blakerson.com

I forgot just how good staying in can be. I turned on antisocial mode Saturday after the LAN party for the sake of rest, and the whole lack-of-car thing. I finally logged some good time on the computer, wrote the best stuff I've done in a while, and completely mellowed out. Praise be, my love for trip-hop has returned! There was a time when I couldn't stand those guys that I usually love: Dzihan & Kamien, Thievery Corporation, etc. Last night, though, I cranked up the newest Thievery album and I'm still listening to it now.

Oooh, music. New Michelle Branch comes out this week; I'll have to see if it's already floating around. I wanted to really go buy this one but my debt of $1000 means I can't spend a dime. It's looking like I'll be antisocial for a while between no car and no money. Oh well, I've needed this for a while so I'm not really complaining.

Getting thrown into a cold lake from a jetski pulling a hard 180 is actually kind of refreshing.

If there's a fella upstairs, he's got a sense of humor more twisted than mine.

Right before I left for Padre, I thought I was agitated. The Camry of Serious Hardcore Action, my new car of a week, had a battle scar. Whoops, Blake can't drive to Padre tomorrow morning. It obviously had to be that fella's fault, one for invoking the laws of physics (guardrail 1, Camry of Serious Hardcore Action 0) and secondly for invoking Murphy's Law. The weight of all that made me fairly angry with this deity one flight of proverbial stairs above me.

I tried to remember as I wheeled home that everything happens for a reason, frustrated by the fact that I couldn't see the reason. (How do you people with faith stay sane not being able to see the reasons for things like that?) Sure enough, the next day we started our trip to Padre in a swanky, comfortable Suburban - just a smidge more roomy than the Camry for all the stuff we accumulated across four very long days.

Padre? Summer? Don't bother. There's no college crowd at all. What redeemed the trip for me was stopping in Austin both ways. On the way down, we met up with Eric's cousin Justin on the Drag and had breakfast. Kerbey Lane had the tastiest pancakes I've ever had, and as we left town I felt refreshed just for spending an hour there. Coming home, we made our way to Kinsey's house out in Westlake and my jaw's still on the floor. Her house is totally decked out, the view of Lake Austin was gorgeous, and the water there is really pretty cold. We did some jetski riding, which I thought was absolutely amazing - the scenery is completely mind-blowing. My first time on the water, I drove one jetski and Kinsey rode along, while Eric and Oliver took the other one. As awkward as that was (since her boyfriend was also around to hang out with us), it all sort of floated away after a small while. I felt happy to see myself in a new place, separated from my old people and places, riding a jetski with a cute girl in tow - even if she's taken. I've gotten the vibe that she might be one of those super-important lifelong friends they say you make in college. And having that thought about her makes me really, really happy.

Getting out of Austin is always a blast. That sentence drips with sarcasm, not only because of the sentimentality of it all, but the traffic in that town can't be called that because traffic moves. This time, though, I honestly did have the time of my life. Westlake is much more hilly than downtown and it creates some truly beautiful sights - especially when crossing over the lake.

Those three hours made up for those three days in Padre. After all the good and the bad, I arrived home to the ugly: my car and its brokenness. By this point, I regretted getting pissy with that fella upstairs - I could have ended up in a hospital, or maybe put someone else in a hospital, or worse. Maybe life and health really are things to be thankful for. What's more, once I cleared my mind there was an apparent solution to my problem. If Mom pays for the repair work up front, I can give her the money from my bank account and my paychecks until the debt's paid. Looks like the repairs are going to go well past $2000. Here's where that wicked sense of humor kicks in: Mom had just decided to raise the deductible on the insurance from $500 to $1000 to make it easier to afford normal insurance on both our cars. So I owe Mom $1000.

So the fella upstairs is laughing his proverbial ass off. I'm just laughing along, because I'd hate to be one of those people who takes offense at a joke. And I'm still laughing now because my little theory I had kept to myself came true - Austin is where I'm supposed to go, I can feel it, and I couldn't be any happier about it.

"You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes / It brought me back to life" - John Mayer

Sunrise scares me. It's a sign that you stayed up way too late. Sunsets are nice, but they've become cliche. What about other scenes? I was brought back to life by that gorgeous city and the people there. I was brought back to life by winding roads that beg for relaxed refreshment or heart-pounding adrenaline. I was brought back to life by sights that put the expensive European resorts to shame. Why is it that I can always only sort of relate to songwriters?

At least I was brought back to life. And my life was spared by the fella upstairs. I'll get out unscathed and I'll go on laughing. Not everyone can say that.

A lot happened while I was spending all my time splurging my orientation experiences. Here's a recap:

-I have a new car. Mom was in the market for a new set of wheels for herself, but she ran into a problem: her old car, a 2002 Camry SE, was badly financed so it had no worth on a trade-in. In fact, it would pull her down because she owed more than the car was actually worth. Yay American financial system. After a bit of shopping, she listened to my recommendation, test drove, and fell in love with a BMW 325i. As it turned out, my car (1998 Camry) was worth more on a trade-in because she had more equity in the car since it was paid off. So now that all is said and done, Mom has her 325 and I have the Camry SE. It's treating me very well, less than 7000 miles, will be good to take to Austin and so on. I'd like it to perform a little better, though, so maybe next summer I'll put some money into the suspension and wheels/tires.

-I have a laptop. Dell completely tried to pooch-screw me, so I turned around and cancelled everything on them and ordered a Sharp UM-10. It's slim, sleek, and sexy as hell. It can even play Counter-Strike! It's great for small LAN parties (like one I went to last week for a few hours) and things like writing while outside enjoying my view, or writing from bed.

-I have a job. I'm back at the same communications firm as last year, working less and making less money. I've already decided, though, that I'm going to apply to be an Orientation Advisor at UT next summer, which means I'd stay in Austin and get free rent and food and essentially get paid to live in Jester for 10 weeks and run the show at Orientation.

-I have a ticket to the John Mayer concert on Saturday, July 26th. If anyone's interested in accompanying me, give me a shout.

On to new thoughts and developments:

-I am a friggin' cool writer sometimes. I looked back through my archives after completing the new template and I've been really impressed with some of the stuff I wrote one and two years ago. I'm going through a major off phase, but it's because I'm uninspired and exhausted as hell.

-My next car *has* to be a 3-series. What a perfect freakin' car.

Holy moly, Blake's redesigned snagger.org?! It's only been a year overdue. That crappy old site has had way too many things I didn't like. So this new design is a Blogger template (the new version of Blogger absolutely kicks) and it'll probably be tossed once those folks invent a few more templates. As you can see, the tops entries have these funky title tags now, which I've wanted in Blogger ever since I started using it. If only they made comments free (c'mon Google buyout, do something cooler!) then I'd be set for life.

So today is my one-day week of work. I sit here all day today and get assigned nothing since I'm leaving tomorrow, and then I get up at 5:00 AM to go get Eric and Oliver and set off for Padre. We've got a cool hotel that's immediately on the beach, two beds and a couch to crash on, and absolutely nothing to do. So we'll probably end up doing the usual Padre business, for those of us that have been there before. We're also expecting to hit up Austin going both ways, once to see Eric's cousin, and the other Kinsey and hopefully a few of her friends.

I'm taking off very early Tuesday morning and coming home late Friday night, and I'll have my cell phone on the trip.

There's nothing quite like lounging in South Texas. It's no Hawaii, but it should be fairly nice nonetheless. Maybe there will even be some kind of inspiration to write. I doubt it though. Oh well, at least we'll be lounging in style.

Sadly, this means I have to give up a few things. Doubtful on seeing Finding Nemo tonight since I've got to pack (and I have no money), doubtful for any LAN party that might happen next weekend, and so on. Let's hope the beaches and womens are worth it.