spring break '06

ah. it's back to the routine, and i am glad for it. i don't think i could have passed my spring break in a more enjoyable way. i worked the cafe a lot, but even that was good because it means more money for the trip to india.

my family came in for the first part of the week. they left on monday and my sisters stayed until tues. what i love most about my family is that i can experience immense joy just by looking at them and seeing them interact. i thought about that one day when i was working. they had come in to waste some time, look at books, and have some drinks. everytime i looked up and saw them, i found myself very grateful for them. isn't it interesting that you can be reminded of the great love someone has for you and the love you have in return with a simple glance?

wednesday was my day to rest. so, i went to the library. i printed out some articles for a sermon due in april. this was the only day i really thought about school.

thurs. worked at the cafe and was allowed to leave early for my trip to austin! i was so excited about being able to leave town. austin was austin maxed out. tons of people for sxsw, decked out in their coolest, not-the-fad clothing, men wearing more make up than i was. it was fantastic. when i got there thurs. night i was so tired from work. i met up with a friend, told him he would have to make all the decisions for the night (my mind wasn't working), and started walking. we did a lot of walking in austin - up and down 6th street, listening for someone, something interesting that we would want to hear. we heard a couple of bands that night and ended the night in a dueling piano bar, where two men faced each other on pianos and sang requests from the crowd. things like rocket man by elton john. i think my friend thought it was lame, but i thought it was hilarious and wanted to stay - "let's stay until we hear a song neither one of us can name" - was my suggestion. so we left during this odd song about a redneck that was distasteful anyway.

fri. morning we got up and left round rock around 10. we went to la zona rosa for an mtv2 concert line up. the first show we watched was not good, so we left. we walked to waterloo. waterloo! within 20 minutes i had the new belle and sebastian, arctic monkeys, minus 5, kt tunstall cds, along with the kinks - village green, and radar bros - radar bros. i walked around the store searching for my friend, hoping he'd be a voice of reason to help me narrow down my selections. in the end, i purchased only one cd. do you want to guess which one it was? i can't remember if i told ya'll or not. after waterloo, we visited book people and whole foods, where we ate lunch and bought a bottle of wine to thank my cousin for letting us crash at her place.

after luch we went back to the mtv2 party to hear jack's mannequin, a pop-rock piano driven band. i didn't particularly care for them, though my friend assured me they sounded better on cd, which i think is sad. anyway, it wasn't the sound i didn't care for, it was more the lyrics. i can only take so much of what i've decided to call the "you and me baby, uh-huh, we're good/you and me baby, uh-oh, we're sad" kind of lyrics. i felt like all their songs could fall into one of those categories. i wondered if he had anything else going on his life besides trying to maintain his relationships with women.

but on fri. i did get to see kt tunstall, which was very good. i've wanted to see her ever since i watched her perform on conan. the show was short, but good. another friend joined us at the kt tunstall show and from then on there was more walking, hanging out, and getting to know one another. and i've decided one of the reasons it's semi-difficult to make new friends is because i have to rehash my whole life every time i want to sincerely befriend someone. i mean, i have to remember what i was like in college or high school. i'm forced to remember and claim my annoyances that all my old friends already know about and put up with. it is a bit tiring, but in the end it's completely worth it if the person sticks around.

on sat. i spent time with my cousins. we had brunch and they told me all about traveling in india and what i would need to make my trip more comfortable. i barely ate because i was trying to write down everything they said. they took me to a cool travel shop, whole earth provision, and i spent the rest of my money buying things for the trip. then we headed over to perfection tattoo, my cousin's fiances tattoo studio. we stayed there for a while just talking and looking at all the art around the studio. these tattoos are serious. i saw some beautiful drawings that made me wish i had a tattoo. i think it's safe to say i probably will never get one, but it's still fun to think about and really interesting to hear about. my cousin informed me on the art of tattooing, and i was intrigued for hours. i told her about flannery o'connors short story, parker's back, and thought it was funny how something i read in a seminary class could relate to a conversation about tattooing.

with my cousins and their very cool, classic austin, friends, i discovered that they didn't think i was lame for going to seminary. in fact, they thought it was good that i was interested in spiritual things, and spent a good amount of time asking me questions about my thoughts on christianity, other world religions, and the church in america. our conversations were enjoyable, but not superficial, and i found myself wishing i could stay longer.

on sat. night, when i was driving back to waco, my friend scott called me to come over and play a game. i arrived to find the board for sesame-street monopoly, set up, ready to go. i lost, of course. but it was a sweet way for me to come back home, back to the pace of things, where my friends are silly and don't care that i am, too. where i am force to make time to read things that cause me to think and deliberate about what i believe.