On the Road Again: Adventures in, Well, DFW
Watch the stars: they dance tonight
As I prepare and fear to fight
Might my hand turn left to right
Tonight: bite my lip, clench my fist
Born, and it was nipping at my heel
And all to see if I could feel
Wake, slumber, wonder what is real
Tonight: hear my call, catch my wrist
Life! Please don't tear me down
I love the waters as I drown
I love your laughter as I frown
Tonight: let me in, let me go
All I want? To live, to breathe, to know
...Boredom at work is a scary thing. I need something to read! Suggestions, anyone?
The camera phone is a dangerous thing. Part of this is due to the fact that I don't quite know how to use it: I've lost half of what I've taken. Then there's the notion that I have an "artist's mind" and therefore can't take normal pictures to save my life. But, oh do I love people and places. They're such pretty things to take pictures of: that little slice of time, those nuances of character, the composition of color... I lurve it. It's evil in a very delicious way.
It's also pretty damn distracting. So far I've taken plenty of pictures of the house, of my forever-adorable cat Silly (you don't realize how much a cat moves around until you try to take a picture of it), other animals, nature scenes, birthday scenes, restaurant scenes, work scenes, a few goofy self-photos (these are the worst!), you name it.
Speaking of, the typical dreary schedule of work-and-school has been wonderfully interrupted by other engagements these last few days. Two instances of note: Sunday night with "the girls" (whooooooo it's been years since I've been able to say that xD), on a trip for some much-needed "therapy" and a later meal at I-Hop (lots of wedding discussions and jokes and certain people talking about messing with the attractive waiter and verbal/physical innuendo and whatnot), and Monday afternoon with my Dad's family, which first involved trying to figure out how to get to Joe T. Garcia's on my own. I started by cruising down to FM1171 and taking the rather beautiful, scenic road to I-35W, which is a pretty simple matter to jump over to and drive down on. It wasn't until I reached I-30 that I started pulling out my own hair...
Joe T's is in Fort Worth. Since I've been (legally) able to drive, I've only visited Fort Worth from behind the wheel a couple of times. I've gone with others since high school only a few more times than that; the city offered less to me once Great Grandma Taylor died and my grandparents and great aunts and uncles sold her home (bah, not nice of them :/ ... I miss the encyclopedias/yearbooks, windchimes, honeysuckle, the aloe vera in pots scattered throughout her sewing room, the rusty green swings, the musty/earthy garage with a little cut-out "stop" sign dangling off the ceiling midway, and the always out-of-tune old piano... and I miss that awesome lady who taught me how to kick everyone's ass at checkers and how to make homemade beef stew... that complicated, strong, gentle lady with surprisingly more feminist literature than I've ever seen in a stash of old books of hers I found after she died... I miss it all). Though there's something charming about downtown Fort Worth that's less... hostile... than the Dallas equivalent (though downtown Dallas STILL/now has a Spaghetti Warehouse of its own :D). Anyway, Joe T's is close to the Stockyards (where the first Spaghetti Warehouse I know of used to be :D ...Italian>Mexican food-wise, just FYI :DDDD ...though my relatives may disagree...), and I didn't have to go through some super-scary five-way intersection this time, so all that helped. Still, I got a little lost and arrived a little late (even later than I thought for I had the wrong time for the party anyway... gawd). Strangely enough, it was my mother that saved the day: my mother, the navigator for her daughter to her ex-husband's birthday party. Of course, between querps of useful instructions she had to keep commenting on how wonderful the food was at Joe T's (keep in mind that they only offer two dishes: fajitas and enchiladas) and how much she envied me... to the point where she just caved and bolted out the door to Uncle Julio's shortly after I finally pulled up the dirt, gravel, and pavement parking lot of Joe T's.
Inside, after searching for ten more minutes around the large expanse of the restaurant (it's frikin' HUGE), I found our table, finally. I saw my Dad there, the old man now over forty-one years of age. He got up from his chair, bear-hugged me for a good five minutes (heehee, awww), and then commented on how long my hair has grown (the longest it's been since I was six, and I think I've had it up pretty much every time he's seen me as of late, until yesterday). He's such a sensitive goober xD (I love my dad). Then we all sat down and I mooched off of leftovers (because I arrived late) and chatted with Grandma & Granddad Molk (Granddad has this weird beardish/goatee-ish thing below his lip now and didn't that last time I saw him... that's how long it's been). Holly (and her husband), Nataly (pregnant with my little half-sister, Maggie Jane), my little stepsister Molly, and my brother Andrew were there as well. What an interesting meal! Afterwards we walked around the place in a "tour," even noting where my uncle Chris proposed to aunt Kelly years ago...
Another thing to note of my mother: while many girls seem to daydream of their future weddings all on their own, my mother did all the daydreaming for me (because I was a strangely apathetic little child and the notion of ever being in a relationship rarely crossed my mind). She knows what color my dress is (I forget, but I'm guessing it's some odd shade of white o.O) and so on. The only thing I've ever contributed to this dream of hers is the notion that a combination vacation/cruise involving Disney World (they have this package where you first go to theme parks for several days and THEN take a cruise line to some island beach owned by Disney... or at least they used to when I was, er, ten years old) would be nice for the honeymoon (come on you KNOW it would be awesome... :D). Whelp, guess where the wedding itself is "going" to take place? Yeah-huh, that's right: Joe T's. Why Joe T's? Because it's like someone bottled aspects of Botanical Gardens (ooooooh I need to go there again!) and then fused these with a mafia-owned, 90% outdoors, Mexican restaurant. Seriously. Lots of fountains (the sound of running water's always nice), stone structures from another age, well-kept, thriving exotic and local plants (the hibiscus looks like it takes steroids!), the works. When my mother starts swooning as she brings this all up, I almost always roll my eyes, and sometimes I say dark stuffs like "I'm never getting married, ma" or "Can I make the wedding dress black and the tux white? :D." But I have to admit that Joe T's is a rather beautiful place... as long as it doesn't rain on your food (though rain is awesome, too).
Too bad I'm asexual and never getting married. xDDD (Give me a moment to laugh about this... mmmm, okay, done.)
Away from Joe T's, I followed my Grandparents out of the scary confusing mess of the typical big-city's downtown and over to I-20 and Arlington to visit at their house. The rest of the group arrived later, despite my Grandparents' very, very slow driving habits (and I had to follow them, thinking, "oh shit this is slow!"). It's a beautiful house with a heavy tropical theme to it (Grandma loves the beach and anything associated with it): parrots, flowers, good fruits, two pianos (one being the old one from Great Grandma Taylor's house), a never-ending stockpile of diet sodas, pictures of family members and vacations everywhere (always a source of envy for me, those pictures of Italy, Ireland, Hawaii and whatnot), and so on. For hours and hours we chatted about everything, it seemed, and I came in and out of the conversation just like waves on a beach. At some point the TV came on and the three men in the room half-watched some football game, as Holly and Grandma took the reins on the conversation. Andrew snuck off to the guest room to nap and Molly played princess, prancing around in Belle's clothes while Dad and Nataly kept nodding-off in the living room, the main stage of conversation. Somehow that pace kept on until early evening, where we finally left Granddad and Grandma's place for Lewisville. Dad and Natalie took Molly to Greenville and I took Andrew home. So it ended. Yuh. And so I'm ending this post right here before it threatens to be any longer or any more dreadfully boring.
Other than that.... mer, a few more pictures on Facebook. scary. Haha. xD
Excuse typing errors, please. I had to leave early because the lab was closing. BAH.
As I prepare and fear to fight
Might my hand turn left to right
Tonight: bite my lip, clench my fist
Born, and it was nipping at my heel
And all to see if I could feel
Wake, slumber, wonder what is real
Tonight: hear my call, catch my wrist
Life! Please don't tear me down
I love the waters as I drown
I love your laughter as I frown
Tonight: let me in, let me go
All I want? To live, to breathe, to know
...Boredom at work is a scary thing. I need something to read! Suggestions, anyone?
The camera phone is a dangerous thing. Part of this is due to the fact that I don't quite know how to use it: I've lost half of what I've taken. Then there's the notion that I have an "artist's mind" and therefore can't take normal pictures to save my life. But, oh do I love people and places. They're such pretty things to take pictures of: that little slice of time, those nuances of character, the composition of color... I lurve it. It's evil in a very delicious way.
It's also pretty damn distracting. So far I've taken plenty of pictures of the house, of my forever-adorable cat Silly (you don't realize how much a cat moves around until you try to take a picture of it), other animals, nature scenes, birthday scenes, restaurant scenes, work scenes, a few goofy self-photos (these are the worst!), you name it.
Speaking of, the typical dreary schedule of work-and-school has been wonderfully interrupted by other engagements these last few days. Two instances of note: Sunday night with "the girls" (whooooooo it's been years since I've been able to say that xD), on a trip for some much-needed "therapy" and a later meal at I-Hop (lots of wedding discussions and jokes and certain people talking about messing with the attractive waiter and verbal/physical innuendo and whatnot), and Monday afternoon with my Dad's family, which first involved trying to figure out how to get to Joe T. Garcia's on my own. I started by cruising down to FM1171 and taking the rather beautiful, scenic road to I-35W, which is a pretty simple matter to jump over to and drive down on. It wasn't until I reached I-30 that I started pulling out my own hair...
Joe T's is in Fort Worth. Since I've been (legally) able to drive, I've only visited Fort Worth from behind the wheel a couple of times. I've gone with others since high school only a few more times than that; the city offered less to me once Great Grandma Taylor died and my grandparents and great aunts and uncles sold her home (bah, not nice of them :/ ... I miss the encyclopedias/yearbooks, windchimes, honeysuckle, the aloe vera in pots scattered throughout her sewing room, the rusty green swings, the musty/earthy garage with a little cut-out "stop" sign dangling off the ceiling midway, and the always out-of-tune old piano... and I miss that awesome lady who taught me how to kick everyone's ass at checkers and how to make homemade beef stew... that complicated, strong, gentle lady with surprisingly more feminist literature than I've ever seen in a stash of old books of hers I found after she died... I miss it all). Though there's something charming about downtown Fort Worth that's less... hostile... than the Dallas equivalent (though downtown Dallas STILL/now has a Spaghetti Warehouse of its own :D). Anyway, Joe T's is close to the Stockyards (where the first Spaghetti Warehouse I know of used to be :D ...Italian>Mexican food-wise, just FYI :DDDD ...though my relatives may disagree...), and I didn't have to go through some super-scary five-way intersection this time, so all that helped. Still, I got a little lost and arrived a little late (even later than I thought for I had the wrong time for the party anyway... gawd). Strangely enough, it was my mother that saved the day: my mother, the navigator for her daughter to her ex-husband's birthday party. Of course, between querps of useful instructions she had to keep commenting on how wonderful the food was at Joe T's (keep in mind that they only offer two dishes: fajitas and enchiladas) and how much she envied me... to the point where she just caved and bolted out the door to Uncle Julio's shortly after I finally pulled up the dirt, gravel, and pavement parking lot of Joe T's.
Inside, after searching for ten more minutes around the large expanse of the restaurant (it's frikin' HUGE), I found our table, finally. I saw my Dad there, the old man now over forty-one years of age. He got up from his chair, bear-hugged me for a good five minutes (heehee, awww), and then commented on how long my hair has grown (the longest it's been since I was six, and I think I've had it up pretty much every time he's seen me as of late, until yesterday). He's such a sensitive goober xD (I love my dad). Then we all sat down and I mooched off of leftovers (because I arrived late) and chatted with Grandma & Granddad Molk (Granddad has this weird beardish/goatee-ish thing below his lip now and didn't that last time I saw him... that's how long it's been). Holly (and her husband), Nataly (pregnant with my little half-sister, Maggie Jane), my little stepsister Molly, and my brother Andrew were there as well. What an interesting meal! Afterwards we walked around the place in a "tour," even noting where my uncle Chris proposed to aunt Kelly years ago...
Another thing to note of my mother: while many girls seem to daydream of their future weddings all on their own, my mother did all the daydreaming for me (because I was a strangely apathetic little child and the notion of ever being in a relationship rarely crossed my mind). She knows what color my dress is (I forget, but I'm guessing it's some odd shade of white o.O) and so on. The only thing I've ever contributed to this dream of hers is the notion that a combination vacation/cruise involving Disney World (they have this package where you first go to theme parks for several days and THEN take a cruise line to some island beach owned by Disney... or at least they used to when I was, er, ten years old) would be nice for the honeymoon (come on you KNOW it would be awesome... :D). Whelp, guess where the wedding itself is "going" to take place? Yeah-huh, that's right: Joe T's. Why Joe T's? Because it's like someone bottled aspects of Botanical Gardens (ooooooh I need to go there again!) and then fused these with a mafia-owned, 90% outdoors, Mexican restaurant. Seriously. Lots of fountains (the sound of running water's always nice), stone structures from another age, well-kept, thriving exotic and local plants (the hibiscus looks like it takes steroids!), the works. When my mother starts swooning as she brings this all up, I almost always roll my eyes, and sometimes I say dark stuffs like "I'm never getting married, ma" or "Can I make the wedding dress black and the tux white? :D." But I have to admit that Joe T's is a rather beautiful place... as long as it doesn't rain on your food (though rain is awesome, too).
Too bad I'm asexual and never getting married. xDDD (Give me a moment to laugh about this... mmmm, okay, done.)
Away from Joe T's, I followed my Grandparents out of the scary confusing mess of the typical big-city's downtown and over to I-20 and Arlington to visit at their house. The rest of the group arrived later, despite my Grandparents' very, very slow driving habits (and I had to follow them, thinking, "oh shit this is slow!"). It's a beautiful house with a heavy tropical theme to it (Grandma loves the beach and anything associated with it): parrots, flowers, good fruits, two pianos (one being the old one from Great Grandma Taylor's house), a never-ending stockpile of diet sodas, pictures of family members and vacations everywhere (always a source of envy for me, those pictures of Italy, Ireland, Hawaii and whatnot), and so on. For hours and hours we chatted about everything, it seemed, and I came in and out of the conversation just like waves on a beach. At some point the TV came on and the three men in the room half-watched some football game, as Holly and Grandma took the reins on the conversation. Andrew snuck off to the guest room to nap and Molly played princess, prancing around in Belle's clothes while Dad and Nataly kept nodding-off in the living room, the main stage of conversation. Somehow that pace kept on until early evening, where we finally left Granddad and Grandma's place for Lewisville. Dad and Natalie took Molly to Greenville and I took Andrew home. So it ended. Yuh. And so I'm ending this post right here before it threatens to be any longer or any more dreadfully boring.
Other than that.... mer, a few more pictures on Facebook. scary. Haha. xD
Excuse typing errors, please. I had to leave early because the lab was closing. BAH.