Monday, January 30, 2006

lost in east austin

and north, south, and west for that matter. i've been on this urge to explore and see all corners of this world of mini mansions and medium sized cottages. i spent the first few years here camping out in dorms and apartments. what there's another side of west campus? but ironically seeing the sites of tuscany, london, the tallahassee metroplex, etc has made me a bit of a obsessive explorer in my own backyards. i want to uncover every stone and cut myself on every piece of contaminated trash in midnight-dark abondoned lots in east austin. just get in your car/bike/cross training athletic shoes and head off in a direction. oh you'll get lost, but usually there's a cluster of radio towers compassing you back.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

don't call it a comeback

being in your last semester of your second year seniority could lend oneself to a bad case of i'm-too-old-for-this-itis, but for various reasons i'm set on putting more into this than before. incubating in san antonio has got me geared up to do great things, or stumble greatly along the way. i've got good friends, an awesome house, wicked classes, and a totally tubular girl riding sidecar along the way. this is what we've been doing the drills for kids.

on the other hand i might explode.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The City of Pulsing Red Spires


I wrote a thesis around those damned red lights in the west. Wherever I go they're there welcoming me back to this town in the hills. Austin, TX for one last time. Let it be known that I'll finally make it out there in the next few months, climb one (ala kindergarten cop), and tell you all about it.

But I won't tell you about her. Too much.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

exit st. mary's

i moved in last june with a bible sitting on my doorstop. while a bit more frayed from the elements, it's still there where i found it. as some things change it's nice to see things stay the same.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

they drained the river

at some point san antonio became family. and with every new employee being inducted, i try to ingrain the idea into them. what you've been living in seattle where the city is a virtual petri dish for any cotton swab of architecture? wait, you've been to a place where the coffee is great and the chicken fried steak doesn't need to be as big as your face? well which six flags theme park do you have? the great thing about family though, is that you don't get to pick them. you have to learn to live with them, cause like it or not they're more like you than anyone else. if you constantly plan your escape, you'll miss out on the beautiful meanwhile.

some say san antonio is the 9th largest city in america-bigger than miami, denver, and boston. and seattle. but i still find this hard to believe. it never makes the national news. its celebrities are limited to ex spurs players and tommy lee jones. maybe it's because i never drive outside the loop, but everyone seems to know each other. we barricade ourselves in with a ring of churches like some kind of inverted medieval wall, allowing only a few thousands of tourists every year to run around in their rental cars filled with tortilla chips and cheap mexican exports, respectively. ha, i said we.

i say all of this as an argument for and against my return. the offer has been put on the table, and i too have found a wonderful little local souvenir for myself, but it all goes against everything i've learned in the past year. when an opportunity arises, you take it. when an opportunity isn't there, you look for it. don't settle. don't settle down. there's a whole lot of land and days ahead. so goodbye lf. goodbye interns. goodbye utsa crew. goodbye low brow thursdays. goodbye mission drive in. goodbye helotes. goodbye exchange building. goodbye twins. goodbye laundromat. goodbye southtown. goodbye brackenridge. goodbye earl abels. goodbye trinity. goodbye olmos park and alamo heights bourgeois. goodbye goodbye liberty bar. goodbye beethovens. goodbye bluestar. goodbye o'neil ford. goodbye herman and charles butt and your outstanding grocery stores. goodbye mrs moneypenny. goodbye sunday morning beatles. goodbye monday night hip hop. goodbye third coast. goodbye ice cream man. goodbye perfume kiosk kevin. goodbye manicure kiosk nita. goodbye crack cocaine peter, descendant of san pedro himself. goodbye tobin hill and myrtle street.

now replace goodbye with maybei'llseeyousoon? and you'll know where i'm at. i'll at least be back to visit, but visitor is just another word for tourist. it's time for austin.

Monday, January 02, 2006

English 325 - Lesson Twelve




The color red had finally arrived in San Arturo, blanketing its streets and driveways with last year’s leaves. Fall had come and gone with a spell of cold fronts stretched thin but the majority of the foliage had stayed suspended in a green brown weave until now blocking out the slowly lowering sun. Windshield wiper blades that once ushered off hurricane rains and layers of ice within weeks of each other now simply tossed the dry scraps from side to side in a lazy Sunday manner. Above the red blanket and through the now bare trees a new sun showed barely through a morning haze. The blue that did show was vibrant. The whole range of color that peeked through the clouds for the rest of the day remained muffled though in comparison to the leaves.

Autumn had been happening all along, however. It took this day off after New Years celebrations for the people to realize it. Their cars were parked outside of treeless garages and their drivers too were taking the day off. In groups they walked outside to church or up from hangovers and together breathed in the late blooming fall air. Like most of the world they were filled with resolutions, but no one knew the reality. San Arturo would never really change.