ahora vamos a contar

it has been an interesting weekend. my motley crue of lifelong friends watched our "little sister" graduate from college. she's secured herself a job with a prestigious hotel in irving, where we're apt. hunting tomorrow (oh the joys of taking personal days off!). right now i'm at her brother's, who is a law student/bodybuilder in ft. worth. her other brother is a wannabe rock 'n roll star (he just got a horrible fashion victim haircut that reminds us of little nicky) who is still finishing off his undergrad degree in lubbock (he managed to get himself kicked out of physical therapy school). and i'm the maestra, and the only one not related by blood.

i've been to lubbock only once before, about five years ago for a pearl jam concert. i was unsuprised by the lack of racial, class, and cultural diversity. this time was much more eye-opening. after the graduation ceremony, we went to a graduation party celebrating our li'l sis and four of her friends. this house was pure texas all the way... past the cotton fields on the edge of the city (funny how out there the country is still part of the city), their backyard included plenty of room to accomodate their two horses. horseshoes, iron lone stars, and The Great State of Texas were common motifs throughout the house. totally insane. i met lots of good ol' cowboys and their good ol' ladies, very nice and friendly people. and damn, can they cook! afterwards, as we argued about where to start drinking, we remembered that the trinidad fight was on Pay-Per-View. as a lifelong hater of trinidad, it was important that i saw him get a much-deserved ass-whooping, so we decided to stop off at rock star's friend's house. in stark contrast to the 99% white country crowd at the grad party, this group was puro mexicanos. boxing on the big screen, pork chops on the grill, and plenty of beer for all. i asked if they had any mexican beer, and they answered "Bud Light!" with a grin. those are my kind of folks! we talked shit about boxers, drank heartily, and i heard "vato" and "mamon" more in those few hours than ever before in my life.

then it was time to head downtown. it was a pretty standard night out drinking with good frinds, but it reminded me how important it is to be open to forgiveness with your friends. before i went to mexico last year, i could hold one hell of a grudge. upon my return, i started to chill out a lot more and realize that people are far from perfect. i am a person with high expectations and consequently often found myself disappointed when people didn't live up to who or what i thought they should be. the last time i saw one of my lubbock friends, we had a horrible fight with lots of cruel things said and a few tears shed. this time, we had zero animosity and some really good conversations. people can be assholes, this is no surprise. but i'm no longer interested in holding that against them. i'll even go so far as to say that sometimes, just sometimes, even i can be an asshole, too. i'm glad that things turned out like they did. makes me feel like i'm actually growing as a person.

my favorite moments: stopping by a place called "Nothin' Butt Smokes", finding a bar in northwest Texas that sells Sol, seeing hydroelectric windmills outside of Fluvanna, hearing a great joke about gay horses (PLEASE ask me to retell it in person!), stuffing myself silly with grilled pork products, coffee with my parents' best friends, and reaffirming that you don't need to have a blood relation to have someone be your family.

my least favorite moments: three-hour long graduation ceremony, law student's constant farting in the car, terrible depot district cover bands, and the world's most disgusting women's restroom.