I went in to check on this diary, and it came up at "bad request", like, the page didn't exist anymore, and I thought, oh, disuse, loss, tragedy. but then I typed the url in again and it loaded just fine, so. just the iMac giving me grief again, I guess.

I just got back from the all-nite laundry mat, where I watched Seinfeld and part of Star Trek: Voyager with Dust. I have a much lesser tolerance for both shows, than I once had. But the ambience was nice, and Dustin read bits from Woody Allen's Without Feathers, and that was cool.

"who the hell
needs a wooden horse that size?"

Richard the Taoist is coming by tomorrow morning to take pictures of me, but Richard is silly and happy, and he'll want me to be silly and happy-- and I am, but I'd like to take some moody scowly pictures for a change. or at least sublime and happy.

I overdrew my checking account for the first time. That's exciting. I apparently, foolishly, misunderstood the inner-workings and motivations of a Visa check card, and pissed away seventy dollars. s'all good, tho-- I'm on top of it. Just forcing myself to live lean for the next week or two.

but living lean is good. I eat alot of salad and saltine crackers, and drink Dustin's pear nectar. I spend my time pretty much the same way I was spending it last time I'm posted. jamming, learning, sleeping, jacking off, working, writing, reading. actually, I'm reading a little bit more now. and working a little bit less.

ohhh. and . I've just remembered.

--see, my train of thought was, I work less, I am a bad American, I have no work ethic, I take off-- oh, I lie to my employer to that I can pursue my kero-wacky impulses across America, I am the perfect American.

that's what I did.

The morning of our National Tragedy--

and I feel that word, it's like the word Duration during WWII. You didn't say, "we're gonna keep taking up these panty hose until the war ends"-- you said, "We're gonna collect nylons. for the Duration."

The morning of our National Tragedy. I left Devon's and drove back to Knoxville, to the Olive Garden, to find Dorina, see if she was okay. She was, for the most part. a little frantic, a little shakey, a little fuck-it-let's-go-to-New-Mexico. and I was a little, "okay."

So we went to New Mexico. Every town we stopped in, I picked up the local paper, splattered with headlines like, "PAIN AND TERROR" and "EVIL HAS COME".

mmm. If you care for it, here is a detailed outline of our trip:

9/12/01

10:10-- leave Dorina's house. her parents, disapproving. my parents, blissfully unaware. people, shellshocked and friendly.

10:05-- McDonald's drive-thru: bacon, egg, & cheese biscuit value meal w/ hashbrown and large OJ. ($3.25)

10:25-- gas station: energy pills (yellowjackets, so fucked-up you can't even get them at most gas stations), gas ($3), USA Today, fig newtons and gum.

10:30-- enter Interstate 40 West. "Mr.Jones", Bob Dylan.

11:11-- spirits high. pass Space Car From Maryland. it's a Diablo VT. oooh.

11:14-- pass sign for vasectomy reversal. Al thinks, "oh, boy parts. NSYNC." this begins a long journey of self-discovery, in which Al connects everything to NSYNC, even when she's on a pilgrimage.

11:21-- pass the General Lee. delight.

12:15-- exit onto Highway 231 to Murfreesboro. we're going to try to find Harlan (Dorina's brother) and say hallo. He cooks steaks at a restaurant called "Santa Fe".

12:45-- stop at a restaurant called "Toots", to get directions to Santa Fe.

1:22-- we couldn't find Harlan. he is elusive. enter I24 West to Nashville. "Tearin' Up My Heart", NSYNC.

1:50-- we rejoin I40 West to Memphis. I40 is the new Route 66. Praised be man, he is existing in milk. "No Strings Attached", NSYNC.

2:28-- Al is displaying no suggestion of discontent, but Dorina says, "if you're bored, you can get the LMU parking sticker off of my window."

2:30-- Al breaks out the butterfly knife.

2:38-- Al SMASHES puny sticker!

3:15-- stop in Springbrook, TN to refuel. ($14.60)

3:24-- re-enter I40 West towards Memphis. "We At It Again", Timbaland & Magoo.

3:51-- we pass the Maryland Space Car again! continuity! fuckin' A, man!

4:44-- enter Arkansas. ahhh. there's this big forest fire looking thing on the horizon, and all the trees are suddenly weird, and they all look like they're waving and/or running away from something. and it's so fuckin' flat. Every once in a while, Dorina or Al will say, "there's-- what the fuck is this?"

5:30-- exit #233 into Palestine, Arkansas, at Al's behest. drive around a little bit. look at Palestine.

5:50-- I40 West, listening to radio interviews. there's this guy talking about how he works in NYC, and how he was riding a plane in and he saw the smoking scab where the Trade Center used to be, and he felt sick.

6:45-- exit into Galloway, Arkansas, on Dorina's impulse. drive around, looking for town-stuff. don't find it. Al sees her first swamp. bet you didn't know they had swamp in Arkansas. listening to Tori Amos' "A Case of You". Al thinks of Lise. and then NSYNC.

6:57-- I40 West. "Praise", Kinnie Star.

7:25-- fuckin' famished. all we have to eat in the car is fig newtons. exit 127 into Conway, Arkansas. looking for steak!

7:26-- find steak! Colton's Steakhouse and Grill. ($23) one of those places you can throw your peanut shells on the floor, but not authentic enough to be, like, inexpensive. staffed entirely by frat boys and sorority sisters. waitress sucks, Al tries to get away with tipping her a buck-- Dorina disapproves, leaves extra cash. throw peanuts at each other.

8:40-- leave restaurant. wander around the Faulkner Plaza. visit the Hobby Lobby. Dorina finds a two-pack of glow-in-the-dark putty; says to Al, what do you think, do we need a two-pack of glow-in-the-dark putty? Al is supposed to say, yes! but she frowns and says, no. Dorina looks disappointed. Al is supposed to sleep after she's eaten steak, or her mind gets weird. she feels bad, later.

9:00-- refuel ($11)

9:08-- I40 West to Fort Smith. "Shadow Magnet", Lisa Gerrard.

10:24-- Clarksville rest-stop. Al is amazed with Dorina's longevity. she's like fuckin' Wolverine, man.

10:39-- I40 West to Fort Smith. "The Wheat", Gladiator score.

11:15-- exit into Alma, Arkansas.

11:30-- get a single at Meadors Inn. ($33.28) crash hard.

9/13/01

12:10-- on the road again, after breakfast at Foothills Family Restaurant ($8.50). Dorina and Al are like, what the fuck, these are foothills? these aren't foothills!

12:13-- I40 West. "Freedom", Diana Ross & the Supremes.

12:23-- cross over into Oklahoma. "Oak la hah ma! Oak la hah ma!!"

12:33-- pass over the Big Skin Bayou.

1:20-- exit into Lotawatah, Oklahoma. lookin' for watah. Dorina sees her first longhorn steer.

1:40-- can see the watah, but can't reach it. resume I40 West. South African gospel.

2:15-- exit 212 into Schoolton to get gas ($13.50) and a cherry pie ($1.25).

2:30-- I40 West to Oklahoma City. Al pesters Dorina until she tries some of the cherry pie. she likes it. "History of Bop", Jack Kerouac.

2:32-- see bumper sticker that says: "bumper sticker".

3:45-- all this way and we haven't gone shopping yet. exit 108 to the Cherokee Trading Post, for souvenirs and snacks. ($35)

5:10-- I40 West. "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", Eve and Gwen Stefani.

5:27-- pass a building w/ sign: "JC's Cowboy Club". oh, my god.

5:59-- Dorina admits that NSYNC's "Do Your Thing" is, possibly, a cool song.

6:28-- enter Texas. Dorina dances! she reminisces about the PeeWee Herman movie.

6:43-- Al sees a giant cowboy hat that turns out to be just a tree. That should give you some idea of the trees, here.

6:45-- exit in Lela, Texas. take pictures of prairie and pie lady.

6:56-- I40 West to Amarillo. Al is singing Eric Clapton's "Leila". Leila, won't you ease my troubled mind.

7:14-- see giant sky shark.

7:30-- exit into Groom, Texas for gas ($14.56) and restroom. Did you know they have the world's largest cross in Groom, Texas? It's big and white. and. yeah.

7:52-- I40 West to Amarillo. "I Changed the Name of This Town", Lucinda Williams.

9:20-- enter New Mexico. antique revived Lost Girls mecca. This is it.

9:50-- exit 333 onto Route 66. Tucumcari, New Mexico. looking for hotel.

10:10-- Relax Inn, room #6, $20.08.

10:30-- Al calls Devon. Devon offers to read Al a poem that she wrote, about the National Tragedy. Al asks Dorina if it would be okay, Dorina says, umm-- Al tells Devon she'll call her back, gives the phone to Dorina. Dorina calls her family. turns out, Harlan had gone to Dorina's home, looking for her.

11:10-- head out to find food in Tucumcari.

12:00-- find Denny's. ($11.29) they are understaffed; Dorina and Al spend thirty minutes playing loose change hockey with forks and butter knives. it's good times.

1:30-- home; bed.

9/14/01

11:30-- Al gets up early and smokes a cigar. she doesn't know why. Goes and gets donuts for herself and Dorina from this little donut shop that's right next door. there's a For Sale sign on it, and Al thinks what it might be like to own a small nothing donut shop on Route 66, in a nest of motels perched on the edge of desert.

12:15-- set out, Route 66 West.

12:26-- see sign: "JC heating".

12:30-- stop at store called "Things". buy souvenirs. ($21)

1:45-- Route 66 West to parts unknown.

2:13-- it turns out, Route 66 doesn't actually lead anywhere anymore. commence random wandering.

3:25-- stop at an old house on the side of the road, which was been tossed and turned by tornados. meet a praying mantis.

3:44-- State Highway 252 South, to House, New Mexico. this is just hours and hours of nothing to either side of you. No people, no sign of people. The occassional big pile of dirt, which is unlikely to have come into being on its own, sometimes with a sign that says "government property". but other than that. Mesas, baby. there are mesas.

4:19-- Highway 84 to Ft. Sumner, final resting place of Billy the Kid.

4:30-- visit grave of Billy the Kid. really, I mean, he was just a punk kids. some talented punk kid. Which Dorina and Al are, too. buy stuff. ($23)

5:45-- full service gas station! Dorina is completely faklempt. serviced by the dynamic duo, George & Bix. ($13 for gas, and Dorina freaks out and tips $2)

7:15-- enter Roswell. visit Roswell Wal-Mart. it is weird. all the people seem to be cautious with us.

9:00-- Pizza Hut. see above. weird.

10:10-- Crane Motel. ($28.50)

10:30-- Al calls Devon, but things are off-kilter. She argues with Devon about the difference between revenge and justice. Dorina digs out Al's teenie magazines and reads NSYNC interviews.

11:00-- Dorina calls her family. Al goes outside and smokes a cigar. She doesn't like Roswell. she's, um. She's having an imaginary conversation with Justin Timberlake. she doesn't know why.

and there's more! Stayed tuned for the exciting conclusion of . .

I don't know, something clever. It's late. bed, now. I have to get up early and be silly and happy for the Taoist.

love, babe.

Alestar
***
I fell for the girl that's on TV.