Dramatic Monotony

Saturday, July 02, 2005

It's been quite a while since I've updated. June has passed in a blur of activity... yet I struggle to identify what I actually DID.

I've been reading a lot. I just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Kevin, you need to read this book. Don't be intimidated by its 529 pages. Remember all of those conversations we had about ambiguous gender and sexual identity? This is a fictionalized account of a family's experience with a hermaphrodite. The genetics synthesize with a dramatic personal history of a Greek family from Turkey. I was able to fly through this novel in a couple of days. And Kevin, being a theater geek, you might recognize the traditional elements from Greek mythology that are dispersed throughout the novel. I had to dig up my old copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology to identify a few... but I've always had problems with Greek names. The timeline of the Illiad confuses me like no other. And I was the most clueless person in my History of Literary Criticism class due to my infantile "knowledge" of Greek philosophy.

Judging Amy is still fantastic. TNT started the series over again, so I've been watching the beginnings of the show. Wow, Amy is self-absorbed. And Vincent is annoying. I can't wait for Kyle's storyline to replace his. I wonder how that happens...

Recently, I met up with some friends who went on the infamous People 2 People European Adventure from the summer of 2000. Janine just graduated from Cornell, while David is working on his degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. I also met David's lovely girlfriend. We pigged out on plaintains from Amazon Grill, then shared some ice cream at Marble Slab. I enjoyed myself very much - topics of conversation ranged from the idiocy of the Walkers (our sponsors on the trip) to contemporary political theory to regional Mexican cuisine. Janine was kind enough to share her pictures... so I'll do the same.

Here we are in front of the Eiffel Tower. All of us were still in high school.


And in front of Marble Slab, almost exactly five years later.


The next day, Ryan came to visit from Atlanta. I had an absolute blast with this boy - he's one of my favorite "New" friends. We went all over Harris and Galveston county; in fact, I drove over 300 miles during his trip. Pretty impressive.I have lots of photos, so please join me in this pictorial tour of the Houston area.

This is me, in the lounge. Ryan and I just finished watching Top Gun because we are obsessed with Tom Cruise. But like this picture shows, I'm also obsessed with shoes... mmm...


Ryan in front of the San Jacinto monument. I like this picture because it makes him look tall. And buff. And strong. And manly. Not that he doesn't look like all the time.


The Kemah Boardwalk - like Santa Monica, except cleaner. Without a beach.


And here's an infamous carnival ride. Ryan refused to go on one with me.


Because I'm crazy, I took pictures of children playing in the fountains. Ryan refused to stand next to me because he thought I looked like a pedophile. I was just trying to capture a couple of good shots!

Shot #1:


And Shot #2:


We finally left Kemah and journeyed to Galveston Island. We took lots of crazy pictures of old buildings; Galveston is one of the oldest communities in Texas, so we had to embrace what we had!

Old Building #1: Abandoned Grocery Store


Old Building #2: ???


Old Building #3: Bishop's Palace


Old Building #4: Sacred Heart Church

And... the roof.


We walked along the beach, where there's a curious influx of red seaweed. Evidently it's great for the fishing economy, but it smells terrible. And feels weird to walk on. And we almost drowned. Well, not really, but we had a horrible time getting to THIS set of stairs on the seawall. I was in seawater to my knees, dodging propane bottles and other miscellaneous items in the ocean. Icky.


We also found a crazy old-fashioned soda fountain, looked around the Moody Railroad Museum, and watched some guy paint seascapes with spray paint. Here's Ryan, looking kinda small. Trust me, he's really this short in person.


Then, as we were trucking away from Galveston, we decided to watch the Houston Pride Parade. I'm always popular with the gay crowd, and who doesn't like a good homegrown parade? So, we camped out on a sidewalk and enjoyed the show.

I like this picture of Ryan because he looks like a redneck.


And here's my favorite photo from the parade, a fat guy dancing on a float with a cowboy boot. This pretty much sums up the parade. But it was enjoyable! And we had a lot of fun.


We finished off the night with a huge portion of fajitas from Taco Cabana. I love 24-hour Tex-Mex food, especially when the restaurant is painted pink and torquoise.

This past weekend, I went to see Bob Saget with Noah. We laughed a lot; boy, that man is DIIIIIIIIIIIRTY. Noah was nice enough to splurge for the tickets, and I loved my night out with him. Plus, he sent me the "Aristocrats" joke, as told by the dudes from South Park. Hurrah for APO bros in Houston.

All day yesterday, I installed plywood on top of countertops with my parents. This sounds lame, but trust me - I'm a whiz with power tools. There's nothing quite like the feeling of a pneumatic nailer or an electric drill. Maybe I should buy a piece of 2X4 to make into a spice rack. I never had shop class. Silly private schools... I was learning how to program C++ instead of creating something with my hands.

By the way, I think the dog likes me. That's an exciting development.

This entry is ridiculously long. I should stop typing now before "They" take away my blogging rights.

:: posted by Jennifer N. 10:32 AM