A-2K

  The best part of going down to Austin for New Year’s was that I wouldn’t just be seeing Eric. Alan was driving down from New York and Denver, tagged along. Deana was going to fly in.

  I drove through the night and about 3:00 AM I got to a small town in New Mexico to the one stop light in town and of course it was red. I stopped at the light and a tumble weed blew past in front of my car. Seriously, A tumble weed. I had never seen one of them and was excited. I went out to get it and quickly pricked my finger. I had no idea that all a tumble weed is was a dead sticker-bush rolled up in a ball. You live you learn.

   Halfway to Austin from Dallas I needed to stop and get gas. Unfortunately I had to get off the major road and drive toward a small town not too far from Waco, Texas. I went into the convenience store/Gas Station to pay for my gas and the woman there took one look at me and yelled out some girl’s name.

   “Julia!!!! It’s a Maaaaaan!” I don’t remember if it was Julia, but you get the point. Rather than ring up my transaction she made me wait until this homely 20 something girl comes out. Her face was red and blotchy, her Jawline was huge and she had the thickest bottle lens glasses I had ever seen. I seriously suspected inbreeding. This girl looked like a piranha or another ugly fish of that ilk. She wasn’t one for talking but her mom was trying to make small talk for her. I made it clear I was passing through and never ever coming this way again. 

 I got there in time to meet them picking Deana up at the airport. It was really good seeing people I knew again. I loved it.

Eric, Alan, Deana, Me and Denver

  The next day we all went to the Alamo Drafthouse Theather with Eric’s friend Heather. The Alamo Drafthouse was a theater that serves food and beer while you watched the movie and it was sooo much fun

 

  The next evening was New Year’s Eve and we went downtown. Eric’s friend, Annmarie and her sister Carol joined us. We did the bar-hopping thing. It was great walking around at midnight and not be freezing. Annmarie is literally the sweetest girl in the world and the two of us were having a blast together and making complete fools of ourselves. I do remember when Annmarie wasn’t thanking the cops and the horses the cops were on for keeping us safe, the two of us would skip arm in arm singing the Laverne & Shirley theme song.

 

 AnnMarie and Me                                          Alan, Me, Denver, AnnMarie, Eric, Deana and Carol 

 After the midnight partying we went back to Eric’s apartment and hung out in the hot tub. 3AM on Jan 1st and we are poolside lounging out in the hot-tub. I had to admit that it was pretty cool and worth the 13 hour drive.

My friends were going to be staying there for about a week. I was having such a good time that they asked me if I wanted to come back the following weekend because Eric was going to throw a party. Denver said if I did come back, he would drive back with me. Sharing the driving would help a lot so I agreed. I just had to let Chrissy know I wouldn’t be home to pick her up from the airport.

  I drove home the next day and made it back to Denver in a snowstorm. Yay. I took a quick nap for a few hours and then got up and went to work. I worked for the next 4 days and went straight back to Texas.   

  This time I stopped by the Fort Worth Penney’s to visit my old friend Melissa to see how she was doing. She was unhappy in her relationship and it made me sad. I told her if she wanted to I could kidnap her to the party with me, but she declined.

 Once again, I needed gas by the time I got near that small town. This time I decided to take my chances and drive on fumes until I got to Austin.

 I got there with plenty of time to enjoy the party. Again, Heather and AnnMarie were in attendance. We had a blast. Denver told me I was going to Hell for convincing AnnMarie, who was a Vegan, that it was okay to eat Cheddar Goldfish crackers because to get their cheese, Pepperidge Farm cows were treated really well by the company and after only three years of service, they get to retire on a huge farm.  <font face="C

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Towards the end of the night, Heather and Denver had vanished for hours ‘on a walk’. We literally didn’t see him until the morning.

  The next morning, Eric and Denver introduced me to a computer game called “Civ II” that I became addicted to. Later that day we went out to a nice restaurant for lunch, said our goodbyes and then Denver and I drove off to return to Colorado. We had a very late start and I would almost make it home just in time to go to work.

  Almost immediately, Denver claimed he was feeling ill with the flu. I think that he just didn’t get enough sleep the night before doing who-knows-what with Heather. I drove all through Texas.

  Somewhere on Route 287 at around midnight we got pulled over for speeding. The speed limit signs had two speeds on them ‘65 mph  / 55 mph night’ When the cop pulled us over I was clearly going 80

  Anyway he pulled us over and asked me how fast I thought I was going. I said I thought I was going 70. He informed me the speed limit is 55 at night. I faked stupidity and claimed I thought that second speed number was for ‘trucks’. He asked where we were going and I told him back home to Denver even though my Driver’s License was from New York. Then he asked Denver his name and when he responded Denver the cop thought we were mocking him.

  “You can’t answer ‘Denver’ to everything…” We had to show him Denver’s ID. He seemed to warm up to us after he saw we were telling the truth. At that point we continued on our way.

 Denver agreed to drive for a little bit after I hit a wall of fatigue. He drove for about an hour near the Texas- New Mexico border and I was happy for that time. Mad at him for the rest of the time, but happy for that.

  We made it back to my apartment in the morning about an hour or so before I was to go to work.  Like a trooper, I went. I was in no condition to work and I looked and felt like crap when I walked in that Alan told me I should go home sick almost immediately. Woo hoo. It would turn out to be one of the only sick days I would take, if not the only ‘official’ one. The funny thing was, as soon as I was sent home I had a new dose of energy. I stopped off, picked up some breakfast for both Denver and Chrissy and went back home.

 That evening we all played the ‘James Bond Drinking Game’, called it an early night and in the morning I drove Denver to the airport, went to work and started my lonely everyday life once again.

  That may have been the reason I jumped at the chance when Jennifer from work was hosting a ‘Candle party’. She handed out invitations to the few people that she knew, which included me and by proxy, Chrissy. It was going to be hosted by some woman named Misty Fingers. Seriously, it was as if she were a James Bond character. Unfortunately for Jen, there was a snowstorm that night. She was so afraid no one would attend that she made me promise to come. I promised, although I told her I neither of us were going to be able to buy anything. Chrissy and I went and were the only two to attend. At least we got to meet her husband Bill.