Highlights from yesterday (Wednesday):

- Had an uneventful trip with very little down time, which was kind of nice, though my legs ached from walking across the Charlotte Airport to reach my connecting flight. The first half of the trip I started to read Families Where Grace Is In Place, which I am loving, and for the second half the the trip I listened to The Moth podcast, which is equally excellent.

- Ate lunch at the Magnolia Cafe. Very funky little restaurant, and I commenced my Austin experience with tilapia tacos- totally delish.

- Spent most of my afternoon clothes shopping. The shirt I wore to Austin was literally the only shirt I brought. I haven’t really been clothes shopping since before my trip to Africa…over a year ago. And the shirt I was wearing was one that I bought in Africa. Somehow buying new clothes has consistenly been pushed to the bottom of my To Do list, to the point where I just wore through everything I owned. Solution? Check out some of Austin’s clothing shops. First the Buffalo Exchange. Got an awesome shirt there for $8.50, plus some bracelets and earrings. Felt very chic. Then Thrift Town, which is a lot like a big Goodwill, with really great deals on clothing. I got another shirt there for $4. I still need a few more things, so I’ll probably check out a more stores today.

(In desperation I tried shopping at Wal-Mart, thinking that they had to at least have some generic t-shirts. NOPE. Apparently Wal-Mart only sells to teenage girls and plus-sized women, and I am neither. Boo on you, Wal-Mart.)

- Drove without incident all around Austin, and then got lost in Kayla’s apartment complex’s parking lot.

- Went to a screening of Zach Galifianakis’ new movie It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It’s kind of a sweet and funny movie but, given the subject matter, it’s also pretty serious, and some of the humor comes uncomfortably close to mocking the mentally ill. But on the whole, it was a creative and well made film, and Zach was really excellent in a fairly serious role. A few of us were talking at the end, and it seemed like the message most people got from the movie was that “everyone has problems”. But I think it’s more than that. I think the real truth is that everyone has a story. Not only problems, but gifts. Not only hard times, but good times too. To me, the real message of the movie was that we each have to find whatever good there is amidst whatever bad stuff we experience, and choose to follow the good.

- Had ice cream at Amy’s after the movie. It’s Austin’s version of Cold Stone Creamery, which I’ve never been to, but can probably be best described as pizza-parlor-meets-ice-cream-shop. The guy behind the counter was literally throwing my ice cream into the air. Since my favorite flavor is Moose Tracks, and there doesn’t seem to be a Texas equivalent (Longhorn Tracks?), I made a mix that came close. It was pretty yummy. Eating ice cream, outside, in October at 10 o’clock at night: it’s just not something we do in New England.

- Spent most of the night snuggling with Oliver the kitten. He’s an adorable little purr-machine who likes to sleep right next to your face. Which was fine, until he decided that my dreadlocks were rope toys made just for him, and as a result, I now have a fair amount of kitten spit in my dreads. The best part about Oliver is that he has the sweetest, most innocuous little mew. Kayla was worried that he might keep me up, but after living with Stephanie the Decibel-Shattering Wailing Banshee, it didn’t bother me one bit.

…and Oliver just got himself stuck behind the DVD shelf, knocking most of them onto the floor as he scrambled to escape. I should probably clean that up.

More tomorrow…