one wild weekend
--my couch, tyler--
i'm at home (ew... calling tyler home) and recuperating from a long weekend with kristi. god, we had so much fun and i'm so glad kristi talked me into going.
let's recap.
i switched shifts with lindsay so i had saturday night free. and after NINE HOURS at the office (for a grand total of nearly 5 hours of overtime this week) i was ready to get the hell out of tyler. plus, saturday was so up and down, i was just so burned out. i had to cover this feature saturday morning on sacred harp singing (read more at http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15033442&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=226369&rfi=8) and i see this random photographer running around taking pictures. i asked the director of the event who the photog was and she tells me he's with san antonio, and i'm like the san antonio express news???!! and she's says yeah, that's hit. i'm thinking no way - what is SAEN doing here? in east texas? i start talking to this guy, and he was absolutely amazing. he's from laredo and his thing is shooting all of the shit going on in mexico, esp. nuevo laredo. i marveled at his thick spanish accent while he used a red bandana to wipe his face. i love photographers... they're so quirky and weird.
he told me his reporter was there, and i was like hell yeah, where is he? and then he tells me the guy is an aggie, and i hightailed it in this guy's direction. he was a senior reporter for SAEN (former chronicle reporter!) and i was networking my ASS of. i asked for advice and he gave me some great tips and i told him about being passed over my dream job at the statesman and that's how i ended up in tyler, and he told me that this is the best market i could possibly be in right now. the best market?! i... don't know how to take that... he said i'm better off here than working night cops in austin. i'm speechless. any way, we traded cards, and i was ecstatic on my way back to the office.
back at the office, i typed up my story, mindful that SAEN reporter may read it (hey, a girl can dream!) and kim was impressed with the result. so impressed, i was bumped up to section front. heck yeah! post- sacred harp, my saturday went downhill. i had to WASTE GAS, to drive around tyler and interview people about GAS PRICES. how awkward is it to walk up to people who are pumping gas and scowling at their SUVs and ask them how they feel about it??!! and then, to sweeten the moment, i get hit on by this guy who's like, say girl... you gotta boyfriend? ugh, see previous entry regarding sources.
anyway, i got off at 7 and by 8 i'm on my way to dallas. after some knuckle-whitening highways, i got into irving a little after 10. and met kristi's much-talked about friends. they were awesome and so much fun. we hit up a small little club called the pharmacy with house music blaring from the dj upstairs and i had a blast... and got so messed up. i can't remember the last time i was that gone. i miss cities. real cities. i don't know how much i miss the club life - i mean at 18, it was awesome. but now, every now and then i guess is ok. i love putting on my never-worn club clothes, sipping drinks that i haven't bought, shouting over too-loud music and watching random guys try to catch my attention. it's the attention pick-me-up, my 22-year-old, post-college, gee-i'm-really-not-as-cute-anymore self needs sometimes. but only sometimes....
after getting plastered at the club, we went by kristi's friend, sky's house and at some point i passed out with kristi in sky's bed. and then we got kicked out. and i woke up on the floor with kristi in the morning, pondering how much the light sockets looked like little owls. baby white owls. yeah, really messed up.
the rest of the weekend was pretty chill. we woke up at one on sunday, ate mexican food, shopped at the galleria and then went back to sky's where i finished a story (yeah... working again on my day off!) and kristi brought me chinese food. we spent the night at kristi's parents house in her old room, and while drifting asleep under her floral comforter, we talked about high school boyfriends, friends and homecomings. a 20-year-old sleepover. :)
i woke up, took a much-needed shower and we drove to mesquite to meet nikki. i am so glad that kristi and nikki finally met. they are so much alike, it's scary. they both want and don't want the same things for me. i love those girls. they are definitely two of my favorite people. ok, so here's my plea, nikki, please, for the love of all things holy, move to tyler post-graduation. please. i'll pay you two dollars. we would have so much fun. lots of dinners and guacammole and shiner. please.
so, after lunch with nikki at johnny carinos, we headed back to tyler. i got home (ugh) and caught up with shonda and took an afternoon nap. and now i'm watching tv and avoiding the chores i need to do. work is tomorrow (my weekend's up already???!!) courtney might come this weekend, and i'm so excited. even though she'll be bored, i'm sure... oh well, that's tyler... i'm off to do chores.
i'm at home (ew... calling tyler home) and recuperating from a long weekend with kristi. god, we had so much fun and i'm so glad kristi talked me into going.
let's recap.
i switched shifts with lindsay so i had saturday night free. and after NINE HOURS at the office (for a grand total of nearly 5 hours of overtime this week) i was ready to get the hell out of tyler. plus, saturday was so up and down, i was just so burned out. i had to cover this feature saturday morning on sacred harp singing (read more at http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15033442&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=226369&rfi=8) and i see this random photographer running around taking pictures. i asked the director of the event who the photog was and she tells me he's with san antonio, and i'm like the san antonio express news???!! and she's says yeah, that's hit. i'm thinking no way - what is SAEN doing here? in east texas? i start talking to this guy, and he was absolutely amazing. he's from laredo and his thing is shooting all of the shit going on in mexico, esp. nuevo laredo. i marveled at his thick spanish accent while he used a red bandana to wipe his face. i love photographers... they're so quirky and weird.
he told me his reporter was there, and i was like hell yeah, where is he? and then he tells me the guy is an aggie, and i hightailed it in this guy's direction. he was a senior reporter for SAEN (former chronicle reporter!) and i was networking my ASS of. i asked for advice and he gave me some great tips and i told him about being passed over my dream job at the statesman and that's how i ended up in tyler, and he told me that this is the best market i could possibly be in right now. the best market?! i... don't know how to take that... he said i'm better off here than working night cops in austin. i'm speechless. any way, we traded cards, and i was ecstatic on my way back to the office.
back at the office, i typed up my story, mindful that SAEN reporter may read it (hey, a girl can dream!) and kim was impressed with the result. so impressed, i was bumped up to section front. heck yeah! post- sacred harp, my saturday went downhill. i had to WASTE GAS, to drive around tyler and interview people about GAS PRICES. how awkward is it to walk up to people who are pumping gas and scowling at their SUVs and ask them how they feel about it??!! and then, to sweeten the moment, i get hit on by this guy who's like, say girl... you gotta boyfriend? ugh, see previous entry regarding sources.
anyway, i got off at 7 and by 8 i'm on my way to dallas. after some knuckle-whitening highways, i got into irving a little after 10. and met kristi's much-talked about friends. they were awesome and so much fun. we hit up a small little club called the pharmacy with house music blaring from the dj upstairs and i had a blast... and got so messed up. i can't remember the last time i was that gone. i miss cities. real cities. i don't know how much i miss the club life - i mean at 18, it was awesome. but now, every now and then i guess is ok. i love putting on my never-worn club clothes, sipping drinks that i haven't bought, shouting over too-loud music and watching random guys try to catch my attention. it's the attention pick-me-up, my 22-year-old, post-college, gee-i'm-really-not-as-cute-anymore self needs sometimes. but only sometimes....
after getting plastered at the club, we went by kristi's friend, sky's house and at some point i passed out with kristi in sky's bed. and then we got kicked out. and i woke up on the floor with kristi in the morning, pondering how much the light sockets looked like little owls. baby white owls. yeah, really messed up.
the rest of the weekend was pretty chill. we woke up at one on sunday, ate mexican food, shopped at the galleria and then went back to sky's where i finished a story (yeah... working again on my day off!) and kristi brought me chinese food. we spent the night at kristi's parents house in her old room, and while drifting asleep under her floral comforter, we talked about high school boyfriends, friends and homecomings. a 20-year-old sleepover. :)
i woke up, took a much-needed shower and we drove to mesquite to meet nikki. i am so glad that kristi and nikki finally met. they are so much alike, it's scary. they both want and don't want the same things for me. i love those girls. they are definitely two of my favorite people. ok, so here's my plea, nikki, please, for the love of all things holy, move to tyler post-graduation. please. i'll pay you two dollars. we would have so much fun. lots of dinners and guacammole and shiner. please.
so, after lunch with nikki at johnny carinos, we headed back to tyler. i got home (ugh) and caught up with shonda and took an afternoon nap. and now i'm watching tv and avoiding the chores i need to do. work is tomorrow (my weekend's up already???!!) courtney might come this weekend, and i'm so excited. even though she'll be bored, i'm sure... oh well, that's tyler... i'm off to do chores.