In Austin

I now realize I was right. I lived in Dallas WAY too long - 3 years. I've only been in Austin for a couple of weeks, but boy can I tell the difference. Dallas is very stuffy, materialistic, big, and elitist.

I finally brought my motorcycle to Austin, but I was having some problems with it and I didn't know how to fix them. No worries here. For the most part, bikers are friendly, but damn, I made a couple of best friends here (not really). The first dude I asked about my problem looked like he was high. He was doing some construction on an office space my brother and I were considering. He says "ah man, that's easy. Just go for it, you won't mess nuting up." ok dude - cool. He gave us a handshake and off we were. I wasn't sure if I should trust this grifo, seeing as how jaded I've become by living in Dallas. So, I go over to the Whataburger (fantastic!)to get me a burger and there's another biker looking dude sitting there. I strike up a conversation and ask him about my bike. One hour later I've got the answer and I've learned all about his trips around the world on his bike.

Then, last weekend my friend Nelson invited me to a punk rocker pachanga. He's in the band Maneja Beto and knows all those music playing kids. Maneja Beto has become pretty popular here in Austin. Man, el Nelson reminded me of why it's cool to be here. The guy is so laid back. You wanna talk about a cholo - Nelson! Well, not really, he's a kindergarten teacher -- all tatooed. You should hear the way he talks. He's also from the Valley. Nelson worked construction while going to UT. Anyway, we went to this party and met a couple of his friends. The kids at this party were mostly all gringos. It was cool. I could tell nobody spent 10 hours getting ready to go out- but they still looked good. These kids were trendy in their own way (baggy pants, freaky clothes, backbacks to a party), but it was cool. People were having fun and mostly everyone was cool with each other. I drank a bottle of water that night and enjoyed myself. That's all I needed. I knew it would be a good party when Nelson told me that he had gone to a badass party the night before -- then he went on to explain that there was almost a fight and a little bit of shenanigans going on.

Did this make sense? Ah, who cares. You'll know what I'm talking about if you live in Austin or if you ever visit. Now, if only these freakin' allergies would go away, I'd be doing really well.

I'm off to Dallas this weekend! Did I just talk smack about it? Oh well - we're going to get together for the Super Bowl.