~ 70 degrees, being intellectual, silly walking, steak ~
Day Five, Thursday October 19, of the Austin trip was the first "cold" day. The storm from the previous evening accompanied a cold front (which was still warm, considering that it was October, but cold for Texas). We rode bikes to the Spider House for a third experience. Having to endure mediocre coffee and a lame atmosphere the day before, we didn't feel like sacrificing quality just to try something new. This was to be our intellectual day. After coffee, we went over to the university area and visited the Harry Ransom Research Center, which has an impressive collection on Norman Mailer and a caricaturist named Topoloski. I felt very smartened by the end of it. And that was the first floor. We took the elevators up to the second floor, which had a collection of movie posters that I wasn't interested in. While Josh poked around, I sat on a bench and looked out the window and watched people. Josh joined me and we looked at people together. Then we took the elevator up another floor. This floor appeared to be merely offices, but we decided to walk around. At some point, we decided to practice our silly walks. As we walked past an open office door or window, we walked as mature adults, totally normal. But once we had past the doors and windows, we instantly broke out into a silly walk, and stopped the moment we came to another window or open door. We did this all down and up the hallways. It was pretty great, but perhaps you should have been there to grasp the pure genius of it. At some point, I realized that a woman had seen us and that we were going to be in the elevator with her. She seemed to be trying not to laugh and I was trying to retain my dignity.
From there we went to the Jack Blanton Museum of Art, where we saw a lot of paintings on the life of Christ and people wearing uncomfortable looking clothing. While I enjoyed seeing many of the paintings of Christ and of people wearing uncomfortable clothing, because they were good paintings, I eventually became a little bored of the redundancy of it. I understand that if you're really passionate about it, that perhaps you want to spend all of your time painting renditions of the life of Christ, hundreds upon hundreds of them, as well as people wearing uncomfortable clothing, but I dunno, variety is the spice of life.
After the Museum, we ate at a generic Mexican food joint. Then we went down Nueces and checked out the shops in the Warehouse District and Second Street. For me, it was total sensory overload at this point. From the overload of just being in so many new places for five days, to having a full day of looking at art, and then going into shops that had been creative in their decorating (one shop in the Warehouse District had decorated with strategically placed full length mirrors in a big circle around some of the clothing...I became disoriented and kept walking into the mirrors). We broke up the shopping with a visit to Bookpeople, a large independently-owned bookstore. Eventually we returned to the hotel for some rest.
That evening we walked down Red River street and waited for a table at a restaurant called Moonshine. After a thorough consultation with the menu, we each decided to order a Texas flat iron steak in bleu cheese butter and red wine reduction with vegetables. Now, a brief word about me and the meat. I am not much of a meat eater. If I was left to my own devices, I would probably never or almost never eat meat. It's partly because I'm down on cholesterol and saturated fat and I think there's plenty of other ways to get protein. Also, it's expensive and tricky for me to cook. Moreover, until the time that I met Josh, I had a firm dislike of all things steak. I think that the very few instances during my upbringing when I had steak, it was overcooked and hard to chew with no amazing sauce. And then Josh made me a steak medium rare and slathered it with the Stubbs' bbq sauce, and my opinion changed. Granted, I still only consume a steak about once every two or three months, but it is always fantastic. Anyhoo, so we were at the restaurant and we ordered these Texas flat iron steaks. And...remembering my first cut into it, dripping with bleu cheese butter...it was amazing. I think that it is impossible to describe it and still give justice to its awesomeness. After the second bite, Josh looked up and said that it was one of the best steaks he's ever had in his life, which I feel is telling. Ah, memories...see, I am a big fan of the good food, and I endeavor to eat this "good food" at all instances of eating. But sometimes, a meal is so fantastic, that I actually spend time reflecting back on it, my mouth watering. ....
After dinner, we walked around Red River looking for a place to get an adult beverage. Earlier, when we were in a Diesel store, we received a recommendation for a place called Club de Ville (which had a surprising similarness to the Neurolux even down to its old Best Western Crown Sign). In the bar's darkness, we found a pleather-cloaked couch and I ordered us a glass of wine to share. This crappy bar wine that came from one of those oversized wine bottles cost seven dollars, and I was not enthused about that. So we hung out in the smelly darkness drinking our overpriced shitty wine, and then left. We wandered and wandered. Every place along Red River was having some bands play and entrance covers were upwards of five dollars. Since I had just spent seven on a dumb bar wine, I was feeling picky about what I wanted to spend my money on. We went into a bar that was playing a ninja soccer movie and Josh ordered a jack and coke. But the place was lame so we left. Eventually, we wandered over to Sixth Street and entered the land of frat boys, their hoochies, and the meat markets in which they connect. Saying that I was "displeased" with the situation in which I found myself would be something of an understatement. And I think that I'm going to cut my description of this area down, because as I'm recalling my experience there, I'm becoming irritated and lamed out. Eventually we had some wine at a meat market and I started to get all depressed. I was sitting in the corner staring at all of these people who are the complete opposite of myself and I could not understand their behavior or how they seemed to be having a good time. I think that Josh was trying to distract my attention away from them because it was probably obvious that I was becoming depressed, but the solution was to just leave. So we left. We went to a somewhat empty bar that had a typical bar band playing hits from various decades and we enjoyed a few pony-necked beers. The volume for the band was much too loud and I stuffed toilet tissue into my ears. We sat at the back of the bar on a smooshy couch and drew pictures on a piece of paper. And that was pretty much the end of the evening.