Whoops. You know, if I had and knew how to work with (the irony being
that as a Magna Cum Laude RTV graduate, I could probably figure it out
pretty quick, I jusy have never seriously looked into cost/operations,
cause I probably can't justify the expenses) the recording equipment
used in Let's Plays, I could easily have a daily retro blog to fill in
my retrospective blogs. Oh well.
In the meantime, I managed to go to Austin a week or so ago with the
girlfriend (her birthday was around then and her dad lives in Austin).
Here are some conclusions I've made after having visiting/living in 3 of
4 major Texas cities. Those cities are my hometown-ish of Dallas, the
"ish" being that I live in a suburb to the southeast of the city,
Houston, and Austin, but not San Antonio. I have visited San Antonio as a
kid for much the same reasons I visited Austin as a kid: boring museums
and statues dad wanted to see that taught me absolutely nothing about
the cities themselves. And now that I'm older, I'd probably love those
same museums. Go figure. Anyway,
San Antonio:
I don't remember it incredibly well, but I definitely visited the
Alamo as a kid. I feel like I'd have had a much more spiritual
experience if I had known and seen the exact location where Ozzy
Ozbourne had urinated on it. That
was a joke by the way. It may not have been funny to you, and feel free
to point that out, but please don't spam me with comments about how
disrespectful I'm being, I appreciate the actual history, which was a
big chunk of college History for me.
Austin:
- Really needs to be renamed "People's Hipster Republic of Texas"
- That being said, I appreciated
that every place we ate apparently required its owners and employees to
be either under 35 years of age, casually dressed, or in the instance
of appearing over the age of 30, have an epic hippie beard. The service
and food were pretty excellent, and it just goes to show as long as the
guy behind the counter is friendly, helpful and behind a counter, I'm
pretty sure I can figure out he works there without him dressing as a
human Skittle, as Outback required of me.
- On that note, the trailer food
craze in Austin that I hear is spreading to Dallas is the best idea
ever. Having the clearly high, or maybe just "really happy" blond girl
from the Coolhaus trailer give me a vanilla bean ice cream scoop between
two red velvet cookies with an thin, edible paper wrapper was a cool
experience. I mean I'm still not sure if that wrapper was actually
supposed to be edible, or if she just thought they were cause of her
munchies, but it tasted delicious either way.
- Oh, and at one of the
restaurants called Sputnik's, they let you color a pinup girl. I made
mine a Simpson, not cause I initially wanted to, but cause she had too
much white space, and according to our party looked like an alien
already anyway. So there's that. Might upload a picture later.
- Continuing the food theme, homemade blackened brocooli and mac n' cheese casserole is the best thing imaginable.
- One of my girlfriend's dad's
girlfriend's neighbors (you catch all that?) owned goats, which she
walked around the neighborhood. What was troublesome to me is that these
goats are not mascots for Austin's "Keep it Weird" campaign, cause that
would be kind of perfect.
- Alamo Drafthouse may not have
the tables like Studio Movie Grill, and its bar like setting makes it
hard to eat a burger when I'm watching Perks of Being a Wallflower
(which was good, but just know it's exactly what you think it is), but
it does have special events and R. Lee Ermee telling you he'll kick your
ass for talking before the screening.
- Finally, having been to
Boston my Sophomore year in high school around 2005, "Boston in Austin"
only makes sense in terms of percieved liberalism in the area and
historical artifacts. Everything else, no. There is not enough emphasis
on surprisingly small baseball fields, shellfish, or construction (oh my
God, construction) for me to take the term "Boston in Austin"
seriously. Also, sprinkles are never referred to in any Texas city as
"jimmies," so there's that.
Houston:
- The highway system, it's...
paved and well-labeled. To a Dallas native that uses 35E for everything,
this is a strange concept indeed. And there are so many damn lanes. Are
the people in the HOV doing 250 or something, what the hell would you
need those for with your 20 goddamn lanes?
- The area around Minute Maid Park is a very nice area, sort of like the area in and around SMU in Dallas.
- The downtown areas of Houston
are incredibly fucking shady, sort of like the downtown areas in Dallas.
I mean it was cool to be in the Destiny's Child building thing for my
ex's step sister's art show, but that was where the "paved roads"
compliment ended for me.
- ... The city is a bigger and
denser, more humid clone of Dallas aside from its superior highway
system. They even have a baseball team that' constantly shat on by its
own fans, despite having made it to the World Series in recent past. I
knew we had a rivalry with San Antonio cause of Spurs/Mavericks before
college, but I still don't get the kids who talked up the "rivalry"
between Houston/Dallas when I was in college.
Dallas:
- Theaters in the city are too
damn expensive. $9.75 at Studio Movie Grill is seriously the lowest
price near my girlfriend. I get DLP for $3 matinee, $5 non-matinee, and I
don't care if the Angelika has limited release films I want to see, its
popcorn is stale and awful, and way overpriced, just like tickets in
the area. Also, non-matinee near me = after 6pm. Non-matinee in the city
= after 11am apparently... go screw yourselves with a saw. I'll wait.
- That said, Studio Movie Grill is delicious and amazing. I recommend the half pound burger.
- $15 parking for the fair?!!
Parking is $15 and you tell me no credit cards?! What the hell is your
problem?! And apparently, had we not figured out that a Cinemark ticket =
free admisision Thursdays, we'd have spent $30 to get in. I hate
everything.
- Except for delicious fried food,
HUGE art museum displays, games, rides, and concerts... one was a side
show Irish band I forget the name of, but their fiddle woman and
revolving stage were cool. The other being Kansas playing there the
Sunday after we decided to go.. which I'd have gladly paid $30 to see.
Damn you all. And then OU destroys Texas at the Cotton Bowl game. Ugh.
At least I had orgasmic fried cheesecake, fried mac n cheese, fried
jumbalaya, fried smore, fried curds, root beer, corn dog, and water in
one day before going on the food-heavy Austin trip the day after :)
Yeah, I only just now started working out again out of necessity cause
my pants do not fit.
- Got the hookup this most recent
Monday to see the Mavericks really close up in the first few rows for
their pre-season game against the Houston Rockets. Girlfriend's mom and
step dad actually get a good deal on season tickets through work and
family and such. And we were on the jumbotron, but she hid her face
cause of camera aversion. Also, a crazy woman behind us constantly
talked to her mom and step dad about their tickets and how she won some
herself to get her seat. And to get to our seats, we passed the Mavs
Maniacs, whom I think are hilarious overweight male mascots, and am glad
my fried food binge has not made me look like.
- And I got the job up north as
Production Assistant, with training scheduled the first weekend in
November, so I guess I'll have to stop relying on my savings/checkings
account and family/friends for entertainment. A mix of hard work and
luck have made unemployment for me pretty bearable, and I am grateful
for that. Now if shit can stop breaking so I can stop giving my dad
temporary financial help out of my savings, which is not going to be a
realistic solution to anything once the grace period on my loans
expire... well thank God he pays back with interest once able, I'm not
paying rent in exchange, and I found a job lol.
- We also went to The
Boneyard Haunted House in Dallas. It was amazingly well put together,
but went a bit overboard with the chainsaw guy. Also, when I get lost in
cramped spaces, I don't get scared, I get pissed. And Sinister was a
good movie, but not as great as its hype. I still think The Ring is the
creepiest movie I've seen.
What I've been playing:
Android: Word Search, my quickets time being 151 seconds to complete a word search "puzzle."
Also, Fruit Ninja, which I don't remember my score in but I have the Ice blade and Ocean wave bkg whatever that means.
Emulation:
Super Mario World. As it turns
out, I got much farther than a kid than I thought. It was the SECOND
castle I always made it to... and apparently further, cause I have yet
to see whatever level it was with the football players and those damn
fire spurting flowers on steps. I hate that level.
Also, Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
Really, I've been playing the whole trilogy, being deprived as a kid,
and have concluded the first installment is by far the weakest link,
slowing its roll and providing a dull color scheme the second Green Hill
Zone ends, and Sonic 2 and 3 are close. 2 wins at momentum, being the
most accessible, fast, and easy to play, but it doesn't have the amazing
production design, depth, length, or save system which is the reason
I'm continuing with 3, having made it to Lava Reef Zone. Personally, I
tie 2 and 3, and say 1 is a distant 3rd other than historical
importance.
What
have you all been up to? And I promise, the color thing was just for
this blog, black text returns next time, I just wanted to color code the
citites after sport team colors.
P.S.
Grimaldi's, which is the NY style
pizza God eats for breakfast that I've had in two different Dallas
locations, and every time I get white with garlic, pepperoni, and pesto,
I have a foodgasm, is expanding locations in 2013. You owe it to
yourself to find one near you. No, I do not work for them, nor plan to
in the recent future, it's just that amazing and you need it. Trust me
on this.
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