Gwen's blog

Current Events

May 3, Houston: The big one -- the Inprint reading -- occurs at the Alley Theatre on Monday, May 3. Do not miss it or you'll be sorry. I'm not kidding -- I'm going to say the craziest, most intellectual yet hilarious stuff I can think of, and I'll be sharing the stage with the ultra sexy Oscar Casares, too.

June 24, Houston: I'm one of the peeps scheduled to read at Poison Pen, at Houston's famous Poison Girl bar. Besides me, everyone there will be ultra, *super* sexy. Come see me and drink!

June 26, Washington, DC: I'll be reading at the American Library Association conference. Come on down.

My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and make sure my kids won't resent me more than other kids resent their own parents.

Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend. Already did? Well, buy a few more for your friends, then. :)

Monday, October 06, 2008
Life in the Stranger Danger Lane

Someone finally let me in on the secret -- you can put your life in the hands of strangers, in the mornings as well as the afternoons, by getting picked up at your local park-n-ride and hitching a ride into the HOV lane.

Someone on Twitter tried to explain this to me -- said it was called "the slug line" in their city. But I'm such a car-town noobie, I didn't understand what exactly it meant.

You can ride with strangers downtown, for free. You can listen to strangers talk about their lives, and no one makes eye contact.

If you're me, you can try picking up your own hitchers one day. You can pick up two men at 6 AM in your mini van. After they're in your car, you can notice for the first time that your mini van contains, in order of nearness to your passengers:


You know I'm freaking awesome, because I turned around and saw all that, and then I just shrugged. And flowed down the road with my NPR on. Driving like a champ, even though my two male passengers were watching like a hawk, waiting for me to drive poorly. Sticking out my hand when I had to stop short, saving the life of the stranger on the passenger side, as if I'd given birth to him, myself.

The guys were good sports about it. I told them I'd pick them up at the same time next day. But I was lying. Next day, I caught a ride with someone else I'd never seen before. Another silent social contract. Another new face that never looked directly into mine.

The Sad Cowboy

I've been trying forever to tell y'all the story about the sad cowboy singer who works (worked?) at Larry's BBQ Buffet on 290. But I never remember.

Or else, like now, I remember but I can't tell you because I'm too tired. I'm so effing tired right now, I don't even know how I've typed this much so far.

I have a lot of stuff on my Master To-Do List. A lot of work I don't have time to get done.

So the cowboy has to wait. That's all he ever does, anyway. Wait and sing, wait for tips. Wait for someone to cut him a break.

I'm not supposed to tell you this, but

Shh -- one of my children went to his first dance on Friday night. First dance, first date. Shhh! Don't tell him I told you.

We were so happy to see it all go down. It was incredibly normal. Not like my first dance and not like my boyfriend's. But the two of us knew how a first dance was supposed to go, so we worked hard to make it happen for my son.

The girl he went with turned out to be a dud in the most cliched sense. ("I'm mad at you now." "Why?" "Figure it out.") But I'm even kind of glad for that. I pegged her from the start and was hoping they wouldn't start dating for real. I have the feeling I'm gonna be one of those picky-bitchy moms, for whose sons no girl is ever good enough. But oh, well. Everyone has faults, right? Even cliched ones, sometimes.

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8:58 PM #

Comments:

 Nah Gwen. One will be good enough. And when she is she'll be the right one. Really. I promise.


# posted by Blogger Salvation Amy : 9:37 PM  

 I love these postings! Especially the one about picking up the 2 guys and the list of things in your car!! How did the rest of your reading/party at MECA go?? I'm sorry my kids are such hams!


# posted by Blogger ShoeGirl : 1:47 PM  

 I'm probably going to be the no-girl-is-good-enough mom myself. My brother told me that it's too bad my son isn't gay, because there might be a *slight* change that I'd actually approve of one of his boyfriends.


# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 6:24 PM  

 lol--why is it when you become a mom the arm automatically flies out trying to protect your seatbelted passenger when you have to stop fast?

I don't think I ever did that before I was a mom.


# posted by Anonymous shelly : 1:28 PM  

 no girl is ever going to be good enough for my boy I'm sure, and he isn't even a year old :-)

perhaps when the time finally comes for him to go to a dance, I might ask you how it is *supposed* to go - because I don't know or can't remember!


# posted by Blogger pinky pinkerson : 2:43 AM  

 Google reader suggested your blog to me and I found myself reading it instead of working. Thank you! Friday was going down hill and it's starting to look up and now it's lunch time!! Yipee.


# posted by Blogger ~W~ : 12:18 PM  

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