Not Exactly a Crisis on Multiple Worlds

So one of the things that makes DC Comics a bit tough to get used to is the fact that the stories of DC Comics don't take place on just one plane of reality. In Flash #123, it was revealed that there was a parallel world to Flash's own where time was running slower. This enabled Barry Allen to team up with the original Flash (Jay Garrick).

Later, it was revealed that there were an INFINITE number of other earths that Superman, Flash and Co. could visit. One Earth might be a place where Superman and Co. are evil villains. Another might be a world where everyone is a cute, talking animal. Another might be a world where the Nazis won. Pretty typical sci-fi boilerplate by today's standards, I think...

That idea was kicked to the curb for about twenty years, but recently made something of a comeback as, really , hopping between dimensions and discovering evil images of yourself, (a la Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror") is an idea comics just love coming back to, as well as just throwing our heroes into worlds where things are a bit off from the everyday.

Anyhow, I bring this up because any time Jamie is out of town for more than a day, I am sort of left wondering "what if"? What if, for some reason, I were left to my own devices?

At this point, I've now been with Jamie my entire adult life. We started dating 13 years ago this month. At 33, that's officially more than 1/3rd of my life. So I really have no perspective on what life would have been like had Jamie and never started dating.*

So, what is Ryan of Earth 2 like?

Would I be living in Austin? Would I have followed my current career path (such as it's been the last year)? I can say that I made a decision to stay in Austin when graduating college rather than heading to NYC or LA (with film degree in hand) based partially on a sudden disinterest in film (I had visions of historical documentary and wanted to try for grad programs), and partially because Jamie and I were making long-term sorts of plans.

So unless you can peer into the crystal ball, it's impossible to know what would have become of me. Obviously when Jamie goes away for a few days, she's still coming home again (I hope) and, tellingly, we call each other multiple times each day when we're apart. So I don't think about some imaginary lady or something who would be around if Jamie were not (but I think it's safe assume I would now be Mr. Lynda Carter).

Left with no Jamie or Lynda Carter, what would Ryan do with his time?


Mrs. League of Earth 2?

Even that is difficult to determine. After all, I've got our joint dogs and a cat to contend with who are especially needy when Jamie isn't around to dole out an endless stream of attention and hugs. The TV I watch when she's around or not is pretty much the same as Jamie DVR's anything she thinks I might not be interested in (ie: Project Runway).

I think, were Jamie not around, I'd be a lot grouchier. Jason was always happy to comment on my surliness through my teen and early college years, and I think Jamie puts me in a much better place. I know Jamie has made me a better person in many, many ways. She's given me something to focus on outside of myself, and shown me what real strength can be in the face of incredible challenges, all while never becoming bitter. That's no mean feat.

But as I say, there is no Ryan of the past 13 years without Jamie. So who knows... Ryan of Earth 2 could easily have been a hobo drifter, a Dell tech support rep, a frustrated gaffer working on the latest Hilary Duff movie... Possibly a pirate. I've always been interested in starting a piracy (see: Mirror, Mirror). But we're pretty pleased with how things turned out on Earth 1.

This time around while Jamie's out of town, I actually have a pretty busy schedule. Mini-golf tomorrow. Then possibly catching up with a friend in town for a festival Saturday afternoon and the game Saturday night. My time to get the house back in order is a bit minimal.

*A quick qualifier: Jason will bring this up, because he can never leave well enough alone... It is true that I had been dating a great girl just prior to starting to date Jamie. It is most likely that was about to end for various reasons had Jamie entered the picture or not.

Things That Make Me Sad

1) Beverly Hills Chihuahua has been #1 at the box office for two weeks. It has earned $55 million domestically. here

2) There is a line of Beverly Hills Chihuahua stuff at Petsmart. Just say no. Dogs are not dolls.

3) Spoiler: Jonathan "Pa" Kent died in Action Comics #870 last week.

4) No matter how much time you have, it's never enough

5) This year when watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", I will know that both Charles Schultz and Bill Melendez are no longer with us

6) I talk a lot of smack about the future of comics being online, but I still only read Achewood and re-runs of Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts online for the most part. Other than that, I depend on Leaguers sending me funny strips. I never made it through Zuda's "Bayou", as I decided I'd rather wait to see if they printed it. They did not. I never got around to spending $60 this year to read back-issues of Marvel.

7) I will never read 99% of what I probably should, and, that roughly translates to option paralysis

8) Movies like Ratatouille get forgotten in favor of lesser films

9) Sometimes I don't know what it is that Lucy would like when she obviously wants something....

10) Too much of the time, I am not the change I am looking for

The Neverending Story of the Floors and Not-Living in Your House

Our furniture is back in the house, but I am now struck with the realization that I (and mostly likely I alone) will be putting all the stuff back on the shelves, etc... while Jamie is in Berkeley yukking it up with Douglas.

No worries. I'm just glad to have the furniture back in the house so I can sit on something other than cement.

My blogging has been a little light lately, I suppose, at least from a content perspective. Probably a product of a busy schedule and that I haven't been thinking "what shall I blog about?" so much as "what's on the agenda today that I need to get done?".

Things should be slowing down considerably for the next few days, and I admit that I'm looking forward to less-to-do. But I am not excited that Jamie will be AWOL until Sunday. Ryan sort of go crazy when Jamie go out of town...

Happy B- Day, Funky L

You'll note we already had a bit of a celebration, but happy birthday to Lauren.

May this next journey around the sun be greater than the all those before, but be just the first of many, greater journeys to come.

Weekend and Whatnot

Lauren's B-Day at the Salt Lick

I have no photos, but on Saturday evening we headed out to the Salt Lick to celebrate the birthday of Lauren. Unfortunately, Jason and I took the "all you can eat" option as some sort of physical challenge, and so when Letty presented us with rum cake and Lauren with Pumpkin Pie, we could only have a bite of each. Jamie ALSO took the thing as a challenge, but I don't think she walked away with the same food-baby that Jason and I wound up with.

Anyhoo... this week is Lauren's B-Day, so everyone wish her the best as she turns... I'm not sure. 39? 17? Something in there.

We saw some friendly faces, caught up with Letty and Juan G. who recently visited Yellowstone, met some friends of Lauren's I'd not met before, and all-in-all, had a swell time.

In-Laws Now 100% More Texan

In the madness this week, I failed to mention that my in-laws, Judy and Dick, have moved to San Marcos, just south of us by about 30 minutes.

They've lived in Lawton, Oklahoma since the 1970's. Judy grew up in Central Houston (by the Bell building, if you know it), and then they did a stint in San Antonio when Dick was in the service (the Fighting 101st Dentists, I believe). Now they're safely tucked into the edge of the Texas Hill Country, not far at all from Wonder World Drive (if you know the area).

We are, of course, thrilled to have them here. I think it's safe to say Jamie and I are pretty close to both sets of parents, so not having to drive six hours to see them will be a welcome change.

My folks are actually closing on a house next week, I think, in Steiner Ranch, with plans to move out there in 2011 or so.

Wow, that sounds so futuristic.

Saturday - Day

The dudes finished at our place on Saturday, painting the living room and kitchen. It looks very, very different.

I've long wished for something other than white walls (a major issue for me in our house in Arizona), but it's pretty clear the builder assumed you were going to paint, and only put up the cheapest of white paints around the house to begin with.

So that's done. Sort of. We need to get the base-boards touched up.

We then watched the Red River Rivalry game at Jason's house while the guys painted, grabbed lunch with my parents at Central Market, then headed back to pay the guys.

We are moving everything back into the house on Tuesday morning. Then we'll probably have to move things so we can put down rugs later, but we need to save up for a while before that happens.

Sunday

We picked up a water-splatter mat for Lucy and Mel's waterbowl, then headed to Taco Express (aka: Mary's, Maria's), which in true Austin Institution fashion has mediocre service, decent food, and a horrible layout which is all but a people-mill.

But, as with most places with decent food, once you sit down, you sort of forget about the hassle.

Last night Jamie and her mom went to the "So You Think You Can Dance?" tour. Which, you know, I'm not judging anyone... They seemed to have fun. Jamie's dad (who is devoid of a cool nickname, so we'll need to come up with one) and I did some stuff around the house, then hung out til Judy and Jamie returned.

Return of Dogs

A special thank you to Jason for housing my dogs since Monday night. They're a handful, especially with Mel's stubbornness and Lucy's endless energy, so my kudos to the man.

They came home yesterday, and were obviously terribly confused by (a) the lack of furniture, and (b) the new slidy-ness of the floors. Mel took a few minutes to adjust. We'll have to put some rugs down for Cassidy, I'm thinking.

Last night Lucy came and slept in bed. I woke up this morning with Lucy sprawled out near me and Mel on the floor (he rarely comes upstairs). Neither came down with me when I left for the day. I think they're sticking to familiar territory and carpeting.

UT Hits #1 in rankings (this week)

I'm not talking academics, I'm talking about what really matters for alumni: Football.

Mack Brown's kids soundly defeated OU, and for some reason, the AP Poll vote talleys placed them at #1. A dangerous place to be, as this now changes the game to "who can knock the #1 team off their pedestal?"

And the UT season is really just heating up. We've now got to face other competition such as Tech (always a hard opponent) and Missouri.

I'm happy as heck if we stay high enough in rankings to end up in a BCS game. To me, that far exceeds a winning season. As every Texas fan knows, the games that matter are OU and A&M, so we're now 1 for 1. But A&M also always goes nuts on UT in that game (see: last year).

Anyway, UT has already exceeded my expectations all year. Hopefully they can win the rest of the season, too.

Hook 'Em.

UT wins (a big surprise)

So, I had gone into today's UT game believing that #1 ranked Oklahoma would surely rack up about 45 points, and we'd get, maybe 35. It was a test not to see if we could beat Oklahoma, which we surely could not, but to see how we would stack up against the rest of the teams we would be playing.

As you probably already know, UT won the game 45 - 35. And if the refs hadn't made that horrendous "roughing the kicker" call (which was really just the kicker cramping up again after his ill-advised running play), who knows what the final outcome would have been.

"At least it's a good game" we were saying well into the 3rd quarter, pleased that UT was keeping pace with OU. And then UT took the lead, and... well... 2008 just got better in a lot of ways.

I have no idea where UT is headed BCS-wise, but I know Colt McCoy and Co. now have a huge target painted on their backs for the remainder of the season. I am now believing we could very well end up in a real BCS bowl this year.

Whoo-hoo!

Oh, and a very special welcome to Texas for my in-laws, who just moved to San Marcos from Oklahoma this week.

Happy Birthday to Meredith B.

The League figures we won't remember to do Meredith B. the solid next year, so a happy birthday wish to Meredith B.

I met Meredith, originally, in elementary school when we both attended Haude Elementary. Mere and I were in a play together, "How the Sea Got Salty" (or something along those lines). I played "The Poor Boy" who goes mad with power when he steals a magic salt shaker from elves (I feel like I've taken crazy pills even as I describe the play), and Meredith played "Gabby Goblin".

We later went on to be several plays together in high school, and were sort of bossy to lower classmen together as Seniors. We were in:

The Crucible
You Can't Take it With You
Watch on the Rhine
Rhimers of Eldritch
Rumors
All My Sons

And probably something I'm missing. But we spent a LOT of time together backstage and in and outside of school. Sometimes with The League's own Jill H-W. I know we also had Junior year English together, because I think Jill was in there, too... And so was Denise...

Wow... there's a lot of Ms. Richard's 1991-1992 Honors English class represented at LoM. If only David Parajon, Laura A. and that Beth girl who sat in front of me would show up...

Meredith and I were supposed to go to summer drama camp together, and then she headed off to North Carolina for drama camp and I went to UT for camp. Not so surprisingly, she headed off to NC for school. But before that, we hung out quite a bit.

Meredith is also the only person I know who has almost, literally, crashed into a bus full of nuns (I doubt she remembers this, but I remember the looks on the faces of those nuns as if it were yesterday).

Younger readers will be shocked to learn that people once sort of lost touch with one another as e-mail and Facebook did not exist. But, now that they do, I am happy to be back in touch with Mere and hear she and the Family B. are doing well in NC.

You can keep up with Mere at her blog.