Alright here goes the story of my weekend back in Austin.
Seattle to Dallas flight wasn’t a big deal except for the loss of 2 hours and my excessive caffeination. Dallas to Austin was delayed by about an hour, most of which was spent on the plane waiting for connecting passengers. There was a family of four that was completing the last leg of their trip back from India (husband, wife, 2 young boys) and they were getting split up, luckily my seat was next to two of them, so the mother was able to sit with the two boys while dad got a nice rest alone. Anyway, made it back to Austin finally and merely being in the airport had a big old grin on my face which only got better after meeting up with Murk and Tyson. At the risk of sounding emasculated, this was the first time i got a hug in 7 weeks, and that’s something i didn’t realize i had missed. Bryan got there shortly afterwards, Hoover couldn’t make it since he’s in Southeast Asia, but it would have completed the John Murchison discipleship group. Since i had eaten only a tortilla and enough caffeine to choke a horse we stopped at Taco C on the way back. Ah Taco C.
The next morning, John lent me his Explorer (thanks so much!) so that i could go eat breakfast with Michelle before her final, Kirbey Lane still burns their ham, but the chocolate chip pancakes were pretty good. Chilled at TJ/Murk/Mark’s place for a bit before heading to Rudy’s BBQ (my stomach is grumbling just thinking about the brisket) A few more hours of chillaxin/planning websites/serious talks/not so serious talks and it was time to get spiffy and go to the wedding. I’m still wondering if i can pull of the green tie i was wearing. The only feedback i got with it was Travis telling me “You look Catholic”, i’m not even sure what that would mean.
So this was my first wedding (except for my aunt’s wedding when i was young) so i was basically completely clueless about what i was supposed to be doing, and so Bryan and i ended up sitting on the bride’s side and then switching over to the groom’s side after realizing what was up. Oh wow, it was like a mini-BYX reunion: BPK, Sam, JB, Travis, David Paige, and others. The pastor was the same guy who had spoken at BYX a while back, he has the coolest Scottish accent (think Sean Connery) I don’t really know what else to sayabout the ceremony. On to the reception.
The ride out was fun, you can’t have 20 BYX/Phi Lambs driving from one place to another without there being fun. The dependency chains of C is following B is following A who barely made a stoplight, so now B has no clue how to get there, but C doesn’t know that. I was B, and somehow Jason Chandrapal got between me and C (Summer and Val) at a stoplight and despite me sticking practically my entire upper half of my body out the window only managed to get Summer’s attention who of course was thoroughly confused by my behavior.
The reception itself was even better, catching up with friends, great food at a table that included Rory, Marcoux, JB, and Sam. Best part of the night was the great dancing. I think the DJ should maybe have thought through the song selection a little more in the context of a wedding (Outkast’s Hey Ya!? “They say nothing lasts forever. So what makes love the exception”) but the company was what made the night awesome.
Post reception, Bryan, Travis and i went back to David Paige’s place and hung out, Travis and i smoked a cigar. Thus ended a fantastic saturday in Austin.
Sunday: First order of business was waking up to see The Mark Telschow looking into the living room to see if we were awake. Headed out to Freebirds to eat with Ross, who showed up late due to a conflict, got to chill with him back at his place before heading back north to Murk’s. Finally headed down to Stone and managed to catch the first 30 minutes or so of service, running into almost everybody. Sam picked me up and took me back to the airport.
Breezed through security, there was NOBODY in line. This of course killed me since i was now an hour early for an 8 o’clock flight while missing out on Stone. Landed in Dallas and sprinted twenty or so gates because my sister Carolyn was supposed ot be at the tail end of a 3 hour layover for her flight from DC to Sacramaneto. She wasn’t there due to catching a flight two hours earlier. On my way back to my gate, i noticed to my right a flight to Seattle that was boarding, and i thought about trying to go on standby for it, make it home 40 minutes early, but decided against it since then i wouldn’t get my luggage. Oh how i wish i had taken that flight. I got to my gate to see a mass of humanity sitting around it. Apparently my flight had been delayed by an hour and a half, which gave me plenty of time to make some phone calls. Gradually the monitors showing outbound flights sunk to 4 monitors (out of like 8), then 3, 2, 1. Finally there were 3 flights left and the Seattle-Tacoma flight was slated to take off last. I was there so late that they put up the next morning’s flights. Anyway, finally made it back to Seattle at 2am, just thankful that i would be in bed soon. But it was not meant to be, as the luggage carrousel stopped i still didn’t have my garment bag. Finally, at 3:15, i managed to leave Sea-Tac with a slip of paper promising me my bags the next day, the second time that American has lost my luggage and stolen hours of my life. I had already told myself i would never fly American again, and only made an exception because they were cheapest at the time by about 30 bucks. Southwest had a cheaper deal a couple weeks later. Never again.
I can’t wait to make it back there again. Where the cicadas are “crying cuz it’s so hot” according to Dan Brown. Where the feeder roads make life easy. Where sticking out your pointer and your pinky doesn’t mean you’re metal. And most importantly where barbecue doesn’t mean grilling.