Michael's Texas Embrace

Me and Maggie have been in Tennessee for a whole week, and now we're back in the Texas. It's good to be home, mostly to sleep in my own bed, with its nice, firm mattress and its flat pillows. But we had a really good time! We got to visit with a lot of good people. We got blitzed (Maggie more than me, I had to drive) at midnight sushi, and ended up drinking and talking afterwards till four in the morning with Andrew and James. We went canoeing down the Harpeth river, which was fun even if we didn't flip over at all.

The highlight of the trip was Lisa's wedding. I did a competent job of giving her away, I guess. (That was my second time giving a bride away, if I have a daughter I will so have that job in the bag.) Lisa's wedding reception was one heck of a party. They had barbecue and margaritas and kegs of beer. They also had, if only for a short time:

David Neel: Man among men. Even a brief visit with King Dave brings joy to all. I touched his belly.

Greg and Kim were there, but I don't have a funny picture of me rubbing either of their bellies to post. I'm sorry. Andrew Haun and Jingping (is that one word or two Andrew?) were there. Andrew! She's very cute! Bring her back.

Some high lights of the reception include: Me, Maggie, James, and Carlos all doing our first keg-stands; drinking alcohol on the front steps of a historical landmark (and haunted house); me schooling James and Carlos at a foot race (we were drinking and it seemed like a good idea, and it was! We raced several times. I won them all, mwa ha ha. James rolled head-over-heels in the first race, it was funny. Why did we have a race? I said, "Hey, I'll race you guys to those trees over there." The trees were about 100 yards away. James and Carlos said okay. Somebody counted on you mark, get set, go. Of course when they said go no one moved, so I decided to run all out since no one would be expecting that. James and Carlos followed suit. Carlos quickly stopped, and James fell something crazy because he was trying to put his cell phone and keys in a cargo pocket at the same time. He promptly demanded a rematch. It was great.) Me and Lisa had an all-out, no holds barred "robot" dance-off to "Domo Arrigato Mr. Roboto." Lisa was declared the well-deserved winner, but during out dance we had the floor to ourselves and a captive audience. Go Allen Siblings!



In other news, I got a new job, and on July first, I will become a bank teller with many less customers to deal with, no soccer moms ordering Starbucks drinks that aren't on the menu, and plenty of time to read books on the clock, all to the tune of $1.39 more an hour. Sweet!