I post this from the comfort of my sister’s beautiful house in Austin, Texas. Actually it’s in Pflugerville, which I think I spelled right, which is north of Austin just a bit. I made pretty good time coming from Houston as there wasn’t much traffic to speak of. Actually a large portion of the highway was freshly tarred over; it was at that perfect point, where it was fresh enough to be baby-smooth but had been there long enough to not get black all over your car. At some points I felt like I was in the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer adopts a highway and decides to make it less lanes so the lanes are bigger. Sometimes I felt like I had two lanes all to myself because the road was ride enough for 3 lanes and shoulders, and there was just one stripe down the middle, nothing else. Very luxurious.

The first thing I did in Austin (Pflugerville) was promptly lock my keys in the trunk of my car while I was taking things out. Luckily I had gotten my computer and other heat-sensitive things out of there, but it still had all my clothes and things. And the keys to my car. Now with most cars this wouldn’t be a big deal, especially since all the doors were open, just the trunk was locked. Most cars have a nice trunk latch by the driver’s seat; my car is not most cars. The matter was complicated even further by the fact that instead of the back seats lifting to reveal the inside of the trunk, they showed a sheet of solid metal, no holes. So I proceeded to call AAA and let them know of my situation, because they have been incredibly helpful in past pickles I have gotten myself into. The very polite lady informed me that the best they could do, considering the year of my car and such, was tow me to the nearest dealer where they would ask me a ton of questions, which would be a huge hassle, and lookup the code so they could make another key for the car. So it was going to amount to a huge hassle, and cost—neither which I’m looking for right now. My sister’s friends went out and banged on the car some more, trying to find a way to get into the trunk. Charleen in a stroke of genius decided to call the service number etched in to my glove compartment. Like a cool URI, the number still worked (after almost two decades) and she was put in touch with a certified Mercedes locksmith. Long story short (too late!), he was able to wedge open a whole and grope for the keys in the darkness of the trunk, eventually finding them and preventing any permanent damage to my car, all for a reasonable price. What scares me is those two car keys are the only two I know of in the world. I’m making copies tomorrow.

There are 269 contacts in my Sony Clié right now, I want that down as far as possible. How low can I go? By the way, filming for the show starts this Thursday!

Time for a little reverse chronological order: Just got in from another late night; saw the midnight showing of The Neverending Story at the River Oaks theatre. It was quite different from how I remembered it as a child, with many parts being unintentionally funny from bad acting and/or effects. Still the thesis of the movie, a child being part of a fantasy book, has always captivated my interest, and did so tonight. Saw the movie with Emily, Emily 2, Sarah, one of Emily’s friends, Joe, and Rene.

Earlier today I attempted a one thousand piece puzzle with Emily and Bridget, but I’ve decided that I’m just no good at that. Puzzles are harder than they look! The edge was pretty easy, but the interior was pretty hard, at least for me. Oh well, the food/music/company was good. Also had some Oreo ice cream and Dolce and Freddo with the same people, and it was my first time there. Honestly I didn’t see what made it any better than any other ice cream Iଁve had, and it seemed a little overpriced. Maybe some of their other flavors are better.

Finally today I picked up my books from the college bookstore. The most interesting of them is the ‘textbook’ for Psychology, which is actually a $114 password to an online site where the text is located and you can turn in assignments and such. It sounds interesting, if expensive, and I’m looking forward to that class even more now. The other books look pretty much like all the other textbooks I’ve had all my life, but I hope the classes won’t be like that.

I also picked up the audition music for the big band, a decision which in some ways has been bothering me the past few days. Since the beginning of the summer I have been debating how/if I should continue in music, whether should I even stay with the saxophone or go to piano, or just compose full-time, or nothing at all. Well my thoughts really started to come together after Joel Fulgham, a wonderful Houston jazz drummer, said to me, “Sometimes I meet people that are grumpy and they don’t know why. They used play but for whatever reason—day gig, parents, whatever—they stopped. They’re grumpy because there’s a whole in their life where the music used to be. And it’ll bug you till you don’t know what to do with yourself if you don’t stay true to your heart.” I love playing the saxophone; I love jazz; I love improvisation and the moments of instant composition without a safety net and harmony in music and life that music in general and jazz in particular provide in my life. I can’t turn my back on that.

Although I got a bit of a late start, this day has turned into a pretty long one. It started at Josh’s house with Rachel, Rebecca, and Jessica. Though the purpose of the gathering was actually to watch LOTR on DVD, we actually ended up just fooling around for a while before actually getting to the movie. Pillow fights and interesting observations made the movie more fun than I had remembered it, and it didn’t seem so long at all. After a quick trip home to pick up a Winslow ligature for Rene, we all met up at 59 Diner on, well, 59. Rene and I both got huge meals, and thankfully I wasn’t hungry the rest of the night.

After that we broke up and I went with Rene to my new favorite coffee house, Kaveh Kanes, which has free high speed wireless 802.11b internet access, set up by the wireless guru Barrett. Invitations went out online for Rene’s big going away BBQ, and afterwards we just talked for a while. In a while we were joined by Rene’s friend from church Momo, which is a nickname for something, but I don’t recall what. Then Alex and Melissa came by after the drum and bass DJ they were hoping to see decided not to play the club that night. Finally Joe, who I haven’t seen since he went to the Berklee summer camp about six weeks ago, came in and we had almost a full sax section :).

Eventually closing time came for Kaveh Kanes and we decided to head to House of Pies for a late-night snack and more conversation. The chocolate cream pie I had was fantanstic, and it was a ton of fun just hanging out with everyone. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Joe, and Rene is leaving relatively soon so every minute with him is great. Tonight was different from all the others this week because instead of almost everyone getting ready to leave town, it was just one person.

I dropped Rene and Joe off, and from the tone of my mother’s voice decided not to stay with Joe and start a cartoon marathon. Long rides late at night make me really appreciate the stereo in my car. Once home I finished up some database work I’m doing for a local private high school, and sat down to write this entry. Normally these words would have been written by my camera in the colors and motion of the pictures I take constantly. There are currently 1.4 gigabytes of photos online that describe my summer better than any narrative could; now there is a gap, a missing piece. I’m sure many will find this prosaic entry somewhat mundane, but right now it’s my only way of coping. There should be a twelve-step program for picture addicts!

Tonight was the last night I’ll get to spend for a while with many of my friends who are going to college immeniently. Some of the people I’ve been close to for more than four years now, others I didn’t really get the chance to know until school got out, sadly. The (long) night was very fun, ranging from coffee to dinner to frisbee to dessert and more food. I’m sure that I’ll be in a bit of trouble for getting in at 5 AM, but spending this last night with everyone was worth it. I’m going to miss Rene, Anna, Rachel, Julie, Rebecca, Bridget, Emily, Carolyn, Rex, and many other people going out of town I can’t even think of right now. Our class has always had a very strong identity, and I hope that I can keep in good touch with all these people. Update: Photos online

I feel safer as a musician now that the RIAA is going after evil entities like the Librarian of Congress.

I just had a very interesting experience at the aptly name “Dirty Dog” car wash. I didn’t plan to actually wash my car, as ominous clouds loomed in the distance, but merely to use their vacuum, because the mechanics who worked on my car seem to have gotten quite a bit of dust and dirt in it. The first thing I noticed when I drove up was that there were hundreds of birds all around. The irony of this struck me immediately, but it became even more interesting when I saw the giant vat of birdseed in the middle of the car wash grounds. How insidious!

It reminds me of a Three Investigators story I read as a child where the workers at a local glass shop went around the neighborhood breaking windows to create business for them (and hurting the economy), but of course Jupiter and his cohorts found them out and all was well again.

This however, took the ploy to new lows, using unsuspecting birds as the innocent agents to soil the neighborhood’s cars. Perhaps if the owner of the car wash (I’ve met her several times before) had been doing this from her backyard it could have been justified as a personal preference for birds, but it seems a tad obvious to feed hundreds of birds at the car wash. You’d think this would have a negative effect on the business since it increases the chances of someone getting ‘bombed’ right as the exit the wash itself, hardly a pleasant experience. It would be more interesting if the plan (if there is one) is actually backfiring, and causing the birds to stay more in the commercial area where the car wash is located as opposed to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Whatever the outcome, I proceded to spend a handful of quarters meticulously vacuuming very nook and cranny of my car. After I finished I started looking at all the car things the wash offered to add that extra sheen to my newly cleaned car. What caught my eye was the “New Car Smell” fragrence dispenser they had right by the vacuum. After the bird episode I appreciated the irony of putting this in my car, as those who know me will attest I have what I like to call a “mid–eighties Mercedes.”. The instructions said to apply it to the carpets and under the seat, so I stuck the dispenser under one of my seats and put the quarters into the machine. It started dispensing a mist of fragrence from the head. As I went to it to start spreading it around, I was almost knocked back by the stench it was spewing. I was expecting new car smell; I got old gym stench. As fast as I could I removed the apparatus from my car, but I could see from the glistening that it had already gotten all around the driver side of the car. I guess you get what you pay for! Excuse me, I have to go loop 610 with my windows down . . .

Update: It seems to have been as ineffective as it was unpleasant, and thankfully now I can detect no traces of the smell anywhere in my car. Whew!

I just barely survived a highly coordinated picture attack from a band of ruffians. Fortunately a quick reference to a 1999 yearbook seemed to even the score. War is hell.