incredibly small apartment and i walked around in a cher wig and jewish lady glasses for awhile. jason and i made a trip to HEB (a grocery store, for you non-knowing northerners) and then to the local arcade.
THIS was a defining moment, because i discovered my new love for DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION! we sucked at first, but after awhile we were jamming!!! (jason, insert megan voice as appropriate.) at 3am, we finally called it quits, and went back to the apartment to get some rest. the next day, we began our trip to houston to surprise kelsie.
first point of business when traveling with me — if i have to pee, i have to pee. jason didn’t want to stop for me, but finally he did and everything was okay. so, we went to pier one where kelsie was supposed to be working, but she wasn’t, so we planned to surprise her at home. i hid in the back of jason’s forerunner and i jumped out to surprise kelsie when jason tried to convince her that someone had hit the back of his car. she almost cried .. it was a seriously hilarious/emotional/funny/amazing moment.
so kelsie, jason, and i drove around kingwood, saw the house where i grew up, and ate at sonic, which i had missed terribly. i had finally arrived back in tater-tot heaven. so we went to deerbrook mall and i bought the home version of dance dance revolution, which would become the focal point of most of the rest of my trip. jason and kelsie insisted that the mall has become more ghetto, but in reality i think it was always that way. i got to see the JC Penney store that i was fired from, and got to hiss at it in person.
it’s very odd, but nothing has changed all that much since i left the kingwood/humble area. it really isn’t as different as i expected it to be, save a few traffic change patterns due to the construction on hwy 59. it’s true what they say — that when you go back to where you grew up it’s like you never left.
so that night, we drove back to austin, and the next morning kelsie and i began our journey back to kingwood. kelsie spent most of the time studying — i’m really proud of how much more focused she has become on doing well in school. i felt for a long time that she might have trouble because of how many things were going on in her life, but she really has managed to take the bull by the horns and get her life under control. i really think things are going to work out for her.
so, after dropping kelsie off and having a lengthy conversation with her and her family (mother, brother, and hyperactive dog “rescue”) i headed off to go see jessica at UH. I really was amazed at the place she lives in — the new campus housing called Cullen Oaks… I’m actually very jealous because when I lived at UH it was really crappy. Regardless, visiting jessica made me realize how much i miss college life. when i moved to nj, i wasn’t really expecting to give it up… but once again i think i’m romanticizing being piss poor and eating ramen noodles and easy mac every night. jessica is not living that way though. she eats fancy salsa.
so i got to meet jessica’s roommates… amie, mara (i hope that’s spelled right) and robyn. amie and mara are fantastic, and i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live with them. jessica is sooooo lucky. on the other hand robyn is just a silly fool who makes for a great floor show. she thinks sea monkeys are real monkeys, all indian people eat ice cream and candy for breakfast, raccoons hatch from eggs, and ostriches are a brand of car. anyway, jessica’s couch was much more comfortable than the crack between two mattresses at jason’s, but i can’t complain, because he let me borrow his car, which is one of the most selfless things that anyone has ever done for me. i would like to think that i would be capable of doing the same but i’m really not sure.
so jessica and i went to crossroads to get coffee, and i ran into matt (whose name i could not remember when i ran into him), a guy i used to date. it was SOOOOO awkward, as was having all the old gay men’s eyes fall upon us as we walked into the place. now i remember why i always felt so uncomfortable there. oh well. there is that romanticizing thing AGAIN. so after that we went to wortham and sat in our circle of bricks and walked by the fountains like we used to. it was a very bizarre experience for me, but it was strangely familiar. jessica and i talked about some concerns i have in my life, and our conversation really made me feel better.
the next day, i tooled around houston myself… it was great going to soundwaves and half price books, and just kinda finding my way around again. i really miss it, but not enough to want to come back. that night we (jessica, amie, ryan, danesh, and myself) went to baba yega for dinner. i cannot BELIEVE how great of a guy ryan is… it’s amazing… jessica is really lucky to have him… he’s so nice, polite, funny, and just all around fun to be around. i had a great time. we went to the condom shop, and crossroads again, and then headed back, while i belted whitney houston. when we got back we all played dance dance revolution in the lobby of jessica’s floor and we were joined by a crowd of girls from down the hall. even though only one person could play at a time it was hilarious because everyone was doing the steps like they were in a janet jackson video.
the next day (i’m losing track now by the way) i headed back to kingwood to go see my high school. it was a very weird experience in itself, but once i needed. i saw rhonda bell, my speech coach, and melissa hayhurst, my english teacher turned assistant principal. i will go more into my conversations with them later.
i’m a little pressed for time, so i’m going to have to go into the rest of the details up to this point a little later. but hopefully this update will help a little bit, for anyone who is ACTUALLY following my life… LOL…
ramblings:
kingwood women still can’t drive, park, or interact with people below a certain tax bracket.
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