Houston has it all, and that’s a good thing…Or is it?

No I’m serious, from Arabic speakers everywhere you turn, local coffee shops, international cuisine and any type of working professional you can think of-Houston has it. They’ve got a Lebanese community, a Greek community (several of which own cafes that I frequent Byzantios, Agora) and apparently, like Austin several of the night club owners here are Middle Easterners. Don’t ask me what’s up with that, I don’t know.

Yes we’ve got surgeons, lawyers, construction workers, way too may cops, and in the café I’m sitting in, there’s an Asian woman wearing the garb of a Buddhist priestess. Is there such a thing? If I had wireless Internet access, I would check. Thrift stores, Joel Osteen’s church, and more make Houston what it is. You know what else makes Houston what it is? The pollution, sticky and itchy (seriously I’m not kidding here, I’m constantly scratching my body and face) weather, overpopulation of irritating bugs (gnats, roaches, and mosquitoes to name a few) overwhelming amount of people (contributing to heavy traffic and constant inappropriate car behavior from all drivers, including me) rain (which sucks for my hair but really helps out the local flora and fauna-you win plants-you always do), hurricane and tropical storm susceptibility-Thank you Ike, I did eat my words with that one- are just a few of the characteristics that are taking a little time for me to adjust to. But I’m not complaining, really. It’s just new, and I was absolutely spoiled living in Austin my whole life. One thing Austin doesn’t measure up here with is the international diversity of the city-I like. Well, gotta flick off the aunt that is crawling on my shirt and get back to studying. AAAhhh. Not scream kind of aaahhh, relaxing deep breath aaahhhh. No, really.

HURRICANE IKE

Okay one thing I never knew about Houston, a city less than 3 hours from Austin, is that they have a hurricane season! Are we joking people? Twice now, we've been threatened with these hurricanes and been told to evacuate-the last one, Gustav (which conveniently came right smack in the middle of the Republican Convention :) brought this glorious breeze to the stagnant, sticky Houston air. Gustav was a bust and a blast!! We sat in a hot tub as the wind blew strongly, and that was the extent of the intimidating GUSTAV. Happy labor day to me, sucks for everyone who evacuated. Quit freaking out people, it's a natural disaster, embrace it!!!

Now comes Ike. Personally, Ike is proving to be very inconvenient for me cause Davo and I were planning to go to Austin, pack all my crap and move it to Houston. Unfortunately, everybody and their dog is evacuating to Austin and I'm pissed about having to drive next to psychos on the road who are trying to outrun a hurricane that will most likely never hit. I understand, "Better to be safe than sorry after Katrina." That's what everyone keeps saying. It was the levies people!!! If a hurricane is coming, stay home, put on your swimsuit and get ready for a good time! I'm not gonna laugh this time when IKE never hits, cause I'll be the kid driving the UHAUL to Houston going a mile an hour with all the other idiots who are coming back into Houston/Galveston on Sunday-and ten bucks says, Houston wont even get rain. Who knows, maybe I'll eat my words-we'll see.