Roadtrip #3: Back to Houston!

This is why I went missing for a few days. :)

The Accident
Unfortunately, the Friday before I was supposed to head down to Houston my driver's sideview mirror was destroyed. All I really saw was the truck in front of me kick up a very long pipe and that pipe flying through the air. At the last second I threw my arm up to cover my face because it was headed straight for the windshield. But instead of a crash I heard a thud and to my joy glanced up to find absolutely no damage to my windshield.

And then I tried to change lanes with my sideview mirror.

Also, alas, the hood was scratched so deeply it had hit the metal and was eventually going to rust away. So suddenly my car was going into the shop and I had to find a replacement if I was still to go - barring I could still go with insurance/rental issues - but my insurance company was really awesome and I was thrilled. So the plan was still in place.

(I realize I'm really, really lucky that nothing worse happened, so this fix was not.a.big.deal. Sideview mirror? Doable.)

The Rental & Eight Hours, Going Once
I've never rented a car before. So when the lady asked me whether I would like a mid-size or full-size sedan, and explained that my Altima would essentially be a full-size and that I would probably get one, I decided to go with what I knew. However, in the back of my head there was this constant nagging doubt that I should've gone with the mid-size.

When the driver came to pick me up in a Mercury Sable, I suddenly felt all those doubts rise to the surface. It was an older model, so the thought of gas mileage alone scared me, and it certainly wasn't something I wanted to drive in Houston traffic. (I learned to drive in my grandfather's Buick, and I've just never been a fan of driving that size of car. I have trouble judging distances anyway - and once nearly backed into the fence early on - so I don't need any extra length added.)

Finally though, after being told that this was all they had, a nice lady popped up in the back and said there was a mid-size Ford Focus if I was interested.

Yes. Yes, please.

All that to say: go with your instincts.

The car was great and I managed to slide through all the big cities without traffic, so the drive down was perfect. I was really nervous about taking an unfamiliar car all that way, so I was really grateful this turned out so well. God is good.

Everything is all taken care of now, though, and my car is back in my possession looking great. If you ever need a body shop in the area, I have one to recommend.

Houston!
Yay! Houston!

Wednesday night Will had an unsuspecting Travis & Dave come over and I think everyone enjoyed hanging out the rest of the night.

And then on Thursday, poor Will got sick! Pretty sick, actually. :( Poor guy. (For those concerned, he seems to be doing fine now.) We did spend a lot of time catching up on various Nostalgic Critic episodes (who, by the way, is hysterical but very R-rated and language heavy, so be aware.) Also, I had the chance to see a taped rendition of his Pinocchio that I had been itching to watch and was glad to finally have the opportunity.

On Friday morning Kim graciously dropped Robbie & I off at the Zoo (where the OKC Zoo membership provides 1/2 off prices!) Although we did see lots of animals, I think if I totaled it up we spent about three of the five hours there in the children's zoo alone which was pretty funny. Robbie ran around in circles on the playground. Considering it was over 100, that's some pretty intense stamina! And he wasn't quite ready to go at the end either, but it was getting hot and late and he had to be getting tired, so we rode the carousel and headed home.

As for Issac, he is cuter than ever and has this grin that you can't help but return.

Travis and I actually got to catch up at Barry's Pizzeria which was nice and Kim & I were able to watch the latest Pride & Prejudice movie which I also enjoyed. Having never read or watched any of the movies, I went in without any idea of what it was really about and it was really funny.

Also, in the midst of all this, I did manage to finish reading Hunger Games, which I really enjoyed. For some reason, I kept fighting the first person point of view for the first part of the book, but was over it by the end and really enjoyed the bits that became more stream of conscious. And the story was great. Fast read, great story. Now I'm (probably) going to launch into Game of Thrones 2.

McKinney & Eight Hours, Going Twice
On the way back I arrived in McKinney at the perfect time for dinner with Philip & Kelly at Paoli's! Yum. World Market. Good time with more friends.

And then back on the road. A different route this time - up 1-77 to avoid the awful construction I ran into on 35 last time- buuut, 1-77 scared me a bit when I realized just how desolate it was. While I did like that it went straight into Shawnee, I didn't like that there were essentially no streetlights anywhere. And, although I knew it going in, no towns. So that meant no gas stations or ones in tiny towns that close way too early. That's potentially nervewracking.
So it's back to 35 for me.

And also bedtime for me.

But since I left Houston with this song stuck in my head, I now leave it with you:



It's a monkey!!

All the bells & whistles.

It's a little intimidating to post after you haven't for several days. I feel like you're expecting something.

I have this car.

And beforehand, I had a different car. It was a Toyota, it was originally my mom's, and its alarm went off constantly. And randomly. I remember sitting at Sonic one time and suddenly it just started blaring. It wasn't long after we had bought it and mom sat there frantically pushing buttons and trying to search the manual for how to turn it off. (And also for why it was going off in the first place.) Mom said it was possessed and dubbed it 'Lucy' for Lucifer.

So now you know why my last car was Lucy.

My friends have stories. It would go off in their driveways. Late at night. For no reason. I have stories. Cats would jump on it. Youth at VBS would throw things at her tires it to make it go off.

This would go on to continue until its unfortunate fate while searching for turtles. (I know you always dreamed a grander death, Lucy. I'm sorry.)

After it was finalized as being totaled and I was officially car shopping I thought Wow. I can have a car where it will never go off randomly again.

....

Now this is still partially true. My car alarm does not (yet) go off randomly. No, now it goes off because I tell it to. Which is all the time.

See, the Toyota went off whenever it wanted. But the alarm feature on the keychain was indented. Therefore you had to actually intend to push it and I never had to. But on Nissan the alarm feature is even with the other buttons - right underneath lock, unlock and trunk in a neat little row. And even if I never intend to push, I do all.the.time.

Sit on keys wrong in pocket? Alarm. Set keys down too hard on counter? Alarm. Hand slips while unlocking car? Alarm. Press against pocket while shutting the door? BLAMBLAMBLAM.

And it has an amazing range. It doesn't matter if I'm back in my bedroom. Alarm.

So this actually means my car alarm goes off more now than it ever did in the Toyota.

Which is saying something, my friends. Which is saying something.

See? Fish in a barrel.

I love Community. I just watched this weeks episode and, particularly the the Firefly reference, was way too perfect. I laughed so hard. Especially with all the Firefly commotion that just popped up this week.

I disappeared. I just haven't had anything of interest to post in awhile.

Sooo...check out this awesome Lego Victorian house!

Wait, a link post? We're getting a link post? That's it?

Mm. Yeah.
I don't keep up with most sports, but I love this story about the new winner of the Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne! Rumor has it he didn't even know where victory lane was. I'm happy he won.

No really, I've been busy, just not with much noteworthy material. My steering wheel controls are fixed now? Yay for me. Boring for you.

Though I did watch a basketball game played with three - five year olds this week. That was pretty awesome. And super cute. And then I watched Ashia play basketball, which was also awesome, because she's incredibly fast.

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark is still in previews if you're interested. And now this: a musical named Spiderman Smackdown is planning to open a day earlier than the current opening date for S:TOTD with a budget of $0 and a restriction of getting the show up within thirty days.
"In a statement Moran said, "How important is $65 Million in making good theatre? We’re going to develop a story, write a complete musical score and script, design sets and costumes, cast, rehearse, advertise and ultimately mount the production on March 14th."

Last week when we had those first 70 degree days? That's when Nowata, OK saw a 100 degree change of temperature in one week.

Honestly, it's been kind of a strange week, simply because of its sense of normalcy. Two weeks ago we were having blizzards. Suddenly I wasn't always at work, or if I was it was because my boss picked me up, or we couldn't get flowers in, or we left and came in at odd hours. Until this past Sunday I hadn't been to church in three weeks. Last week was Valentine's and wildly trying to prepare since the snow had chopped up our preparation time and then making it through the rest of the week with the shop slowly getting cleaned back up and us recuperating. This week? Our first normal week in almost a month. Bizarre.

And now we're back in the 70's. I wore flip flops for the second time this month tonight. It was glorious.

See? A link post. Fish in a barrel.

Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony....

I survived! And so did my car. Thankfully. And instead of taking six or so hours (as I was initially nervous about), it only required three. Awesome. Chick-Fil-A was involved and therefore the entire trip was worth it. Sadly, however, I did not get started on Till We Have Faces. This summer, it has to happen. It's a must.

Apparently the Tony Awards are around the corner (June 13th). I, however, haven't kept up with the broadway scene in general this year. Truthfully, I lost interest a few seasons ago. Somewhere along the way I began to feel jaded and tired of defending something that kept turning out musicals like, oh, Shrek and Spamalot.
(Note: I've actually seen Spamalot. And I thought it was hysterical! This is merely an example of a genre. )

Nonetheless, I went and looked at the lineup. Essentially, I only recognize American Idiot and Fela!, but practically only in titles alone. Yes, I realize the former is the Green Day musical based off the record. And that pretty much ends my knowledge of all the Best Musical nominees (for anyone interested, the other two are Memphis and Million Dollar Quartet.)

But what really interested me was Best Performance of a Leading Man in a Play. Check out this loaded category:
Jude Law... Hamlet
Alfred Molina... Red
Liev Schreiber... A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken... A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington... Fences

Also, American Idiot is only up for Lighting & Scenic Design Awards. Explain to me how you can be up for Best Musical and not even nominated for direction or book categories? (It's not an original score, hence, it cannot be up for the music.) Blah, this is one reason I became so frustrated.

And no, I'm not ignoring Best Play. I simply just don't recognize any of them either:

In the Next Room or the vibrator play...Author: Sarah Ruhl
Next Fall...Author: Geoffrey Nauffts
Red... Author: John Logan
Time Stands Still... Author: Donald Margulies

Actually I recently read an article on Red and that it was about artist Mark Rothko starring Alfred Molina, and how Molina began his Broadway career in Art and is now coming full circle with Red but that's all I remember. I also read an article about In the Next Room but I remember nothing, so that certainly doesn't help you now.

Really, the only names I recognize are in the revivals and there I recognize them all. Ragtime, Finian's Rainbow, La Cage aux Folles, and A Little Night Music.

And Best Original Score:
Addams Family, Enron, Memphis, & Fences

Best Revival of a Play:
Fences, Lend Me a Tenor, A View from the Bride & The Royal Family

For any other nominations, click here.

Also, I love this. And am highly amused by this. (Thanks Will!)

G'night everyone! Sweet dreams!