Crash Course in Awesome!

From the desk of AC1, Mandapants.

Margaritas and sombreros at Juan's!

As most of you know, we are cousins who are full of awesome- however life has not been so awesome lately. We have had a few deaths this year and turmoil in various other areas of our lives, but we forge ahead and are mo better than evaar!

I had a birthday, and we celebrated Cinco de Mayo early in honor of our dearly departed Granddad.

Bubble Gum Flavored Vodka*. . Don't go there.

We floated the Comal river last weekend with the group DTF (Down to Float) it was a shit show but was very fun! Per the norm Sarah flipped her tube but managed to have her stellar instincts kick in and save the cooler of beer that also contained our keys! Way to go COUSIN LOVE!

Not shockingly Sarah has managed to re-secure her internship for the summer . . . and BAM I have a summer job too! I am not sure my job has a description other than "bitch" but I could make some money and if I can stop drooling over my co-worker who is very married (he just dresses so bad I can't help but picture him naked. AHHHHH stop it!) then it may be a good learning experience for me!

Tonight we celebrate our awesomeness and drink to being back on our feet with the Ladies *cough* of Manhattan at the Alamo Ritz. Yes we are paying money to see Sex and The City 2. . .we should be ashamed, but we are NOT! Woot in the words of one of our favorite blondes Lala Myers LETS GET CRUNK!

So in conclusion dust of your party panties and get back out there!

Ta Ta For NOW!

AC1

*This is what is Aquatic Cousin Tested and Aquatic Cousin Not Approved.

Wake up in the morning feeling like I'm having a quarter-life crisis.

From the desk of AC2, Sparker.



Life has been kindof a total shitshow recently. I will give you the briefest of summaries and promise that this post, at least, will have a happy conclusion because it is not in the nature of either Aquatic Cousin to be depressive for long. We embrace, we deal, we move on. We tell the internet about it in the interim.

I would first like to have a moment of silence for the sudden and terrible loss of one Mr. Marmalade "Kitten" Jib-Sheet Parker Hansen. A true Aquatic Pet who loved getting in the shower and putting weird shit in his water bowl, he is deeply missed.

Here's to you, my orange fur-child. May you Scuba Cat in peace for all of eternity.

For the inevitable question: I will probably adopt another cat- stray or shelter- in a few months. There is no way I could do that now. Poor Mr. Kitten was not yet 5 years old and I mourn his giraffe patches and deluded "ability" to climb walls. He also enjoyed whiskey*, so pour one out for your orange homie.

My purse was recently stolen also- and although this mostly is an occasion in which you curse the badness of people around you and possibly your own stupidity, mostly you just revel in what a pain in the ass it is to replace everything you own of vital importance. Including your prescription glasses. (I hope the bastard who stole my shit is really blind and likes ten-year outdated Calvin Klein frames.)

This did, however, also give me the opportunity to get some new frames that are too hip for me AND I found the perfect company to give my hard-earned money to: Warby Parker. Why they are awesome:

• Buy a pair and they give a pair to someone in need
  
• Affordable as hell: $95 for frames and prescription lenses; only $30 more if you're blind as I am and require high-index lenses (so $125 for frames AND lenses, still)
  
• Shipping included (check out the Free Pledge)
  
• Return shipping and exchanges included
• You can have several frames sent to your home for try-on. For free. And return them. For free.
  
• Digital try-ons if you're of the instant-gratification sort
• Just look how fucking hip they all are
  

So: found the silver lining there and I'm excited about that, obviously. GO BUY SOME GLASSES. Or a monocle.

(The ones I chose. The monocle. Only $50.)

In other news, I am currently drafting up a boyfriend application for myself and AC1 since we seem to have dubious luck with men. What sort of questions should we include? I am thinking an initial response to Allie Brosh's Guide to Relationships would be a fantastic indicator of their ability to handle our individual as well as collective awesomeness. Also definitely the following questions:

A pretty accurate depiction of my daily thought process.
Art by Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half.

Preliminary Questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10, how romantic would you find the gift of a unicorn serenade in your inbox? (Note: the only correct answer is 7 or above.)
2. Imagine I were to gain a little extra badonk-a-donk. How would you celebrate this?
3. You have the choice of purchasing me one of the following gifts for my birthday. Which one(s) do you choose? A) God jewelery from James Avery. B) A gift certificate to clone Satan Cat. C) Regretsy Fuck Yeah Level 4 mug, in the stainless steel commuter style. D) A boxed set, collector's edition of Twilight. E) A boxed set, collector's edition of The Dresden Files. F) All of the above. G) Both A&G. H) All but A&G. I) Never B because The Universe would implode. J) socks
   
4. Can you cope with being associated/involved with a family to rival that of Arrested Development?
   
5. Short Essay Question: What does it mean to wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy?

Automatic Disqualifactions include:

1. Currently being in a coma
2. Non-ironic ownership and/or wear of Ed Hardy/Affliction items
3. Belief that the movie Troy was historically accurate
4. Belief that Sarah Palin is a legitimate presidential candidate/should be respected for her work in the realm of feminism
5. Disbelief in the magic and wonder of unicorns
   

I think that's a good working draft. Feel free to leave your contributions in the comments below.

-AC2

*No I was not an abusive pet-owner. I put my whiskey down once to apply makeup, and found the cat licking the ice cubes. . .while it was still full of whiskey. I took it away from him. I didn't even want to find out how expensive cat-rehab was.

ETA: A fun cousin adventure! I promised you one of those. Here's a sneak peek photo. This particular adventure deserves an entry of its own, methinks. ANTICIPATE.

It's best to suffer.

I'm not sure how aquatic Granddad ever was, but we lost him yesterday just the same. We'll miss you, Snad. Here's to that big cigar up in the sky- hope there are cognac fountains and Grammie there waiting for you.

When you lose someone you love, you die too, and you wait around for your body to catch up.
John Scalzi, Old Man's War, 2005

For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.
Johnny Carson (1925 - 2005)

-The Aquatic Cousins

My apartment smells like the Ground Zero of cats.

From the desk of AC2, Sparker.



Mabry has been married for almost two whole weeks, you guys (I nearly typed y'all- after 24 years, it seems Texas is starting to get to me). I read on Fake e-Etiquette that it is polite to apologize for how little you update at least every three blog posts. I know my six (maybe seven now that KT has joined our ranks) loyal readers are routinely on the edge of their seat, waiting for updates in our lives of aquatic wonder and splendor. For this, I must offer my most heartfelt apology and suggest that the next time this happens, Google for pictures of cats.

In the meantime, we'll be building up a back-log of adventures in photo and prose form to dazzle you with on days when we're working for twelve hours in bluebonnet fields, breaking out in rashes- ah, the glamorous life of a photographer's assistant!- or working for twelve hours helping to put on a corporate summit- ah! the glamorous life of an intern!.

Actually I did get a free mug out of that. YES.

I was about this excited. My love of travel mugs is strong.

Good things come to those who wait, y'all. (Damn it.)

-AC2

Filed under: Cousin Weddings- Salsa Dancing, Tequila Loving Cousin Gets Htiched!

Oh shit. Somebody got married.




Congrats to Mabry and Brian- it was a beautiful wedding and the entire family had a smashing time. Enjoy the honeymoon! You can argue about taxes when you get home.














Seriously, everybody needed Kleenex and not just because of all the plant sex flying around in the air, affecting everyone's allergies.

You make a beautiful couple, kids. We love you.

-The Aquatic Cousins

He's not quite Diabeetus Cat, but he'll do.

From the desk of AC2.




We have a guest-cat on our blog today, my favorite obese feline in the whole world- Jung sa ya.

Find more photos of his royal fatness along with tantalizing food porn and recipes at Aquatic Friend Christine's blog Edible Metamorphosis.

You're welcome.

-AC2

COFFE. (Yeah I just made a reference to a typo I made on Twitter this morning. Get excited.)

From the. . .bed* of AC2.

I'm testing something (and there will be many more edits/updates made to the blog in the near future, but hopefully most of them will go undetected). With any luck, you'll be reading this while I'm teaching poor, unsuspecting undergraduates about autoethnography. (Yeah I just sent your ass to Wikipedia, in case you were too lazy to Google.)

I doubt I have an entire hour and fifteen minutes planned- more like maaaybe forty-five- so they're going to love me.

Speaking of which, I should probably finish preparing that lecture. (I have a complete lesson plan and slides from last year, so there's not much left to do. I'm less of a procrastinator than usual. But still really nervous, for some reason.)





Oh come on, you knew this was coming.







Wish me luck and kitten kisses, whatever the hell that is. At least this morning's procrastination has been productive- I paid an overdue bill (damn you City of Austin, for charging me an extra 88 cents!) and am arranging online set up in the future, to save on paper statements. Because I love the Earth.

-AC2

*T set up the Internet connection in my bedroom so we could watch Netflix on the computer in a comfortable, reclined position without cats climbing all over us. Unfortunately my wireless network has worked maybe twice- thanks AT&T!- so I have to be near the Ethernet cord. Thus: I work from bed. This is both amazing and awful at the same time.

ETA: Test appears to be epic fail. Woe. Will investigate at a later time.