Someone just sang "Purple rain" for about ten seconds across the plant radio. What the hell?
Went out with Katie last night--margaritas and fajitas at Lupe Tortilla's, and then drinks last night at the Mucky Duck. It was open-mic night, right... and there were a couple really good singers. Rose and Ben were really cool. That girl has a good voice.

On the other hand, the random John-Denver-meets-Dr.-Red-Duke-sorta guy singing the random song--"this will never be a mainstream hit, really", he said-- about some serial killer (no shit, really)... that was... unsettling and strange.

It was a fun night. Made for a good birthday evening. And I got to talk to a LOT of people I haven't talked to in a while. I love my friends, I really do. Y'all all rule, a lot.

This weekend was busy, and awesome. Went out with katie 'til almost 3AM Friday-- i like long evenings. lots to do. Dinner, then coffee, then we went to some scary-ass weird bar out on the west end of town called Shakespeare's... would have been just fine if the clientele had been totally different. A giant infusion of Dixie Chicken people would have helped, immensely. Yes, coffee and then a drink (ok, three)-- I understand this is backwards, whups.

Went out with tatah2010 and a bunch of her friends a couple times-- the mall and other stuff... I think that was Saturday. i'm kinda sketchy on the details... went to the galleria and chilled at tatah2010's friend Sarina's house, which was a really cool place.

Sunday... got up and went to the zoo. i like the zoo, since, well, the animals are all "bwaaa" and so were we. Nothing like a bunch of big kids around all the little kids and their parents. Typical Cepheid behavior-- the real adults wanted to kick us out of the park, I bet. I can be civilized, honest. Had coffee with Katie Sunday evening, and then back over to Sarina's house to chill and watch Family Guy, which I enjoy a lot.

All in all, it was a damn good weekend. Didn't sleep too well last night, though. I'm enjoying a diet coke right now, and trying to get the caffeine to kick in. Yep.

Presentation tomorrow for work. not real excited about that, honestly. lots to discuss, and most of it will be "look, if y'all would just fix the things we tell you, this would work out better all around, see"...

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(is it weird that I use the "Location" field as a "favorite lyric" field? just curious...)

"Hey, we should go work out together" is always good.

hmm, another good reason to keep getting back in shape. Well, I was started, anyway, so it'll just reinforce that...

work was late last night. piece of shit plant, it is.

Went out for a drive with Katie, and then called it a day. This morning we went to volunteer at the (swanky-as-hell) River Oaks Country Club here in Houston. pretty cool. But wow, so out-of-our-element. It's... it's kinda weird.

I think I'll be in College Station tonight. I'll see a bunch of y'all soon... Time to get out of Houston for a while. mwahahaha.

It's fun to find new hangouts. Went to (on opposite ends of the Swank-O-Meter^tm, heh) Sullivan's, the martini bar up the road from my apartment, and Mama's Cafe (advertising "STEAKS & BEER" in various degrees of completeness in yellow neon under the name).

Sullivan's... not bad, really. Too many people trying to pull off the "sport coat and jeans" thing, but otherwise just semi-dressy casual. I'm going to be learning/trying some new mixed drinks, at some point, since it seems a shame to always have the same thing, when the bar has so many things to try, and only a few of those things are evil (gin and certain types of rum, mostly coconut).

Mama's Cafe. The thing that got us in the door, honestly, was the "STEAKS & BEER" sign--"morbid curiosity", perhaps. The food was good (I had chicken-fried steak, she had breakfast stuff) and the waitstaff was cool. Neat place.

After all that, we went to see "The Prestige". I think that's a movie that repeated viewings would help explain. Neat movie. Strange to hear Hugh Jackman without a British accent, though. Honestly gave me pause, since I've seen him in several roles with that.

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tomorrow is church, a field trip to Danny's to get my digital camera, and then, hey, who knows. We got no plans, as of yet.

Last night was a good night. Didn't go do... anything really neat, but it was a good relaxing night. Sat and read a book at Teahouse, this funky little tea joint down the way. Sat and listened to music, and read. Nice, relaxing deal.

Went to church this morning (yay, sunday school with people my age, this week), and I'm going out in a bit with Katie. And I need coffee. Sleepy....

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The message this week was interesting. It revolved around Ephesians 4:1-16, and the "how do you respond to a gift you've been given. Especially when you don't deserve the gift. And the "EARN THIS" mindset-- that a person should respond in such a way to a gift as to earn it retroactively. Just thought that was a cool perspective.

Seems like a good weekend, don't it?

Nothing as funny about this weekend as watching, for the very first time, V for Vendetta, today. Unintentionally. On GUY FAWKES DAY. Remember, Remember, the fifth of November...

we both about fell off the sofa when I figured that out, twenty minutes from the end of the movie.

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There's honestly nothing but uncertainty stopping me from asking Katie out. And the longer and the more times we're together, the less uncertain I get. We've done something for at least the last four or five days in a row. Usually three or four hours, at least. Today was... holy shit, awesome. Thai food for lunch-- Green Curry and vegetables with chicken in a cream sauce. Furniture shopping - katie needs a couch, and I still need a real dining room table and chairs. Then it was watching V for Vendetta, which was a damn good movie, and would have been, even without a buzzcut-wearin' Natalie Portman in work clothes (whoop!). And then we went to Ra Sushi and had sushi and mojitos and lobster spring rolls.

(Yes, me eatin' sushi. I know, I know, I normally maintain that i hate sushi. This was really good, actually. Fine, Fine, the sushi gods have converted me...)

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I'm honestly ready for the week, now. It's great, this being-an-adult-and-not-having-school-like-others-I-know thing.

Always lots to do, but I'm just run down enough that it's a touch foggy. No good. I'm gonna try to finish getting better this weekend. I think last night was the first night I haven't gone out to do... something in at least a week, likely more towards two. Worked out a bit, talked on the phone a lot. Yay, low-key night.

Dinner tonight with Adrienne in Conroe. Should be fun. May see if we can't meet someplace closer-- that's a long way for just dinner.

Getting my car worked on tomorrow-- power steering's being wonky. I'll just take a book, I guess. Ought to plug in my ipod and charge it. If they've gotta fk around with the front end, it'll be a while. hmm.

And then dinner and maybe a movie with Katie Saturday afternoon. I wish that would figure out. Might bring that up. (Might not, though) No idea what the plan is for Sunday-- I could go to Bonfire Cut if I felt like it, but two-hundred-plus miles for another tree or two... not really worth it, I think.

I think (if my math is right) that I put nine hundred miles on my car last week. Holy shit. But I can see how that happened. wow.

Not to mention I ought to go to church at some point. I keep making excuses for it-- all my clothes are clean and I'll be here, maybe I'll try to make it this time.

(hmm, Utada Hikaru j-pop on winamp. I have a random-ass collection on this computer.)

Waking up is much easier with the sun coming up at 630-- I think if it was both dark and cold, there's no way I'd make it here on time.

hahah, outfreakingstanding, going out late. nothing like "hey... so I should have come over earlier, but... wanna go do something now?"

*grin*

I should get a lot of sleep later today, since I think I feel a cold coming on... no good, that. I mean, I doubt it'll happen, but I should.

I slept, for the few hours I did get last night, pretty good. And I love realizing that you woke up at 3:30 and you have better'n two hours left to sleep. Very nice.

I have GOT to get curtains, though. way too much light coming through my windows. I think that's the last thing left to do.

Actually made real food last night-- Angel hair pasta with meat sauce. Turned out really good. I need to get a pasta scoopy-fork-thing eventually, but other than that... Quite happy with dinner.

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Wow, what a weird mix - Vienna Teng and then Nick Cave. sweet, and pretty, versus "My eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow, it's more like the other way around..."

heh...

Halloween party in Houston was fun-- Katie and I both enjoyed it a lot. it was a good chance to sit and talk a lot, and just relax. We both needed that.

sangria2, sushi_slave, and all your family-- y'all did a great job on everything. I had no idea what to expect, and it was really cool. Good stuff.

Before the party, Katie and I went for food-- Thai was the plan, but we ended up getting Japanese. And I have NEVER FELT SO DUMB when it came to food. The first thing to come out was a cold dish-- noodle salad of some sort. I think we both thought it was some kind of dipping sauce-- the only thing I could identify readily was the sesame seeds. The waitress came over and told us to go ahead and eat it. It was good. Then there was the dipping sauce for the Chicken Katsu (breaded, fried chicken breast)-- she brought it out with the miso soup. I didn't know what the sauce was-- tried it and the waitress looked at me in that "wow, you're dumber than we thought; wait for the food" sort of way.

It was very good, we just felt kinda...out of place for not even knowing what to do. It's a restaurant. Not supposed to be that complicated...

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Bonfire was a lot of fun this weekend. My shoulders feel like someone beat me with a stick, my hands are torn up... And I can't wait for stack to start. I'd like to get up to CS for another Cut day, but I don't think that will happen-- stuff going on this weekend.

I have absolutely GOT to get my car worked on, and... I don't know what's planned for this weekend other than that. Likely something with Katie Saturday, and I need to go to church sometime. I really miss that. I just don't ever know where to start in picking a church, and getting to know everyone someplace new is always kind of a daunting task. Never managed to pull that off in College Station.

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And tonight is going to be... lessee... Pick up Katie, go to dinner, go to the lil' fair out off 290, maaaybe, and we're going to see about a haunted house. (I'm jumpy with haunted houses, but so is she. I feel better to know it's not just me.)

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It was a good weekend, and the week's shaping up good, too.

Cloudy days tick me off. I'm not sure why, but blue sky calms me down. Bright sunlight does the same thing. I like that bright orange, when you close your eyes and look toward the sun, with the light coming through my eyelids.

Stupid winter.

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Meeting a couple friends tonight for a beer, or two. Good stuff.

Carving pumpkins with Katie tomorrow. Looking forward to that. I'm not sure how the weekend's gonna play out yet, whether I'm going to go to Bonfire both Saturday and Sunday, or just Saturday. I think (maaaybe) there'll be fun stuff here in Houston Saturday night-- not sure if we're going to dinner or not. That'll play out, I suppose, like the rest. Just have to see when it comes up.

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Watching a guy in a Hummer slow down, nearly to a stop, to go over a speed bump? funny. I wonder how many of those who buy H2's actually use them off-road. Ever.

Getting ready to go out, now. Here goes...

*smile*

Dinner tomorrow with Katie should be fun. I'm liking how this is working out.

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And it appears that I'll have at least one person who has enough money to go someplace good and overseas for vacation, sometime in the nebulous future. Woo, vacation, and in cool enough places that it's story-worthy when you get back.

Now to get info on places to go.

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and I have seriously got to finish cleaning my apartment. I'm really close to being done, actually. then it's just dusting and vacuuming. But that's quick, y'know.

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The more I listen to this song, the more it appears to be a "take your drama and go away" song. And at this particular moment, I relate quite well to that, on a certain level.

Mediterranean food and watching TV with Katie tonight. Fun stuff... I'd love to say that i hate Project Runway. But, see, I don't, really.

fun stuff, all the way around...

*smile*

Heh. That was fun. This bodes well.

(nothing like going to a dance club with someone else who isn't that big on dancing. heh)

And I pretty much have to re-learn the Schottisch and the Cotton-eyed Joe. Very much out of practice.

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those of you who have music tastes that somewhat parallel mine-- I'm looking specifically at mothoc, asteres, houstin_hobby and b_phil for this-- I'm going to try to find an actual CD soon, but Mandalay is a band you may wanna check out. It seems to me to be a cross between Tori Amos and Bond-- that's the easiest way I can describe it. Maybe a touch of...say, Suzanne Vega. But I think that's the jist of it.