Thanksgiving in the 405

It was a good trip, I suppose. The drive there flew by. I had never gotten one of those books on tape, but decided to give it a try. I got the first Harry Potter book as read by some English baritone. You can pick it up at a very reasonable price from iTunes. (You can also get it at an even more reasonable price if you pirate it, but of course, I would never do that.) That last stretch between Joplin and Tulsa is usually a bear, but this time, I was so wrapped up in hearing about a Quiddich game that Tulsa managed to sneak up on me before I knew it.

My only regret was not picking up book 2, since I had to do the drive home by myself, and there was only enough book left to get me to Tulsa. Then it was back to music, which was okay, but not quite as likely to put me into a time warp.

I spent the night in Tulsa with my older brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. My neice, Grace, thinks The Cub is the coolest person she's ever met. Jacob decided to get into an argument with her as to whether the Beast from Beauty and the Beast really turned good, or if he was faking it the whole time. Grace was getting heated, and would have put in the DVD, had I not figured out a way to steer the conversation around, so we could get back on the road.

The weather in Oklahoma was awesome, hitting a record high of 79 on Wednesday, and didn't drop below 55 or so the entire time.

The grub on the Big Day did not disappoint. There seem to be about six more kids each time I go. The Cub is the oldest of that third generation. In years past, he would direct the energy of all those kids from utter chaos into a well-discipined machine of destruction. This year, he didn't seem too interested in organizing, and wandered off with his closest cousin, leaving pandemonium behind. Thus there were kids everywhere, and there was no focal point of their activity that one could easily sidestep.

Friday I got to see the DDC live at the Conservatory, where they had the last show. The Conservatory is reputed to be the cheapest venue in the city to book. It shows. It's one of those "try not to sit anywhere" places. I'd say this place's bathroom was the inspiration for the one in Trainspotting, but it couldn't have been. The one in Trainspotting had walls around the toilet.

The service was excellent, being as it was in the capable hands of Aubrey the bartender/enforcer, who delighted in tossing out I believe five underage drinkers.

The opening act, Power Raymond were good. Or should I say, it was good rap for a pair of white drama students. Although, being drama students, they had good showmanship. Real nice guys.

The band show itself was, well, it was something. Unlike the last time, I was a mere spectator, rather than a participant. Which was fine. I have no stage presence. It's quite a show. What with the two girls making out on the stage in the middle of Thug Love, and the pro-style wrestling to open the show. There's a lot going on, but they manage not to overegg the pudding.

After the show, my brother decided to have an afterparty at his house. Since he's the only one in the band who doesn't live with his parents or grandparents, he's the obvious choice. By that point, my ancient body had had enough and I was more than ready to hit the sack.

The next day, I got a jump on the day, was on the road by 9:30, and managed to make it back at about 5, right as the sun had set but before it was pitch dark. Home again, at last!

It was a pretty good weekend. Entertaining, fattening, and delightful weather. I'll give it 3 and half Charlie heads. If it were a three hour drive instead of an eight hour drive, it'd get 4 Charlie heads, but it's not.

Finally, here are some random thoughts from last week.

• Once again, I was struck by the fact that Okies are some of the most interesting people you'll ever meet. Well, that's not true. The interesting Okies are the most interesting people you'll ever meet. There's just something about that state.
• The boring Okies are still pretty interesting, though considerably less so.
• It's easy to miss it when you're living there, but once you move away and come back, you realize how poor Oklahoma City is. I drove through neighborhoods that were perhaps exactly like Shrewsbury in 1950, but everything had become really shabby and blighted. The rusted out car, the window air conditioner unit in the back yard with weeds growing around it. I'll always be a big cheerleader for the place, since I'm a big fan of the people there, but they have a long way to go.
• Trav describes the other guy in the band, Daniel, AKA Cornelius Cravecock as being "the sociopath of the band". I had a deep belly laugh when I heard that one. If Trav isn't the sociopath in the group then God help us all.
• It was really disturbing the number of ostensibly straight women knew all the words to their songs. Trav insists that's their number one demographic. I thought at first that it might be gay men, but I think they A) get the joke, and 2) realize it's on them. If not them, then straight men. No, the real wild-eyed fans are all girls. Crazy stuff.