Friday, November 18, 2005 | by Nate

Yes, Bartlesville IS a long way away

…but you try to say no to this face.

I have the equivalent of 25-year-old gay male baby fever. I want pets. This is probably a recipe for disaster. The pets will probably take one look at me and up and die, or leave. But seriously - did you look at that face? DID YOU?

Ooh, and this one, too. Have you ever seen a cat this color? Damn, dude. I gotta get a hobby.

I
Am
Ready
For The
Weekend!!

KC Clifford tonight, news and photos tomorrow. I’m keeping this one short because the well has run dry.

But one more thing before I go.

Start reading this guy’s blog. It’s very interesting and illuminating, and he mentions me! Yahoo!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 | by nathan

I just found my holiday decorations

Today is the first truly, evilly, Oklahomaney cold day here in “Tha Real OC” (ha ha). It is hella-windy and freezing outside, but the sun is peeking through. The tall windows at O-Trip are rattling like in a horror flick. It’s lovely. I actually got my homework done on time for tonight, which is a lovely change.

School scares me sometimes. I keep having this recurring dream where I realize all of a sudden that I have signed up for all these classes that I haven’t been going to all semester, and now it’s November and whoops! No one has seen me in class. Two nights ago I had this dream so vividly that I woke up and checked my class schedule online, just to make sure. It fully freaked my shit out.

But oh well - it’s finally cold here, really cold, like the temperatures in the ’80’s are not coming back. Halloween passed with a minimum of fanfare but a complete maximum of fun; Brian and I went to Angles, because Halloween is gay Christmas, and we had a ball. Gabe and a friend of his dressed up as Edina and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous and won the costume competition. (I realize that this was two weeks ago but I completely forgot to write about it).

Now we are rounding full-on into Thanksgiving. This will be mine and Brian’s first holiday season together, so it should be interesting. We have tickets to Bedlam, the football game between OU and Oklahoma State, which is in Norman this year, so there will be (hopefully) a minimum of tire-slashage.

This Friday, KC Clifford is playing at Galileo in Paseo, my favorite restaurant/bar in OKC, and, as per usual, our big group is going - me and Bri, mom, Laurie and Jaye. I hope that we can get Bryon and Matthew and Erica and Alex this time, because Chambers loved him some KC the last time he saw her.

So as we head into the holidays I find that my spirits are generally very high, even if there aren’t a few worries here and there to contend with. Then today, the holiday decorations for the house just came together with the introduction of:

JONES SODA HOLIDAY PACKS.

We’re getting a couple - one for display, the other for trying. Oh hell yeah, man - I know Brian’s brother Brett will try it. He’s such a goer. I love that guy.

So now Brian and I are discussing where to put the tree, and he loves the Jones Soda idea, and me, and, well, things tend to be great. I can’t wait to get the house decorated for Christmas. This time of year, it’s hard to be down too long.

Returned the tux to Paul and Judy last night. I get to keep the hot pink tie, so be looking for me to wear it at the club sometime soon. Yeah, baby!

Dude, Salmon Flavored Jones Soda.

Monday, November 14, 2005 | by Nate

Happy Birthday To My Favorite Place On The Web!

Happy Birthday Salon!

Let me tell you things I love about Salon.com:

10. Thoughtful, thorough, and insightful journalism, that okay - is not ashamed about being left-leaning. Which is nice, occasionally, in a Fox News world.
9. Anne Lamott
8. Cary Tennis
7. Arianna Huffington
6. This Modern World AND Tom The Dancing Bug in one place
5. The new layout
4. This article, which shows that they can be self-critical.
3. This article, which gives me hope that The Resistance is far, far from over.
2. Just the entire Life section. The whole thing.
1. They just never give up hope. So neither do I.

Sunday, November 13, 2005 | by nathan

Che Weekend!

Friday night, when I was walking around the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins, behind the stadium, getting sound from all the local businesses, after we finished wrapping the shoot at Fort Sill, I really felt like a journalist - more like one than I ever have. I had been up since 4:15 AM, and here I was at 11 PM, walking around, getting the story. God, that felt wonderful.

Then today, we met the producers for brunch, which went well, but Ana was browbeating me about the gradebook, and the class evaluation sheets, and generally making me feel like a failure. The Spanish Lady is wonderful, she really is, but when she gets on you, you start to really feel like shit, and you can’t really argue with her, because, well, yeah - you should’ve done your stuff. For the better part of today I’ve been kind of hating my graduate assistantship, questioning the sobriety of the people in the selection committee, who decided that putting someone who trained as a roadie and a concert tech in charge of a video productions class. I began to feel sorry for my students, and I also began to despair.

Keaton helped me feel better. “That’s just how it is with Ana,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to ignore her.”

“It’s hard to ignore when you feel like your boss hates you,” I replied. But inside, the light began to shine again, even just a little bit.

Then later, I was talking to Julian and Patty about things, and Ana came right up behind them and heard me. Although, the saving grace was that I was only complaining about how hard it is to schedule classes because the Video Production labs last from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM, which is a bitch of a block of time. Ana says she wants to go back to Spain; I would miss her, but also, I wouldn’t.

Still, this weekend was incredible. We watched Anthony’s film, “The Camden 28,” last night over at Steve Gillon’s house. It was this amazing film about this group of people in Camden, NJ, who protested the Vietnam War by breaking into the local draft office and destroying records. Mostly, though, it was about forgiveness; one of their number ratted them out to the FBI, and as they were all about to go to trial, his son died, and all these people he betrayed showed up to help him and his wife get through this incredibly difficult time. It was amazing.

Yesterday was Monica’s wedding. I got to wear my incredibly tacky tux, and marry off my adopted little sister. When they opened the doors, instead of the Wedding March, Monica walked into the church to “Sweet Child O Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses. It was awesome. Here are a couple pics:

I was still a tired boy in my zoot suit. Notice the huge, dark circles under my eyes.

Bride with a Big Gulp!!

The flower girls’ dresses in our lovely colors of black and hot pink. Oh hell yes. Hell yes.

In general, a great wedding, and a great time getting to hang with Eric and his fiancee and his family. Paul, Eric’s dad, said to me after the wedding, “Don’t ever stop being our adopted son. I couldn’t love you more if you were my own.”

I didn’t stop smiling the whole rest of the night.

Later, the DJ at the reception played “We Are Family,” and I thought, “Yep.”

**wink**

The Ankenman family took me in in a lot of ways and taught me that I am not, that I cannot, make it all on my own all the time. I love them like they are my own, too.

Song: “We’re All Light” by XTC.

So all in all, a stressful, exhausting, wonderful weekend. I am so, so tired and ready for this semester to be over, but I am more in love with my work and my life with every moment that passes, even in the really hard ones.

Here are two CDs I can’t get enough of lately:

AND

Both amazing albums - check them out, but now I am listening to XTC. Still.

And now, to finish up, here are some pictures from the History Channel shoot:

John Verhoff, producer, with Carter, Ana, and Keaton just outside where the Cooper Skull lies. The Cooper Skull is the oldest known piece of art in North America, dating at 10,000 years, which was found on the Cooper Ranch in Oklahoma.

Brandon, running Camera 2, into which my boom mic was mixed.

Keaton, Ana, and Ed set up the lighting for the opening shot, outside the “People of Oklahoma” exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

The news ticker on the outside of Gaylord Hall, which houses the Journalism school, giving the headline from the Oklahoma Daily about our project. Walking below this was a group of students who were staging a “Take Back the Night” protest. This prompted the following conversation between me and Eric at Monica’s wedding:

Eric:What are these people protesting?
Me:Oh, Rape.
Eric:Yeah, I’m against that too.

And now, to end up this post, here is a nice picture I accidentally took in the car:

I love my life. Except my Tuesday night class.

Saturday, November 12, 2005 | by nathan

Boom

So the episode of The HistoryCENTER is in the can. For the past two days I have been up at ridiculously early times and to bed ridiculously late, and while I am exhausted, I am also more invigorated than I can describe. I think the word is stoked.

Friday we showed up early to set up the museum shoot. Problem was, we didn’t have anyone to show Steve Gillon, the host, around the museum. So the lovely PR woman, Linda, put in a call to the Oklahoma State Archaeologist (who knew we had one of those?), Bob Brooks, who came down to talk with us. We scored a makeup girl, Alison, and after we walked through the museum with Anthony and John, the producers, we started getting started.

As the audio guy, I was recruited to run the boom, which was great fun, if not a little taxing on my skinny little arms. I was really uncomfortable running the boom and all the audio without a board or even a set of earphones, but that was fine, as the cameramen are both experienced broadcast students and were mixing everything in their camera channels.

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4:15, ran out the door, parked my car in faculty parking, and met everyone at Gaylord by 5:20. We loaded all the stuff and picked up Anthony and John at the Sooner Hotel. We had a four-car caravan, as the producers added a car at the last minute, so my carefully constructed plan to have three Pike Passes for us was all shot to hell, and Keaton got pulled over on the way down there. But we got to Fort Sill a full half-hour early and met our interviewee, Towana Spivey, who is the director of the museum and collections down there. He was flipping amazing - just wait till this thing goes to air.

At first someone decided not to run a boom, which annoyed me, as we had no redundancy if the wireless mics went out, so I was left to run the jib for all our sweeping opening and closing shots. We got the intro at the flagpole, then the office, which had a desk that had been used by Custer, and the saddle room, the war suits and helmets - visually all very, very cool. (Pictures are forthcoming, but my camera is dead and I am about to have to wind this up).

The rest of the crew set up to get the barracks and Keaton, Lindsey and I set up the jib in the cemetery, where Geromino’s gravesite is. We spent an hour and a half getting shots there. We finished up and got loaded at around sunset. John was hard-core about going to Meers for a burger, and he said he would treat anyone who wanted to join him, so almost everyone went over there. Meers burgers are at least as large as your head (remember, Dyl?). Anthony had never had fried okra or chicken fried steak, so he had that. We got to talk about our favorite moments throughout the production, and the things we were happy about. Everyone was feeling so optimistic; it makes me feel really great about the chances that this episode will see airtime. Steve Gillon said he couldn’t tell a difference between us and a professional production team. I rode back with Carter.

When I got back to Norman I still had a radio story to do for KGOU, so I ran to the car - no ticket, despite 15 hours of being parked in faculty space - grabbed the sound kit, and ran down to the corner by the stadium. I got quick interviews with the managers of Subway and the hookah bar, with Todd Emerson over at O’Connell’s, and with some students in the bar there. Brooke, my producer, met me outside O’Connell’s to get the sound kit. All the rest of the team has sideline passes for the game today; I gave my tickets to Anthony and John so they could see a Sooners football game. They were so excited; you’d think that I’d just taught them how to fly.

Today is Monica’s wedding; I have to go pick up my tux like RIGHT NOW. So I’m outta here. Pictures of everything will come tomorrow, probably, while I am at work.

Monday, November 7, 2005 | by nathan

Home Alone

Brian has a meeting in El Paso tomorrow, so he went to the airport at 5:30 today. When I got home, this was on the kitchen table:

Do I have the greatest guy in history or what? The card was so sweet, too, like - “I know it’s only one night, but it’s going to be hard.” I won’t quote it verbatim, but I was floored. He got me Choxie! So I’m sitting here with a glass of white Merlot, watching The Simpsons and eating Choxie, feeding my love for Brian and Target. If I’m going to have to be at home alone tonight, this isn’t the worst way I could be spending it. Still, I’d rather Brian was here.

Got all my interviews done for this week’s show, but there will be a rush to get everything put together on Wednesday, but I’ve already got the scripts written in my head. I’m going to record the voice-overs in my office tonight and tomorrow, rather than in the studio, so I can have everything ready to go on Wednesday morning when I head into the studio.

Song: “Let’s Make A Record” by King Britt and Sister Gertrude Morgan

Brian and I used our lovely “3 for 2 TV on DVD” coupon at Borders to get Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Drawn Together. It’s been cartoon world around here all weekend. I really love our Saturdays together. We don’t really do much, but it is Heaven. We drive around and look at stuff - Home Depot and Lowe’s are favorites lately, as we are looking for new house stuff - and have a late lunch somewhere great like Galileo or Back Door Cafe. The whole day is liesurely, just for us to spend together and with whomever we choose - usually beloved friends and family.

Song: “Sentimental Value” by Rebecca Correia. During commercials on the Simpsons I turn up the music. Ha.

Okay - the Forest Glen White Merlot is good. I bought this bottle over the weekend from my friend Ty, who is apparently the new on-staff “wine specialist” at Byron’s Liquor Warehouse, which is the best liquor store on the face of the planet. I mean - $22 for a liter of Grey Goose? Yeah.

Dude - Choxie rocks. As does Target.

We got a lot of stuff in the house done this weekend. I moved a lot of my books into the office; all except the theology books, really. Mom and Crystal went to visit my little brother in San Antonio, and I went over to mom’s to get some stuff moved. It’s going to be a while before I can paint, and for now the room looks mostly fine, so I thought it would be nice to actually have stuff to read. Next up: clean out the closet in my bedroom at mom’s and get the religion books moved. Here’s the progress so far:

It’s clean! There’s no ironing board! Yes, folks - I have a place to write!

Dude - Wife Swap is a fucked-up show. This is what happens when Brian is gone. Oh dear. I’m turning off the television and turning up the music.

Song: “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega.

When I was a kid, being alone freaked me out, but being around people made me nervous, often. So I would find a place near people but out of sight so that I wouldn’t be afraid, but also not be noticed. As much as I miss Brian, I am not afraid at all being in this house by myself at night. I asked Bryon to come over and keep me company, but he had class in Weatherford tonight. Jaye and Laurie had a minor fire in their kitchen today - no serious damage - so they were preoccupied with getting fire department foam out of their house, and Erica was meeting with the Beauty Control people, so there was really no one to come over. I called mom and she was working late, but she was like, “You can come over and stay the night if you want to!” But I really want to be in my own house, you know?

I feel as at home here, in the four weeks we have lived here, as I have ever felt anywhere. Weird, the places that become home quickly over the past twenty-five years: a trailer in Weatherford, Oklahoma; a church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; a small quayside house in Waterford, Ireland; a restaurant in Little Italy, New York City, with Liz; a rooftop in downtown OKC; this house. When my dad moved out when I was ten, he lived for many, many months in the Econo Lodge in I-40 in Weatherford. For a time, this was home, because this was where my father was.

Song: “Ruby Eyed” by Gretchen Lieberum. Something with mellow-voiced women tonight.

My greatest fear is that I will lose my father. Eventually, this will happen; my father is going to be 71 years old in May, and I am terrified of losing him. This fear exists on such a level that, from time to time, I have to pull over the car or run to the bathroom when it fills me. I do not know how my life functions without him. When I go a week without hearing from him, I worry. It has become worse, and not better, in the past year since I lived with him. My dad is my rock in a lot of ways, which is a very recent development. Since I came out our relationship has healed in every way that it was broken, almost, except that I am still terrified of asking him for money, even when I know he is happy to give it. This week I had to call him to ask for tuition money, which he said he would give, and it filled me with anxiety for a week.

My father is wisdom and vitality in a lot of ways, in my life, and he is growing old, and I am growing afraid.

Song: “This is All Real” by Chris Thile.

When I am in this house, I am not afraid of attackers or ghosts or aliens. But without Brian here, I have time to think, and where my thoughts go is often scary. I think I will take some time and feel these shitty little feelings for awhile, then turn on some TV and maybe have a glass of wine. Peace out, yo.

Oh wait! I almost forgot! Since I believe in sharing, here is the wonderful sunset we had tonight, which I photoed out the car on the way back from school:

And this next picture, well, all I can say is: Hell Yeah.

Friday, November 4, 2005 | by nathan

Southern Comfort…is Neither.

We karaoked last night. I threw up when I got home.

This is the problem with knowing the bartender at the Copa: he makes you shots, and doesn’t make you pay for most of them, but in return you must grant him impunity to prepare for you whatever shot he chooses. And last night, it was Southern Comfort, and that is not pretty. This is why I do not drink anything heavier than gin/vodka. Okay, except tequila. And could I sound like more of an alcoholic?

But karaoke - a ball as usual. The DJ was humping chairs, and he thought I looked 29, and Ryan Hinojosa was there and he sang Mariah Carey beautifully. Turns out he’s doing his student teaching at good old Westmoore with good old Ann Dawson. Yahoopity.

One more thing about that night: You know you need to stop drinking when you keep saying this sentence: “Oh.My.God.You.Are.My.New.Best.Friend.”

Other than the mondo hangover, things are shiny. Laurie and Jaye are having a cookout tonight at their house, so there’s that. But I think I will be avoiding the Evil Juice tonight, as my constitution has been severely weakened, and since Brian is still on meds that prevent his drinkage. So I guess he and I are sober sisters.

I ran across my old Live Journal today. I was catching up on the life of my dear, beloved friend Elena and remembered - “Oh, right. I used to write a Live Journal.” So I read through it, beginning to end - May 1, 2002 to November 5, 2002. That was one of the worst, most confusing and horrible times of my life. I graduated Wake with so much pain and anger, came back here and worked at Wal-Mart for a summer (which, apparently, I enjoyed somewhat), and moved to Connecticut, where my life was systematically dismantled by a boy, an Ivy League school, a terrible injury, and the merest hint of Mary Jane.

I posted an update to the LJ, just saying where my web presence is now, and I am amazed at everything that has happened to me in the past three years. I am floored at what God has done: it amounts to some major, major renovations.

Three years ago I was so tweaked, so very, very gone. I was sadder than I knew how to deal with.

Now, here I am, in 2005. I wish me now could talk to me then and tell him everything would be all right. “Hey, you - really, you’re going to do all right. The next couple years are going to be even harder and more magical than you know. Things are going to happen and people are going to come in and out of your life that you never would have been able to dream. The truly amazing thing is that you are going to come through it more or less intact and with a lot - a lot more confidence than you think possible. It will turn out that God is good. Hold on to that.”

That is what I want to tell Nathan on his graduation day from Wake Forest, and as he packed up the back of his truck to move away from Yale, and that whole time in between. He was so sad and lost, that boy, and he stayed that way for quite awhile. But slowly, surely, he keeps getting healthier, and he is trying to remember how very, very loved he is, especially when he is saggy, and cranky, and arrogant, and bitter. He’s been cracked open like a nut, this one, and it has been hard, but it has made him more the person he hopes to someday be.

And to all of you who held my hand back then, and who continue to do so today: Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. In return for all your help, I will leave you with a photo of one of my favoritest Wake Forest photographs, courtesy of Elena Perea, soon to be a Doctor:

This is Thomas Bedington, my sophomore year RA, and Lois Johnson, after whom my freshman dorm was named. And, of course - Sapphire… Seriously, this photo should be on the cover of the Wake Forest info book - the one that they send out to high school seniors. Just every effing year it should be on there.

Thursday, November 3, 2005 | by nathan

The First Post From The Office…

I was over at mom’s house dropping some stuff off, so I picked up another load of books - all the ones I could carry, which was most of my philosophy books from college. Everyone who had Dr. Lewis - remember how most of the reading he gave us was mostly things he photocopied from his own collection so that we could see his margin notes and where he had underlined and double-underlined? I have far fewer philosophy books than I remember. I think they just looked bigger on my tacky old Wal-Mart shelves that I had in my apartment with Gabe. When I moved into mom’s house for the last time in December, I bought a new shelf to store all my theology and religion majorey books, so God knows when those are going to get to come over here. It’s good that Brian and I live in the same town as all my stuff - I would have hated to move that whole bedroom at once. As it is, I am getting to take things slowly, to move a load at a time, as I get the old loads put away. This is nice. I got an old office chair out of John’s room the last time I was there. It rolls nicely over the hardwood floors. I like that in a chair. So here I am, for the first time, writing a blog post from my office. Moving Van People is staring up at me from the shelf down there, and I know that soon I must pick it up and give it somewhat of a makeover so I can send it to agents and publishers. Also, QAF is missed, and I must get the final shit together to get that rolling again. "So here I am, on the raggety edge…" Here is a picture of the office I just took a second ago: As you can see, it’s still as yellow as…a…really….yellow….thing…. But that is going to change soon. Three brown walls, one accent wall that will pop behind the bookshelves. Yes, I said pop. Yes, I watch too much HGTV. I think my favorite thing so far are my pictures of my friends. There are two great pics from Tish and Jon’s wedding - one of me and Tish dancing like spastic white people, and another of me and Woody. On a shelf below that is a picture-wire-flower-thing that has pictures of: Bryon and Erica at Erica’s 18th birthday party, me and Summer circa fall 2001 after we had a leaf fight, a picture of me and Erica at Chelino’s on her 21st birthday, a picture of me and Liz hugging over Christmas 2002, and my favorite one: a picture of Woody, me, Tish, Jon Crossan, and Katie Parker on top of Hanging Rock after we hiked up there over Labor Day 1999. You know - six years ago. ::wipes brow in confusion:: I love this room. I’m surrounded by things I love in here: good incense, great books, people who love me, even if they are only here in picture form, and, of course, in spirit. My family got me this fabulous quilt for my 25th birthday, and it is around this that I am decorating this room. Here it is with two accent pillows I have to go with it: I love this quilt not only because it is gorgeous and smells nice, but because it comes from a company that gives micro-loans to women in India so they can start their own business, be financially free of the patriarchy, and extricate themselves from the caste system and having to work in a Wal-Mart factory for thirty cents an hour and two days off a year. I call it my Fight The Man Quilt. Also, it is beautiful. Aah, but enough about me. How have you been? Really? oh, that’s great. Listen, I’d love to chat, but I’ve got to run to meet some people for karaoke. You know, social engagement, blah blah blah, I’d rather be here with you. No, I mean that! Really! Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop. Stop. Thank you. See what happens when you make me hit you?** **nathan’s other personalities sincerely apologize for that last part. Here’s a pretty picture of a lady:

Wednesday, November 2, 2005 | by nathan

Letters In The Attic and Other Shinies

Wow. What a week.

Apparently Wednesday night is the best time for blogging, so get ready for more of this, as tonight is one of my “lab nights.”

Current song: “Landscape” by Robert Miles

Last Monday, a girl in my Monday night writing class, Mirza, told me that a) she had never been to a gay bar, and b) she had never been to sing karaoke. So, tomorrow night, we are remedying both of these things, our other writing class friend Leah, who is one of the most fabulous girls I know. She cuts holes in her sweaters. I like that in a girl. Well, here they are:

These people are, left to right, Drew and Charlie, Mirza and Leah. Charlie always writes stories about doing drugs with his high school friends and how they always did fucked-up shit to cats. It’s not as frightening as it sounds; he has the greatest voice of anyone ever, and these big eyes that smile for him. Really, just a stand-up lad.

Drew is from New Orleans. His writing always begins interestingly enough, then from out of nowhere there comes this current of intensity and feeling that you didn’t expect that sweeps you under.

Mirza is retired military, and always writes very visual stories that make me want to know her world, and her family, better. Leah just rocks my face.

With these two women I will sing karaoke at the Ledo tomorrow. Yowza. I haven’t done this in quite some time, and I wish to God that Erica was going to be in town, and not Stillwater, to come with us, because I need her to sing “Love Shack” with me before a night of karaoke feels complete. Alas.

My life - how I love you.

Song: “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay. This song is a perfect example of why I do not listen to the radio, ever, unless it is NPR: if I did, this song would no longer give me goosebumps because I would have heard it a million times already. Radio treats music like pizza, and encourages us to gorge as quickly, as completely, as possible. Music is like wine, or chocolate: to be savored. God, I am pretentious.

Our History Channel producers fly in a week from today. We negotiated a shooting schedule with them today that allows me to continue in my duties as an usher in Monica Ankenman’s wedding, which makes me hella happy, despite my pimp tux, which I will pick up from Kayne in a week. Yahoo. There will be pictures, right here on this blog, yes there will. Thank you Jonathan and Tish for not visiting this same funness on me last year.

Song: “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper

The producers asked us today if we could add another segment to our already-packed schedule. Ana wasn’t here to intervene on our behalf, and so we, in our naivete and inexperience, got roped into making what was once a five-minute segment into a fifteen-minute one. And we have two and a half days to get all this bullshit done. Whoop.

Song: “These Foolish Things” by Stan Getz

But anyway, on to something actually interesting…

So, last weekend Brian and I were poking around in our attic, trying to figure out how to drop a cable down into the wall behind our television so we could get cable without having to pay Cox $25 to come install a jack. We were up there, and we were looking around at all this really old stuff that had been left. We found old issues of Life magazine and Popular Mechanics from 1947 and a stack of letters from 1933 and 1934. It appeared that they had belonged to the previous owner of the house. The letters are brittle and yellowed, and all still in envelopes, and as I read through them I got wrapped up. They were badly written love letters, full of phrases like “Beloved Love” and “Honey Sweetheart” but there was a sweetness behind them, even though a few of them contained profuse apologies for a series of arguments. I’m not sure if the woman to whom they were addressed, whose name was Elizabeth and who was a Tri-Delta at OU, married this guy, but they seemed to have a bit of an embattled relationship. Oh, and also, the guy and his mother had a fondness for drinking beer together. So there’s that.

Also there was a memory box full of things from the Pauls Valley High School class of 1928 - things like little notes between friends, programs to graduations and senior banquets, flower petals, things like that. There were a couple photographs but no indication who the people in them might have been.

Song: “Don’t Rush The Good Things” by Tina Turner. I still love when she starts to scream.

So that was pretty cool. This is the kind of thing you hear stories about, and, actually, it is rather similar to a plot development in the novel I started in September, although in that, the main character discovers a cache of love letters to her mother that were not written by her father. I guess that makes me unoriginal….ah well.

So, the rundown looks like:

–Busy still at KGOU. This past show was our best ever, and thanks to people who called/emailed to say so.
–Trying to figure out if I want to do both Masters degrees, or if I want to just stick with MPW. Next semester I’m taking a class called “Humor Writing.” How effing cool is that?
–As much as I love Ana, I’ve loved having the labs to myself. It’s more stressful, but it’s very rewarding.

Song: “A Life of Possibilities” by Dismemberment Plan. Love that guitar riff.

There’s a guy in the lab who kinda looks like Jonathan Awtrey, who was kind enough to write on my Facebook wall today, according to my email inbox. I guess I should go look at that.