Atypical Altusian Weekend

People. We had events (plural) to attend.

On Friday night, Eric and I attended our first official AF function since Dining Out at the end of JASOC. This means that Eric had to get all fancied up in his Mess Dress and I got to wear something pretty. Something sparkly. The event was a banquet to honor the nominees and celebrate the recipients of this year's base-wide awards. A paralegal from Eric's office had been nominated so we attended in support of him. It was a good event complete with the comedies and tragedies of anything worth attending. As for comedy, we were all squished into our tables and chairs like sardines. And, as with any AF event, there is a serious amount of "please rise for..." Each time we were asked to stand, the majority of the room had to enter a sort of dance with one another. We had to move with great coordination. No one knew the steps, but we caught on quite quickly; stand from the right, sit from the left. And you better hope you are not sitting next to a lefty at dinner! As for tragedy, our guy did not ultimately win the award, which we were all a little disappointed about. But between the hilarious and the sad, I got to meet several of the people Eric works with as well as a number of the big wigs on base. It is always nice to put faces to the names you hear on a regular basis.

When we got home, I thought Eric and I might enjoy some wine and a movie, but the poor guy seems to have lost some stamina since moving out to the country. Unable to keep up with the pace of a busy work week AND THEN going out to a party, he was zonked out, I'm talking snoring on the couch, by 11. Hey, that's usually my job!

On Saturday we had a big day ahead. A day I have been looking forward to for months. The Miss Altus beauty pageant. OH EM GEE. Originally, a big group of us had planned on going, but the men folk slowly trickled out of the picture. By the time Saturday rolled around, the only guy still on the roster was Eric. And he crumbled under pressure. Opting to play video games and eat pizza instead (a guy's night through and through), he called out at the last minute.

Off I went to Charlies on base where I enjoyed some pre-event beverages and dinner with two lovely ladies, Sarah and Lauren. Suzanne, the fourth lovely lady in our group, was kind enough to agree to pick us up at Charlies and take us to the auditorium downtown. Before I go on with the story, there is something you need to know. I had all of the tickets in my wallet because I was the one who was designated, "responsible enough not to lose them." We are talking some serious pressure for the new-ish girl in town. The stakes were high. I was confident.

Back to the story. Suzanne was supposed to pick us up, but we had a bit of a blip in communication. When we (I'm not naming names) received the text from Suzanne asking where to park, we thought she meant, "where do I park when I get to Charlies?" What she actually meant was, "I am at Charlies waiting for you with my three year old daughter who has to pee."  When we finally realized the error in our interpretation of her texts, Suzanne and her baby had already been waiting in the car a good fifteen minutes for us. Of course this realization resulted in a frenzied escape from Charlies. My frenzied escape resulted in me leaving my wallet on the table. Tickets and all.

I called Eric and asked him to pick up my wallet and bring it to us at the the auditorium. He, too, already had a couple of beverages under the belt and said, "No can do, sweetie." So instead, he called Charlie and asked her to hold my wallet for me while I begged the ladies at the entrance of the pageant to have mercy on the new-ish girl. I love small towns. She remembered me, reminded me where our seats were, and had mercy. We took our seats and settled in for an exciting couple of hours.

Miss Oklahoma talking about Miss America

The pageant was the real-deal complete with swimming suit, evening gown, talent, and interview portions of the competition. We were also graced by the presence of Miss Oklahoma who received first runner up at the 2012 Miss America Pageant. That's right, we were among royalty. My favorite portion of these types of competitions is always the interview. The best that night went a little like this,


Interviewer: "What do you want other people to know about people from the state of Oklahoma?"
Contestant: "I want people to know that people from the state of Oklahoma are polite, nice, and caring, which is not something you can say for the northern states."
Me: "Booooo, oh wait, was that mean? My bad." (okay fine, that last part happened in my head, but come on, really?)

In the end of the competition, some girl was crowned Miss Altus and my crew and I skipped the after party in the Blue Room (we had kids to get to bed, babysitters to relieve, and wallets to recover). Someday, I am going to attend one of those... Nonetheless, I maintain the pageants hosted by the city of Altus are some of the best entertainment you can get around here. I've already marked my calendar for next year!

Aaaaaand fast-forward to the end of the weekend. It was Sunday night and bitter cold. We got our first real snow of the season (not counting a little dusting we were graced with on Christmas morning). We got about four full inches. Enough for Eric to have a one-hour delay for work on Monday. By Monday afternoon it was all gone and by Wednesday, we are supposed to be up to 70 degrees. That is how winter is done in the dust bowl, my friends.