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Ash, Austin, and the Cimarron
Jun. 20th, 2002 03:17 pmEvery summer as the heat rolls in, I am reminded of the first time I was ever in Austin. It was the summer I was 12, about to turn 13. Traveling back from Arizona in Andy's MG, he and my mother, me and my best friend Tammy, and Andy's two white dogs Che (for Che Gueverra) and Cindy--in an MG, yes--got stuck in Austin when the MG's engine got a little too smokin'.
We stayed in an unfinished apartment above the garage of the two mechanic-stoner guys who were fixing the car. No airconditioner or fan; it was so hot that we would all file in and out of the shower during the night, unable to sleep for long in the smothering humidity. We did get to hang out in the house sometimes, where Tammy and I settled onto a waterbed to enjoy the cool air with the stash of Penthouse mags we found. We read all of the Wicked Wanda strips we could find in them--for the uninitiated, Wanda was a busty, wasp-waisted, raven-haired dom with a Skipper on ecstacy side-kick--also her lover--and they have spy and intrigue type adventures, always turning some poor man inside out with pleasure.
Other highlights of this stay included: Getting stopped by the cops one night when we were rolling one of those huge wooden spools (for phone co. wire and etc.) back to headquarters through the quiet back streets; the cops had to check and make sure T and I weren't runaways or kidnap victims. Swimming in Barton Springs for the first time ever. Two mushroom trips, on one of which we saw an animated movie called Metamorphosis, Five Tales from Ovid. Selling Japanese paper wallets on the university campus where I was later to be a grad student and TA, to make money for food (while Andy sold mushrooms to make money to pay the mechanics). Having a stand-up yelling fight with Andy at a restuarant where he told me I had a lot of balls for a girl. Swapping wallets and mushrooms for some very cool old Mexican skirts (one for Tammy and one for me) with metallic ric-rac on them from a woman running a secondhand store. Playing video games with Tammy and hang ing on the drag.
The drag by campus where I now sometimes shop at the Urban Outfitters; the spots where we sold wallets are still as I remember them on campus. Theater where we saw the movie has been turned into a Tower Records. I lived in the neighborho od we stayed in when I first moved down here for grad school, and found the restaurant (which has, since I've lived here, been 4 different restaurants), but I've never been sure I found the house.
Then there was the second time I was in Austin, at 18, bu t that's another story. As is the bus journey Tammy and I took to get home to Gainesville. Fla (errrrrgh, ugh) after I figured we'd been stuck there long enough and called my dad for busfare. (Later in the Summer, after more interesting adventures for Tammy and I sans parentals--her mother was on an extended honeymoon in San Francisco and we stayed with friends--mom and Andy finally arrived back in a rented red sportscar with AC and music, thank you very much.)
Frankly, I don't miss my childhood at all.
N and I just took the kids to their first ever movie in a theater experience. We saw Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. The kids were awesome, quiet and attentive, except for a few spots where Mass got worried about what was going to happen and got very whiney. But since we were practically the only people in the theater, it was okay. Nice animation. Dreadful music. But the horses, buffalo, woods, rivers, waterfalls, and rolling plains were beautiful. Sad mostly because it's gone and will never be that way again.
On an up note, got some actual wordage in on the novel this morning. (Took today off instead of Friday so I could be at work for a meeting and a birthday lunch tomorrow.) Someday I AM going to finish it, and it's going to rock.k
We stayed in an unfinished apartment above the garage of the two mechanic-stoner guys who were fixing the car. No airconditioner or fan; it was so hot that we would all file in and out of the shower during the night, unable to sleep for long in the smothering humidity. We did get to hang out in the house sometimes, where Tammy and I settled onto a waterbed to enjoy the cool air with the stash of Penthouse mags we found. We read all of the Wicked Wanda strips we could find in them--for the uninitiated, Wanda was a busty, wasp-waisted, raven-haired dom with a Skipper on ecstacy side-kick--also her lover--and they have spy and intrigue type adventures, always turning some poor man inside out with pleasure.
Other highlights of this stay included: Getting stopped by the cops one night when we were rolling one of those huge wooden spools (for phone co. wire and etc.) back to headquarters through the quiet back streets; the cops had to check and make sure T and I weren't runaways or kidnap victims. Swimming in Barton Springs for the first time ever. Two mushroom trips, on one of which we saw an animated movie called Metamorphosis, Five Tales from Ovid. Selling Japanese paper wallets on the university campus where I was later to be a grad student and TA, to make money for food (while Andy sold mushrooms to make money to pay the mechanics). Having a stand-up yelling fight with Andy at a restuarant where he told me I had a lot of balls for a girl. Swapping wallets and mushrooms for some very cool old Mexican skirts (one for Tammy and one for me) with metallic ric-rac on them from a woman running a secondhand store. Playing video games with Tammy and hang ing on the drag.
The drag by campus where I now sometimes shop at the Urban Outfitters; the spots where we sold wallets are still as I remember them on campus. Theater where we saw the movie has been turned into a Tower Records. I lived in the neighborho od we stayed in when I first moved down here for grad school, and found the restaurant (which has, since I've lived here, been 4 different restaurants), but I've never been sure I found the house.
Then there was the second time I was in Austin, at 18, bu t that's another story. As is the bus journey Tammy and I took to get home to Gainesville. Fla (errrrrgh, ugh) after I figured we'd been stuck there long enough and called my dad for busfare. (Later in the Summer, after more interesting adventures for Tammy and I sans parentals--her mother was on an extended honeymoon in San Francisco and we stayed with friends--mom and Andy finally arrived back in a rented red sportscar with AC and music, thank you very much.)
Frankly, I don't miss my childhood at all.
N and I just took the kids to their first ever movie in a theater experience. We saw Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. The kids were awesome, quiet and attentive, except for a few spots where Mass got worried about what was going to happen and got very whiney. But since we were practically the only people in the theater, it was okay. Nice animation. Dreadful music. But the horses, buffalo, woods, rivers, waterfalls, and rolling plains were beautiful. Sad mostly because it's gone and will never be that way again.
On an up note, got some actual wordage in on the novel this morning. (Took today off instead of Friday so I could be at work for a meeting and a birthday lunch tomorrow.) Someday I AM going to finish it, and it's going to rock.k
