This morning...

After waking up from a wonderful sleep in my cousin's bed (haha, he's off to college!) I was relishing my lack of work ethic as I laid in bed, with no particular deadline or assignment for the day. I finally decided to get up around 11:30am to relieve my bladder which was giving me an urgent assignment due first thing in the morning. So I was rubbing my eyes on my way to the bathroom and BOOM! I ran forehead-first in to a small post by the bathroom and at the top of the stairs of my aunt and uncle's place. What a welcome. Now I got a nice little red mark at my hairline to go with my immense scars on my right-hand. This has not been a good summer for Beto's body. The worse part is, I've actually lived in this house. For about three months straight actually, a couple of years ago. Guess I wasn't used to going to bathroom from that particular angle. Should have slept on the sofa that I had grown so accustomed to.

Good luck at Pitzer Patricio, I know you're gonna love it.

More South Town

I'm back to my fav spot in San Antonio: Mad Hatters. I just had a pretty epic study sesh, so I'm ready to close down after this blog entry. The three cups of coffee sure are kicking through my veins right now.

I had a realization after posting pics from the weekend right after my pissy entry yesterday: this life ain't too bad. Even though I'm dirt poor at the moment, things could be a lot worse. I was able to go to Flug Tag, have a few beers and experience the craziness of 6th street when UT is actually in session, and got to see great friends from high school and college. The past weekend also reinforced what a great support network I have here in TX, and how I'd be so lost without everyone.

I went to the freshman send-off party for Stanford yesterday. I saw three MBA's there (two that I already know). Gave me a little faith that even if I don't end up going to grad school in TX, I can still end up back here. SA is not too bad of town to call home and raise a family. The three others seemed to think so at least. Whoa, family talk? What's wrong with me? Gotta lay off that caffeine.

Martin covets another man's ride at the Westin.

Oh yes, school is back in session.

Some new horns are still learning how to cheer.

The view of the platform from our 1st St. vantage point.

Creative naming abound...

The gigantic screen ended up being about the best view we could get.

I wonder who sponsored this event?

Jess and the crew heading to Flug Tag.

This little number is courtesy of my Hyundai last Monday afternoon.

On my way down to San Antone...

This could be one of my last visits. Once I finish up these last three days of work at the district office, I don't know if I will heading back before my flight for SFO leaves on Sept. 5 from Austin. Kinda weird to think about.

It is getting about that time for me to head off, though. UT and A&M start school tomorrow, James left to Mongolia yesterday, my finances have hit the fan, and I'm ready to not care about a broken air conditioner in my car again. There are 10 days left and much to take care of, but SF is calling, and I'm not going to ignore that fair city on the bay.

I just ate McDonald's for the first time in at least a year because I'm running low on the finances. My stomach hates me. Never doing that again.

All potential profits

From me fixing up my car have all been washed away: bad alternator. You don't wanna know how much it cost me. Let's just say that I now have a line of credit with Firestone Auto Repair. Dammit. One of those annoying situations where everything electronic starts to fade and eventually you have no radio, no speedometer, and you're calling your aunt and uncle to come help rescue you and you have to miss your expensive GMAT class. Major props to the Ku's. I'd be dead these past two days without them. I also got to hang out a little with my cousin before he heads off to college. Def reminded me of my summer fours years ago: epic hanging out with good friends and good people. We made a promise to hit up Coachella together next April. Should be bad-ass. Okay, now to get to the studying that I've been putting off these past couple of days.

True Vagrancy

Ok, so this night I experience what it means to truly be a vagabond… sort of. After a great night out with some of my best friends from high school(and one of those friend’s fiancé and his crew) I was kind of on a high – experiencing one of those great nights that make me not regret my decision to stay in TX for the summer. The only thing was, my usual companion, Miles, was missing. He was at dinner and didn’t get back to me until we were about to leave our final bar destination at around 12:30. No worries, I have our good family friend, Norma, I said to myself. I can always crash with her if needs be. So I went by her place. She was clearly there (her car was there) but she hadn’t responded to my messages asking her if I could stay with her that night. Miles’ place seemed to be empty. All I know is that he’s leaving early in the morning for college station, and I’m not even sure that I would want to stay with him if I have to be out of the house by 8am.

Anyway, what this all equals is me now chilling at a local park with the windows down, the radio in the background, and me writing one of the most depressing blog entries so far this summer.

How is it that I can be so lost in this town I call home? Oh well, I guess even the best of us has spent a night curled up in a car, waiting for the light of day to rescue them from their misery. Whoa is me.

Morning Update: The cops came at 5:15 in the morning. They shined that really bright light in my face and asked me what I was doing. I told them I was sleeping. That seemed to suffice and they left me alone. I woke up for good two hours later.

It’s now 9:22am on a Sunday morning and I’m on my 3^rd activity of the day: more studying at my new fav coffee house on I-10 and Huebner, It’s a Grind Coffee House. Let’s hope that the copious amounts of coffee from breakfast earlier and the coffeehouse right now allow me to stay productive.

Since I'm trying to give you a little idea...

of what exactly it is I'm up to this summer, I feel it is essential to share with you some of my summer reading. I absolutely love the summer for reading. Great weather, new materials, and zero academic texts mean many a summer-time reading sesh. My first choice this summer was Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." A great read for a self-induced summer of vagabond status. I was introduced to Kerouac by my friend Emily in high school. From that young of an age, she had a great appreciation for beat culture and she was well-read in the great beat literature. I think I asked to borrow "On the Road" at the end of senior year and it had been acquiring dust until this summer. I'm both happy and sad to report that the book is no longer with me; I lost it at Spider House in Austin, a hippie haven where I'm sure it will be put to good literary use.

Just saw this "review" on the NYTimes website, so I thought I should share it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/books/review/Sante2-t-1.html?8bu&emc=bu
Has some good trivia on how Kerouac produced the first draft of his great narrative. Also be sure to take a look at the "foreign versions" slide show of the translated novel's foreign covers - very interesting social commentary on perception of 1950's beat America.

I know I've been bad with pics...

on this blog, but I can change, I swear! The following are from a skeet shooting excursion that James and his dad were nice enough to take me and a couple of others on. That was a terrible sentence. Oh well, too tired to change it. Enjoy the pics!

The journey begins.

The boys get out their big guns.

The master gives instruction to the novice. Love Charles' appropriately sized shirts for the occasion.

A little 100 degree chillin'

My future political career is saved!

Only one of us was able to hit 2 out of 3 birds. Let's just say he was the only one at the whole range to be wearing Birkenstocks while shooting.

This station was pretty tough.

I actually hit this one. I think.

The boys and their guns. Love Ryan's enthusiasm.

The two teachers.

Today has sucked!

I should have known after last saturday when I didn't eat breakfast and I could barely finish the GMAT diagnostic that my body simply doesn't function without food in the morning. Well, of course I was running late to work this morning and so I skipped the cereal. Then I could barely lift the boxes of books that had to be loaded into my co-worker's car to be delivered to schools and shelters. After driving around for about 40miles in San Antonio (no joke - I was lost) it was time to call it quits at the office and start my studying at Mad Hatters. Of course, as luck would have it, I left my wallet in the car that I was delivering books in and I had exactly $7.64 in my pocket and a ravenous hunger. Every lunch at Mad Hatters is $7.99 without tax. Eight miles back to the office and the other resident Stanford student summer worker was off in the same car doing more deliveries. I called his cell and he found the wallet in about to seconds. Got cheap and fattening lunch; feeling better. I didn't feel like driving all the way back to Southtown, so I looked up a few places by Miles' house that have free wi-fi. First and second place: after I doctored my computer last, the wifi has been really weak; no signal. Third place: closes at 5; it was 5:13. No luck and I find myself back at Miles house using their wifi and trying not to be a complete and total burden. Props to my host families this summer.

I was just remembering...

...back to this amazing performance I saw when I was in San Francisco and I always that I had to share this guys work with others. The dude's name is Owen Pallett and his "band" (its mostly just him) is called Final Fantasy. He opened for the Bloc Party show that I saw. If you know bloc party then you definitely know "This Modern Love," one of the more powerful songs on Silent Alarm. Here's the song if you don't know it, or need to be introduced for the first time. Try not to be distracted by the drummer's moobs.

Now take a look at Owen Pallett's version.

I remember everyone had the same initial reaction of this nerd with his violin attempting to cover bloc party. We all thought it was a joke. But damn. I very rarely say that covers are better than the original, but this is definitely a candidate. Be sure to watch the video the entire way through.

A Lazy Sunday...

Well, lazy in the sense of my insane sleeping habits lately. From starting a 3-day a week job that gets going at 9 am, to a 2-day a week that starts at 9 pm, my body is generally very, very confused. So today I woke up at the royal hour of 12 pm. It was great. Got a little bit of cereal, a quick chat with Mrs. Vaughan, and I now find myself at JP's Java (close to UT campus on San Jacinto) trying to get myself motivated for GMAT. It's working with moderate success. Nevertheless, their exist way too many great distractions on the internet. One of which is Craig's List. I'm starting to really look forward to my move to San Francisco. I really love that town but I really don't love the rental rates. Oh well, I suppose it's true what Stan says: living in the city is a luxury good and thus sells at a premium. Damn you econ!

Listen to "Lazy Eye" on http://www.myspace.com/silversunpickups.

Tonight James and I attend a big birthday bash for one of his good friends from high school, Ali Smith. She's very good people, so we couldn't pass this one up. Only problem is James has a big meeting tomorrow at ten and I have to be in work in San Antonio by 9am. Looks like I'm really going to need that extra sleep I just got.

Oh man!

This has been a crazy week again! From chilling out in one city (Austin) for almost a full week and a half, I have again begun to move back and forth between these two fine towns seemingly on a whim. I also have this new part-time gig with my old boss, Joaquin Castro, that is in San Antonio from Mon thru Wed. Did I forget to tell this blog about this? Well, it isn't a huge deal, but it is some much needed cash. Plus, I get to see a lot of the great people I used to work with in the office. Everyone seems to be doing great, by the way.

After I showed up to my GMAT course half-an-hour late on Wednesday (why does it hurt so much when you know you've paid out of your own pocket?) I was able to chill a little with James, and I must say our Mongolian vocabulary is progressing nicely. James is headed to said country at the end of the month and he's determined to get some of the local language down. Since it's always better to learn with someone else, I'm helping him out. It also helps to have someone who knows cyrillic. Anyway, James and my hope is that in a week or two, we will be able to talk about people in front of them in Mongolian. Seeing as I can still hardly manage to do so in Russian, I think we're aiming a bit high. But now worries - it's good motivation for studying.

Now I'm back at Mad Hatters in San Antonio after a not-so-successful attempt at gathering the troops for a Thursday night out. It's cool, should be a good weekend for going out anyway.

Alright, I have to concentrate on pulling my hair out from GMAT homework now. Wish me luck.

I'm soooo freaking close to getting the air conditioner working in my car. Why does it hate me so?