"I Think It Was The 4th Of July"

The weekend went well. Spent Saturday night doing laundry, playing guitar with Clif, and playing Mega Man games with Scott. Clif and I also wrote a song for his girlfriend which she apparently liked quite a bit. I have to admit that the melody Clif came up with for it was quite nice, and the lyrics (while not the most impressive I've ever crafted) were sweet and apparently made her feel better about a bad week.

Sunday, Clif, my grandparents, and I went to Tulsa (well, Owasso and Collinsville, really) to visit with family for the 4th. Scott, punk that he is, decided to stay home in Shawnee and visit with his friends instead of his family. It upset my grandmother, though she didn't really want to admit it. Of course, my moving to Virginia seems to upset her, too, but I think that's mostly because it's coming at exactly the same time as Clif's move to Texas for grad school (he mentioned that he won't get to come home at all next summer because of a 12 week internship he is required to do in Austin) and Mom & Dad's move to Grove (again, up near Tulsa--I'm sensing a pattern in our migration habits). But for the most part, everyone seems very happy and enthusiastic about my move, Clif especially (who agrees with me that it's high time I cut myself loose from the folks). My cousin, Bob (with whom Clif and I stayed last night), is a pilot, and told me he could get me home in a hurry if I ever needed.

So we spent Sunday driving up to Tulsa and basically hanging out with my great-aunt and uncle or with my cousin Bob and his wife and eldest child (a 14 month old bundle of energy named Tyler, who apparently took quite a shining to me). Sunday night's festivities took place at Bob's house, and food and fireworks were the order of the evening. Bob and a couple of his friends/relatives/whatever helped out with a backyard fireworks display which was actually quite good.

Bob, Clif, and I had planned to get up this morning and go out on the lake in the boat, just for the hell of it, but weather was not permitting. The storm that apparently hit sometime in the wee hours of the morning (sometime after 12.30, which was about when I fell asleep...though it was already lightning pretty good by then) got the wind up pretty high throughout the morning, such that we couldn't take the boat out (high wind + fast boat = potential damage to boat and passengers). So we slept in instead, then headed back over to the great-aunt and uncle's place for a family dinner this afternoon. We ate well, and I spent a good amount of time entertaining Bob's son, Tyler. Of particular amusement was when he got too enthusiastic about peek-a-boo and headbutted me right in the noggin. Did the child no damage (he had a huge grin on his face the whole time), but I felt it.

After dinner, we moved Clif's old Mustang (which has been sitting in the yard behind my aunt and uncle's house for almost a year now) to a different spot in the yard. There's currently no engine in the thing, but supposedly my great-uncle will have a new one for it soon. Of course, this is the guy who has a half dozen cars, all in various states of repair (or disrepair, as seems more accurate) in his yard. That's not counting the two or three they actually own which run. At one point, there was a Boss 302 with a tree growing through the hood in the yard. The car is still there, though the tree has been removed.

Mustang moved, we came back to Shawnee. I did the laundry we'd dirtied over the weekend and washed my car while Clif and I chatted. Then I came back to Norman, and I was treated to sporadic fireworks on the drive back (Norman's must have finished right before I got into town, because there were cars choking the entrance to my apartment complex (they generally fire off the fireworks near where I live, and a lot of people go sit in the intramurals field a couple of blocks away to watch). It's nice to be back, though I have to return to Shawnee Wednesday to get Clif and head back up to Tulsa, this time to meet my friend Rana and go see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson (and I talked to her Sunday and confirmed that she'll be there. Since I'll be near where she lives, I'll make damn sure she's there no matter what, dammit!).

All in all, a good, mostly relaxing weekend. Spent a lot of time outside (and thus a lot of time sweating), though the weather was thankfully mild for this time of year. Didn't really have to do anything too strenuous, but that was exactly what I needed at this point.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Primitive Radio Gods, "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand"