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.