A Capitol Day

Q. How can you tell if a politician's not lying?
A. He's not there.

There you go, I've taken an old joke, with only a slight limp, and made it totally lame! My parents and I visited the State Capitol today, and found our experience much pleasanter for the fact that the Lege was nowhere to be seen. I thought they were supposed to be in session right now. Probably all out ice-fishing.

We made a leisurely traverse of the ground floor, a quick trip to the second, and a jaunt to the underground annex (still, in my opinion, about the coolest place ever - even more so in the dead of night when no one else is around and you keep expecting somebody to come and kick you out) before heading over to the Capitol Visitors' Center, where I'd never been before. It's housed in the old General Land Office building; and because William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) once briefly worked there, they have a room dedicated to information about and pictures of him, as well as (I guess) his old desk. Did you know he had a terribly tragic life and died at only 47? His only son died just a few days after birth. Both his wives and his only daughter died of tuberculosis. So think of that next time you go to the pun-off.

There's a Texas Travel Information Center there. It was staffed by employees of my agency, of course; and it was a shock to see them - only one head apiece, and the same number of eyes and appendages that normal people have; and they were speaking clearly and articulately and being friendly, sociable, and funny!

"Oh my God," I said to my parents as we were walking back to the car, "I think Travel Division people might be normal!"

That job I applied for (not my own job, I mean, but the other one) is in the Travel Division. I really hope they call me. I wonder what it would feel like, being normal?

We also had lunch at Fran's, and drove past a few of the 10-foot guitars, variously decorated by local artists, distributed throughout the city. Sam Hurt's is on 2nd Street, in front of the Austin Children's Museum. I haven't seen any I didn't like, but my favorite so far is on the hike-and-bike by Auditorium Shores. You are the guitar, looking out. You see hands poised to chord and strum, then a cord leading to an amp, then the edge of the stage, then a crowd of happy grooving people, then beyond them the Austin skyline on a brilliant sunny day. Everything is painted at the angle at which a guitar would be held. I love that one.

I'd like to take my parents to see that one, and of course Stevie, tomorrow afternoon. It's supposed to be much warmer, so I guess the ice-fishing idea will have to wait till another day.