Texas: Day One

So It Begins: 8:28 AM

I spent the night sleeping under a table. I had been offered the top bunk of my six year-old cousin. Being the polite night-owl, I forwent hauling my bulking mass onto the upper tier of his bunk when I finished trekking through the internet at one in the morning. Actually, add another half hour to that because I wandered in circles around the island in the kitchen attempting to locate the switch to snuff the lights over the bar. My exhaustion eventually outweighed my desire to sleep in the dark. My advanced problem solving skills were severely limited by then anyway.

I woke up to the titter of children watching school-morning cartoons, and a back more constricted than a Mennonite schoolhouse. Thankfully I had the foresight to fall asleep in my clothes, so as not to frighten them with my half-naked pale body in their kitchen (approaching 99% albedo). I had to figure the Japanese style shower on my own this morning. It's one of those two-shower, one bath set-ups with tiles on every surface. There’s something about a large shower that sets off my agoraphobia. The water was scalding and when I tried shaving (with the dullest razor in the world) I put a nick in my neck so deep it looks like I was going at my throat with an apple corer. But after I have my room temperature cup of coffee, I’m ready to face the airport. And after a brief stop at UPS (to mail my broken iPod) I find my debit card is overdrawn, so now I’m totally prepped for a trip to the Lone Star state. Over-caffeinated, bleeding and broke I’ll be a pretty sitting in coach for seven hours (plus an LA layover >:-().

SeaTac Gate D2: 10:51 AM

Paying an extra $4.99 for internet access after paying a couple hundred Linden Dollars for a plane ticket might seem like piss in a bucket. But when any café offers free WiFi with a $2 drip coffee I’m more inclined to tell AT&T to go fuck themselves. John Wayne International offers free WiFi (and slots are as low as a nickel!) and its probably one of the trashier airports I’ve passed through. Why hasn’t Seattle, city of the future caught up on modern times?

San Antonio: 9:50 PM (Texas Time)

you know you're in Texas when...

After a disgusting meal from the inexplicably named Chilis Too Go at LAX, I got the chance to preview the new Atmosphere and Wolf Parade (!!!) albums on the jog down to SA-town. And I have to say, the new Atmosphere is pretty good. Although I’m not into Atmosphere much, WLHYL,PTSG is a sunny, entertaining album. There are a couple of times when Slug’s flow is a little—er—sluggish but its still a great easily accessible album for my long trek. As for the still-untitled Wolf Parade album, you can color me a tinge disappointed. However, APTTQM didn’t strike me initially but grew into one of my favorites of all time (top 10? Find out this week!). So I’ll hold on to making a more definitive opinion for now.

[mp3] Atmosphere - The Waitress (buy | alt)