DAMMIT I hate to miss a party

Me in Orleans, France. A trip I took with my family in late 2002. I will party anywhere, with anyone, and come from a long line of happy drunks.

One thing about me is that I am a social kinda gal. Back in Austin I was kind of the den mother of a largish group of folks, always planning some sort of gathering or other to make sure all the chickies are happy, chatting and drinking. Sometimes I plan things here, too, but not as frequently as I did at home due to expense and problems with transport. I frequently get Evites for parties back home, which is bittersweet, as 1) I am so glad I am still on the lists but 2) really annoyed I can't join 90% of the time.

Then Dave posts about this TequilaCon gathering and I just get all jealous cuz it for damn sure seems like I missed a good party. I HATE missing a good party. Grrr.....

I think I am going to post party pictures from past gatherings. Just to remind myself that I can get my freak on when I want.

A Halloween party Chez Karla in Austin. I hosted that annual party for years, and people really went nuts dressing up. this is my favorite picture from many years of parties.

This is me at New Year's this year. Singing karaoke at the neighbors, and might I say I sang the SHIT out of the Police's Roxanne.

A quieter party at Mama Malcontent's ranch in the hill country of Texas. Those are magical times; good friends, campfires, beer-a- plenty and stars so numerous you can almost read by them. When I think of home and friends my thoughts frequently go here.

This was in 2000 or so, at the now defunct Waterloo Brewing Company in Austin. We'd meet weekly for pint nights on Wednesdays. Damn I miss that place. That's Craig, Clark and Alan in horrible fluorescent light.

A Halloween party here in Norway. Lesley is the witch, Rich is Cher and I am Sonny.

Rich and I in Copenhagen. I like big beers.

Me as a 20's screen siren and Julia as...me! Halloween 2001.

Me and Bookhart. This is Halloween, jeez, 1998? She's a hippy and I'm in a sari.

Me and Bookhart, she's Madonna.

Me and Bookhart and Craig at Opal Divine's in Austin. I just posted this because I like this picture of me. I'm pretty sure this was someone's birthday? But I don't remember who.

Sigh. I miss my buddies. But that could be the wine talking.

women

Happy International Woman's Day!

No I had no idea it was a holiday, either. Until I got to work and the ladies who run the canteen came up to every floor and offered all us womens little chocolate covered eclaires as a gifty. ("No boys!", they giggled. And our business is very man-centric, so there were plenty of eclaires for us gals, none of which we shared with those stinky old boys.) I am not one to ever turn down a pastry, so I am now officially in favor of International Woman's Day. But, being the pastry whore I am, if tomorrow was International Smelly Boys Day, I'd eat eclaires in favor of that, too.

In another, different celebration of women, Austin this week lost one more reason why it is such a unique city. Stella Boes died. No she's not famous, but she was unique and I for one, will miss yet another thing that made Austin my Home Wierd Sweet Home.

Some friends of mine have a band and play fairly frequently at the Carousel Lounge in Austin. Stella was always there, always joyous, and you knew it was a good song if she danced. And she danced alot. She was this funny eccentric old lady who just loved the hell out of life and loved hanging out with whoever showed up at the bar. She added a certain funky joi de vive to every occasion. I for one, saw her as a vision of who I might want to be when I got old.

I didn't know her well, and only got to dance with her a few times, but Stella, where ever you are, you keep boogyin' on, you hear?

In which the world reminds me how small it is

In the morning, on the way to work, I listen to news podcasts. Generally, I'll listen to NBC or ABC and if I can fit it in, the KUT podcast. KUT is Austin news.

Imagine, then, how happy/gobsmacked/amused I was this morning to hear the voice of my dear friend Oliver being interviewed on KUT as I listened to this morning's podcast. Oliver is the husband of my (also) very dear friend Lindsay.

It's just so strange to be on a train in a completely different part of the Earth and be taken straight back home by a voice which is so familiar to you.

This has happened before, of course. Maybe not quite as personally, but many times I've seen things that are based in Austin, or are from Austin, in totally different parts of the world.

Like the time Rich and I were in Budapest and an old movie filmed in Austin came onto the TV in this tiny little traditional wine bar we were sitting in. So strange to see that familiar landmark, the Texas Capitol building, there on the TV when you are in a completely foreign place.

The time I was in Turkey, hanging out in a youth hostel in a town near the ruins at Ephesus and met a guy from Austin with whom I have mutual friends.

When someone I know is mentioned in the media or a band from Austin plays in Norway and everyone acts like it's the second coming of Christ. (Texas music is WAY popular here.)

When you see someone you know, and you are both in different cities, way far away from home, and you're both like, "Whafuck? What are YOU doing HERE?"

And, of course, the vice versa when something from Norway comes into my consciousness when I am in Texas. Like when that bar named Oslo opened in Austin (it has since closed) and everyone I ever knew in Austin was all like "Have you been to Oslo yet? Is it like Oslo?" (Answers are Yes and No.)

Anyhow, in case you have forgotten or have just not thought about it lately, the world is a very small intimate place. And oddly enough, the more you travel, the smaller it gets.

Snow...in Texas!

It's snowing in Texas! Which, basically, is not quite a miracle? But almost?

Badger posted about it, as did pretty much every other blogger I know in Austin. Some are loving it, others (most of the people I know who blog, actually) are going a bit stir crazy. I mean, it HAS been four days of no work or school for most of them (Monday having been MLK day in the US) and from what I hear, kids start to get antsy by about, oh, Saturday at 10am?

It's just so funny to me that Austin is colder than Oslo right now and will be for a couple of days! With more snow! And ice! So, y'all come on up to Oslo for a bit of warmth and sunshine, ok?

HA hahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Dammit. Spoke too soon. We are forecast for more snow tomorrow night. Well, we'll see. Maybe Austin can still beat us.

I still remember the snow of 1987, when I was in college, in Austin, living in the dorms. We all got lunch trays from the cafeteria and used them as sleds down the hill at the LBJ library. I remember that being a GREAT day. Honestly, I haven't sledded since then...guess I should do that this winter, huh?

The best thing about living somewhere that does not have winter weather is that when you DO have it, you make the most of it. Because you know it will be gone in a matter of hours and it won't happen again for years.

I'm an Old Timer......

You know you may have been living in Austin a little too long if:*

When you hear GM, you think of the old greasy spoon/steakhouse chain, not the auto manufacturer.

You think the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge are swell, but you miss the downtown cricket infestations of the late '70s.

You try to remember to call it Cesar Chavez, but you just can't stop calling it First Street.

You were here in Austin when beer joints outnumbered nail salons.

You know at least two dozen people who can tell you what they were doing when Charles Whitman started shooting.

It may be Academy to everybody else, but to you it's still Academy Surplus.

You were here when the hippies stopped picking on developer Gary Bradley so they could pick on developer Jim Bob Moffett.

You still miss the chicken-fried steak at Truck City on Ben White Boulevard.

Whenever some yuppie honks in traffic, you mutter, "Must have just moved here from New Jersey."

You can remember when instead of labeling them condominiums, they just called them apartments. You know the difference between a condo and an apartment? About $500,000.

You can remember when all the hippies in town were carping about the South Texas Nuclear Project instead of carping about toll roads.

You can remember when you could actually get into Austin City Limits without knowing some bigshot like Michael Dell.

You still think that 52nd Street is halfway to Dallas.

You can remember when the Warehouse District actually had a few warehouses.

You can remember when Williamson County didn't have a law and order reputation because there was nobody there for the cops to stop but a few farmers.

You were around when the richest guy living in the 78704 ZIP code was probably some dude who had a regular job with the state.

You can recall people who weren't connected with the rodeo wearing cowboy hats downtown.

You were here when you could actually find a parking spot on Congress Avenue without circling the block three or four times.

You remember when you could see the Capitol while standing downtown on the ground flat-footed.

You can remember when people were arguing over the Edwards Aquifer instead of the location of the next Wal-Mart.

You can remember when Bee Cave Road was so far out in the country that you had to pack a lunch.

You were around when the biggest ham in town was Willie Kocurek instead of Marc Katz.

You really don't care about the loss of the Armadillo World Headquarters anymore because you can't stay awake that late these days anyway.

You were around back before they invented the chicken fajita, which you still think is pretty silly, since there's no such thing as a chicken fajita.

You can remember a day when nobody could name the tallest building downtown, because none of them were all that tall.

_______________________________________
*Article by John Kelso that I cut and pasted from the Austin American Statesman. Damn it's so true.....

back to Norway

I'm heading back to Norway now...well, 1 pm Saturday. Here's what I'll be drinking when I get back.......

Lord help me. It's been a great visit.

I'll miss y'all!!!!!

(Little did I know that when this picture was taken, I was nursing the evil that dwelled within and would spend the night hurling my literal and figurative guts out. Detox indeed.)

weak but still alive

Well, I'm kind of weak and have a tendency to get dizzy, but I'm ok. I'm drinking some free range chicken broth (still makes me laugh when i envision them trying to gather all that broth from the fields). I also got some water and some electrolyte stuff and some charcoal that I am supposed to swallow and it binds the bad stuff to effectively get it out of my system. My stomach still hurts pretty bad, but no hurling for a few hours, so that is a big bonus.

I found Voss water at the store. Voss water is this super-chi chi water that comes in sleek glass bottles that they tout as the purest of the pure water, direct from pristine Norway. As all Norwegian water is pretty damned good, I figure they probably could use any tap anywhere in Norway to fill those bottles, then sucker pretentious Americans into paying $3 for a bottle. I hear it's the only water Britney will drink.....the bottles ARE cool, but unwieldy as they are heavy and tend to fall over easily.

It's chilling in the fridge and we will have a water tasting soon, comparing Voss to Ozarka, my favorite American bottled water. In the meantime I am drinking my range fed broth and hoping this charcoal crap works soonest.

I can't wait to come home so I can shop at Central Market and Whole Foods, like, all the time.

a fine kettle of fish

OH man can I feel any worse?

I have been hurling ALL NIGHT. I'm getting kind of scared because i can't even drink water without sending it right back up the way it came. And can I just tell you that I am REALLY thirsty right about now? If this continues through tomorrow, am I supposed to go to the hospital for fear of dehydration? I don't know!? I've never had this sort of food poisoning before. IT SUCKS ASS...though maybe I should say it blows. And I'm tired as hell but my tummy hurts too much to let me sleep. And I can't take anything for it, because off the aforementioned and much lamented hurling.

I swear, this house of women I am staying at....we are a fine kettle of fish. One of us is chained by boob to baby (she is the healthy mobile one of us right now and Griffin was a trooper at the hospital when Heather went to get Julia yesterday), one of us will be in some serious hurt after her car wreck (and yeah, she could have DIED were it not for air bags!) and I am a hurling mess.

And I fly back to Norway Saturday and am supposed to be back at my brother's house to do some work on it on Thursday. Let's hope this gets better.

nice day for me, not so much for Julia

Eventful days this week, people, eventful days.

Last night I met my niece Bethany for dinner at Austin Land and Cattle. I think I have mentioned that place before, but let me just remind you....if you like steak, and want it cooked to perfection, there is no other choice in Austin. This is the best steak in the world. AND they have the famous Shiner Bock Battered Mushrooms. Like, I don't think I could choose between the two. Luckily I don't have to and I get both. Heaven. That and a rocks margarita with Couintreau and I am a happy omnivorous gal. Bethany, my niece, is like me in her steak eating preferences and I am proud to report we both completely ignored the spinach that came with it. EW. I am always so impressed by Bethany. That girl has got her shit together and is a hoot to boot. Smart, funny acerbic and great to talk to. She's so far ahead of how how I was at that age....compared to her, I was a rank idiot. Rock on Miss B!

This morning I got up early (well, it felt early, anyhow, after the steak and margaritas...c'mon, when it's that good ya gotta have two!) and met Amamgets (see her blog to the left) at Mozarts for coffee. Can I just say how AWESOME she is? She drives a GIANT Suburban, but on it she has a bumper sticker that says "Draft all SUV drivers". Seriously, how can you not love someone with a sense of humor like that? She's totally cool and I hope to get to know her better whenever I get the hell home, which honestly better be SOON because I heart Austin, y'all.

After coffee with Amamgets, I met Bookhart for lunch at Chuy's where I had my usual Shrimp Tacos and she had her Chicken Sopapilla with the ranchero sauce on the side and traditional Mexican rice, not the hatch chile stuff. Yes, we always order the same, for years now, and I also always get a regular big ol' Coke, she gets Diet. I love that tradition, and a visit to Austin would feel incomplete without it. We have been going to Chuy's for almost 20 years now.

After lunch I dropped her back off at the office, picked up my contacts, did some shopping and got to see Karla May and Jaye for a brief visit. I also got totally insulted at Whole Foods when this random guy in the vitamin aisle asked if a girl in that aisle and I were related and said we looked alike. I looked at her, she was standing right behind me, age around 25-30, and then he asked if I WAS HER MOTHER!!!!!!! This girl who I had never seen before and just happened to be in the same aisle as me....was I HER FUCKING MOTHER!!!!!! All I could do was harumph and hmmph and growl and I left that aisle in high dudgeon. Asshole, asshole of the first nature. I DO NOT LOOK OLD ENOUGH TO BE HER MOTHER! That was the only sucky part of the day, for me.

After that I went to Shepler's Weatern Store to pick up some Levi's for our friend Martin back in Norway. There is not much that's more fun or truly Texan than shopping at a Western store. Boots of every color, strange women's clothes with bedazzling all over them, helpful workers in tight Wranglers, ropers and cowboy hats who lead you through the store and find exactly what you want, all the while calling you "Ma'am", and everyone y'allin' up a storm, that's MY idea of Texas shopping fun.

I got back to take a nap. Heather was not here. I figured she was at baby yoga or something.

Nope. Turns out she was in the emergency room with Julia, who got in a wreck this afternoon. She's ok, just banged up a bit, but her car is toast. Heather called just a few minutes ago. Poor Julia. She is a really good driver, so whatever happened is pretty much guaranteed to be the other person's fault.

They will be home soon, I should go straighten something or get some ice together or something. SOMETHING to be useful......

puppy love

Some pics from Thanksgiving.

I was a total farm girl. My wardrobe consisted of short sleeved t-shirts over long (a look I have never worn convincingly) paired with jeans and a ratty old pair of Timberlands I left at my parents for slobbing around in. I spent my time learning how to ride a four wheeler (I am really good at shifting and goinng forward, not as good at steering and stopping), bbq-ing, romping on the puppy and generally getting dirty at every opportunity. It was sweet. My new name is Ozark Bob. (not)

A seemingly cute and furry puppy with teeth like needles. She was not biting me in this picture.

Here's Engel on her dog bed, where she's chewed off the edge. She's a little damp because Teufel thinks that SHE is a chew toy as well, though he is very gentle when he takes her whole head in his mouth. No, really, He's GENTLE. But slobbery.

That's me and Kathy, my brother's girlfriend. The puppy would start gnawing on her ears within seconds after this photo.

There's my brother on the patio with Flumpy. The little nipper is licking her, um, bits. Compared to the other dogs she is very small. But they are very big.....

Right after this picture was taken Engel jumped on Flumpy and he ran away. He is not very puppy centric and basically avoids her at every opportunity.

I drove back to Texas on Saturday, 12 hours straight, luckily not that much traffic. I would like to kindly request that the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority please either man the toll booths on the Creek Tollway around Tulsa or have it so that the fucking change machines WORK! I mean, seriously, I would pay the tolls if you made it possible for me to, but with toll booths that are exact change only, me not having change and you guys not having change machines that work...what the hell am I supposed to do? Yeah, I had to run the toll booth. I've never done that before. HOWEVER..... I did pay for the one I had to run at the next opportunity, where there was actually a person available. I am evil, but not a thief.

I got back to Heather and Julia's at 8:30 pm, and then got up really early this morning to (now, don't faint) attend CHURCH where we had the baptism of Griffin. Which is a whole 'nother story in itself. Which I will tell tomorrow. I can say that there was no lightning shooting at my head, no fire and brimstone raining down and identifying me as the heathen I am, and I did not say "fuck" once. So, woo to me and my manners. Mamma done taught me right.

post beer day two blog post

Two nights out down, one to go. last night and tonight are the biggies...last night was Austin Blog Babes gathering and then to the Carousel for the Dentones. Tonight is Mag's Drunken Karaoke Birthday fest (yes dear, you ARE NOW 37...face it).

I'm still scared by my alcohol overload of the other weekend. I mean, seriously, it has me looking at alcohol with leary eye and a doubting mind.

Anyhow, I started off pretty slow at Opal's last night, as the blogging gals got together and talked gal stuff. (Note, I was the ONLY one there that was not a mother, though, bless them all, they never ever make me feel less of a person or even that i am missing out on something. They are all just glad to escape the kids for a night, and i am glad to be there with them and maybe, just a teensy bit, be that bad influence friennd, the one who says things like "Oh just ONE more beer can't hurt". I just don't have to much to add to the mix in terms of discussions of baby poop viscocity, texture, color or smell....and that's kind of ok in my mind. I could talk about my own, I suppose, but grown up poop is no where NEAR as interesting as baby poop.) Anyhow, we talked. We laughed. We sorority girl screamed (you know...OHMYGAWD!). Badger looked particularly fetching in her tight jeans tucked into stiletto boots. Girlfriend, you gots a mighty cute ass.

AFter that on to see the Dentones at the Carousel. Everyone should go to a place like the Carousel once in their lives. It's Austin funky supreme. The entire decor is based on a Carousel, with animals and circus themes all around. There is a giant elephant painted directly behind the stage, with a 3d snout. They don't do mixed drinks but you can get a set up there and byob. Beer is cheap. And they have Stella, the dancing barmaid, who's been there for like 50 years but still gets her groove on with the bands. She's awesome.

The band played the P-furs "I'll Melt with You" (though they are not a cover band) so all us gals got up and did our 80's dances. I am rather proficient at the Molly Ringwald myself.

We all got hit on at the Carousel by a young Puerto Rican guy named, of all things, Egil. Yes, a Norwegian name for a Puerto Rican with a Spanish father. Anyhow, he was all over each of us in turn, but in a funny way, not a handsy way, and we all kind of fucked with him and told him we were like, 46 years old. Karla May embellished with tales of boob lifts, face lifts and knee replacements given her by her rich asshole exhusband, who left her anyways for a 23 year old floozy bitch who shall remain nameless (maybe because we were all laughing so hard she couldn't think up a name). One friend (Kristen) told him she was 50, and he was all "DAMN! Jou look GOOOd for feefty". Jes, Jes she do look good for feefty......He told me I had "byooteeful leeeps" and that I am a "beyooteeful ladeee with a beeyooteeful spirit". Thanks dude!

I managed to remain fairly hurt-bucket free, thanks to judicious beer monitoring and lots of water in between times. I spent the night at Karla May's and we had some very intense discussions of various things (damn she's amazing, how'd I luck out in getting her for a ffriend?) and then we pigged OUT on Mexican food for lunch.

Tonight I will muster up courage and cleavage for the Karaoke extravaganza, but you can pretty much bet on it this gal AIN'T singing.....

0 for three

We are now 0 for three on making Griff cry. I think he feels my nervousness. I even look at him and hil little mouth curls in rage. Maybe he really DOES sense my evil nature. Damn. (My evilness does not go in the direction of hurting anyone, by the way. I am pacifist evil. My evil runs more towards innuendo and saucy wisecracks. Small attempts at totalitarian domination. Naughty laughter and humorous fart jokes. Hey, that's EVIL, believe me.) Funny how a two month old creature that can't even really focus his eyes yet rules a household completely. As I am the godmother and will have to hold him at SOME point at his baptism, I am not sure what to do. Wear earplugs?

Um...also, is it a problem that I will be a godmother that doesn't really believe in God? Just wondering. Cuz, you know.

I'm on the deck at Mozart's coffeehouse in Beautiful West Austin on a glorious breezy day. Just cool enough for a sweater, but the sun shines so you stay warm. It bounces off Lake Austin and sparkles in my eyes.

AAACK! BIRDS! Attacking! ME!

A guy just walked away from his VERY yummy looking cake and the grackles attacked it in seconds. Unfortunately I am at the table next to him and grackles totally wierd me out. No amount of waving and shooshing will make them fuck off farther than the radius of my frenzied waves. Their beady little yellow eyes stare and scritchy scratchy feet scramble madly about as they attack his cake. Ew...the cake is red and now they look like they have blood on their beaks.

GAACK! Run away! Run away!

I have an appointment to get my hairs (all 4 million of them) cut at 3pm at Sage Salon. Tomorrow I will go to the eye doctor and get that all checked out...and try to get some contact lenses again, to prove to the world that yes, I have eyes and they are actually quite nice when not hidden behind mondo-trendoid Brit Glasses.

Today I met Bookhart for lunch and she is sporting the most KICK ASS haircut and color I have EVER seen her in...and believe me, I have seen her with every hair color known to man (and some that aren't) and haircuts to boot. She looks AWESOME. Annie Lennox sexie lady confident glam. You GO girl. I'm tempted to do something equally drastic and fabulous, but I do not have her perfectly shaped head...mine is sort of squashed in the back or something. I dunno. I think I have so much hair merely as a way to hide my squashy head. I bet I have moles, too.

OK, altogether, now...1..2..3...EEEWWW!

I make babies cry

I've picked up my godson Griffin twice now. And twice he has FREAKED out. I mean full on SCREAMING.

The kid is giving me a complex. Do I smell bad? Do I have a natural Anti-baby scent? Does he think I will hurt him? Did I squish him?

Oy. I am not good with kids. At least, not until they are like, 6. From 6 until 13 they think I am the coolest thing ever. After that I become wierd in their eyes and I fear it remains so for the rest of their lives. That's ok, I get 7 golden years out of the deal, I'm happy for that.

Rich got home ok after a 5 hour delay on his flight out of Houston. Apparently they took off and then emergency landed as there was something wrong with the plane. Scared the crap out of everyone. They had to replace a part which took a few hours. He had 20 minutes to make his connection in Newark. He is a tired bunny. And stressed.

Today I got to go out to the new outlets north of town with Badger. They had everything I wanted including a Coach outlet. Joy. The wind was gusting something fierce and it was pretty dead out there, as the new IKEA was opening and apparently all of central Texas was there for it. I don't know about you, but camping out to get into an IKEA store first is NOT my idea of fun. Like Badger said, I'll wait til January.

Uh oh. Girffin looked at me. He's about to holler. I think he hates me.....

absolute happiness

The best feeling in the world is driving along the highway in a freakishly fast car, listening to Tom Petty belt out one of his jangly happy tunes, and seeing the sign that says "Austin, 23 Miles".

And you reach the top of a hill on Hwy 290...and there it is...the spire of the Capitol of Texas building. You can see it just there, on the horizon, and it is a warm sunny day and you are driving and singing at the top of your lungs with Tom and his Heartbreakers and you see home just ahead.

I got weepy. Weepy with happy. I was wappy. (Heepy?)

Home. You really don't appreciate home until you leave it. But coming back to it is like having your heart put back in your chest.

Austin I will always love you and you will always be my home.

those wacky college days.

I was always glad I never had to live in Jester Dorm on the University of Texas Campus when I was in college. Granted I spent alot of time there, as my lifelong bud Julia lived there, and my freshman year of college my boyfriend lived there as well, but it always felt ramshackle and GodDAMN it was noisy. Not to mention the piss in the elevators and stairwells. (WHY can't boys just hold it like girls do?)

I was assigned to an all girl's dorm (Blanton) which I protested vociferously at first (WHAT? NO BOYS?), but then came to realize I really liked. After the mayhem of Jester it always felt so peaceful and safe. Kind of like going back in time to the 50's. No boys = clean bathrooms, a semblance of silence, and best of all, the ability to walk back to your room from the bathroom clad in just a towel. Which I did daily. There was also the occasional "sneaking in of the boy" which we all did at some time or another, but we all also pretended to not know when others did it. I love the Girl Code.

Anyhow, here are some reasons why I am glad I did not live in Jester. Greg sorta brought it all home to me in his nostalgic (?) post.

I did, however, enjoy the fried chicken station at Jester cafeteria...I'd have that with mashies and brown gravy and a little teeny salad, just to keep up appearances. That way I could tell my mom I had a salad for dinner.....

Austin Call to Action

I got this email this morning, and am posting it on the blog because it's IMPORTANT. Lloyd Doggett is the ONLY Texas politician who I trust. He's always responded quickly to my questions or concerns. I've met him many times. He's been great for Austin for many years and for those of you in his district who read this, I URGE you to help him out with either a yard sign, volunteer time or a donation. I would love a yard sign, but just don't think it would be very effective here in Norway......(Links or commentary added are my own.) Please help where you can!

_________________________________

Personal Message from Lloyd Doggett:

On Friday, those Republicans that now control our State have filed a congressional redistricting map that alters my district for the third time in five years. The map would pair me against San Antonio Republican Rep. Lamar Smith in a Republican-leaning district. Also, about half of Travis County is moved into the Republican-leaning district of San Antonio Rep. Henry Bonilla.

What Tom DeLay vowed to do -- redistrict me out of Congress, this sorry map is drawn to achieve. Recall it was DeLay's aide who wrote in a key strategic memo: "We must stress that a map that returns . . . [Lloyd] Doggett is unacceptable and not worth all the time invested in this project."

What some extremist Republicans cannot achieve at the ballot box, they scheme to achieve through re-re-redistricting. Enough is enough.

In short, I need your help right now. I need to prepare now for a difficult race. Please let me know by responding to this email (address is votedoggett@gmail.com) if you can help in the following ways:
___ Yes, I can volunteer my time
___ Yes, I would like a yard sign
___ Yes, I can send a contribution

You can mail your checks to "Lloyd Doggett for Congress" to:

Doggett for Congress
PO BOX 5843
Austin, Texas 78763

Or you could simply donate on-live by visiting my website: www.votedoggett.com/english/Donate.asp


Please help me meet this latest challenge.

The federal court that will choose the new map is the same one that previously approved the DeLay gerrymander. If it adopts any new map changing my district, it will cancel my primary victory earlier this year, and force me into a special "open primary" election in November, with a runoff, if needed, in December. Or it may force me into a new, earlier primary – even before November. While much is uncertain, what is certain is that I need your help today.

Too many of my House Democratic colleagues have already been eliminated by Tom DeLay's congressional map that cut and sliced communities across Texas .
Please help me continue to be our voice in Washington against extremists who are running an arrogant, unaccountable, one-party government.

I would also appreciate it if you would forward this request to others who share our vision of America .

Very Truly Yours,

Lloyd

P.S. To help me update my mailing list, please provide me with your address, the best number(s) to reach you, and the email address you prefer I use.

Corporate checks cannot be accepted. Contributions to Doggett for Congress are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. Federal law requires that we collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle.

Stress, soapbox 2.

Gah. I'm stressed.

Do you ever have that? Where you go through a period of time where EVERYTHING stresses you out. And I do mean EVERYTHING.

Like, I just read the Austin American Statesman online. Two articles there have me wired. One, the fucking city council is considering raising the city property taxes. Now, considering that the property taxes on our house in Austin are fast getting to the point where they are more than our mortgage, I get REALLY angry when I see yet another politician saying they want to add to the property tax burden. Especially when the appraisal values have just skyrocketed again. (Seriously. Our house? Not worth that.)
Yeah, I know, Gov. "Hair" Perry, et al, say they have lowered school property taxes, but we all know that 1) it won't be NEAR as much as they say and 2) school property taxes are just one portion of the bloated tax structure and don't include the other five taxing agencies. (And once again the schools get screwed anyhow....) I don't expect much, if any tax relief from that. There has GOT to be a better way than these property taxes. We bought our house because we could afford it. We are rapidly being priced out of our own home! What do people in gentrified areas do? I feel so bad for them. My time in Norway is starting to show and I am lately thinking: luxury taxes! Extra sales taxes on designer goods and expensive stuff! Increase that cigarette tax! Tax the titty bars! Tax the things that people don't need, and for God's sake, leave (healthy) food and shelter alone!

Then I read an article that Las Manitas and Tesoros might close, due to yet another multi-use property high rise being built in downtown Austin. GAH! I find it endlessly ironic that the very things that make people want to come to downtown Austin are the things that are now getting shut down due to its growth! Remember Waterloo Brew Pub? Shut down and replaced with a crappy chain bar. (Does ANYONE go there?) God I still mourn that place. Capitol City Playhouse? Shut for another chain bar. I worked at Tesoros for almost two years, I did their windows and stuff, and I met some absolutely wonderful people there. And Las Manitas closing would be like losing the funky heart of the city. It just KILLS me.

Between the taxes and all my favorite places closing, I am REALLY starting to wonder: Can I ever come home again? Is Austin becoming just another (expensive) McCity?

Can you tell I haven't been sleeping well? Arg.