Free Beer - 287 miles ahead

I needed something. Something to do or someplace to go. So I got out my AAA map books I got when I drove across the U.S. a few years ago. I realized Shiner, Tx wasn't as far as I thought.
  Shiner, in case you don't know, is a very small town south of Austin where the delicious Shiner Boch beer is brewed. 

I took off about 8:30 Tuesday morning and on my way I stopped in at a place called Czech Stop in West, Tx and filled up the car with (cheap) gas and got me a kolache. Let me just say, it was filled with the best sausage I've ever laid my lips on. Dense and meaty with a slight black pepper flavor. I learned all the meat they sell there is processed in a plant just down the road in Waco. I took I-35 to hiway 77 and kept south. Just a little over 4 hours later I arrived at the Spoetzl brewery where they make all kinds of delicious Shiner beers.

I've been here!

 On the tour, I told some people that I was looking for Laverne and Shirley, but we didn't see them. After the tour, we got free beer!

my new favorite

me taking a pic of my reflection in one of the huge copper vats

 I tooled around the gift shop and small theater talking with everyone then asked where I could get some food. I was told about a few places to go and picked Werners. It's a typical American food restaurant, but it has a few German dishes since this area of Texas is highly populated with German, Polish and Czech immigrants. The sirloin almost melted in my mouth! The flavorful grilled onions and potatoes were lip-smaking too! The bonus was not a dessert menu, but the pickled vegetables loaded up on the salad bar, because I love pickled veges, in case you didn't know.

Next, I strolled down to a place called Antiques, Art & Beer - and that's exactly what it is! I grabbed a bottle of my new favorite Shiner and took my time looking around at the art hanging up and the antiques scattered around. I now believe every antique store in America should have a bar, then husbands wouldn't be so reluctant to accompany their wives on a day out. I didn't see anything I couldn't live with out, but I did find something I could have done with out:

a prosthetic leg being used for a flower vase...
is it just me or does anyone else find this
just a bit disturbing?

I strolled around town a little bit then decided I was too tired to drive to Austin to stay with some friends. I tried to find a place to stay in Shiner, but all the rooms were taken by the oil drillers working in the area, so I drove 14 miles to Halletsville and called it a night.
Even with the blackout curtains on the window, light started filling my room at 6:30 a.m.! I awoke with a headache and felt sick. It could be due to the heat and the beer from the day before, but I prefer to blame it on the onset of my period, it's always ruining my life anyway. I decided to sally forth and see what there was to explore on my way home. Driving through Shulenburg, I was met by a large statue in front of The Knights of Columbus Hall:

I didn't know this was their symbol, apparently they feel
very strongly about this

I also saw this place, but decided not to stop:

I liked that it says "come as u r bring ma n pa"

I stopped in Lagrange because I spied the courthouse building from the intersection. It's a beautiful stone structure with carvings around the windows, gargoyles below the clock tower and it's surrounded by pecan trees. A generous Veterans Memorial flanks the N.W. corner.

The square is filled with cafes, shops and businesses. I walked into a place called Flair & Co. and got to talking to a lady named Andi. She recommended a couple places to eat and I decided on Bodega for a chicken salad sandwich. This place is mainly a wine bar, but when I walked in, a group of ladies were seated, chatting and sipping their various drinks while snacks were spread out among them. I also thought the scene was set just right because they were seated under a sign that read "good friends, good wine, good times". After I finished my fresh, flakey croissant sandwich and butternut squash/ginger soup, I cruised around the square looking in shops and found the Texas Quilt Museum. It was closed due to a private function, but it looked cool from the outside.

Now the time came to leave and I wasn't looking forward to returning home. What was I gonna do, sit on my couch? But I had to, I was out of money and the cats had to be fed, too.

please enjoy a few more pictures I took that I thought were cool:

Vapid is the new Average

My friends that I used to live with in Plano have gone on a 10-day trip to Hawaii and asked me to feed their cats. I don't mind because since my washing machine is still broken, I can wash my underwear at their house.

I'm still trying to get the hang of living alone. Most of the time I feel lonely because I'm used to people being around and that makes me feel like I have friends. Now that I come home to an empty apartment, I feel like I don't have anything to look forward to since nobody will be home. I would complain that nobody calls to say "Hey, we're going to do such and such, wanna go?" but it's not true. My friend Nick called the other day to say a bunch of them were going to the Science Museum downtown and did I want to go with. I did want to go (who doesn't love science?!), but I had to work all day. Stupid work, always interrupting my leisure activities!
I guess I just wish someone called every day to go out. Since that doesn't happen, it makes me feel like my life is boring, that I'm boring and no wonder I don't get asked on dates or have someone to "play" with. I try not to cry and be depressed, but sometimes these stupid hormones won't let me. I was feeling like this yesterday when I decided I wanted barbecue. I went to Bone Daddy's. It's like Hooters, only with steak and ribs instead of hot wings and burgers. I sat at the bar to order since I was alone. One guy looked over and did that "hey" nod. After a few sips of my Blue Moon beer, an older guy on my right who was wearing a green Hawaiian shirt  came over and said, "You look like you could use a friend. Can I buy you a beer?" Ugh, I thought,  because I wanted that cute guy across the bar to come over, but said, "Oh, no thanks, I've got one." He smiled, said okay and quietly returned to his plate of nachos.  I munched on my steak sandwich and started thinking how much guts it takes anyone to walk over to a stranger and start a conversation. And I was needing a friend. Don't worry, I didn't take him up on his offer, but when I was about to leave, I told him thanks for coming over since I was feeling bad the last few days and that I appreciated his gesture. He looked happy and introduced himself as Sid and said that if I decide to come back that I should pull up a stool and the beer would be on him. I might say "hi" if I go back and he's there, but I'm always weary of certain guys intentions.

As some of you know, I love to play boardgames. Since I don't have anyone to play with, I do what my cousin, Guy, my sister and I used to do when we were little and played kick ball with just the three of us: we had "ghost players".

I set up The Game of Life yesterday. (I did not bother inserting those stupid little buildings, they are useless anyway. I may use them in a craft of some sort.) I picked out some cars and put in the people. I have taken the liberty of writing in a few of my own rules:

getting married: Vicki's rules are that you
don't have to get married if you don't want
and you don't have to marry someone of
the opposite sex if you don't want!

I like this rule because it's true! The game itself has made some modern changes such as the college debt. It used to be $40,000 now it's $100,000. This is actually pretty close to the debt I'll be in when I graduate! But, the rules still say to stop and get married. I say "NO!" Lots of people have babies and aren't married these days and anyway, when I played this game with my mom a few years ago and stopped to get married, I said, "I going to marry a girl" and promptly put another pink peg in my car. My mother didn't even blink, she just said, "Okay" and took her turn.

Now, if any of you want to play The Game of Life with me, just call or text or come over. I could cook for you too!

Mostly cloudy but sunny inside!

I told my friend Jerrad that we were going to take the train downtown today and he said, "Okay!"

on the train heading downtown.
unfortunately my moustache didn't stay on for long.

So, we started out walking toward the  Dallas Farmers Market and found the Metropolitan Cafe. It looked really cool from the outside so we decided to go in for a coffee. Wow what a cool place with really good coffee! I may have to eat there one day.

this banana needed a mustache, so I gave it one!

Next, we continued on to the farmers market, which was not very busy at all today so we got to stroll without interruptions. We had a lot of samples, but I didn't get anything, although I do want to go back and get some of that fig preserves. We saw some people chowing down on some delicious smelling barbecue and asked where they got it. "Off The Bone!" one lady said, then told us how to get there. We decided to walk since I didn't drive, so Jerrad pulled up the "walking directions" from Google maps. What Google maps failed to mention, was that for the first few blocks if you look like you have any money what-so-ever, or are white, then maybe you shouldn't walk. But we did anyway and obviously lived to tell about it. I will also note here that in the news lately it seems Fort Worth is a bit rougher town than this side of Dallas. We happened upon Lee Harvey's bar, but did not see Mr. Lee Harvey Oswalds rental house that was recently put up for sale.

We crossed some tracks and turned a corner and smelled the BBQ smoking! We had arrived at Off The Bone and it was glorious! See my review along with some others here. I got a side of coleslaw and it was topped with bacon!

some cool art across from Lee Harvey's

bacon on my coleslaw? Yes Please!!

We left from there and headed toward the tall buildings of downtown to wander for a bit. On the way we found a smoker/grill sitting in the middle of a parking lot...the coolest grill ever!

"Okay! I'll eat the barbecue!"

We continued to walk down Lamar and passed some hangouts, bars and a record store. A group of kids being herded by an adult were wandering around the side of a really cool looking slanted building so naturally I decided I needed to see what was going on. Turned out it was the City Hall building and there was a really cool pool out front (or on the side? I don't know). The kids left and Jerrad and I walked around, took a video of me doing a cartwheel and then decided to take off our shoes and walk in the pool. I don't know if we were allowed or not, but nobody came out screaming at us.

"ahhhh! dipping my feet in the water, nice on a hot day!"

bronze sculptures I don't understand...are
they replicas of weird male anatomy or half
of a jack from the game of Jacks?

yay me!

video of me doing a cartwheel here

Later, we were walking down Main st. and found some fun stuff: a statue with it's toe nails painted, a sidewalk of tiles that looked like a bowling score sheet (wish I had brought my chalk, I would have left a score!) and I left a moustache on crosswalk sign.

 We had walked a lot and Jerrad's ankles were beginning to swell, so I took him home then later walked over to The Varsity Grill for a Chicago hotdog. I had only been there once about a month ago and when I walked in, Tom, the owner still knew my name and asked how Jerrad was since he had been with me the first time I went in! The hot dog was amazing. Nice and grilled with all the proper toppings a Chicago dog should have!
Now I am home, getting ready for my arts and crafts girls to come over tomorrow. I'm cooking lunch for us and we are gonna make stuff.

and the last class for this quarter...

Three A's and a B....a B!!

Digital Layout. My first B. Four more points I woulda had an A. It was because I bombed the first 4 quizzes. All my projects in my Digital Layout class were spot on. I just had trouble with the written parts!

So, here is my last project I turned in and got a 96%. It's a newsletter. And here is what my teacher had to say about it.

Numeric Grade:  96 / 100  pts	Weighted Average (Earned/Possible):	24 % / 25 %
Letter Grade:

Comments: EXECUTION (27) 4   All links are in working order (4) 4   Appropriate amount of copy and images (4) 2   All image files and colors are CMYK (2) 2   Front page story jumps to back page, contact info + map on back page (2) 10 Other specifications were followed (trim size, bleed, masthead, content requirements) (10) 5   Printed correctly in color and folded according to design (5) CONCEPT (14) 7  The final design is imaginative and communicates the needs of the publication’s content (8) 6   Final concept is consistent throughout the design and achieves the conceptual complexity required (6) AESTHETIC VALUE (26) 3  The visual impact is fresh and contemporary (4) 5  The graphics and typography combine to create a strong, coherent visual (5) 6   Masthead is professional in appearance and appropriate for the audience it represents (6) 3   Colors scheme is well-coordinated and suits the subject (3) 8   Grid is well-constructed and supports the visual hierarchy as determined by the page layout (8) SOFTWARE (17) 4   Two custom color swatches were created and used (4) 6   Paragraph & character style sheets were created and applied (7) 3   Packaged files and a PDF with bleeds & crop marks was submitted. (3) 3   Bleeds were built according to industry standard specification (3) TYPOGRAPHY (16) 3   Fonts (letterforms) selected are appropriate for the subject (4) 4   Paragraph breaks are clear and consistent (4) 4   Multiple columns are set up in one text box (4) 4   Type hierarchy is clear and enhances the reader’s experience (4) Total Points / Grade 96 Comments: I think you've learned a lot in this class. Your technical skills with InDesign have certainly improved and it looks like you're starting to think more creatively with your concepts. Resist the temptation to put boxes around everything and to center headlines. Make sure that your type isn't crashing into other elements. Several of your images are distorted, including the DCL logo and it is a BIG no-no to distort logos.

It was a Tuesday...

The day started out just ok. I was feeling a little sad because the guy I like doesn't seem to like me back., which sucks and is confusing because I'm awesome.
It's finals week at school, so in my first class we had to present our final posters. Here was mine:

my ode to my home state of North Carolina

We got done early so I decided to walk around the mall across the street, NorthPark Mall. I wanted to buy some shorts, but apparently the ones I want are not in style this season. I want the ones that come to your knee. I don't have the legs to wear shorty shorts - my thighs are too small. Imagine that, a girl complaining about that. Anyway, I got hungry, like you do when nothing fits right, and found my way to Bread Winners where I sat on the patio alone, ate my sandwich and danced along to the cool 80's tunes they were playing. My waiter was pretty awesome so I asked him if he knew any guys who would be interested in going out with an art student who likes to dance and play skeeball. (I figured the best way to get over a guy is to get under another one, like Betty White says) He said "Oh, me and my boyfriend!" I said "Groovy, but I meant a straight guy" and he said, "Girl, we'll find you one." So he gave me his number. Then another waiter came over and said, "You know, there's free skeeball tonight at Barcadia. All the old school video games are free on Tuesdays." I asked him where it was and later found it on a Google maps in my next class while waiting for my critique.

Here was my final project for my digital illustration: 

an infograph I created about backpacking. I illustrated
all the pictures all by my onsie!! and of course, I wrote
all the information as well rather than pulling it
from another source like most students did for theirs.

So that class got out early as well and I headed out to Barcadia. The guy at the door asked for my I.D and I said, "Really? I look like I could be under 21? Seriously?" He said, "I don't know...I'd guess about 29 but we have to ask." His name was Frenchie (a black guy) and he looked at my license and said "Still not older than me...class of '86!" Wow, he looked about 29 also. I went in and talked to the bartender, who was all over the place, tossing bottles in the air and twirling glasses. I asked a few guys at the bar "Are we paying for the booze or the entertainment?" "Both!" I got a beer and some chips and salsa, which by the way, the salsa was a great unexpected flavor, for some reason had me thinking there was vodka in it instead of tequila.

I found the skeeball machines and started playing. I was glad to be playing in this bar instead of Chuck E. Cheese because I knew I wouldn't be kicked out for being drunk and loud. "Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to leave. You're scaring the children." I hate it when they "ma'am" me. 

Now my beer was drained and I needed water so I could drive myself home later. My over-excited bartender, Sheldon, helped me out with that. While I was waiting for the show and my water, I met Chris and Chris who are from out of town working in Dallas opening a new store at the mall. I told them about the rockstar karoke at Sherlock's Pub  and how fun it is. I thought since they were from out of town they'd like it. I challenged them to skeeball and then we got to talking. "Ok," I said (or the beer, I'm still not sure who said this) "This round will see who sings at karoke tomorrow at Sherlocks Pub."

I was doing so well the whole time...until this pressure was put on me...by me. I lost. Badly. By like 100,000 points. I told Blond Chris that he hustled me. "What? I haven't played this in forever!" I told Brunette Chris that I got hustled and he started laughing at me. He had been playing Tron during the "tournament". I got Blonde Chris' number and he texted me when I got home.

So, after class tonight, it looks like I'm going to be singing (howling is more like it since I can't carry a tune) a song of my new friends' choice. I told my singing friend, Jerrad about this and he's excited.

We'll see what happens.

Are calm seas ahead, really?

Today I went to school to finish all my final projects: copy my hand-drawn newsletter for Design Layout class and get color prints for my Digital Layout class newsletter and my poster for my Typography class. An hour tops then I could go to Half Price Books and hang out.

That was the plan.

The event did not go as planned.

First, what I saved onto my flash drive was not what needed to be given to the print lab to give me color prints. Okay, so I'll just go over to the computer and put the right ones on there. Well, the student hard drive was down just as I was trying to log in, so I couldn't do anything about that. So I left to get a snack up at Whole Foods. When I got back about 20 minutes later, everything worked again. It probably started working as soon as I left. Now, I'm back at a computer to retrieve my wonderful work and what I had saved in class last week was not there... the old ones were. Well, now I had to re-do everything on my poster: find the pictures I used, resize them and set it back up to print correctly. That only took about 15 minutes. I handed that to the print guys and left to find another computer to use because I had to re-do my digital newsletter. I had to re-type some copy I used from another source, recheck the layout and resized and color my photos I was using. This took about half and hour. By then the print guys had finished my poster (which turned out great) so I handed them another order form and my flash drive again. I'll pick up that newsletter tomorrow since I don't need it until Thursday.
Then I go to the library to use the copy machine to make a double sided copy of my 11x17 sized hand-drawn newsletter layout. It only took me and one student librarian 4 times to figure that out. I spent about 40 cents more than I needed to, but screw it, I'm done. I'm out of time for today since I have to go to stupid work....again, instead of going to Half Price Books.

Now, the only thing I have left to do is study for one written exam for my Thursday class. I am not looking forward to that one because I bombed every written test in that class so far, that's why I have a B instead of an A in it. This is very strange to me because all the projects are done on the computer, which I started out very bad at and very good at written material. We'll see what happens.

p.s. Amid all that chaos, I did not get copies of my projects. I will try to post them here when I can, then  you can tell me what you think.

a picture I found, maybe I'll have a teacher like this one day