mas y mas

ok, so i'm back in austin. i've been up since 3am, because i had to catch a cab at 3:30, to be at the airport at 4am, since my flight left at 6am, even though the a-holes at united check-in didn't show up until 4:45am, so i missed my last shot at a dunkin' donuts iced french vanilla latte with double milk and double sugar. booo.

but, i made it back in one piece, and that's really the important part of the story.

when last we spoke, i was in new york city. what a freaking sweet time. i had no idea you could get dirt rings around your ankles, even if you were wearing pants. i had no idea that taxi cabs really did get up on two wheels. i had no idea that a six hour bus ride could actually feel like a six year bus ride. if you have the means, i highly suggest taking the fung wah bus line from boston's china town to new york's china town. holy crap, what an experience. who knew any single experience could make a 15 minute stop at a roy rogers in new haven look like a 15 minute detour to heaven?

i had no idea that maine is actually an entire state full of towns that look exactly like waco (the name of one of the towns was actually saco. coincidence? i think not...) and college station and abilene, with a smidge or two of fredricksburg's faux arty pretentions. i had no idea that moxy cola is secretly just carbonated robitussin cough syrup (yet another item we found in maine, i might add). i had no idea that i could actually hate a cat, ever, until said cat peed on my stuff. i had no idea that the only thing more addictive than crack is a cannoli from mike's pastry in the north end of boston.

i had no idea how much overly apologetic waitstaff annoys me, until that night at the bull and claw in good old wells (said hey to the place for you, hopie), when our perky high school kid kept appoligizing for how long our food took, for the fact that the credit card machine was slow, and that there was drama in the kitchen. what i really wanted an apology for was getting suckered into the all you can eat salad/soup bar in the hopes of having some chowder. after all, maine freaking owed me. i mean, it took us the better part of four hours to figure out that there were plenty of light houses in maine, but no road signs telling you how to get there. i figured i would at least get some freaking chowder out of a state that started out "quaint" and ended up "kwaint", if you know what i mean. you know what soups they had? cream of broccoli. turkey and wild rice. and split pea. i have never felt quite so smote in all my life.

more stories tomorrow-- mostly about pilgrims, and why i hate driving on merge ramps.

mil besos-r