Lisa & Mike – a fantastic couple who have been together for 9 years, married for nearly 5. Their wee dog’s name is Diego – Mike’s originally from Memphis and Lisa from San Antonio – she is the prettiest girl I saw in Austin and super sweet. Instead of saying goodbye, she gave me the warmest hug and vanished into thin air…I look forward to seeing them again next I visit that wonderful city.

Papps – Quite possibly the funniest mother fkr I have ever met. We spent an evening making fun of random people in the most politically incorrect way (e.g. we saw a commercial for The Dwarf Family on TLC and it was all downhill from there). At Shakespeare’s there is a television set and I got to watch cable (REAL CABLE!) – excitedly and like a child who’d never seen a television set, I watched with great enthusiasm a show called Weaponizers, and Papps simply watched me or rather, he stared at me in awe and with a little fear as I was “hootn’n hollerin'” when things were blown up on the television. Somewhere in my heart is a white trash girl dying to get out…

Originally from Wheaton, Illinois, Papps moved out to Austin 10 years back. Like myself, he is a cartoon character come to life and has no issues proposing marriage to a woman he’s just met. Apparently, his father — Papps Senior, The Greek — would approve, though his mother wouldn’t like me.

Jay.Dub. – left New Orleans with only his PlayStation one day before Katrina hit. His dad sells farm equipment in Plainview Texas (where Jay.Dub. was born and bred). We talked about gun control…because he owns a gun. A gentleman who tattooed the New Orleans area code on his bicep, next to the Texas flag. Funnily enough, he tends to lean left, or so he says (this is not a reference to politics – but rather to physical leaning – though generally I think he leans left). His tattoos are on his left arm, too. When he lined up that white ball on the pool table, it was sort of to the left. Kind of adorable, n’est pas?

He’s traveled all over the world and knows more trivia than anyone I’ve ever met; also, he didn’t finish uni and he’s a super smart cookie, so I really really do hope he returns…tons of potential in that boy that can be reached would he set his mind to doing so. Super sweet & kind.

Martha Gannon – A tried, tested and true brilliant artist in whose loft I stayed for a part of this trip. She will receive an entry specific to her and her talent…

…that about covers it in terms of people. More stories to come, and finally, some photos (your lame webMistress forgot the charger to her camera’s battery, so lost one full day of picture taking and ended up taking some pics on the berry, and others on two disposable cameras. Dumb. Dumber still is that had it not been for Baby Jane, I would not have thought to pick up a disposable camera, and would have instead kept shaking my fist at the idea of having forgotten my charger. My privileged ass didn’t even know they still made disposable cameras.)