Oops I fell asleep before blogging yesterday.  I was soooooo exhausted from ten hours painting my room.  So let's recap: see this beige-colored room?  Madre has instilled in me a strong aversion to unpainted walls.  Thus, I crave color.  Oh, and I need to inform you that I have never painted a room all by myself.  (Again, cue Celine Dion.)  I've always had help from a friend or Madre or Padre.  (Brother has yet to contribute.)  I've also managed to never re-paint a room to its original color - somehow I've always escaped that.  Anyway, I know myself, and I am messy.  So I needed to take extra precaution, seeing as all my stuff was already moved into my bedroom.  

Hello plastic drop cloth!  My saving grace for this paint project.  I would absolutely not want to do anything to ruin this awesome lime green couch.  It's without a doubt my favorite piece of furniture.  It was my great-grandmother's couch.  I called dibs on it all the way back in 8th grade when I went to visit for Thanksgiving.  Then Aunt Kris snatched it up to neglect it in her office.  (Kidding, kind of.)  She took very good care of it, but I knew that it deserved to be displayed more prominently.  At my old house, la beast designed our entire living room around one lime green pillow.  I saw an opportunity to gain possession of my beloved couch and ran with it.  Now the couch is in my bedroom, but the beige walls were doing nothing for it.  Just one more reason to paint. 

All my furniture crammed into the center of my room.  It took some fancy finagling on my part to keep everything covered with only two extra drop cloths.  

The finished product? 

Soooooo much better, right?  

See how the Tiffany blue brings out the lime green in the couch?  Love. it.  This is the view from my bedroom door.  

Yes, I  notice the empty wall above the couch.  Don't fear.  I have big plans for it.  There's only so much a girl can do in one day, though. 

This is my little tv-watching nook.  

and the view from my tv-watching nook to the rest of my bedroom.  Again, love. it.  I still haven't hung anything on the walls except those curtains, but all in due time.  I'll keep you posted. 

Now, don't think that I was neglecting the list amidst all this painting.  Last night I embarked on my first adventure to Weirdos. 

Tucked away in north Austin, Weirdos is full of little treasures.  We were not inside for longer than two minutes, so I can't describe that part to you at all, but let's venture outside, shall we? 

There is a stage with live music and several sand volleyball courts.  Wait, what if you get dirty playing sand volleyball?

Have no fear.  Weirdos is outfitted with two outdoor showers, as all classy establishments are. 

To keep things extra interesting, we created a game that encouraged us to mingle with the other Weirdos patrons.  The gentlemen came up with three topics: 

1. baby seals

2.  Telemundo

3.  lockjaw

For every topic we discussed with a member of the same gender, we earned one point.  For every topic we discussed with a member of the opposite gender, we earned two points.  I also issued a "no-swoop" decree for the night.  There are times when I am extremely appreciative of a "swoop" in from my guy friends, to help me escape an awkward or creepy encounter, but at Weirdos I wanted to soak in all the awkwardness and creepiness. 

I should mention, in case I haven't yet, that I'm highly competitive.  I was determined to win this game.  All I needed was an excuse to go talk to some fellas.  

Enter Nick.  I didn't know his name yet, but Nick was sitting in between two other fellas at the far picnic table outside.  His shirt had a brand name on it with which I was not familiar.  Done.  I'll just ask him how to pronounce it.  Because that's a normal reason to approach a stranger, right?  Uh, okay.  

Me:  Hi, I was just looking at your shirt and couldn't help but wonder how you pronounce that word.  Is it "ROOl" or "rue-EL?"

Nick:  It's "ROOl."  

Me:  Oh okay, and I guess it's based in New York, huh?  (It said Grenwich Village underneath the brand name.)

Nick:  Yeah.  (long pause)  So, is that really why you walked all the way over here?  (How could Nick see through my well-executed and subtle approach?)

Me: Okay, no.  What I really came over for is to see how  you feel about baby seals. 

(At this point, introductions were exchanged and I learned that Nick sat in between Matt and Andrew.)

Andrew:  To tell you the truth, I don't care at all about baby seals.  I know there's the whole Gulf thing right now, but whatever. 

Me:  I see.  So, even if all the baby seals in the Gulf right now are getting lockjaw as a result of the oil spill, you don't care?

Andrew: Nope. 

Nick: Hey do you have a cigarette?  

Me:  I don't, sorry.  (Back to Andrew) I guess you're not following much of the oil spill coverage, then.  So what do you normally watch on tv?  Telemundo?  

Nick:  Dude, my mom works for Univision. 

Me:  What is that?

Nick:  They're Telemundo's competitor.  

Me:  Are you serious?  

Nick:  Yeah.  They do both radio and television, though.  She works on the radio side.  

Six points.  Piece o' cake.   At this point, Nick enlisted my help to go acquire a cigarette from another Weirdos patron.  Obviously, he envied my smoothness and ability to approach anyone without appearing creepy.  I was happy to oblige.  

My girls Chrystal and Jennifer were back at the table collecting photo documentation of the whole thing. Very subtly.  

Nick:  Uhh, why is your whole table staring at us?  (Flash goes off) And taking pictures?  

Me:  Oh, don't worry about that.  Back to baby seals...

The guys and I returned to the table to compare point totals.  Donnie technically covered all three topics, earning him six points, but he gave one point to Robert for an assist.  I was not going to risk losing the competition, so I marched across the lawn to talk to two southern dudes.  One was wearing a cowboy hat, so I figured they were safe.  As I introduced myself and got to know Milton and Shannon (the one wearing the hat), Donnie walked up to hand me a piece of paper.  The girls say you'll know what it means.

The paper had the following written on it: 

1.  Sex and the City

2.  Blueberries

3.  Home Shopping Network

New topics!  I had to abandon my previous plans and think on my feet, but I managed to hit all three conversation points.  (For the record, both men are completely opposed to the home shopping network.  They also enjoyed a few different desserts on the 4th of July, but none contained blueberries.  Blackberries only.  They had seen only the TBS-edited tv version of SATC, not the HBO version or either movie installment.)

With twelve points under my belt, I was happy to declare my victory and call it a night.  

I have some big plans on the agenda for tonight, so prepare yourselves for some good reads.