balexhowe

is it snowing here? i swear with all the flakes around me it reminds me of the snow storm of ’98 when i was living in boston. but just like back then, it will soon all be melted and washed away.

since it is fat tuesday i guess i should reflect on the three times i have been to mardi gras. and when i say mardi gras, i mean the real one, in new orleans. not these ones in galveston, or austin…the serious hardcore 90 billion people in a three block radius, mardi gras.

the first time i went was when we were living in new orleans. i was in the third grade and i was so excited because we got a week off from school. it is in fact a holiday where they let the kids out of school. we would wake up real early and head down to the parades and yell at the people on the float to “throw me something mister!” my sister and i would run around collecting all of our booty and compare the trinkets we would get. for that entire week we amassed quite a collection of crap. but it was all ours. for the longest time all of the beads and toys and junk from that week were kept in these huge sacks that was stored in my grandparents other house out back. i have since looked for those bags, but i am sure grandpop tossed them long ago. im sure they are with my dads baseball cards that were tossed many moons ago.

the second time i went was right after i turned 21. this trip was a trip that ended all other trips. it was me and 9 other guys. me and trav and eric drove to huntsville to meet the rest of the guys before departing for nawlins in the morning. so it was four guys in an extended cab pick-up and of course trav and i were in the back. not the bed, just the back of the cab. that had to have been the longest drive in the world. we got to baton rouge and decided to get a hotel. 10 guys in one room might i add. it cost us five bucks a piece. so after checking in we loaded back into the truck and drove to new orleans. we had no plan or any idea where to go, but we were going. and we had plenty of beer. so we get there, find a spot to park, and hit the quarter. the next thing i know we are in a huge mass of people and going from bar to bar, meeting all kinds of people just having a great time. about midnite rolls around and everyone is smashed. we had our share of beads, seen our share of madness and decided to head back. no one wanted to drive but lloyd decided he would. everyone else passed out as soon as we got in the truck, but i was too afraid to fall asleep so i stayed up and kept lloyd company. we got back to the room and everyone went to sleep wherever they could. i passed out next to the guy we named stinky feet. made for a long nite. woke up the next morning and headed back to huntsville.

the third and last time i went was with emily and jamie. this is when i was living on austin ave and we decided to just pack a bag and go. em had a friend that went to LSU and said we could crash there. so we took off for baton rouge. i drove from waco to orange before i became way too tired and let em drive the rest of the way. well she had never been to this guys place before so we of course got lost and didnt get there until like 4 in the morning. we get there and he is playing playstation with a friend of his and they are drunk as hell. he dog was barking, his apartment was a piece of crap and me and jamie got to sleep on the foldout couch. so we went to bed and awoke to nasty smell of his ferret. we headed to the beer store and then drove to new orleans. i was a passenger the entire time and i was going to have fun. so we go to a parade or two, catch some beads, see more raunchyness and then leave. em wasnt feeling good so we headed back to baton rouge and went to an LSU bar. benny, em’s friend, decides he is like some fantastic dancer and gets on the dance floor and proceeds to make an ass of himself. anyway we left there and went home. next morning woke up and drove back to waco.

so i have had some interesting experiences with mardi gras. it looks like yet another one is to be held tonite in austin. its not going to be anywhere near the craziness as new orleans, but it is still fat tuesday indeed. so everyone enjoy the last day of crazy before lent.

oh yeah and trav, do you mind dropping this off at hastings for me, i mean it is just right down the street.

did you have a good world when you died…enough to base a movie on?

ever since i heard that intro on the doors cd, i have lived my life that way. last nite when raw and i were driving to waco, we talked non-stop about all the good times we have had. all the road trips we have gone on. the misadventures in mexico, the times at the beach with fish, the sitting in the river with trav, fredo and wolfe, drinking beer waiting to go somewhere else. the time on sixth street with all the friends from high school, the time with JC, wolfe, gabby and those damn mushrooms. the party i threw at my house (the house on austin mom and dad) after margarita two years ago. my cousin and sean hanging out with us. it brought back so many good memories.

i have the best friends in the world. and the funny thing is they are all from high school. i havent made any close friends since those glorious days at the high. and i know i will never have as close of friends than the ones from those days. i know they may not be the most upstanding citizens, but neither am i and i love them all the same.

isnt it funny how those four awkward years when you are growing up and finding yourself, turn out to shape the foundation of your future friendships, and the things one day you look back on and tell the greatest stories. i have shared so many great times with my circle of close friends and i look forward to many more stories that start out…you remember that time we…

so to answer the question, yes. i would have a kick ass movie.

i read the book the five people you meet in heaven last week and all i can think about lately is the 5 people i would meet. im pretty sure i havent met all the people i will meet, seeing as how i am so young. well i say young compared to some people. but to tell you the truth i feel old. especially when you hang out with rock stars.

one of the people i hope to see again and talk to is chris. man i really miss him. not a day goes by that i do not think about him. i cant even finish writing this. way too emotional now.

i took some pics of myself eariler today. i was having a good day until a lil while ago. anyway here are some of the pics.

number one

number two

i am lost…so fucking lost…

yeah so this weekend was a long one. even moreso than the previous one. friday at noon i met up with django and the rest of the guys and hit the road headed for san angelo. i had never been there before and i was off this weekend so i thought i would give it a try. blaines was a very interesting place. the tables are bolted to the ground so that people can dance on them. only a few brave souls dared to venture on top of them. i think it was more liquid courage that made them do it. for the most part the crowd was an older one. we got there around 5pm and the place was packed and the patrons were already half cocked. we left out of there around 330 or so and headed over to dennys for a late nite snack. the dennys in san angelo is the worst place ever to eat. the food took forever to get and it was cold. we ended up going to sleep around 430 or 5.

so saturday we awoke at noon and got on the road to lubbock. the drive wasnt as bad as we thought it was going to be. it had warmed up in the day so there was no sign of snow to be found. we got to lubbock around 430 or so and headed right to the koko. thats the hotel we were staying in. yet another interesting place. we hung out there for a bit then headed to bash riprocks to load in. after load in we sat around and waited til 1130 when django went on. the crowd was much better this nite. a bunch of rowdy tech people. i had a chance to talk with the owner of the place and he mentioned me doing his website. so it looks like i might have picked up another client. now only if these will start paying off, things will start to really kick off.

sunday was the long drive home. and when i say long, we left lubbock at 1015 and i got back in my truck in austin at 615. thats some serious windshield time. luckily i didnt have to drive and traveling on the bus is a whole lot different that traveling in a car. plenty of room to stretch out. i even took some photos from the weekend and i will post them on his site later. but here is one picture i took of two of the girls i hung out with sat nite. (sidenote: hands down bethany wins. no question about it. did you even have to ask?)

this is going to be a busy week. i have a lot of freelance stuff i need to crank out. a lot of time sitting in front of my computer staring at code. but i just wanted to update about my weekend. back to code…

i have been feeling disconnected with the rest of the world lately. i used to read the newspaper everyday. i watched sportscenter every morning. i knew how the mavs were doing. i kept a watchful eye on the lakers. i knew what was going on in iraq. i paid attention to current events. the new movies that were coming out, the new cds that were just released. as of late i have no clue what is going on in the world. the only news i get is when i start up safari and it goes to the netscape news page and i glance over it. i used to be able to carry conversations with intelligence, now i either just stay out of them, or talk about something not relating to current events.

i feel like my brain has gone to mush. this working irregular hours, staying up late, going on the road, has got to stop. i mentioned to someone close to me that i am turning over a new leaf. i am going to try and keep regular normal hours, avoid going out so much, and spend more time doing productive things and focusing more. i can get easily distracted and i am going to make a conscience effort to change these things.

i have been picking up a lot of freelance stuff. a bar in houston, another musician, more stuff with django, helping here and there with a mortgage company. its just a matter of time before this stuff starts to pay off.

i had something profound to say. but alas i forgot what it was. i think i might have mentioned how much i love living in austin and being able to go out and see live music 7 days a week. living in waco you just didnt get all that. oh yeah and amanda…i had some of satans pizza 2nite. i know you are jealous. i am headed to houston 2morrow to see django and mark play. i am really looking forward to it. i called one of my cousins and he is showing up as well. i might make that road trip up to ft worth on saturday to see hb and mark play at woodys. mark said it would be cool if i rode with him. cant turn that down. so hopefully more later…

yada…

-b

if i were to leave,
would you follow.
would you shed a tear,
and tell me all the things i want to hear.
or would you just turn,
and let me walk away.

the greatest thing about living in austin…”hey wanna go out and grab a beer? such and such is playing at this bar.” every nite you can easily go and see an incredible musician. this town truly is the live music capital of the world.

i am working on a side project right now. i am in the beginnings of designing a professional site to showcase the web designs, photography and print work i have done. i designed a logo for myself and i am in the process of completing an entire site. i am still working on picking up some more freelance clients. i am also designing a cd for a friend of mine and i am going to redo his website.

i am still waiting on the phone call…