Back From Texas

Yo, Internet.

I just got back from a trip to Texas with my family, visiting my bro to celebrate him getting his wings. (Shoutout.) It was my first time in the state. Some thoughts from your correspondent:

• The University of Texas seems like a cool place to go to school. You get to chill in Austin, there are plenty of things to do just near the campus itself, there are friendly people at the Mellow Mushroom who are good at recommending beers, and even though I have almost no interest in conferences that aren’t the Big Ten, we all know the Longhorns have a strong football program. (Then there was that freshman-year reality show on Showtime a few years ago that started out kind of interesting, but I got tired of those kids by the fourth episode and gave up on it.)

  Then there was what I will euphemistically call “people watching”. A fellow can participate in some unbelievable “people watching” at this campus. You see as many “individuals who catch your eye” as anywhere else I’ve ever been. So it’s got that going for it.

• While that’s true of Austin, the bars we hit up in San Antonio were some strange places. The crowd dresses the same as they do in NYC or DC, but they seem to be on average about eight years older, which is the opposite of what I expected thanks to the Bible Belt reputation as a place where people marry and settle down earlier. These bars seemed to contradict that: lots of people in their 30s, 40s and perhaps even later out there, dressed and drinking like they’re looking for action. It was a little jarring, but then, we all gotta fight for our right to party.
• I’m a left-leaning dude, and while I disagree with right-wing America almost all of the time, I do respect it when conservatives use logic and reason to back up their arguments. However, don’t expect me to respect your intellect when the best argument you have for voting Bush/Cheney in 2004 is that “Kerry is retarded.”
• In four days, I think I only ate two meals with finite portions. Every other one had either unlimited buffet, unlimited chips, etc. But that’s probably more a commentary on me being hungry than on the state of Texas cuisine.
• San Antonio and Austin are actually pretty green places, not desert. Where the cactus at? Apparently Arizona.

Yee to the haw.