Friday night I went to the Blanton Museum with Xoch, for the B Scene. We had a great time. We went on one of the tours and it was kind of lame. People were standing around talking about what the artist was thinking, what the painting symbolized, blah blah blah. Talking about art, to me, is like gossip. Nobody REALLY knows what the artist was thinking unless the artist told them. So basically you’re just making stuff up and pretending like you know. It kind of reminded me of reading cheesy gossip magazines (People, Us, InTouch) about celebrities. Those cheesy writers write the stories as if they know firsthand what is going on in someone’s life just because they might know a few facts. It’s total fake BS, and that’s what I felt when all these people were talking about the art. It was also kind of pretentious. I had fun making up my own stories about the art and whispering them to Xoch, causing her to giggle.
Her friend, Caton?, met up with us and he was super fun. We had a great time doing the scavenger hunt activity. They had a sheet with artwork described on it and you had to find the specific piece and then figure something out about the piece, like how many people were drawn in it, or how many “W”s were in the title of the piece. Easy stuff, but yet it was still super fun. The hard part was finding the exhibits and not punching the stupid art guards in the face.
This one young art guard chick got all snippy with us for pointing at the art. She came over and said, “Please don’t point so close to the art.” We were nowhere near touching the art. Then she kept showing up everywhere we went nagging at us about stupid stuff. There were a few interactive pieces that you are SUPPOSED to touch and play with (we went on the tour last month) and she came over with this stank face on and said, “You’re not supposed to stand inside this piece.” Xoch just about ripped her face off… with words. The girl backed off, but I still saw her lurking around corners staring at us.
I told Xoch to throw her hands up at her and yell, “You wanna take this outside?” I was pretty sure if that girl gave us the side eye one more time Xoch was going to throw down, and I was doing all I could to provoke it.
The food this time was not nearly as good and I’m convinced they make their “Blantinis” (get it, Blanton Martini) with hairspray. I guess it’s good that if you’re going to pay $8 for a martini it should be strong, but it SO SHOULD NOT taste like lemon lime hairspray.
In the back of the museum they always have activities. Last time we made buttons, and this time we made origami boxes. I would say it wasn’t quite origami because there were scissors involved, but I’ll let it slide. I know there are ways to make perfectly fine boxes without using scissors, but for the life of me, I could not remember how.
Saturday morning I got up early and headed off to Mississippi for the weekend. I had to be at the airport at 7am and I was to arrive at 10ish. I was hoping for much better flights than the last time. There were small inconveniences going there and coming back but nothing too bad. I didn’t want to stab any of the employees in the neck this time… although the chatty shuttle bus driver that took me to my vehicle once I got back in town deserved to at least get punched in the neck. I don’t care if he was 92, he needed to just shut up and drive. He was standing around trying to crack jokes and be all cute and it was 10:20pm on a Monday. No sir, just take me to my ride and do it quick. I need to sleep, and if he was going to help me get home quick he should at least let me punch him in the neck for enjoyment.
When I arrived in Jackson, MS we had lunch in town and then headed over to Hattiesburg, where Kristi lives. It’s about an hour and a half from Jackson. RES and I sat in the back while Kristi and her momma sat in front. RES was very happy to see me and we chit chatted and played the whole way home.
Kristi and I did the usual; lots of trip to Target, BBQ on the deck, watched movies, and basically just relaxed. Saturday night grandma watched RES while Kristi and I went to have Mexican food for dinner. We went to a cute place next to the theater so we could have drinks and then walk over to see some movies. Dinner was delicious and the drinks were STRONG.
I still have the debit card with the picture of Paco and me on it. I really need to get a new one but I just haven’t made the call to get it yet. I keep thinking they are going to have to cancel this one until the new one arrives and I just can’t bare to be without my debit card for that long. I hate carrying cash!
All of the employees at this Mexican place are from Mexico. They aren’t Mexican Americans, they are Mexicans. Hattiesburg hasn’t really ever had Mexicans until Hurricane Katrina hit and they were the only people willing to go there to work rebuilding stuff. Kristi says it’s been a huge adjustment for the city because nobody in the city speaks Spanish and now there are lots of Spanish speaking people running around who need goods and services. Kristi says all the people at this restaurant are rude and hateful and especially the hostess.
Anyway, so I paid for dinner with my “Paco and Me” debit card and I guess the hostess was intrigued so she came over and asked me in Spanish if I spoke Spanish. Kristi was in the restroom at the time, so the hostess and I had a nice long conversation, all in Spanish. I asked her why she had come to Hattiesburg and she told me that she moved with her “spouse”, whom she was she was with, but not married to. She stressed that twice. I asked her if she liked it in Hattiesburg and she said, “To tell you the truth, No. This place is full of racists and they don’t like us here. There’s nothing for us to do in this town, nowhere to go out and nowhere to go shopping. She said when she lived in Michigan there were no “dark skinned” people around but yet everyone was still super nice. In Hattiesburg it’s all racists.
When I told the story to Kristi she understood why the staff was always rude. Kristi also said it made sense because she hears people ordering their food by talking really slow and REALLY LOUD as if the staff is not only foreign but dumb as well. I can’t imagine how horrible it must be for them to live there. I was there three days and I was ready to off myself. I don’t know how Kristi does it.
After dinner we went to the movie theater to see Zach and Miri, which was so not as funny as it should have been, and so not worth $8. And you know that’s saying a lot considering I had drank 3 margaritas at dinner. I can’t imagine how dull that movie would have been had I been completely sober.
We had planned to see Role Models after Zach and Miri, and do a double feature kind of thing. I asked Kristi as the first movie was ending if we were going to go out and pay for our next tickets or just sneak in to Role Models. We decided to sneak in. We really didn’t get our money’s worth on the first movie. It sucked and the sound system in the theater sucked. The sound ONLY came from the front and whenever the audience laughed (and they laughed at EVERYTHING) I couldn’t hear anything being said in the movie. HORRIBLE SOUND SYSTEM!
So we snuck (or really just walked) into Role Models. During the previews things got a little weird. We must not have been the only people to sneak in because management came in and was walking around. It was a PACKED theater and there were other people who didn’t have seats. One of the managers came and stood right next to our aisle and pointed near us. Then another lady came over and walked up to him holding up two fingers. I think they were looking at the empty seats, one on the side of Kristi and one on the side of me. I wasn’t sure so I was getting a little worried that somehow they knew we snuck in.
Then they started randomly going up to people asking to see their tickets. I could NOT believe it. How rude is that? Had I actually paid for a ticket and they had asked to see it, in front of everyone, while the movie was playing there would have been hell to pay. They would be giving me my money back and free tickets. That would be SO embarrassing and they disturbed the movie. I couldn’t believe they actually thought they were going to catch whoever snuck in.
I’ll admit that I was worried for a bit that they were going to come over and ask us to move over so those two empty seat would be together, and while asking us to move they would ask to see our tickets and be busted. I was thinking about how I wasn’t going to make it back to work on time because I was going to be IN JAIL! Fortunately nothing happened and we got away with it. Oooh livin’ on the edge! We’re Mavericks like John McCain!
That was the extent of excitement on my trip. I took a bunch of pictures with RES, since I always end up just taking pics of him and none with him. I needed pics of us together for my apartment. When we got to the airport last night he was so excited. He thought he was going with me and he was SO MAD when he realized I was leaving him. Kristi said he cried and cried and was so upset.
The flight back to Austin was terrible. There was so much turbulence and it made me so nauseous, and it also really messed up my sinuses. I still feel kind of sick. The good thing was that the entire way home I had an aisle seat and nobody sitting next to me. I think looking mean, and having a bald head with a beard, really pays off when flying because nobody wants to sit next to me.
It was hard coming into work this morning, but I made it. It’s going to be a long week. I have a ton of personal and business stuff to do.
