Headin' out.

Denise and I are going to San Antonio this weekend. We've got reservations at the Holiday Inn, just up from the river. I came within' a very spindly, red you-know-what hair (Bruno?) of punchin' the button on a room at a VERY swanky, $199 a night place overlookin' the river. But I didn't do it. Could have. I've got the money. I WANTED to, but I just couldn't make myself. I'm tryin' to be good, now that my bills are paid and I'm solvent for the first time in years.

Well, I'm TRYIN' to be good. I also put in an order last night with CI for a truck load of new cigars. I'm tryin' a few new things: ACID Earthiness 5-pack, $24.00; and ACID Opulence Robusto 5-pack, $36.00; Oro Cubano Churchills, 50 cigars, (reg.$185), only $44.95. I'm also gettin' a new box of ACID Kuba Kubas. They're my favorites, and my box is almost empty. So I'm gettin' a new box of 24 (reg.$175.84), for only $136.95. And I ordered some more CI Knock-Offs, just like Macanudos. A bundle of 20 (reg.$158), just $41.00. Grand total... $291.85.

Yea, I know, but I smoke a lot of these things and I'm startin' to run low.

I got two tickets to the Austin City Limits Music Festival, for the Sunday shows. I was gonna try to get a three day pass, but I just don't have the desire to see most of the folks that are gonna show up Friday or Saturday. I wanted to see the Kings Of Leon, who are gonna be there Friday, but I won't pay the price they wanted for just one good group. I can see them another time, without all the heat and dust. So I chose to go for Sunday. There'll be Ben Harper, Raul Malo, the B-52s, Sonic Youth, The Dead Weather, and Pearl Jam. I could'a sworn that REM was gonna be there too, but I guess not. Oh well, it'll be a fun day anyway.

Also, there's a plan for a big shoot at Water's place in Gatesville Monday morning. A bunch of us will show up there at about 10AM and blast away. It should be fun.

I'm gonna get my hair cut in Salado at about 5PM today. Not sure about dinner plans with Mom. We'll see. Denise and I were gonna go watch a football game in Academy Friday night (Florence is going to Crawford to play, which is too friggin' far to go for me), but now we'll probably just head south to the river. We'll eat somewhere and then try to get there with enough time to relax and enjoy it. Or, we'll just head down there and find somewhere to eat down there. Mmmmm, that might be a plan!

So, you guys try to have a great three day weekend, and I'll lay out all the pictures for ya when I get back next week. Cheers!

It's Friday again, and I've got more shit to tell ya.

First of all, today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 66 years ago (he says, counting on his fingers - there's a reason I don't teach math). Wednesday night at the weekly pool game/booze-up/ceeegar fest, someone said that Wednesday had been the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. I wasn't sure it was true, but we drank to it anyway.

That morning all those years ago, "Which will live in infamy", drew America fully into the Second World War, and changed my life. My dad says he walked right out when the news broke and wanted to join up, but his father talked him out of it. He eventually did join up mid way through 1942, after a stint in LA working in a defense plant building B-25s. He set out determined to become a pilot, having seen his first plane from the back of the family plow, and he eventually succeeded.



That's dad, center left, hand on cheek, out gettin' wide with his buds in Germany right after the war. You think they had a good time. I KNOW they did. The ladies LOVED those pilots wings. The guys didn't call them "leg spreaders" for nothin'.

He succeeded in everything he did, doing everything he dreamed of doing, including marrying a beautiful girl and having two children. In working for all of that he saved me from having to grow up picking cotton, and made it possible for me to become the guy I am today. You know, everything wasn't sweetness and light, but fuck all that. Pickin' cotton would have been worse than any stupid bullshit I had to deal with.

When I see him later today and we hit the buffet at Dynasty, I'll be sure and thank him again for that.

Now, for the really important shit...



I got a new box of cigars in the mail Wednesday. They're C.A.O. Gold Perfectos. A box of 10 6x60 torpedoes. Should be a good smoke. I've got a pretty good stash now, in a variety of brands, so when I'm drivin' to or from Florence (love the way the smoke drifts out through the sun roof), walkin' down the main street in Fredericksburg, or screwin' around in a pool hall on a Wednesday night, I can sample a different one and relax.

Oh, and I have two tickets to the Dallas/Philly game on the 16th. $65 a piece. Buddy of mine with season tickets gave 'em to me at cost. Denise and I'll get a room that Saturday night at the Hyatt and do it up right. Fuckin' Cowboys better win! Last time I went to a game was in the early '80s and they got beat by the Redskins. Aaaah, the Danny White era; The times that troubled men's souls.

Goin' to Fredericksburg this Saturday afternoon. Denise wants to Christmas shop and I want to try out another beergarten. I also want to pick up another bag of pecans. There's a party at a friend of hers here Saturday night, or we'd get a room and stay down in the hill country. There'll be another weekend for that.

Well, you guys take care and enjoy your weekend. I'll see ya later.