Tales of a Texas Ramblin' Man

It has been a long week since my last entry. I spent my days in the hills, my nights working the bar, and did a little side job on Saturday for an old boss. (I am also planning some side work with Green Guy recycling...why sleep when you can work?) Sunday was my day of rest, but I had already decided to go to the gun range with my dad to shoot some hand guns. We took out an old 45 cal, a 44 magnum, a 22, and a 45 revolver. When I was younger I was generally forced to go to gun shows, the gun range, or hunting. For the shows I took to collecting knives. The hunting was boring to me unless it was dove hunting, because you get to shoot a lot. The gun range, however, always seemed fun to me. My dad turned every afternoon out there into some championship event between all those who came. He was always bragging when he got home to my less than concerned mother about how he beat everybody. It is his small victory in life. In fact, ever since I got to where I could beat him in pool he rarely plays me anymore.

My roomate also asked if I wanted to go to the Roller Derby later that night. My entire body was crying for me to just stay home and sleep, or lay around like a slug and watch mind numbing tv like the final Sex in the City episode. Instead I went to the match.TX Rollergirls put on some awesome bouts. Last night was the Hell Marys against the Hotrod Honeys and The Hustlers against The Honky Tonk Heartbreakers. The Hell Marys got their asses handed to them on a plate which sucks, because that is the team my friends are on. Scoring for the Hotrod Honey's doubled the points of the Hell Marys at certain times. The Hustlers and the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers had a much closer match, and that made for a more excited and particpant crowd. There weren't as many fights, but hey it's the first match of the season. As a side note Wee-Man was at the match, and later showed up at Beerland.Suzanne wanted a picture with him, but she chickened out. All in all it was a nice break including Lone Star tallboys, Flametrick Subs(playing halftime with Satan's Cheerleaders), vertically challenged stuntmen, and hot tattooed girls on rollerskates looking to get into a fight. It really doesn't get much better than Texas sometimes.

I've been complaining lately about feeling stuck, and feeling like I am spinning my wheels in San Marcos. I have been wanting to work more (even though I worked fourteen hours behind the bar on Valentine's Day),and have a reason to get up early. Today I started working with my friend Billy who builds fences. I was up at 7:30 this morning, and was chopping down cedar trees with a chain-saw until 4:30pm. So, I got my wish. We are putting a fence around fifteen acres in Wimberly through the woods and up and down hills. The only problem was I couldn't go to sleep early. I got to bed around 3:00 in the morning, got up and worked, now I have a guitar lesson from my friend Chris Tieg, then I have to go to the Showdown and work 'til 1:00am, and do it again tomorrow. In short, I am no longer spinning my wheels. I am a cedar-chopping, beer-slinging, guitar playing fool. In short, I should be happier than I have been in a while. In short, I have no time to be sitting around writing this junk right now.

My birthday was on Monday. Sunday I celebrated with Jenn Daly, and some others. Monday I woke up hungry, and ate breakfast at Jeremy Spring's house. After that I went to buy myself a birthday c.d. from Waterloo Records. I listened to a re-release of Stereo Total old stuff. For some reason I didn't buy it, and I opted for the new Styles of Beyond without listening to it. I didn't feel overly impressed. They have a song called "Be Your Dog" with a Stooges chorus...that was the impressive part. I should listen to the album again, because it was my birthday, and I was driving around in the rain by myself. I don't think a whole lot was going to impress me at that point. I wasn't depressed, but I didn't feel like it was my birthday. When I was a kid my parents forgot my birthday two years in a row, so birthdays don't generally phase me too much. I hadn't planned anything, and by 6:30 I was sitting in Kismet cafe writing Elka a letter while drinking coffee alone. I did get about four phone calls, and Jenn Daly had secretly invited a bunch of people to the Elephant Room in Austin in the hopes that I was going to stop by while she was working. (She is about the most genuine a friend one could ask for in life.) Instead of being in Austin I spent the evening contemplating direction and lifetime goals with my friend Julie Lanning. We went to the oldest bar around called Riley's. It is a tiny shack of a place, but it was perfect. There was nothing going on that night, but I refused to spend my evening at The Showdown where I work. We wrote down our lifetime goals on napkins, traded, and read them out loud followed by a toast. (It was a lot cooler then the "let's see how many shots we can buy Paul in a night" scenario.) I want to own a house, ride horses, live in New York for at least one year, teach English in a foreign country for a while, and I think I would also like to produce at least one country/ blues/ bluegrass/ rock album utilizing all the resources available to me in San Marcos. Among others Julie had one that was a toast to "roses on Sunday". That was nice. I think that is a good way to spend time at a bar, or sitting around with friends. You can also play the wish game, which is very similar. I played it on Thursday at Jenn's house for Augustina's birthday.

You take two jars, and fill one with water. The other jar is for wishes written on small papers, which are crumpled into balls, and thrown in. Each person gets a designated number of wishes. Then the players use chop-sticks to pull one out at a time, read the wish aloud, and then set it on fire, which is then extinguished in the water filled jar. After the wish jar has been emptied. The water is dealt with by the most witch-like or crafty person in the room. They may bury it, pour it into a large body of water, or feed plants with it...you get the idea. In the end everyone can feel a certain amount of hope for the future...good game.

I just got back from grocery shopping, and I realized a few things:

A. I never get everything I want from the store...(even with a list)

B. I always feel like I got a lot for my money...(until I put it away at home)

C. There is such a thing as Limited Edition Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint ice cream...(crazy, right?)

D. I generally eat some frozen pizza or the like as my first meal after going to the grocery store...(probably because I am usually starving when I go, and avoiding going to the nearest place to eat)*

E. When I am really hungry nothing looks good. It all looks the same.

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*When Elka and I lived together we would have these trash food days (generally mixed with trash t.v.) I would make HEB jalapeno sausage sandwiches, and we would eat them with chips, HEB chile con queso dip, sodas, and later have some ice cream (preferably White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle). The feature might be The Simpsons, Sex In The City, or some fairly weak romantic comedy. Ah that's good shit (even though it's not good for you). Not that all one's days should be like that, but if used in moderation they can be completely brain-dead and satisfying. {side note: neither one of us smoked pot}

Went to first Thursday, but I got there with about an hour before it was all said and done. I didn't find the oxygen bar. Afterwards I hung out with Jeremy Spring and his new pit bull, Wendy. After that I drove over to Jenn Daly's house to celebrate a belated birthday for my friend Augustina. We sat around and talked with my songs playing in the background. It was sweet, because I realized that neither I or anyone else was annoyed by it. Actually, everyone seemed to like it. We stayed up 'til 6:00 in the morning, and then we got up at noon to get coffee and food. After breakfast we went to the East side to check out a new art co-op that I am showing at post V-day. The space is awesome. It used to be some sort of Texaco refinery station. It has this huge sliding door of the back that used to be a loading dock from the trains that run behind it. Lisa from California is running the space, and she plans to have yoga, bilingual, and art classes. She is overly enthusiastic about the whole project. I am showing at my friend J-Law's art space, also on the East side, in March. I'm glad my peops on the East side of Austin are making good things happen there.
So, has anyone heard Johnny Cash's "Ship Those Niggers Back"? I am on my roommate's computer, and it is on the WinMX playlist. It sounds really old. The chorus is "America for white, Africa for black, send those apes back to the trees, ship those niggers back". What the fuck? Is that really how Johnny was, or is it a bullshit song? I don't get it. How about "Ring that bell, jump for joy , white man's day is here, no more nigger civil rights, led by nigger queers". I really hope Johnny wasn't a straight up racist. That's all I'll say for now.

So apparently Elka is bored with my blog already, because I haven't kept up. The reality is that I am surprised that I have written as much as I have so far. Also, I have been too busy making copies of my record to send to whining Mid-Westerners residing on the East Coast and Texans residing on th West Coast. The past few days have been fairly low key. I did get a job with a carpenter. Yesterday I spent four hours cleaning up the shop. I got about 1/6th of the place done. Sweeping a wood shop is somewhere on the level of the Myth of Sysiphus. Every time you turn around there is something you missed, or a new mess being made. Must be like having a kid. He's paying me ten bucks an hour. I also worked out yesterday. I only did arms, because I am still scared to do the legs again. Actually I am working legs tonite, but I am going to listen to stay away from rocking 'Kill Em All' or anything else that will give me super-human work out abilities.
Today I am going up to the old studio on campus to check out Bananna's new work. He has been doing some wall paper pieces where he puts up one pattern, and a linear drawing on a different pattern. The end product is usually a woman from the fifties doing some home-maker work. It's all about gender roles. Good stuff. Then I'll be going to first Thursday in Austin. I am going to try out this oxygen bar thing. Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy breathing so much that I'll quit smoking.
Here's a good question. How long do I spend doing all the things I want to do in life before I decide to build some credit, find a stable spot to settle down, get a job that has health benifits, and plan some sort of retirement down the line? I am just wondering if any of you know the answer.
In other news Brandon Petree may drive out to California with me to see what Oakland is like. He said if it was cool that I should call him, so I said he should just drive out with me. Hopefully he will, because it is a long drive.

So now I have the comments option. I hope I'm doing the right thing by allowing my friends the option of commenting on my blog. I expect some trash talking, mud-slinging (or mule-skinnin') which ever you prefer, and some corny remarks (probably deriving from somewhere in the Bay Area/ Chicken City ranch.

The past few days have been nice. Friday I went to this art show of Zack Booth Simpson( if I find a web site for his work I will put up a link) For now check out http://www.gallerylombardi.com/exhibits/0041exhibit.html for some samples. He has made some insane interactive projection pieces. His work is the most exciting thiong I've ever seen in Austin. Digital art illudes me, but I am blown away by this cat. I went horseback riding on Sunday in Thorndale with a girl I met at the Slowdown. The town was about the size of Sewell Park, and her parents cooked steaks from their cattle herd. The steaks were bigger than the town... big fuckin' steaks. Her mom showed me the chicken coop that had one baby chicken running around in it. The rooster came down from his perch to represent all his ladies. Her mom said that they couldn't let the chickens roam around anymore, because a coyote had been eating them. The family also has about fifty cats that come on the property at night. It was good to get away from people and traffic for a day.
Tonite I am going to re-master a bunch of songs I had the chance to record at the Fire Station on Texas State campus. The songs sound awesome. I am amazed at what a good mic can do. I actually sound like a decent musician. I never thought that I was horrible, but this shit actually sounds good. I impressed myself with how well my version of Wayfaring Stranger came out. I only learned that song maybe two weeks previous. One song I wrote the lyrics for on a cigarette break, and then we recorded it about ten minutes later. I love country for the simplicity. In all reality the whole album was written/ learned and recorded in about a six month time span. (I tend to explode with creativity in my times between relationships) I only got to record less than half the songs I wanted, but I am more than satisfied. Some of you lucky (or un-lucky) peops out there may be getting your very own copy as soon as I get them burnt. First I have to call Nashville, and make sure they have all proper arrangements made for my tour and what not.
I moved in with Suzanne Miller and her German Shepards:Rebar and Katy. It is nice to be back in a house again. I hate apartments/three-plexis/efficiencies. Fuck that, give me a house. I will only be there for a short time, but at least my last few months in San Marcos will be comfortable. I also ran into to a carpenter friend today who has some work for me. Praise Jesus (or Alla or Buda or Johnny Cash). I have been wanting some side work for weeks, and I found it at the coffee shop. I always find work in the strangest places.

I don't know why I even switch paragraphs...all I do is ramble anyway. I got two e-mails about my truck from the Bay Area today. I hope that is a good sign. I really want to drive out to California.