Busted flat

105 miles away from Austin the Harry Potter book on cd I was listening to ended. It was time to put in the next chapter. I had one hand on the wheel and one hand rummaging for the next cd when my right front tire blew. It felt like the road had changed from smooth gravel to rail road tracks. I dropped the cd, gripped the wheel, took my foot off the gas, and gently pressed the brake as I coasted to the side of the road. A maroon vehicle passed me and as I got out of my car I saw the vehicle make a heroic U-turn and come to my rescue. The nice man in the maroon vehicle pulled up behind me and stuck his head out of his window saying “Do you know how to fix that?”
“uh, no”. I replied sheepishly. Charles, that was his name, got out of his car and began working on mine. About 10 minutes later, a state trooper pulled up and asked if we needed anything. Charles told him that he thought we were ok, but the trooper stayed on the scene until the job was done. It was a good thing that he did, because the jack I had provided Charles with was not budging the bolts that had previously been tightened by the air gun at discount tire. Mr. State trooper had one of those 4 bar jacks. I suggest that everyone ditch their single bar jacks for one of these beauties. Charles worked in the hot sun as sweat poured from his body like water from a hose. He continually pulled his red bandana from his pocket to mop his face and clean his glasses. He cut himself on his knuckles and forearms. Seeing that my cell phone was not getting service in the area, I was blessed to have him help me out like that. After he fixed my tire, he said he would follow me for a while to make sure the tire was ok. He wrote down his number so that I could call him if there were any problems with it after he pulled away from me.
He never hit on me, if that is what you are thinking. He was just a good guy helping out a fellow traveler.

I am going to call him later. I want his address so that I can send him a proper thank you. I am thinking a few tickets to see a movie at the Alamo draft house.

I'll be back

Lubbock Sunset

I am leaving for Lubbock Tomorrow. Dale, Lee and I will caravan to the town that gave us Buddy Holly. On Saturday, we will celebrate Danny’s graduation. Good old Danny… He has been doing the school thing for a while, so this is a big deal. Danny is going to have a party at his parent’s house. All of the old crew should be there, so fun will most definitely be had. While we are there, Dale and I will also celebrate our 2 year anniversary. We plan on going out to eat with friends for that celebration. I wish all of you Austinites could join us. I am gonna wear a hot brown dress with gold accents that will hopefully make Dale’s head spin. Woo-wee! Dale will be flying back to Austin on Monday. I am not sure when I will return. One day, I will wake up and the wind will be too windy or the sky will be too dusty and I will decide then and there to drive back to my home. That is how it has always been.

Confident

I think you should know that Jack White of the White Stripes is a bad ass.

His song, Ball and Biscuit, has some of the best “tell ya like it is” lyrics.

You should really just go but the album Elephant and listen to it for yourselves. Until you do that, just read what Jack has to say. He is all “Listen up, lady…I may not be that hot to look at but I will most defiantly be the best thing that has ever happened to you in your boring ass life” (well, that’s my interpretation).

It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl
But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son
And right now you could care less about me
But soon enough you will care, by the time I'm done

Let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar
And take our sweet little time about it
Let's have a ball girl
And take our sweet little time about it
Tell everyone in the place just to get out
We'll get clean together
And I'll find a soapbox where I can shout it

You read it in the newspaper
Ask your girlfriends and see if they know
That my strength is ten fold girl
And I'll let you see if you want to before you go

It's quite possible that I'm your third man
But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son
It was the other two which/was made me your third
But it was my mother who made me the seventh son
And right now you could care less about me
But soon enough you will care by the time I'm done

Ya see, confidence is key. Listen up, gentlemen, there is a difference between confidence and cocky. Cocky is usually a trait attached to pretty boys with large egos. Confidence is attached to men that are comfortable with themselves. I hate cocky, I can’t stand it! But a confident man is righteous in my book. Very righteous.

MoM

Dear mom,
I wanted to tell you how much I love you. I took some time today to reflect upon things you have done for me that I greatly appreciate.

Whenever we were having tacos for dinner, you would always ask me to grate the cheese. I would always say “I give it an A”. You would always laugh at my stupid joke. Thanks.

My favorite part of our family vacations to Galveston was swimming in the ocean with you and dad. I was little and the ocean was so big. We would all swim out to the deep part where my feet could not touch the ground. You would hold me up next to you so that I would not be afraid. I always felt safe.

When I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to try out for cheerleader. I needed a new outfit to impress the crowd at tryouts. We were in between paychecks, so you borrowed money from a friend and bought me the outfit of my choice. Thank you for not being to proud to do so.

I remember trying to get you to call my employer and tell them that I was sick. You would not do it and explained to me that that was my responsibility. At the time, I was angry about that. Now, I understand.

Speaking of being sick, you were the best nurse. You would make the couch into a bed for me so that I could watch tv when I was sick. The cool rag you would place on my forehead when my fever was high made me feel so much better.

Thank you for helping me learn my solo “lullaby Jesus” for the 6th grade school play. You were the best teacher one could have.

I could go on and on. I hope you know that I love you more than baked beans. I miss you, and I will come see you soon.
Happy mothers day!

Speaking of Nick

The Family does not see this cat anymore. Somewhere along the way things just fell through. He left us with this excellent photo, however.




Damn, that is some funny shit.

Old Pics

These are from New years eve back when I was about 20 years old.
That first pic showcases a young J3ph, Danny, Sarah, Mike “itch”, nick, Stephanie, some random gal and Dale (kissing his girlfriend).
Lee joins in on the third pic, lookin' like a million bucks.

Lee opened up a big box of pictures a while back, and I stole a stack for scanning. I scanned pics for a few hours, and I am still not done. It is well worth it though, as I have added gems like the following to my collection:

A 20 year old Sarah on top of Lee’s car


Drunken fun on a new mexico cabin trip


Young sarah’s out of control hair


Hanging out at Sarah and Clint’s house

(Dale and I were not dating when this pic was taken)

Young Dale’s fashion don’t


HAHA! Dany and Dale in Dallas, before “metrosexual” was even a coined term.


There are so many pictures I want to share with you. Keep it tuned.

The Swell

The swelling on my face has gone down quite a bit. It’s weird though, because in place of the outward swelling it feels like the inside of my cheek has swelled inward. It’s not comfortable but at least it is getting better.

I decided to do a google image search on face swelling and I found a few good pictures.

That is the worst one. Ewwww. Poor fella. I bet he got into a fight and took a mean punch to the jaw.

Look at this poor little gal.

Poor little princess. I hope she is all better now.

And then there is this one

Ok, I did not find that pic when searching for swollen faces. When I was looking for pics, I remembered how Mr. Perry got all bloated during the final seasons of friends. That swelling had nothing to do with a tooth problem.

The Dentist is going to start a root canal on Monday. He will finish a week or so later. I’ve had a root canal before, so I am not scared. I wonder if he will let me listen to my ipod while he is doing the procedure? The worst thing about a dentist visit is having to listen to the drill noise.

I've had an interesting couple of days.

Thursday night, I experienced a dull pain in my mouth. Specifically, it seemed to be localized to the right side of my mandible. I thought I was feeling my wisdom tooth growing in a bit more. “no problem”, I thought, “I’ll just put some ice on it and go to the Dentist during the summer break (which starts for me on Tuesday). The next day, I woke up at 7:00 a.m.. I had to take an online test that was due by 5:00. As I was taking this test, the pain steadily grew more intense with every second. I began to realize that this was not the pain of a wisdom tooth breaking through my gum line. Something else was wrong. I tried everything to make the pain go away. I took 800 milligrams of ibuprofen. I ate two containers of yogurt, as the coolness of the food seemed to help for a split second. I took a shot of whiskey. I stuffed frozen hash brown bits into the back of my mouth. Nothing was working! The pain was getting to be unbearable. I finished my test, but was not happy with my answers. The pain got in the way of my thinking. Hopefully, I will get an 80. I realized that I had to drive to school, in my state of agony, and drop of the test. Dear God, I did not know if I could do it. I got in my car, said a little prayer, and made my way to campus. On the way, I stopped at a walgreens for a bottle of Listerine. The Listerine dampens the pain for the amount of time one can hold it in their mouth. So there I was, driving to campus chugging Listerine, but not swallowing it, and then spitting it out in a big gulp cup. I made it to campus and turned in my paper. I ran into some classmates who were on their way to the honor’s banquet. “Aren’t you going, Sarah?” They asked. I just shook my head no and told them I had a tooth ache. They sympathy I received was appropriate. I made it back home, called Dale and left him a message explaining my situation. I begged him to call the dentist for an immediate appointment (I do not know which dentist we go to, having never been to one under our new insurance plan). I collapsed on the bed with an Icepack on my face hoping that Dale got the appointment. Dale came home at five and told me the Dentist could not take me in that day, since they were closed. I was to call back on Monday. The dentist instructed me to go to the ER if I was in pain. You better believe I was in pain! Dale and I went to the after hours care center that is associated with our doctor’s office. I have no patience for the regular ER. While in the waiting room, my ice pack lost its cold. SHIT. The pain was back in full force and there was nothing I could do about it. I closed my eyes and pretended to be on a beach in Hawaii. It had a bit of a calming effect, until some cheese ass ruined it for me. Some office worker was flirting loudly with another office worker. Nobody in a doctor’s waiting room wants to hear about how you only drink scotch that is aged 10 years, buddy. Oh, and by the way, that “diamond” earring in your ear makes you look like a little bitch. Pain makes me angry. Tears gathered in my eyes and I continued to deal with what felt like somebody stabbed me in the gum with a dull knife.Finally the nurse calls my name. I see a doctor and she prescribes pain pills and antibiotics. I think I am on the brink of an abscessed tooth. See, a while back one of my fillings came out. There is a cavity under the filling. How can that be? I take excellent care of my choppers. Bad genes I guess. I had planned on going to the dentist as soon as I were on break. BIG MISTAKE! Yesterday I was pumped full of pain pills, antibiotics, and ibuprofen. The only food in my system was a few spoonfuls of Ice Cream as I can not eat much of anything. So guess what happened? I abruptly awoke from a pain killer induced sleep. My skin was clammy and sweaty. I felt the immediate need to vomit. My stomach stirred and my mouth salivated. You know how it is. I fell out of my bed, grabbed a trash can, and puked 4 times in a row. It was horrible. It was acid yellow, and it burned.

I have two important meetings I must attend on Monday and Tuesday that are necessary to complete this semester. I am going to have to e-mail my supervisors and let them know these will have to be postponed. See, the right side of my face is swollen thanks to the infection localization brought on by the antibiotics.
Also, I am in pain and in a vicodin haze which would both lead to an interesting interaction between me and my supervisors. Hopefully, the dentist can see me soon. This is awful. The pain is getting bad again, which means I need to pop some more pills and hold another ice pack to my enlarged face.

Look at what happens when I try to smile.

So how are you doing?