Day one of the triplog! I keep thinking I'm going to be able to depict my sense of pleasant culture shock more adequately, but I'm not. So I'm posting it.
Day 1: Friday
Knowing my astounding ability to mess up getting simple places, as well as knowing DC Beltway traffic, I decided that it would be prudent to leave Charlottesville at 5 a.m. for a 12:10 p.m. flight out of Baltimore. Which resulted in a nice long wait at BWI during which I got a lot of reading done. And walked up and down the terminal a whole bunch of times. And developed a theory about the lesbian gaze with relation to Emma. (Triggered by exchanging a glance with a leather-jacketed woman who was going to Syracuse.)
Eventually I got on the plane, and I got a window seat, and even though I was directly behind the extraordinarily loud and crude Chicagoan young people I’d been near in line, I couldn’t hear them over the noise of the plane. And my own seatmate looked a whole lot like Taye Diggs!. I mean, so much like him that I almost asked if he was Taye Diggs, but then I figured that Taye Diggs wouldn’t be traveling by Southwest Airlines. Even for incognito-purposes. Although, looking at that picture up there, maybe it was Taye Diggs after all and I should have asked. Because seriously. Just like him.
The flight was fine – we went through Chicago first and then to Austin. And then I was there! In a completely different world from the one I’d left in Baltimore. That morning I’d been shivering in the grey, 40 degree drizzle, surrounded by tired-eyed government employees in black suits. But I stepped outside of the Austin airport into glorious sunglight, 78 degrees, and a ceaseless, caressing breeze. There were all kinds of cool people waiting with me, like a stunningly beautiful hippie couple, both elf-skinny, with matching long, long dreadlocks of dirty-blonde hair and perfectly drapey clothes, playing fondly with their tiny, perfect Asian daughter.
“Wow,” I thought to myself. “They weren’t lying. Austin is so different!” I’m not sure exactly what I meant by that, because most people say it in relation to being different from the rest of Texas, which I have not seen, but it sure was different from Baltimore.
Carrie arrived! I got in her car and we took the highway (there are three main highways in Austin. You take them to get everywhere. Or maybe it is two. But anyway, most all navigation involves the highway) to her house to drop off my stuff.
Carrie lives in a very nice house in a residential neighborhood – kind of like our neighborhood in Charlottesville in that it is a Real True Place, instead of a college-student-type place. Her landlord Nora, from whom she rents the room, is a lovely woman who while I was there made peanut brittle, asked me about Virginia, offered me coffee (“you fool!” Carrie later said. “That’s decaf!” And it was), and was generally wonderful. She also lives with the mysterious Vincent, whom I saw once on the way to his room. He was quite nice then. But generally mysterious.
At this point, I also got to meet Xander, who is even more handsome than in his pictures. And is pretty smart too. Although he sometimes uses his intelligence to nefarious ends, like tearing up paper, eating the X key off Carrie’s laptop, and squiggling under the side gate.
Then began our whirlwind social tour. First we went to a bar where some of Carrie’s coworkers were gathering. Here I learned two things: 1) Everybody in Austin gathers outside whenever humanly possible (everyone was out in the parking lot like a tailgate) 2) Carrie works with an astounding number of cool, attractive young people! By which I mean at least eight. But that’s a lot, in my work experience. I also met Maximo! He’s handsome. He didn’t say much though.
We only stayed a little while and then left very suddenly because we became afraid that the play we were going to was at 7, not 7:30. On the way, we discovered that it was in fact at 7:30, so we were fine, but we got there (a theater in a converted airport complex. cool.) just in time anyway. The play was Richard III as featuring Carrie’s friend Bernadette, who was quite good, along with the rest of the women. Richard was also interesting – very physical – but the others seemed…confused. We learned afterwards that they had never had a full run before that night, though, so they were doing well all things considered.
I am mostly reconfirmed, though, in my opinion that no one should ever tackle Richard III. I mean, why is this play performed so often? It’s so confusing. And the only character with any real meat to him is Richard himself. And I don’t even think he’s that great. I simply don’t see the appeal. But I’m glad we went! Especially because I got to meet John and Bernadette, about whom I had been hearing for years.
Afterwards, we headed over to Mariam’s place. It was wonderful to see Mariam again after four years. And to be able to be someone to her other than “that girl who slept with one’s friend from high school.” She was very sweet and friendly and did not treat me like someone with whom that has been one’s primary experience.
We all went to a party filled with people Mariam knows from her work at the Austin Statesman. It was also filled with people who were about twenty percent cooler than most people I have ever met. Seriously. The Austin coolness quotient must be off the charts. There are just so many offbeat, intelligent-and-attractive-looking people in this city!
This was also the Night of the Big Dogs. There were a standard poodle and a bull dog and a black lab, and most impressively of all, a weimaraner, who looked like moonlight, and who was clearly vastly intelligent. At one point, she wanted some ice. She observed someone opening the cooler, where there was ice. Then she went over, opened it with her nose, and got out the ice. Then she did it again!
The weimeraner belonged to a girl named Jenny, who was the girlfriend of one of the people who owned the house, and who was, all told, one of the coolest, most attractive people I’ve ever seen. She also began the trend of seeing women with unkempt shag hairdos that looked fantastic, completely changing my previous conceptions about that hairstyle.
I wish I’d been less tired, so I could actually have enjoyed the coolness, but after a while Carrie and I both felt exhausted, so we went home. And slept. Carrie swears this is more social interaction than she’d had in months, but I don’t know. I think she’s living a nonstop party lifestyle.
Day 1: Friday
Knowing my astounding ability to mess up getting simple places, as well as knowing DC Beltway traffic, I decided that it would be prudent to leave Charlottesville at 5 a.m. for a 12:10 p.m. flight out of Baltimore. Which resulted in a nice long wait at BWI during which I got a lot of reading done. And walked up and down the terminal a whole bunch of times. And developed a theory about the lesbian gaze with relation to Emma. (Triggered by exchanging a glance with a leather-jacketed woman who was going to Syracuse.)
Eventually I got on the plane, and I got a window seat, and even though I was directly behind the extraordinarily loud and crude Chicagoan young people I’d been near in line, I couldn’t hear them over the noise of the plane. And my own seatmate looked a whole lot like Taye Diggs!. I mean, so much like him that I almost asked if he was Taye Diggs, but then I figured that Taye Diggs wouldn’t be traveling by Southwest Airlines. Even for incognito-purposes. Although, looking at that picture up there, maybe it was Taye Diggs after all and I should have asked. Because seriously. Just like him.
The flight was fine – we went through Chicago first and then to Austin. And then I was there! In a completely different world from the one I’d left in Baltimore. That morning I’d been shivering in the grey, 40 degree drizzle, surrounded by tired-eyed government employees in black suits. But I stepped outside of the Austin airport into glorious sunglight, 78 degrees, and a ceaseless, caressing breeze. There were all kinds of cool people waiting with me, like a stunningly beautiful hippie couple, both elf-skinny, with matching long, long dreadlocks of dirty-blonde hair and perfectly drapey clothes, playing fondly with their tiny, perfect Asian daughter.
“Wow,” I thought to myself. “They weren’t lying. Austin is so different!” I’m not sure exactly what I meant by that, because most people say it in relation to being different from the rest of Texas, which I have not seen, but it sure was different from Baltimore.
Carrie arrived! I got in her car and we took the highway (there are three main highways in Austin. You take them to get everywhere. Or maybe it is two. But anyway, most all navigation involves the highway) to her house to drop off my stuff.
Carrie lives in a very nice house in a residential neighborhood – kind of like our neighborhood in Charlottesville in that it is a Real True Place, instead of a college-student-type place. Her landlord Nora, from whom she rents the room, is a lovely woman who while I was there made peanut brittle, asked me about Virginia, offered me coffee (“you fool!” Carrie later said. “That’s decaf!” And it was), and was generally wonderful. She also lives with the mysterious Vincent, whom I saw once on the way to his room. He was quite nice then. But generally mysterious.
At this point, I also got to meet Xander, who is even more handsome than in his pictures. And is pretty smart too. Although he sometimes uses his intelligence to nefarious ends, like tearing up paper, eating the X key off Carrie’s laptop, and squiggling under the side gate.
Then began our whirlwind social tour. First we went to a bar where some of Carrie’s coworkers were gathering. Here I learned two things: 1) Everybody in Austin gathers outside whenever humanly possible (everyone was out in the parking lot like a tailgate) 2) Carrie works with an astounding number of cool, attractive young people! By which I mean at least eight. But that’s a lot, in my work experience. I also met Maximo! He’s handsome. He didn’t say much though.
We only stayed a little while and then left very suddenly because we became afraid that the play we were going to was at 7, not 7:30. On the way, we discovered that it was in fact at 7:30, so we were fine, but we got there (a theater in a converted airport complex. cool.) just in time anyway. The play was Richard III as featuring Carrie’s friend Bernadette, who was quite good, along with the rest of the women. Richard was also interesting – very physical – but the others seemed…confused. We learned afterwards that they had never had a full run before that night, though, so they were doing well all things considered.
I am mostly reconfirmed, though, in my opinion that no one should ever tackle Richard III. I mean, why is this play performed so often? It’s so confusing. And the only character with any real meat to him is Richard himself. And I don’t even think he’s that great. I simply don’t see the appeal. But I’m glad we went! Especially because I got to meet John and Bernadette, about whom I had been hearing for years.
Afterwards, we headed over to Mariam’s place. It was wonderful to see Mariam again after four years. And to be able to be someone to her other than “that girl who slept with one’s friend from high school.” She was very sweet and friendly and did not treat me like someone with whom that has been one’s primary experience.
We all went to a party filled with people Mariam knows from her work at the Austin Statesman. It was also filled with people who were about twenty percent cooler than most people I have ever met. Seriously. The Austin coolness quotient must be off the charts. There are just so many offbeat, intelligent-and-attractive-looking people in this city!
This was also the Night of the Big Dogs. There were a standard poodle and a bull dog and a black lab, and most impressively of all, a weimaraner, who looked like moonlight, and who was clearly vastly intelligent. At one point, she wanted some ice. She observed someone opening the cooler, where there was ice. Then she went over, opened it with her nose, and got out the ice. Then she did it again!
The weimeraner belonged to a girl named Jenny, who was the girlfriend of one of the people who owned the house, and who was, all told, one of the coolest, most attractive people I’ve ever seen. She also began the trend of seeing women with unkempt shag hairdos that looked fantastic, completely changing my previous conceptions about that hairstyle.
I wish I’d been less tired, so I could actually have enjoyed the coolness, but after a while Carrie and I both felt exhausted, so we went home. And slept. Carrie swears this is more social interaction than she’d had in months, but I don’t know. I think she’s living a nonstop party lifestyle.
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