What it's like to live in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas is one giant group of dudes collectively asking if they could borrow a cigarette, myself included.  Austin was a logical decision for many, given our economy.  Low unemployment, warm weather, lots of creative opportunity.

But seven months here I feel a blasé attitude about the whole Biodome.  It's not that I thought that the grass was greener.  The grass is obviously greener, but there's just a lot more cattle grazing than before.

I went into an anonymous coffee shop to submit an application several weeks ago, and the man at the counter informed me with a sigh that there was already about 200 other applications sitting on top of mine all looking for a solid part-time gig.

The music scene has seen a large sense of recycling.  The atypical venues on 6th Street have all seen a large economic purging for large profit.  I've only been a few times, and everytime the demographics stem between party-hardies and freshmen from UT trying to tour their parents through their newly chosen city (sidenote: that's a terrible idea, because while it's devoid of real culture, it's also just too orgiastic to embody this place, but it is funny to watch the moms freak out).

Urban renewal is a heavy aspect of both Austin's identity and its geography.  I've heard a statistic muttered to me countless times that something around 150 people move to Austin every day.  I would complain, but i'm a part of those Okies that moved east for opportunity, although my grapes are in the form of telemarketing phone calls and foodstamps.

That's not to say I regret my decision. If there's something a lot of us are learning it's that:

A.  Our Bachelor's Degrees mean nothing

B.  There's a lot of us all looking for the same thing.

People also accuse Austin of being a smaller LA, and I refute this notion constantly.  My first reason is that I've been to Los Angeles on a number of occasions, and the diversity of the community is not nearly as accommodating.  Another is that there's competition in Austin, but it's not nearly as ugly as it is in California.

It's hard to nail down what one does down here in this obscurity of opportunity.  Especially in the winter.   No body said that in the winter everyone's metabolism slows from the chilly wind.  That said it is wonderful, but it's also hard not to feel obligatorily blamable for what this place has become.  It has definitely homogenized in my time being here, but yet there is still a struggle to separate the fat from the cream.  As to who's winning is anyone's guess, but it's still amusing to watch it hold onto it's Texas identity.  The majority of people I meet here aren't from anywhere near Texas, which is great and paralyzing at the same time because it means that the identity is constantly shifting, which disables my ability to find it.

I will say the most satisfying thing about being here for 7 months and watching Austin City Limits in my living room after work and knowing all of the landmarks.  That and the excessive number of resources available.