Highway to Hell

I never pull out the old lappy in airports or on airplanes, especially after sitting in a “Screen Hacking/Social Engineering” session at DEFCON, but there are always exceptions that need to be made to the rules.

I am sitting in row 20, seat F right now, and let me tell you, American Airlines really skimps on the seat space. This is probably the smallest airplane seat I have ever sat in; a bold statement to make considering how skinny my ass is. I will admit that my complaint spawns from my hatred of flying in general; sitting in a cramped cabin is not my idea of fun, so it is probably best to take this comment with a grain of salt.

I just spent my Rosh Hashanah holiday in Norman with my friends and family. Not being Jewish, I decided to spend my break having some fun rather than repenting for my sins against mankind, since that is what I understand the High Holy Days/Jewish New Year are all about. I flew in to Oklahoma City on Wednesday and was greeted by my mom at the OKC airport. She took me to the soon-to-be parents’ in law house to pick up their spare car which they graciously lent to me for the weekend. A couple of drinks with Daniel at Louie’s, a steak dinner with the family, and the Call of Duty 4 beta until 2 in the morning later and it was like I had never left my hometown a year ago.

Thursday was my “do everything related to the wedding” day. I met with Reverend Spain in the morning -he is the man in charge of presiding over the wedding in December- to work out some of the details of the ceremony. I had not met him before Thursday, so spending an hour with him was a treat; he is a good man and I quickly saw why Megan was set on having him marry us. After the meeting I drove out to Thunderbird chapel to check out the actual location of the ceremony. My mom suggested it as the site after Megan and I became engaged, but I had not actually seen the building until Thursday (you might notice a trend here).

The chapel is just past 108th street on east highway 9, so it is a bit of a drive if you are not accustomed to heading out that way. I thought the drive was really enjoyable for two reasons: the first being that the car I was driving was a really nice Camaro and the second was that driving in and around Norman is relaxing when compared to driving in Los Angeles. The chapel was locked when I got there, but a quick inspection of the side doors revealed that someone was careless enough to not check every door before he left. I welcomed myself in to the building, had a quick look around so as to not get “caught” wandering around unescorted, and made haste to get out there after I saw all of the facilities. Even though the place was kind of trashed due to what I can only suspect was another wedding over the weekend, I am really happy with the location. The pictures do it justice and I think Megan and I will have a beautiful wedding there in December.

Brian, Daniel, dad, mom, and I went to Al’s Formal Wear at 6 p.m. to get measured and reserve our tuxedos for December. Overall I am very happy with how this process went. With the help of the guy working (sorry guy working, I didn’t catch your name), we picked out a two button jacket with notched lapels, a black satin vest, a red tie and pocket hankie, a dress shirt with a standard collar (none of this “folded corner” crap), and shiny shoes because Daniel already has a pair because of his Army dress uniform. I think the ensemble will be sharp, especially for my dad since I do not think mom has ever seen him in a tuxedo.

I spent most of Friday driving around doing errands and enjoying my vacation. After I rolled out of bed at one in the afternoon, I went to Atomic Pop to pick up the first issue of the Halo: Uprising comic and Amazing Spider-Man #544. Both books were a good read, although Spider-Man has taken a rather angsty/constantly bitching about something swing that I am hoping the writers will pull out of in the next issue. After buying the books, I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a new OU ballcap and a t-shirt for Megan. After coming up with nothing at two stores, I decided to pay the premium and go to the OU bookstore on campus since I knew they would have what I wanted.

Being back on campus as an alumnus was weird since I am now an old guy that used to go to school there back in the day. Despite the self-induced awkwardness, seeing the campus again was fun since I think OU has a prettier campus than most colleges. After picking up my gear, I headed over to Megan’s parents’ house to eat dinner and hang out for a bit. They have really lightened up over the last couple of years, so hanging out with them now is pretty fun. While I was at their house, I fixed their cable and worked on their computer since they do not really have anyone to do it for them now that Megan and I live in California. I spent the rest of the night with Brian, Daniel, and Call of Duty 4 (another trend here).

Daniel came down sick on gameday, but was still nice enough to let me use the other ticket even though he was not going to the game anymore. Through a weird set of happenings, I wound up going to the game with Josh, his girlfriend Jana, and Jana’s brother Jason. Jason’s wife decided not to go to the game, so while I was at Josh’s house offering him a ticket (I didn’t know if he was going at that point), he said I could just use their spare and go with them.

Going to the game is definitely in the top three of awesome things I have done this year. Being with 85,000 of my closest friends/Sooner fans is an incredible experience after being stuck in Los Angeles with X million people that only give a crap about themselves. The Sooners destroyed Utah State to the tune of 54-3, just 1 point off of beating the spread. As much fun as it was, I was upset by the fact that some things never really change, no matter how long I am gone. I still maintain that Sooner fans are some of the worst in the nation when it comes to criticising the team. I cannot tell you how many times I heard people around me bitching about a broken play, missed tackle, or dropped pass, despite the fact that they would never be able to do a quarter of the things the guys on the field do in a 60 minute game.

The other aggravation thing was that at least half of the student section cleared out at half time and at least 50,000 people left the stadium before 4th quarter. I never understood why people throw their money away by leaving early; you should be happy that your team is up by 50, not pissed off that it is a blow out. I guess it comes with being a Sooner fan since it has been this way since the beginning of time and nothing is going to change these fair-weather fans’ behavior; does not mean I cannot find it frustrating, though.

Josh, Jana, and I hung out at Josh’s parents’ house after the game and watched the USC/Nebraska game (stupid Nebraska). Again, it did not take long to fall in to the old life: Josh and I used to be attached at the hip, so much so that Josh’s parents treated me like another son, even to the point of grounding me when the two of us did something less than brilliant. Sometime during the evening, I asked if Josh would be one of my groomsmen; he was surprised but immediately accepted. I have been deliberating over this decision for a while now, but after being with him all day, I realized that he needed to be up there with me and not just sitting with everyone else.

Mom made me grandma’s pancakes this morning and I had lunch with Brian, Daniel, and Mike. The trip was over before I knew it and not a few hours ago I was saying bye to my parents in front of the OKC airport. This was only the second time I have been home since moving to Los Angeles, but I swear it was harder to leave today than it was last Christmas. I had not been home for 9 months before this trip; it is easy to forget how homesick you are when you stay busy, but being back in Norman really solidified how much I miss my home. I think Albuquerque is off to my right right now, meaning I am well on my way back to LA. I know I am going to be back in Norman in a few months for the wedding, but it already feels like it is forever away. I feel kind of silly for wanting to get out of Oklahoma as bad as I did before the move. There are things I like about California, but the good of Oklahoma far outweighs the good in LA. We are not moving back any time soon, so really all there is for me to do now is make the most of any opportunity I have to get home. Knowing that, I would say I definitely accomplished that plus some this time around. Thanks for making my trip home a good one, guys.