So there I was... at Mesilla Dam, walking feet from our live truck calling in script when I froze.
Sitting 2 feet in front of me was a 3 1/2 foot rattlesnake. Luckily I did a story two weeks on what to do when you see a rattlesnake. I hung up the phone, and started backing away slowly. Of course the second I did that, it started rattling and well... so did I!
So I turned my back to it and walked briskly towards the truck, which only made the snake feel like uncoiling upwards and doing his little snakey "My best defense is to look like I could kill you" thingy. Thankfully, it was scared (which I knew, but wasn't thinking much of), did its little dance right where it was and then left the roadway, back to its hole... I could hear it rattling for another 4 minutes... maybe it was loud. Maybe I was paranoid.
Then it was time for my liveshot... next to the goddamn riverbank. I was not in the right frame of mind.
Me: Whoa shit, what is that?
Tom: Jayme, that's a beetle.
Me: Oh... well what is THAT?
Tom: Jayme, that's a fireant.
Me: TOM! There's a 6-foot tall black thingy staring right at me.
Tom: Jayme, that's the camera.
I would take 200 feet of snow over 3 1/2 feet of snake any day of the week.
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I went to a Southwestern carnival last weekend (8/12).
(TWO POINTS FOR SOLID TRANSITION)
No seriously, I've been meaning to write about last weekend ever since I came home Monday morning.
FRIDAY: VISITORS FROM CUSE! Lil Bro 2.0, DA & Jenn Pontier chilled out for an incredibly zen evening... southwest italian @ Carino's followed by 6 hours of cribbage & poker, coltrane and davis in the background and Crown Royal on the rocks. Unbelievable. Especially since Derrick was so apathetic, he'd go all in with 3-5 off-suit and boat the river. Derrick, in some states, it's legal to shoot you in the face for that. And we were only 40 miles from one of them.
SATURDAY: IHOP with the visitors. Some of the most insanely random conversation I've had in some time. It reminded me how badly I truly need old friends around me. You 3 should know that your company last weekend recharged me in a way only Orangemen can these days. Thanks.
SATURDAY NIGHT: VAMANOS A LA FIESTA! Max, BoomBoom, Luke, Martin & I went to Clint, TX for the San Lorenzo Festival (I later googled San Lorenzo and found out he was canonized in 1987, a Filipino martyr wrongly accused of murder... maybe I'm missing something). Now I've never done acid. But I think I started understanding the sensation when I was standing just outside a church listening to people chant and praying to a statue of Jesus Christ w/ San Lorenzo bowing behind, with chile sauce on my tongue, a beer in my hand, Spanish-country line dancing music behind me and the sound of glass breaking from a carnival game off to my left where you throw rocks at bottles to win more beer. I challenged myself to make sense of it all without passing out. I couldn't. So I ignored the people praying and everything else smoothly fell into place. I guess I couldn't get over the fact that people were praying to God when they could be throwing rocks and winning beer. I swear, it's the greatest game ever. I'm not sure if 12-year-olds should be allowed to play, but I watched at least 2 pre-teens win. My buddy, Max was so sick at it... some guy actually paid for him to play. Max was contracted to win this guy free beer. That's what I call community-building. Finally, I bought a shirt that said "I'm with stupid" and the arrow pointing up, only because when I made a joke about how I'd buy a shirt like that, the vendor, a 75-year-old Mexican version of one of the "BRILLIANT" Guinness brothers, said "We can do that!" in a way that made us all crack up. He called my bluff. I was pot-committed. And it was $8. We took some fun pictures with it.
I did not have the shirt by night's end. I did not lose it. I gave it away. I will not tell you where, to whom, or how, because secrets are fun... and sometimes necessary.
So that was HALF of my Saturday night. After the carnival, Max & I went to the 915, my favorite place on earth to play billiards that's still open (and someday I will burn Dunkin Donuts to the ground and rebuild Chaulkie's... oh God, then my hometown will only have 4387 Dunkies' left). I knew it'd be a fun night of pool because there'd been musical-silence since we walked in. But the very SECOND Max lifted the rack and I cocked my cue, a bell sounded. A Hell's Bell, if you will. Pure magic.
On our 14th game, we get a call from a coworker telling us to come over to her man's new club. Sounds great. But picture this. This club is full of pinstripes & silk. Silver, blue, white, black. Max and I are dressed for the San Lorenzo Festival in Clint, TX. We look like a couple 7th-year seniors crashed a JCPenny back-to-school shoot. Now I'm still not cool, so Max had to explain to me that if we go to this club looking like we do, people will know we're the shit because you have to know SOMEONE to get in to the OC (Blu) looking like Boy Meets World (Me). We went and had an incredible time. I plan to go back more than once. But I'll wear a real shirt. Once was fun. But sometimes, you have to be a big boy.
SUNDAY: Woke up at noon. Called Ezra. We got the tickets. If you're going to the Rolling Stones & DMB on October 20th, I'll see you there. I'll need binoculars. Or maybe I'll just bump into you in the parking lot after. But I'll see you. Now why are the Stones and DMB performing in the same concert? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that someone stole my journal, read it and thought "damn, that'd be pretty sweet." Two bands I've never seen. One night. Now, I'm holding my breath on the Stones since McJagger just had to sit out a Euro-show last week due to strained vocal cords (who saw THAT coming?). But here's to hoping. The rest of the day was food shopping, dinner at Fuddruckers which turned into a 3-hour talk about politics, education and religion (it's nice to have friends as intense as me) and more pool at Lloyd's, my friends' unofficial Sunday night watering hole.
To top off the whole thing, an incredible letter from BBLS. Can't wait to see you.
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Wow, I wrote a lot. I'm still setting up Word on my new Mac, and can't write in my journal right now... so I guess you blog-stalkers (or blockers) can benefit from my pent up energy.
Update on current events:
8/21 - Drop off suit pants for hem before coz's wedding & Don't get bit by rattlesnake.
9/1 - BACK TO MASSACHUSETTS!!!!
9/3 - Joyzee for coz's wedding
9/6 - BACK TO FENWAY!!!!
workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork
10/6 - JAYME IN THE CUSE, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!
10/20 - Stones & DMB
It's nice to have things to look forward to. That's one aspect of my life I've kind of left charging in the closet since Mom came to visit in June. See y'all soon.
praying for sun,
JaRube
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