We’ve had a fun couple of weeks since my last post. Most notably I have finished my externship and am now working an honest to goodness job, that I’ll actually get paid for! *grins* It’s entertaining how exciting that is, but the thought of my first pay check in over a year is definitely a happy one. Aside from a few burns it’s all going well.

After a change, DmentD and I went for a picnic lunch in the park one Saturday, with a mini adventure all rolled in. We were trying to find the Gus Fruth park.. and failed! We found two entrances to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, which  is more of a trails area, hiking and biking than a sit and read. So we decided to go to Zilker park, which was closed for construction or something. Across the street was a park, some trees for shade, some benches.. but we couldn’t find a car park! We drove around several times, but couldn’t find an entrance that wasn’t Barton Creek (which involved paying for parking) so we ended up parking under the highway and running across the road! We had a nice couple of hours, sat in the shade reading and eating our sausage sandwiches, people playing disc golf nearby and the city skyline in the distance.

We headed home to be taken out to the ice cream festival. A bit of a let down, probably more interesting if you were taking part in one of the competitions, but fun to walk about, and try some ice creams.

We had some of DmentD’s family in town for a couple of days, I had to work but got to join in the fun in the evenings. We took them to the regular tourist eating places (all we know how to do in this town is eat.. don’t ask us for sightseeing tips *grins*) Rudys, Amys, and of course a trip to the Alamo. We went to see Ponyo, the new Miyazaki film. It was cute. I think having made it to be aimed specifically at children it lost out on some of the detail and depth usually associated with his films, but it was definitely fun and cute and worth seeing.

We’ve been to see lots recently. District 9 and Inglorious Basterds as well as Ponyo. District 9 was interesting, the point was made, you came out with the distinct feeling that humans are evil, but it was well done, and entertaining to the end. Inglorious Basterds, was not quite what I was expecting plot wise, but fulfils everything you expect from a Tarantino film. It was fun to watch, and only had one point that made me feel a little squeamish.

This weekend also saw a brief foray into zombie makeup. It was Martin Whitmore’s birthday (if you follow DmentD you’ll have seen him mentioned there). A night of zombieoke was to ensue. Thursday night we shredded some clothes (we went as Christmas zombies as they were the only clothes we had we were willing to destroy so throughly) and splattered them with paint. Friday night the greasepaints came out and with the aid of some liquid latex and some gelatin and food dye, two new zombies were created. It was a good night, once we found the place, though neither DmentD or I sang at all. A video of The Internet Is For Porn will follow, when I figure out how to get it onto the site.

The best part of the weekend, something I’ve been looking forward to for months, was going to see Wicked. And it didn’t disappoint, at all. We were up in the gods once more (the compromise we had to make, since we went to four shows this season), though the seats turned out really good. The upper balcony had an “arm” down either side, and we were on the end of the row.. I was expecting a bit of a gap between the seat and the edge of the balcony, but there was none, I was right against the railings. They were fantastic, as it meant we had nobody on our way at all.. we were just a little dubious about standing up since the railings weren’t even waist high.. there was no standing ovation given, however much I wanted to, a sneeze and my glasses would have gone flying *grins* never to be seen again!

The show was wonderful! A few plot changes made from the book, but they made for an easier tale to get across in a couple of hours. The set was an interesting design, while not strictly mentioned in the show (in passing a couple of times) it was the Dragon clock, with the dragon at the top overlooking it all. The costumes were well designed.. and well, I don’t think I have a bad word to say about it *grins* If you get the chance, go see it