Weekend Trip to Lubbock
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Well, it was a quick trip but I’d say it was definitely worth it. I’ll give you a little overview, with some pictures thrown in.
We left at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. I was sitting in the back seat. I pretty much slept for the first few hours. I meant to only sleep until it got light enough outside to study, but it’s just very hard for me to stay awake in the car. Eventually I got my textbook out and started to read. Then after a short while of that, I began to have a strange sensation that can only be described as car-sickness. I was in denial at first, but when my mom finally insisted that I take the front seat I did not say no. Shotgun was mine for the rest of the weekend! At one point we were listening to some talk radio. Here is a snippet of a conversation that ensued between us:
Dad: I know how to take care of those suicide bombers. It’s an excellent idea, but I don’t think they’ll listen to me. Just have everyone walk around in bathing suits. Then if you see someone with a raincoat on, you pretty much know there’s a bomb in there.
Me: Well not everyone wants to walk around in bathing suits.
Dad: Not everyone wants to be DEAD, either. I’m telling you, it would work.
Mom (piping up from the back seat): In a few years you’d see a dramatic rise in the instances of skin cancer.
Dad: Well you’d just have to teach everyone to use sunscreen. Listen, I KNOW it’s a good idea.
My parents are pretty great.
Right outside of Lubbock there is the Llano Estacado Winery, which is the second-oldest in Texas and supposedly one of the best. We stopped there in order for my mom to pick up some of her favorite wine, and we went ahead and took the tour, along with its complementary taste-testing. I tried a bunch of different kinds, and I can still say with certainty that I CANNOT STAND WINE. I’m not even going to pretend. Anyway, Barry and a few of his friends met us there:
Then we headed to Lin’s Asian Buffet, which also happened to serve Mexican food and steaks. The place was kind of ridiculously over-the-top with its decorations, but in a funny way.
Mom and Barry at the buffet:
Dad and me:
Next stop was to check in at the good ole Rodeway Inn that we always stay at, and then head to Barry’s house. I took some pictures there, but you really don’t want to see them. Most of them I took just to show Boyfriend that his place really isn’t that messy after all. However, I will share a few.
Mom and Dad chillin’ in the living room:
Me on the couch:
Ewok, Barry’s stuffed animal from when he was a kid. I walked into his room, saw him on the bed, and squealed with delight. There are many fond memories of Ewok. I asked Barry if he sleeps with him, and he said, “He’s around.”
We hung out there until it was time to go to the play. Unfortunately, no pictures of the performance because it would have been illegal to take any, and I am a law-abiding citizen. We went straight back to the motel afterwards, and sleep soon overtook us all.
The next morning we met Barry at 9 a.m. for our regular meal at Denny’s. I stuffed my little belly because I had an inkling that we wouldn’t be stopping for food on the way home. Here we are:
The drive home consisted of me, once again, sleeping a lot more than I had planned. It also did involve me studying quite a bit. And I viewed some scenery:
Yeah it’s not really interesting except those windmills in the background are kind of cool in real life. Anyway, the only thing out of the ordinary that happened on the way home was that we stopped to pick up a couple a little older than my parents who were stranded on the side of the road. We ended up taking them home, about a half hour out of our way, but it was really no big deal. They were nice, and they gave us some frozen meat to thank us.
So that was my weekend. How was yours?
What The Coming Week Holds For Me
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I can see the light…at this time next week I will be finished with my second semester of nursing school, one that has been quite difficult.
Today I am studying for my pathophysiology exam. I also got a bunch of other stuff done, like filling out my FAFSA and my tax amendment form. By the way, ladies and gentlemen, do yourself a favor and remember to make copies of all the forms you send in to the IRS. I have done so every year except this year, and this is the year that I found an additional W-2 after I had already sent my forms in. I was quite annoyed with myself.
Tomorrow I will take the patho exam and go in for a bird flu vaccination check-up. I am also going with my boyfriend David to finally meet his best friend. (Interesting side-note: his best friend’s name is Barry. My other brother’s name is Barry. David has a brother named Chris. My dad’s name is Chris. Weird.)
Saturday I am actually foregoing the chance to see Anne Lamott speak and Carmen is taking my ticket. I am saddened, but instead, I am traveling with my parents to the wonderful city of Lubbock, TX to see my brother Barry perform in the spring play, To Kill A Mockingbird. (Second interesting side-note: They have a black guy playing the role of Atticus Finch. Kind of changes the whole dynamic, don’t you think?) I have seen all of Barry’s college plays and I don’t want to ruin the tradition. Also, I don’t get to see him much and I jump at the chance. Plus, with all that time in the car, I think I will get a lot more studying done than if I stayed home.
Next week I have three finals: Monday - Gerontolgy; Tuesday - Pharmacology; Thursday - Adult Healthcare II. The last one is the most important and the one that I am actually nervous about.
One year from now I will practically be an RN. That’s so crazy.
The Nickel Creek Concert: One Less Thing To Do Before I Die
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I will admit, I haven’t been to a ton of concerts in my life, but I’ve been to some. And seeing Nickel Creek live last Friday, something that I have been wanting to do for years, was the best live music experience I have ever had in the quarter century that I have walked this earth.
First of all, the band graciously requested a no-smoking policy at the club they performed in. That was wonderful. And thanks to some friends of mine who got there REALLY early and let us stand in line with them, we got to stand on the FRONT ROW. Which, as Lauren said, is the only way that counts. This band is raw talent. And they’re funny and personable, and my own age. I sincerely wish that this wasn’t their last tour.
Here is a picture to prove to you how close I was:
Here is the set list (the photo is upside-down to increase readability):
And here is a video that Lauren took of a funny song:
You can see the rest of my pictures here.
The only bad thing about the whole night was that we had to stay on our feet for six hours straight, and there was a LOT of waiting beforehand. This was not in the least bit pleasant, but it was worth it if only for the moment when they went off set list for the very last song and played “The Lighthouse’s Tale” instead of “When You Come Back Down” due to crowd request, after which ensued the most amazing crescendo of awesomeness that I forgot to close my mouth for longer than is socially acceptable. I have found myself wishing to be back in that moment many times since then.
So yeah, it was a pretty good concert.
***Edited to add as requested, the lyrics to the above song:
I won’t find another girl on my own
I don’t think you understand how dependent on you I’ve grown
Gonna gripe and moan till someone does something for me
Who am I gonna bring to the party
Who am I gonna cling to when the room spins
If you’re going to leave me
Set me up with one of your friends
Who am I gonna go all the way with
Yeah you’re right, I won’t, but I’d like to pretend
If you’re going to leave me
Set me up with one of your friends
Ask around don’t you think some girlfriend of yours is dying to take care of me
I’m a little lamb with a little money and lots of love to give for lots of love…oh
Who am I gonna buy souvenirs for
Who am I gonna fly out for the weekend
If you’re going to leave me
Set me up with one of your friends
Who am I gonna take to the Grammys
Who am I gonna make out with when I win
If you’re going to leave me
Set me up with one of your friends
A Slight Mix-Up
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Remember how my brother’s name is David? And my boyfriend’s name is also David? And how that can be confusing to me at times?
Take the following text message exchange as an example, which occurred just after I arrived home from spending the evening with Boyfriend.
Me: I’m home…what a great day! And I got to finish it off with a little David lovin’–which is of course the best kind.
Brother: Oh god im not so sure i wanted to hear that
Me: Hahaha that is hilarious that I sent that to you! I’m sure your lovin is great too, just not for me
Brother: HahaHaha you meant to send that to david f! Im glad your name isnt brandi! [The girl he’s dating]
Me: This is so funny. Don’t worry he didn’t give me TOO much lovin.
All I can say is that I’m glad I’m such good friends with my brother.
How About A Little Discretion
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I’ve been putting in some half-days at the cancer center where I worked for two years before starting nursing school. Sometimes, funny things happen there.
For example:
A patient had an HIV blood test ordered, among other things, and when he went to the lab to get it done, one of our lab techs (a spacey woman who lacks common sense sometimes) called out down the hall to the other tech loud enough for anyone around to hear, “I need an HIV test run on that one!” The patient was understandably upset, and complained to his doctor.
The doctor came into the exam area and started telling us about it. He said, “You just don’t do that kind of thing! That’s like me yelling out at the hospital, ‘I need an extra small condom catheter over here!’”
Tennis Love
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I’ve been house/dog-sitting again since last Friday, so I haven’t seen Carmen, my roommate, since before then. We finally made plans to hang out last night, but I wasn’t sure what we were going to do until I texted her around 4:30 p.m. to ask. She responded, “I have two free tickets to the tennis match, want to go?” The tennis match she spoke of was part of the men’s clay court championship, which is held at a club which is conveniently located right behind our apartments. We didn’t know who was playing, but it sounded like fun.
We strolled on over, slightly late, enjoying the weather. If we had driven there, we would have had to pay ten bucks and probably would have had to walk farther than we live. We found our seats near the top of the stadium (it was still a great view), and took a look at the program. At the moment, Tommy Haas of Germany was playing Nicolas Devilder of France. Carmen spotted one of her high school students who informed us that Tommy Haas is ranked in the top ten in the world, but Devilder is a no-name. Haas was dominating. But Devilder was French, and so Carmen liked him right away.
“I could date a tennis player,” she said.
“Would you date Devilder?” I asked.
“Well, he looks kind of short.”
“I don’t think he’s short, I think he’s average height.”
“I don’t know. He is French, I like that.”
“But Carmen, you don’t want to date a loser, you want to date a winner.”
“That’s true.”
After the singles match finished (which Haas won), the doubles teams came out. 
Mike and Bob Bryan of the USA were playing James Auckland of Great Britain and Stephen Huss of Australia. Apparently the Bryan twins are the #1 doubles team in the world right now, with quite a few tournament victories under their belts.
“Ooh, Carmen, you could date a Bryan brother.”
“Yeah!”
“Which one would you go for? I suggest Mike.”
“Yeah, I like Mike.”
“Which one is he?”
“He’s the one serving.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because someone just yelled ‘Let’s go Mike!’”
“No, they yelled, ‘Let’s go Mike, let’s go Bob!’”
“And then someone ELSE yelled, ‘Let’s go Mike.’”
“I didn’t hear that. Anyway, I’m not sure about the name ‘Bob.’”
“’Bobby’ is cute, though.”
“Yeah, ‘Bobby’ is cute.”
“And besides, it’s probably short for ‘Robert’ and then I’d call him ‘Rob’ or ‘Robby’ or ‘Robby Bobby Coconuts.’”
“Be careful, Mike is getting jealous.”
The Bryan twins won the match easily, did a chest bump to celebrate, and then they charmed Carmen a little more by giving short little speeches about the match and how they love playing in Houston. And then they played a short game against two of the ball kids, winners of a contest, who were probably about 10 years old. The brothers had to hold hands as a handicap, just like in an elementary school P.E. class. I have to admit, it was quite endearing.
We rushed with many of the other fans to catch the brothers on their way out. We unabashedly (well, maybe a little abashedly) held our ticket stubs out for them to sign. I couldn’t get to Mike, but I sure did get Robby Bobby Coconuts’ autograph:
Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday David! Remember When I Cut Your Mullet, Thereby Fulfilling a Lifelong Dream?
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