Today, after much training in the hotel swimming pool, I did my first cannonball ever!

Movies I desperately want to see:
-children of men
-marie antoinette
-stranger than fiction
-BORAT!

And I want to see Wicker Man too, but it doesn't make the "desperately" list bc I think Nicolas Cage sucks my left nut.
As does Dallas, by the way...
Things Dallas does not have that Houston does: (I won't even compare it to Austin).
-good mexican food
-convenient locations of HEBs
-interesting people (not including Aaron's new roomates, who remind me quite a bit of Aaron B. and Elissa, strangely...)
-life after 10 pm

Dallas.
I've been staying at a Ramada Inn these last few days, and it has a pool but I've yet to utilize it. Instead, I've been hanging out at Aaron's place, playing with Gohan the dog, who's a chow/retriever mix.

Although I like dogs quite a lot, I've re-decided that I am, indeed, a cat person. I like how cats show their appreciation of your attention by purring and wriggling around; dogs just sit there and enjoy your petting stoically and growl and whine when you stop. Hey man, dogs should understand--they're all about positive reinforcement ("yay, doggie, you pee'd outside!" and you're supposed to ignore messes made inside if you didn't catch 'em in the act...), and I am too. Praise me and appreciate me as I do what you want me to do, don't just growl at me when I stop. The most positive reinforcement you'll get from a dog is a lazily wagging tail.

I feel out of place and bored. And that this entry is entirely un-inspired.

here's what's currently on my mind:
-cadavers next week.
-next DVD tv show purchase must be a season of the x files. anyone got any suggestions as to which one? 1st season is out (i remember it too well), and any season not featuring mulder is out as well.
-next DVD movie purchase must be Everything is Illuminated.
-can't wait for my laptop sleeve to hurry up and come in the mail

All in all, I miss my friends, my town, and my life.

My half of the experience, Yipee!!

Hello, This is Aaron, Jen's no good oaf of a boyfriend/ Fiance.
I have the other half of Jen's LA hostel experience that I encountered while she took her shower.

So... we walked into the hostel and Jen went upstairs. One should note that the whole place lacks air conditioning, which in LA is not horrible most of the time but that whole week was so unbelivably hot. So a whole building+ no AC= hot as a mother F*%$@#$! Anyways. So I sit down in the lobby and park myself in front of the only cool thing in the place a AC window unit, which only cools the 2 feet in front of it. So I am sitting there watching the front desk and the verious strange European teenagers walk in and out when, BAM! all the lights and electricity go out. My instant reaction is to speak up but softly. "Do you know where the breaker is?" Front desk girl in her 20's maybe some college education (probably Liberal arts) doesn't hear me and starts freaking out, big time. "This never happens, oh my god this...!" Me (calm): "Do you know where the breaker is?" I was thinking that the place probably simply blew the main breaker. Little to my knowledge the whole city block was out due I think to a roaming blackout. So the front desk lady is freaking out, trying to type on computers that are off with black screens, picking up the phone, "Nope it's out, oh my god!," and then when the people who live there start to appear and ask what's going on she's like, "I don't know, I don't know what to do... Wait let me get the manager!"
Meanwhile, a giant German guy who appears to be too old for the hostel, maybe mid to late 30's, comes out and says, "I know what's going on, I know what's going on, you people use to much electricity... You run your AC's all the time non-stop. I know what's going on I've seen this before!" He is one loud dude and says it all in a way like he is condemning America. He then storms out to see if the rest of the street's power is out.
The front desk girl shows back up with who I assume is the manager. He is calm, she still is not.
Him: "Ok ok, so let find the breaker"
Her: "what the... what?"
Him: "Well, wait let's get some flash lights."
They find some flashlights, but--big shock, no batteries... (yeah the hostel is prepared for the worst).
"Ok ok, I know there are batteries around here we just have to look."
Her: "No wait this light's battery cover is screwed on!" (she freaks out more).
He is starting to get worked up because of her. "Ok let me get a screwdriver"
He gets one but it is huge, you know it's not going to fit a tiny battery cover screw. "
"Nope that doesn't work!"
Both freaking out now. He disappears and then returns with a ... "I got a butter knife! I think we can open it this way." That works but to our surprise that light doesn't take any of the batteries they have on hand.
SO... one of the tenants is like, "Do you want us to go buy some flashlights?" Front desk girl: "Oh my god yes.. please well reimburse you ... just buy as many as you can... go now!" She delivers the line like they're on a mission to save the world. Please take note that, only the electricity has gone out. Nothing big has happened! Anyways I offer the flashlight built into my phone for them to use and he's like, "oh wow thanks dude!" And uses it to find the tinest maglight pen light... hands me back my phone.
Jen comes down stairs and we meet, I say "You ok up there?"
Jen: "Yes"
I Ravish her with a kiss, throw my arm around her waist and bust out of that joint.. leaving behind the whole freakshow. The two people in charge (I use that loosely) were still super freaking out as though the world was ending--the only calm ones I saw the whole time were the two girls who asked about going to get some flashlights. Oh and the German guy came back in only to say, "YEP, I was right, you use too much damn electricity, the whole block is out! AHHH"

The end. That's the story... Hope you liked it, it's kinda long but I hope it's a little coherent. Anyways.

Adios,
Bruiser

editor's note: Only coherent due to addition of punctuation...JT

Here's an awesome video...go watch it! Here.

Aaron's part of the blackout story is coming up soon--tonight if he can get to the internet.

here's something I've been thinking--A road trip is different than any other trip bc every place you stop has a feeling of its own, and you end up being nostalgic for every place along the road as you go. So when you get home, it's not one huge nostalgic weight. It's wierd the things I miss, though.

I got home last night!
I was excessively happy to see Billy and Lars, and the hermity crab, and...my new Apple laptop. Yes!
The laptop is awesome, though the initial tinkering around phase has been foiled by the fact that I have no internet to connect to. I guess I could connect it to the DSL we have at home, but...why built in wireless unless I use it? I'm thinking about going somewhere with wireless today just to play with it. Oh and also, it's sorta scary playing with it bc it's white and I always have to make sure my fingers are as clean as possible. Urg. New things.

Anyways, the rest of the trip was awesome.
On Wednesday, I walked around Hollywood by myself, resold some DVDs at Amoeba music and traded for a poster and a random CD, and bought some sunglasses, and chilled at the hostel. It was so hot that day they had the inflatable pool outside, where everybody put their feet into while they read or did whatever. I did not, because I felt too self conscious about it, I don't know why.
We left LA at 2:00 pm on Thursday, July 27, which was two days after my last post, and drove to Flagstaff. We had planned to get to Flagstaff around 7pm but didn't make it till 10:30. I ended up driving those last 3 hours or so in the dark, and it was quite scary, with the road being super windy and going into mountains and such, and all the "Caution: Deer" signs, but I have a feeling the scenery would've been awesome if only I could've seen it. Before it got dark, we saw all these plateaus, and I'd really never seen such things in person.
Ok, this is going to have to go to list form, so it won't be ridiculously long.
Flagstaff:
Thursday night: unloaded necessary stuff to hostel room, signed up for Grand Canyon tour thing, showered, walked around Flagstaff, which seemed super safe, until we crossed the train tracks (literally) and were immediately accosted by random people. walked to convenience store which was really a liquor store and bought gatorades for the grand canyon, hurried back across the tracks.
Friday: breakfasted with a German couple who'd just finished high school, Grand Canyon tour'ed with them, two girls from Russia, a girl from Korea, an American woman from India...and some others. Tour guide in flip flops and funny sunglasses, which were made fun of by a passing tourist while he was taking a pic of the group. The tourist said, "hey, I can take the picture, so you can get in it too." and the tour guide replied, "No, that's alright, thanks." and the tourist said, "With those sunglasses, you really should get in the picture! Haha, right guys?" to us. Burn.
Anyways, we hiked around the GC for the day and then stopped at the Navajo reservation on our way back. I know I sound blase about the Grand Canyon, but it's hard to describe it. and hopefully it shows up well on the video we took.
Fiday night: got back to the hostel around 7 pm, and we walked downtown and had pizza at a little pizza place, which was delicious. Then we did laundry at the hostel and played pool, while I stole surreptitious looks at the (drunk?) couple dancing to the jukebox in the corner, which was not pretty. The lady would put a song on, and dance (very badly) in front of the guy, who would caress her butt. It was more disturbing bc the lady was asian and middle aged, and the guy was in his 50s. Then sometimes they would dance together, and the guy said at one point, in a sickly sweet voice, "When you smile, your face just lights up..." It was pretty gross.
We left the next morning to go to Roswell, and we ended up getting into Roswell pretty late as well. We had Chili's for dinner that night and walked around the 24 hr Walmart, which was decorated with aliens and UFOs on the outside.
The next morning, we stopped at the UFO museum on our way out of town. Which was awesome, but more kitschy than I had hoped.
We stopped at Lubbock to see Jennifer Stewart! who drove us around in her Blazer.
And then on to Dallas.
Ok, no more about Dallas, since I'll be there for the next 4 years. Suffice it to say that we found Aaron a place to stay out in the boonies, and stayed at a Backpacker's Hostel that was run by a family, and an old Bulgarian man, and there was a kitten that I played with.
Then we stopped in Austin for a night, and me, Aaron, and Elissa went to the Drafthouse, then drinking with Rachel and her horde of friends at Hole in the Wall. Then the next morning, ate lunch at Dog Almighty and then dyed Elissa's hair again. Also, there was a kitten at Elissa's too, who I loved even a little more than the one at the hostel.

Ok, ok, no graceful goodbyes, because this post is way too long, but it just had to be done.