Layfette, Louisiana

In spite of a lot of pissing and moaning, I generally enjoy the South. Not Oklahoma but the real South. It's like a whole other world when compared to other parts of our great country. Travel to southern Louisiana and it's like a whole other universe. That's what I did last weekend. I skipped the Gay Pride festivities here in Oklahoma City in favor of a quick four day trip to Layfette, Louisiana to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I know, I'm a bad gay with no pride...

So what makes bayou country so unique? Here are a few examples:


Where else in the country can you pull up to a drive up daiquiri stand, order some drinks, and not be threatened with an open container fine because you bought the alcoholic concoction without the straw in it? I'm sure this isn't unique to Louisiana but it certainly is in my neck of the woods. Of course the straw doesn't stay outside of the drink for long. Definitely go with the Sweet Tart!

According to my sister-in-law, part Coon Ass according to my brother, one doesn't order toast for breakfast. One needs to order toast bread so you know for sure what exactly is getting toasted on what you're ordering. Makes sense to me.

One of the festivities we took in down south was a graduation party for my sister-in-law's niece. A pretty typical affair, lots of beer, food, family and zeitago music. Well mostly typical. As the event wore on we found ourselves playing beer pong and flip cup (a gamed I admit that I'd never played before, I blame the small town college I attended). The anchor for our flip cup game proceeded to play, and play well, with a beer in hand and a baby slung over her shoulder. Only in the South.

Ever seen the show Swamp People on the History Channel? Yeah, they really exist and I've spoken to a couple of them! I can't really say that I caught all of the conversation.

Out in the boonies around Layfette I saw quite a few storefronts advertising boudin and cracklins. After being reminded what boudin was I realized I had eaten it before but I couldn't for the life of my figure out what a cracklin was. It's pork rinds. Interesting.

Finally if you're in the market for a mobile home there's hundreds of businesses to choose from north of the Layfette area. We drove up just east of Opelousas (I call it Umpaloompa) to fetch some lumber for a home project my brother is working on and it was staggering to see how many lots of mobile homes there were. Hello? Hurricanes? Speaking of hurricanes my brother has been know to flee north while my sister-in-law prefers to ride it out with her family and "party."

I kid the South, specifically Louisiana and Layfette. It really is a great place to visit, take in the sights, the culture and the people. It's definitely a lot more fun than Atlanta, but that's another place and another story.

Burnt and Home

How sad my life is that even returning from a weekend trip to eastern Oklahoma makes me a little depressed. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to live there with all the toothless folk, I just loathe Oklahoma City the more I travel.

Okay, enough whining.

My favorite quotes from the float trip that I happened to save on my iPhone:

Floyd: "I've had my tongue up your ass so don't act like you don't know me!"

Matt: "Dann thought he sharted but he didn't."

Matt: "Never trust a fart over 30."

Flyod: "Allegedly."

Unknown but I think Russell: "I went to vodka, I mean vacation bible school."

I had a really great time with a fun group for the most part. There were some lesbians with sticks up there ass next door to us and a couple incidents with some homophobes but nothing too dramatic went down. The paramedics only had to come to our bunkhouse once! Yeah, were that group.

I look forward to doing the trip again next year, if not sooner. Only next time I'll be sleeping in a better cabin/bunkhouse.


Edit: thought I should add one with me in it:

Back to Chicago!

I'm headed back to Chicago this afternoon for a long weekend visit so most likely I won't be writing any posts until next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Random Las Vegas(ness)

Well I'm back to reality today, i.e. work. The worst thing about taking a trip or vacation for me is usually having to come back and go to work.

Some highlights of the trip:

These cremecicle frozen concoctions from a place called The Bayou downtown were "the debil!" We shared two of them, paying a little more for additional alcohol. I got tore up Thursday night (of course some Fat Tire and Newcastle helped me along too). I was so drunk that I don't remember the journey from Four Queens to bed at The Golden Nugget. Thursday night was my only really drunk night in Vegas, man I must be getting old.

Dann and I found some showgirls/hookers but I was unwilling to pony up 40 dollars for an "around the world" so a picture had to do...

Stopped by an oxygen bar, something I would never waste money on sober. I didn't really figure out what the oxygen was supposed to do but the girl running the kiosk was really nice and the massage devise was actually pretty cool.

Awesome tampon exhibit at City Center! We had to take the "tram to nowhere" to find it.

What I thought should be a gay man's "toy" store actually turned out to be a book store. Whatever.

My brother, the master of terrible pictures! Sure he got the sign but the ants below it is me, Dann, and J. In his defense, my camera is a little old. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was actually pretty cool. Not only was the music better than most casinos but my sister-in-law and J. cleaned up playing Black Jack Switch.

Apparently Godzilla got so drunk downtown the night before she slipped out of her heel and left it behind!

Seeing J. again was one of the highlights of the trip! 17 days until the next adventure.

Okay, I'm done boring everyone with pictures. Favorite story time! J. and I went to the upstairs patio bar at the Golden Nugget called Gold Diggers on Friday night. Great environment with a second story out door patio overlooking Fremont Street. What was especially charming about our short time here was the extremely nice girl we met from Denver. She staggered up to the bar to order drinks and apparently felt it was necessary to flash her tits to get service. She got service pretty quick I must say! That's what I love about Vegas, how often do you see that kind of shit in Oklahoma City? Fuckin' Vegas!

Rumors

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! I've been in Vegas since Thursday. I did take the laptop with me in hopes of writing a blog post or two but I ended up never even firing up the thing until the return trip this morning at the airport. There was too much gambling and drinking to be had.

I had a great trip, caught up with some family that I haven't seen in over a year, won enough money to play and eat as much as I wanted, and brought some money back home!

For now, I'm taking Sunday off for some much needed rest. Cheers!

Wichita Trip

Hanging out with Kim is always an adventure. Through the years we've been known to sleep in cars off the Turnpike, throw up on people in bars, get totally shit canned at work in front of our employees, and suffer through many pericardial thumps and kidney punches. Road trips are epic. I got Kim tickets to Dave Matthews Band in May for her birthday and she was kind enough to give me the extra ticket to the show on Saturday night.

We set out around noon for Wichita, Kansas on Saturday and survived Kim's driving on I-35. It's no exaggeration when I say she can reach speeds up to 100 miles an hour. Obviously we made good time but I aged a few years on the drive up and back. I got a room at a pretty decent Holiday Inn near downtown and only a few blocks from the INTRUST Bank Arena where Dave would be playing. After a grueling walk downtown in 100 degree weather we stopped off at Club Rain for some eats and drinks before the show.

Downtown Wichita.

I enjoy Dave Matthews but I'm what you would call a casual fan. I know some of his hits but I'm not versed in all his songs and albums to the extent Kim is. She's a crazy roadie fan who has followed Dave to 21 different concerts. You know the people that throw their panties on the stage at a singer? That's Kim when it comes to Dave Matthews. This concert for me was a bit of a disappointment, they pretty much just play whatever songs they want and it always changes from location to location. In Wichita I only was familiar with a couple of songs. Naturally Kim knew everything that was being played. I just hoped for some more of the "hits."

Kim and I all dolled up for the show!

Our view of the stage from the cheap seats.

Since our tickets were literally at the top of the arena, we decided to try to find better empty or unused seats closer to the stage about halfway through the concert. We were finally able to find seats at the lower level with a great view of the stage without being run off by an usher. This is where the evening took an interesting turn. For some reason when I'm out and about, usually at clubs, out of town, I have the good fortune of attracting crazy people to me (just ask Dann about the airline attendant in Tulsa). This night would be no exception. The fellow sitting next to me in our newly acquired seats was either extremely drunk or maybe on XTC, not to mention probably the biggest screaming queen in all of Kansas. Apparently his gaydar went off because the guy proceeded to accost me for the remainder of the concert by trying to hold my hand, grab my ass, and kiss me! I really tried to be nice but I finally had to become somewhat aggressive myself and tell the guy that it would not be my preference to get gay bashed in Kansas due to his unseemly behavior. The concert finally ended and Kim and I made our escape back to Club Rain for more drinks and dancing.

Dance, drink, repeat.

Another great trip with my buddy Kimberly. I look forward to our next adventure!

Revenge of the Minutes, Wichita, KS

Disclaimer: there is quite a bit of raunchy language in this post so if you have a problem with it, blow me...

From another blog posting:

"When I worked at Old Chicago bartending I used to grab drinks with Matt, Cris, and Regina often, especially after a lunch shift. This is how I came to know "the minutes." For some reason Cris or Regina used to keep a log of the day's activities. Activities being what was happening and what we discussed while we drank. It could be quite humorous to go back another day and read what was written from a day/night out drinking."

Now that we're reacquainted with the minutes, here's what Kim and I took while in Wichita to see Dave Matthews:

Wich-i-titty trip to DMB 8-14-2010

2:59 - 224 non-smoking room? Oops 324 is our room! Elevator exit, aroma of reefer!
3:00 - Lotion smells like butt
3:50 - "You make me want to smoke!"
4:10 - Conversation:
D: Come to Vegas with me!
K: I have my baby's birthday, I can't.
D: Fuck her!
4:20 - Schleeves
4:32 - Kim has Downs head
4:36 - Kim is a MIULF - mom I used to like to fuck
4:46 - Kim's gash gets around according to Satan aka McConnell
5:04 - Kim spends her money on BBB - bills, beer, and baby
5:05 - In reference to a certain gash: dead carp and stinky cheese
5:21 - Is everyone white in Kansas?
5:21 - Animal hair. David's saxophone move
5:30 - David sniffs me, I said it's not me, it's that guy - David - it smells like burnt wolf
5:36 - We're kind of a big deal
5:45 - The real Housewives of Wichititty

Sorry kids, this is all we could muster on our little Holiday Inn notepad. I'd like to say that we got tired of taking the minutes but I think the Fat Tire beers finally caught up to us!

More adventures in Wichita to follow.

Kansas Road Trip!

Good morning popets! I'm almost packed for my adventure tonight in Wichita, Kansas, America, the World, the Universe. I'm heading up north with my doppelgänger, partner in crime, and bestie Kimmy to see Dave Matthews in concerts, again. This will be the third time Kim has dragged me to a DMB concert and it's her 21st time to see them! I think she likes this band.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

It's August!

First of all, why the hell am I up this early on a Sunday? Secondly, it's August!!

On tap this month:

• Continue living the dream.
• Dave Matthews with my favey Kimmy on the 14th.
• Vegas for my dad's birthday on the 26th. I can't wait to see my bro, sister-in-law and J.

Total worthless post, right? I have to give a shout out to my readers, all two of you. Well maybe it's three now. I increased my page hits from June and I had my single biggest unique visitors day in July. Thanks for reading, whomever you all are...

Chicago Recap

I can't believe I've been back in Oklahoma City for a week. The depression is starting to subside, slightly. Rather than boring everyone with a Chicago Trip The Weekend Part 3 post (Saturday night consisted of mainly bar hopping in areas north of downtown), I thought I would just compile a list of impressions and thoughts on the Windy City.

• Old Style beer is hard to find! The only bar I found the cheap Wisconsin beer and the supposed beer of the Chicago Cubs was at a place called Sluggers near Wrigley Field. Everyone gave me a hard time about wanting to drink such a shitty beer but I figured it was something I had to do while in Chicago.
• I was extremely surprised at how clean the city was. Not just in the touristy parts of the city but even in the neighborhoods. I was expecting a little more grime for a city of millions of people. I was never in really bad parts of town so maybe that was the reason for my perception. Next time I'll check out the south side.
• People from Chicago are friendly. Maybe it's the Midwestern attitude but everyone I encountered was very friendly and polite, with the exception of a couple pretentious queens the last night out at Roscoe's. I felt just at home with the people of Chicago as I would with the people of Oklahoma City, as friendliness goes, that's saying a lot.
• Chicago is casual. At least the places I went. I never felt out of place in shorts or jeans no matter where I was at, including the Terrace at Trump. Of course I'm sure there's exceptions to this rule but I went to some pretty fantastic places without having to worry about a dress code. Here a supposedly nice club in Bricktown has a dress code of no sneakers and jeans. Get over yourself OKC!
• My favorite destination in Chicago for drinks was a martini bar called Marty's. The place was very nice and modern, casual, with superb mixologists. Besides, how can you not love a place where the bartender says, "I'd rather be a shooter but drizzling is fine." He was making a chocolate martini at the time.
• I can hear Shiny Toy Guns in Chicago! One of my favorite bands that I hardly ever hear songs from in the clubs in Oklahoma City. I saw the video for "Rocketship" one of our nights out at Sidetrack and I requested anything Shiny Toy Guns at Big Chicks and got "Le Disko." Awesome.

Some shots of the last night out:

Old Style!!

Frozen drinks at Sidetrack after a long trek from Wrigley.

Drinking at Marty's.

At Big Chicks.

So long Chicago, you will be missed! Hopefully I can get back up there soon and see more of what the city has to offer. In the meantime I'll have the memory of great times with new and old friends...

Chicago Trip The Weekend Part 2

Saturday morning/afternoon

Dann's ass really moved slowly Saturday morning! I'm ready to hit the road, we're in Chicago Felicia! So yeah, after harassing Dann for a good hour to "HURRY" we headed to the "L" to meet up with Jason and to head to Chinatown. The primary goal of the trek south was to find some good Dim Sum. This did not happen. We went to a place called Phoenix that Jason's friend recommended, in his friend's defense, our friend the Captain said it was good as well. It's not that the food wasn't good, it just didn't come around a whole lot. We finally got frustrated and left, none of us full. After "eating" we walked around Chinatown, kind of cool, but a tourist trap. Here's some pictures:

Not one, not two, but three happiness!

I liked Chinatown a lot, though I was expecting a little more especially with the food. Definitely check out the area when in Chicago.

More to come, the quest for Old Style and some trendy neighborhood bars...

Chicago Trip The Weekend Part 1

Friday

I made arrangements to stay over the weekend in Chicago, I had contemplated just one day but in the end I booked a new flight out on Sunday afternoon.

I finished up working in Chicago on Friday afternoon just after 4PM. The consultant who hired me to travel up there suggested that after work we ride the "L" Red Line (the train line running north and south through downtown) to Wrigley Field. Once there I could see the historic stadium and surrounding area, find somewhere to drink an Old Style beer, and then we could grab some dinner.

Historic Wrigley Field. Save Farris!

The historic Cubby Bear.

Unfortunately the Cubby Bear was closed for a private party due to a gathering of Young Republicans, how bizarre is that? I didn't think they had Republicans in Chicago! My Old Style would have to wait another day. Jackie, the consultant I was working with, took me down the street to a little Italian restaurant, I'd provide a link but I can't remember the name! If anyone was to ask me at pretty much any given time what kind of food I wanted to eat, usually Italian would be at the bottom of my list. As it turns out the place we ate at was awesome. I had a pasta stuffed with dumpling in a veal sauce with truffles. Like I said, really good and really reasonable.

Jackie helped me navigate back to the Magnificent Mile and we said our goodbyes. I had such a great time meeting her and it turns out we have a lot in common on a variety of subjects. I hurried back to my new hotel to meet up with Dann who decided to fly in Friday and hang out with me on the weekend. He just couldn't stand that I was in Chicago having fun without him!

Dann and I headed to a pub to meet Jason so he could eat and we could plan out our night. We decided to go to the Signature Room at the 95th at the John Hancock building. There was a pretty impressive line to get into the elevator as well as into the bar but it was worth the wait, and it also helped that Jason talked a server into giving us a table he was busing, thus probably passing 100 people in line ahead of us! I would post some pictures but the flash on my camera couldn't get the view of the city at night through all the glass windows. Dann should put his pictures on his blog, hint, hint.

From here we grabbed a cab and ended up in Boystown to visit the usual places. One of the best things about the night was a wonderful bartender we found at Sidetrack who (a) didn't know how to make Vegas Bombs and (b) didn't know how to charge for them! At one point Dann bought a round of beers and Vegas Bombs for around twenty bucks, definitely a huge savings over Oklahoma City. We finished the night kicking it at Jason's condo with some beers. I think we finally dragged back to the hotel around 5AM.

A couple of random pictures from the night out:

Chicago Trip Day 3

One of my favorite days in Chicago was on my third day, last Thursday. By this time the wheels were already working in my head on how I could extend my trip through the weekend as I was scheduled to return to Oklahoma City on Friday night. I had an easy day training at work and made arrangements to go out for some sushi with Jason in the early evening. I had whined a little about the lack of good food around the Magnificent Mile so Jason was gracious enough to show me around.

We started out the night by meeting at Crate and Barrel (the only store I actually physically entered besides Walgreens on the Magnificent Mile). From there I was lead to Friends Sushi. The place was great, low lighting, modern, intimate. The server we had, an adorable Asian girl, was helpful suggesting a Thai beer to me I'd never had, Singha. She also suggested a salmon roll to go along with one of the tuna rolls we had and some tuna sashimi. While the overall experience was fabulous, I was a little disappointed in the food. The sushi wasn't bad, I was just expecting something really great, considering I was in Chicago. I was also under the impression, as was Jason I think, that we ordered a couple of spicy rolls that ended up having very little heat to them.

A picture of me at Friends Sushi, I really think my face looks fat without facial hair.

Next on the agenda was drinks at the recently completed Trump Tower. We went up to a restaurant called Sixteen (guess which floor it was on) and sat outside on The Terrace at Trump. With the recent rain the weather was fantastic in the 70's and the view of the surrounding buildings was breaktaking.

The view from The Terrace at Trump. Not a great picture, taken from my cell phone.

The bathroom at The Terrace at Trump was so swanky they had individual hand towels instead of paper towels in the bathroom. I don't know why I get such a kick out of this!

Next Jason took me to the Loop and nearby Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate, also known as "The Bean".

"The Bean." I was unable to get a good picture at night so I ripped this picture off from here.

We walked around the Loop and made our way to a trendy bar called Roof at the Wit hotel. Another great outdoor experience with great weather. Throughout the club there's fire pits that you can stand or sit around producing a great experience. I didn't even know we were outside until Jason pointed it out to me!

Outside the Wit.

We finally finished off our adventures downtown at the Second Story Bar, supposedly Chicago's only gay bar in downtown. Extremely small, dark, and a bit dingy. My kind of place!

Jason and I at the Second Story Bar.

There's actually one more adventure from my third night out in Chicago but I'm inclined to leave it out at the moment. Not all experiences should be shared, maybe. Some of my friends will know what I'm talking about...

Chicago Trip Day 2

I think I've finally recuperated enough to begin writing about the rest of my trip to Chicago, I've been worn pretty slick the last couple of days traveling back and getting back into the swing of things back here in Mayberry.

After work on Wednesday I relaxed a little bit, wandered around Michigan Avenue some more, and finally worked up the nerve to check out Boystown. I'm not sure why I was so apprehensive to travel to Chicago's gay area. Probably because it's such a big city and it's been years since I was last down there. After a short cab ride I wandered around the area for a while trying to find some of the bars that were suggested to me by my friends. I ended up at Roscoe's Tavern, a kind of neighborhood bar, similar to the Park here in Oklahoma City except much larger.

First beer of the night! I was relieved that it was happy hour and only had to pay $2.50 for a domestic beer. There would be many more to follow...

Unfortunately this is the only picture I'll be posting for this day of the trip, I didn't take my camera with me to Boystown for fear of losing it and I didn't get very good pictures from the camera on my phone.

I had the best luck in meeting a local while sitting at the bar at Roscoe's. Since I was from out of town, Jason agreed to take me around to some of the other bars in the area. We stopped off at Sidetrack and Cocktail, both really fun places to hang out. Sidetrack ended up being my favorite bar in Boystown during the entire trip, it's very clean and modern with great music, staff, and drinks.

I'm afraid I was quite intoxicated by the time we finished our bar crawling but as luck would have it Jason lived downtown near my hotel so he gave me a ride back to the Magnificent Mile. He switched to lemonade much earlier in the night anticipating a drive back downtown. Upon our return we checked out the rooftop balcony at his condo and had a couple more beers and some awesome calamari at a bar and restaurant called Bijan's Bistro.

I ended up crashing at Jason's place and got up early enough to make the walk of shame back to my hotel, wearing very wrinkled clothes from the night before in a downpour of rain. I was thinking to myself as I headed to work a little tired and a little hungover that I needed to be careful not to drink too much or stay out too late the rest of the trip since I was in Chicago primarily for work. Wednesday ended up being one of the most tame nights of the entire trip...

Bad Blogger!

I'm such a bad blogger! Here I am in awesome Chicago and apparently I don't have the time to update my blog on what I'm doing. It's about the get a whole lot worse, I change my return trip from Friday to Sunday so I could maximize my play in the Windy City. Don't expect a lot of updates here, at least of any substance until next week. Gawd, I love this city!

Top Chef: Nobody's Home!

There won't be a Top Chef: DC recap from me tomorrow morning as I'm in Chicago. There's no way I'm staying in to catch a TV show when I could be eating deep dish pizza and bar hopping in Boystown. I'll try to catch it later in the week and write a recap once I get back to Oklahoma City. Later losers...

Chicago Trip Day 1

I'm absolutely spent! Putting aside the fact that I nearly overslept two hours, I still made my flight to Chicago, and was still tired. Kudos to Dad for the wake up call. I've never packed so fast as I did this morning between 5:00 and 5:30 AM. All in all, besides the time, I had a great flight to the Windy City, by the way the wind today was averaging nine miles an hour, Windy City indeed. I found that flying into O'Hare is a lot like flying in to Will Rogers, the approach and landing starts 300 miles out.

A contact at the office I'm working with picked me up at the airport and off we headed downtown. The office I'm working for is literally a block off the Magnificent Mile as is my hotel. I pretty much spent the day installing software and getting everything ready for training the next three days. I was a little afraid that I would be working for one of those offices that opens early and closes late. Nope, my hours, at the most, will be 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM with an hour for lunch. Sweetness. This will allow me plenty of time to get into trouble around Gotham.

Tonight after checking into my hotel room I headed to the Magnificent Mile. I've been to Chicago before but I had never been to this area on Michigan Avenue. Meh. I'm sure it would be great place to spend the day, if you like shopping at Tiffany and Co., Saks 5th Avenue, and Ralph Lauren, to name a few. Lots of shopping going on and not much else. I had a great time just walking up and down the Mile admiring the views and architecture. I even walked down to the John Hancock building and bought a pass to the observation deck on the 94th floor (16.00 bucks). The elevator to the observation deck took 40 seconds to make the distance to the 94th floor, supposedly going 20 miles an hour as the fastest elevator in North America. My ears popped a lot.

In total, not a bad day. I saw some great sites, had some 5.00 dollar domestic beers (really Chicago?), and got to encounter more people in a small radius than I ever have with the exception of all the blue hairs in downtown Las Vegas.

Here's some pictures from the John Hancock building observatory as well as some shots of the various buildings along Michigan Avenue:









I'll try to do a post again tomorrow; however, I'm planning on going out to Boystown so it may be a late night!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

I'm leaving very early tomorrow for Chicago for work so my updates may be limited this week. I'll try to update from Gotham but the city will probably be calling me each night! If any of my Chicago friends have any suggestions on what I should be doing after five, now is the time!

Chicago!

I've been working on a new sale with a Chicago office at work and it looks like I'll be headed there next week! Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do while I'm there? I'll be working during the day so whatever exploring I'll be doing in the city will have to be in the evening. Here's a list I have so far:

Chicago Cubs Game: I'm not a huge fan of baseball but Wrigley Field and the Cubs are too historic not to go see. Plus it will make Jaclyn jealous!

Skydeck Chicago's The Ledge: "The Ledge brings an exhilarating new experience to the Skydeck. At 1,353 feet up, The Ledge’s glass boxes extend out 4.3 feet from the skyscraper’s Skydeck on the 103rd floor, providing never-before-seen views of the city. An unmatched view is not all the Skydeck offers. From the moment visitors arrive they enjoy interactive and educational attractions that not only highlight the iconic landmark, but also celebrate Chicago’s sports, architecture, pop-culture, history, food, music and people."


Boystown: Chicago's gay district. I've been there before and no other similar district I've been to can compare.

Suggestions or thoughts?

Dallas Trip Part 3

After running around Dallas during much of the day Saturday, it was time to get ready for the night's entertainment, Wicked at Fair Park and clubs in the Oak Lawn area. We called a cab to shuttle us to the musical about an hour before curtain call. About thirty minutes from the start of the show there was still no cab! In a panic we decided to make the seven mile drive ourselves. It took 45 minutes to make the short drive, the traffic was absolutely insane. I kept expecting to run into construction or a traffic accident but none appeared. I got the impression that traffic downtown is always like this in Dallas. I'll never complain about driving cross-town again in Oklahoma City. To add insult to injury, Mel, who drove us around all day, suddenly didn't want to drive us in a stressful situation. I got to drive. Bitch.

Luckily so many people were late to the show that the theatre postponed the beginning time by about twenty minutes. We only ended up missing the opening song.



Defying Gravity, my favorite song from Wicked.

The touring production of Wicked was excellent. Technically it was a much better show than what I saw in Tulsa last year and each member of the cast was superb. I'd highly recommend seeing the show in Dallas if you have the chance, it will be playing until the end of this month.

After the show we drove back to the hotel to call a cab to go out for some drinks. Again, it took forever for the cab to arrive. Luckily while we were waiting we were entertained by an argument between a woman and a man over how their cars were parked in front of the hotel. Basically the woman was stuck behind the guy's car while his wife was checking in inside the hotel. The poor lady, her husband, and her kids only wanted to get by so they could park and go up to their room. The asshat, with Louisiana plates, refused to move his SUV. An argument ensued and the lady told the man that he "obviously wasn't from Texas" and the man told the lady while moving toward her, "bitch, get back in your car!" All of us waiting for the cab thought it might get ugly and that the possibility was there that we would have to step in to break up an altercation. Calmly the lady went inside the hotel and called the police. The response time by Dallas PD was amazing, they really should talk to the cab companies! By the time we got out in Oak Lawn it was around midnight.

Only having two hours to go our drinking really sucks. In the infamous words of Jaclyn, "we have to hit it hard!" So we did. The majority of the time that we went to the bar to buy beers we also ordered a round of shots. By the time we headed back to the hotel around 2:30 AM I was feeling pretty good. Some pictures from the bar hopping:

Mel, the Captain, and Dann showing the deuce at JR's.

I just love big cities! View from upstairs at Woody's.

Last bar of the night, The Mining Company. Starting to look a little rough...

3 AM Whataburger!!

The clubs were so much fun, mostly I think because of the great music. I grow weary of the same old scene here at home, especially the lack of good dance music. Where in Oklahoma City do you hear Wamdue Project? Maybe at the Park when Timmy is working, maybe...



Actually, the best part of the entire trip was just hanging out with some good friends. Dann and the girls are so much fun to be with, I bust a gut everytime we hang out no matter where we're chillin'! Best quotes from the trip:

"Did he give you the deuce?"

"There are walkers for days!"

"We have to hit it hard!"

"The last time I was in Texas, Al Gore was President."

"Release the Kraken!" Apparently the slang the kids are using these days for dropping a deuce.

"Mecca." Mel referring to Texas Stadium.

This was my first trip back to Texas, excluding airports, since George W. Bush was elected President (I banned Texas after they gave us such a moron leader). I now look forward to going back to the land of steers and queers in the near future, hopefully for more than just a day!