Bite My Tongue

Victor: I no longer know who I am and I feel like the ghost of a total stranger.

- The Rules of Attraction (2002)


We exited a street called "Slaughter Lane". Perhaps I could have interpreted the ominous street name as a sign to keep driving, but we exited regardless to satisfy our insatiable hunger for pornography. Mary, Brittany, Danté and I were driving home from spending the afternoon in Austin, Texas. On any road trip I identify my location by surrounding landmarks. One of them includes an Adult Video Megaplex located just off the highway outside Austin. Half joking, I suggested we make a pit stop at the store. This was met with an enthusiastic cheer from Mary in the backseat.

So there we were two minutes later sitting in a darkened parking lot in front of the disreputable store that suspiciously had no windows. It was unexpectedly vacant inside, with the exception of a couple that appeared to have come straight from the Jerry Springer stage. The girls went straight for the wall of dildos while I browsed through some DVDs with vulgar cover-art making sure I hid my intense curiosity by fake laughing loudly every few seconds. Just then, I glanced up briefly from the shelves of endless nakedness only to catch sight of an old friend from high school! I froze for a few seconds while contemplating whether or not to say hello or to run and cower inside a private viewing room. "Max Rodriguez?" He looked up. "Patrick!" He was surprisingly comfortable catching up with an old friend in a porn store. I was as if we were catching up in the middle of a Christian bookstore. I talked to him for a brief moment while trying desperately to ignore the fact that we were surrounded by double penetration DVDs and rubber fists. "Well, I hope I don't see you buy anything," he said. "I had my eyes on those ass beads," I responded. (I'm glad I'm able to find humor under unusual circumstances.) My friends and I eventually became bored and immune to the graphic porn and decided to wrap things up. As we were leaving, the door to a private viewing room opened and a small, sweaty man sauntered out. I knew exactly what he was doing in that room. Looking back, I'm relieved that I chose to greet Max instead of hiding in that private viewing room.

Things have been going really well in San Antonio. I've seen more of my friends than usual and I've yet to tire of them. I've been busying myself with celebrating 21st birthdays, meeting friends for a drink, and spending way too much money. At the end of July I'm heading back to Denton to move out of my current apartment. I was able to convince my father that I can move out by myself, so this will be a much-needed break from my sometimes over-bearing family. I'll keep taking pictures and will update my blog sooner than later. For now, enjoy the pictures from the past week.

Kim's friend Sarah babysits a set of triplets. They've learned to mimic her quite well.


Danté takes a break from shopping at IKEA to munch on a piece of cake.


Brittany listens as Mary proclaims her love for pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.


Basking in our own filth in the summer heat outside of Hula Hut in Austin.


Food.


Walking back to the car. Mary is hot.


A strange dog wandered into our backyard the other day. I thought maybe it was a dead relative reincarnated, but it turned out to be the dog from two houses down that escaped. The former would have been much more interesting. Moses was afraid.


Kristen turns 21 and we celebrate with drinks at Stonewerks.




Laters for now.