O(h my) klahoma #2

Posted by Bookish.Spazz at Friday, July 03, 2009 0 comments

Today my Grandparents and I scoured the local downtown of Tahlequah, where the Cherokee Nation is located.

I, along with my Grandparents love antiques and old world items, and the last couple of times we were up in Oklahoma there were tons of antique shops, however, driving through downtown is like driving through a ghost town.

So many shops have had to close down due to lack of tourists, and the overall bleak economy. You could see bits of depression in Texas, but it's not near as bad as it is up north in Oklahoma.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rates in Oklahoma during December were 4.6% and have risen to about 6.3% as of May. The numbers to someone who doesn't know economics well don't look too bad, but when you see all of the empty shop areas, and the line at the unemployment center you'll note that it's pretty bad.

The shops that are still around have limited items. A lot of the novelty items have either been overpriced, or just not made anymore. It's sad.

Whats a girl gotta do to find a pair of moccasins in Indian country? Hopefully, and I say this without any expectations, the economy will pick up soon, and more tourists will start visiting again.

But for now, I'll just wait, and try to help out the community by visiting local attractions, and eating at the local restaurants.

As for the moccasins, I'll make some myself if I have to.

O(h my) klahoma #1

Posted by Bookish.Spazz at Thursday, July 02, 2009 0 comments

Currently at this very moment I am typing this from a well conditioned room with excellent wifi and cable TV. No I am not at the place by the lake. Why? Because of mis-communication, and family that I didn't even know I had liking to take advantage of the owner of the place living in Kansas.

I'll start at the beginning. Around 7am we had finally passed the last toll booth on Choctaw land, and were quite hungry after our 4 hour drive from Texas to Oklahoma so we stopped at this place called Harley's. At first we thought it was just going to be a plain Indian or casino restaurant, but it turns out that it was a New Orleans themed restaurant. I thought it was funny, seeing as how almost every summer I go down there, and the one time I don't, I run into it anyways.

After we finished eating, shopping for cabin supplies, and making numerous stops we headed out for a nice 10 minute drive up the hilly and winding area known as lake Tenkiller, which is named after the Indian family who originally owned the land. We pull up to the cabin, and lo and behold, the driveway is full of trucks, trailers, and cars.

It turns out that my Papa's brother Henry Lee and his Native American wife Betty were staying there. In fact, they were just about to leave for San Antonio when Carl Wayne showed up with his two kids in tow, so of course Henry Lee and co. decided to stay longer, leaving 1 spare room which is not enough to house my Papa and Grandma and I.

We had called my great aunt Francis who owns and pays for everything up at the cabin and she had said that no one was staying there at the time, but of course Henry Lee and co. didn't bother to call aunt Francis, instead claiming to have called someone else.

Later on I learned that aunt Frances was wondering why the electricity bill had doubled over the past month... well, thank good ol' Henry Lee and co. It turns out they've been living up there for a while without telling anybody.

Oh well. That's just people for you I guess.

At least I'm in a nicer situation in a hotel room than I would be up in the cabin. The cabin has no internet, or cable.

So far the trip has been nice, other than the fact that we're now having to unexpectedly pay for lodging, which in turn has caused our trip to be cut short by a day. Oh well. So it goes.

Random Oklahoma fact: There are far more bugs and spiders up here than there are in Texas. I would know. I hate bugs. And spiders.

"Mom, I'll be in OK-LA-HOMA."

Posted by Bookish.Spazz at Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1 comments

My mom is a skilled practitioner in not listening to me, and not regarding my plans. Well, I'm sure she not only does it to me, but many countless other people. I'm also sure this is one of the reasons why my dad divorced her.

I don't live with my mom, so any time I do spend with her must be planned out, talked about, and negotiated about between my parents. No lie. If she gets a Sunday during a major holiday, then by golly they get Monday and Tuesday.

But I digress. For the past two times I saw my mom last week I've told her, "Mom, I'm leaving for Oklahoma on Wednesday, then coming back on Sunday." or, "Mom, I'm going to be out of town next Wednesday through Sunday. Don't call Dad asking to talk to me."

In addition to telling her about being out of town, I had asked her when she was taking off work at the hospital so I could come over for a few days to spend time. In fact, I've been asking her since the end of May, "Mom, when are you taking off work? I need to know soon so I can make sure I'm not going on any trips during that time."

Till yesterday I got no real answer on when. She called me yesterday and told me she was taking part of this week off for the Fourth of July and wanted to know if I could come over and spend time, and go to a few parties and filipino BBQ's.

FACE/PALM

Which resulted in this conversation.

"What do you mean? Why can't you come over? Do you have something planned with your dad?"

"No Mom. No. I told you yesterday, and the day before why I couldn't go. I'm leaving for Oklahoma on Wednesday."

"I don't understand, why are you going to Oklahoma?"

"To look at the Native American stuff Mom. I told you I was going to be gone like at least 5 times."

"Ok, but why can't you come to the party? I thought this would be a good time to spend time together."

"Mom, I TOLD you. Mom, I'll be in OK-LA-HOMA."

"The whole month?!"

"No! Just till Sunday. Is there any chance you can take some other time off work?"

"No, I already requested this time. Are you sure you have to go on your trip now?"

"Yes mom. It's already been planned and everything."

"Well I'm sorry sweetie, I just thought it would be nice to see you on Fourth of July, but I guess you can't come over."

"Ok Mom. Whatever. I have to go. I'll just visit one weekend or something when you're not working. Bye."


This isn't the first time this has happened, and as for the other times it has happened I've had to cancel my plans last minute in order to cater to her standards and schedule. However, I refuse to drop my plans just because she planned something without considering what I was doing at the time.

In the words of the white kid at my school who thinks he's black, "Homie, stuff jus don't fly like dat."

Maybe, next time instead of just telling her, I should send her loud voice mails, and spam her emails so she'll remember.