El Paso in the springtime
My biggest fear is that I’ve got a spare cigar cutter tucked into my carry-on baggage. I could just see that causing some trouble for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been at the airport early enough to get the free doughnuts SWA offers. But I was there early enough, not only to have some of the doughnuts, but to talk to a loitering security guy, “Doughnuts any good?” “Sure, just not as good as Lone Star.” “Man, I had Krspy Kreme this morning, and even that’s not as a good as a Lone Star Doughnut.”
Reading a back issue of the \\New York Times Book Review\\, I found an article about a book noting that the white cowboys learned their trade from the first cowboys, the Vaqueros. Perfect thing to think about, doing the Texas two stop across the state in the morning light. [Austin – Midland – El Paso, who booked this flight?>
I suppose it looks a little funny, I didn’t get fully dressed until I got to the airport, waiting to clear security before I put on my hunk of a bolo tie, and the rings I wear. Anyone in Austin knows I wear one ring, and not much else. But for this trip, I put on that spare wedding ring I keep handy. Never can tell when a romantic pawnshop band of gold can come in handy – preventative medicine.
I’ve been doing the Austin – El Paso shuffle for close to a decade now. It’s not like Dallas, or other places, where I share family influences, I’ve always, in the past, thought that El Paso was more my town than anyone else in my family.
I got off the plane, ambled to pick up my suitcases, dialing a number along the way to see about a ride while thinking I should check on the other arrivals because Pa Wetzel and his Sister were due in sometime Saturday morning, too. I round the corner, head towards the baggage claim, and there’s my Pa Wetzel, hassling a rent car counter clerk, and his Sister, trying to wrestle their suitcases along.
Before my ride ever showed up, I had the old man and my aunt packed up in their rent car and headed off to wherever they were going.
That wedding ring? Seemed to work, I only had to promise myself twice to clients’ daughters.
Friday’s Five.
“You having a bad day or what? I just read your journal,” Bubba asked.
1> Yes, I was having a bad day. It’s a persistent problem with my conscience and customer service, see a former client keeps playing games, and I’m not interested. Paying customers are fine, non-paying customers are time consuming. Enough rude people, and my normally friendly demeanor gets worn a little too thin.
2> Bubba recounted the funniest story, about an encounter with a federal representative [uniformed variety>, “So he asked me, ‘Are you a Leo?’ and I said, no, I’m a Virgo.” I’m not sure his conversation really went like that, this is Texas and as natives, we are occasionally given to a bit of hyperbole. Remember, my buddy was telling his story to someone who’s an astrologer. “Leo,” in that context, meant Law Enforcement Officer. Chicken Fried Steak, Sagittarius waitress, excellent food, and pretty good mashed potatoes, at the Spoke. Better yet, the mass and volume of the Ranch Dressing outweighed the salad itself. Good place to eat. Good place to listen to music. Good place to dance country. Which I’m not about to do with some guy I refer to as Bubba.
3> Jo’s coffee is a personal favorite. Amy’s Ice Cream is also a personal favorite. The two of them together is an incredible mood altering substance. Got a cappuccino at Jo’s and rushed over to Amy’s for a scoop of Mexican Vanilla in it.
4> One of my favorite pieces of advice, doled out frequently, is that, “It’ll quit hurting so much when you quit banging your head against the wall.”
5> I have a client who sent me some disturbing stuff. It started some time ago, with a note that read, “I don’t want to be your client, I want to be you \\friend\\.” To my mind, I read that as, “I don’t want to pay for your services, I want them for free.”
It was along the way, I was discussing Kevin Smith movies, the book I just handed off to one friend, the fact that King James Bible is sitting on my coffee table, web software, Zen, and that girl from the other weekend, so all of this runs together. I can’t recall the conversation, not exactly, but it went something like this, “Is that what Jesus [fictional character> said to Mary Magdalene? ‘I don’t want to be your client, I just want to be your \\friend\\’?” Or was it the other way around?
I’ll be in motel room in El Paso all weekend, I’m sure I’ll get a chance to look it up in their Bible, placed by the Gideons.