.: August 2009

They say everything's bigger in Texas - and it's true. In so many ways.

This term I had registered for 4 classes, only to get into 2. I tried all week to straighten that out, to get into ANY other class, but because of the "economy," there's a massive influx of students coming to community college. People who have to go back to school to learn new technology, bigger technology, and people who can't go to a university because it costs too much.

We finally made a deal on a nice house in nearby Allen - it's a beautiful brick number that would, back in Oregon, cost 3 or 4 times as much as it is here. We looked at so many houses, and they all looked the same to me. But this one kinda stood out, or maybe it just had the right "feel" to it inside. Like a new pair of shoes. Or a new girlfriend/boyfriend... OH come on, you sick-o's! You know I'm not being literal here!

I am, however, looking forward to have actual SOIL to work in, to plant a garden, have a compost pile - the whole Oregonian bit. Even if it's full of clay, I'll just use it to sculpt my own garden art :-) Maybe there's a natural way to get rid of fire ants? Doubt it. I'll probably go the Texas way and spray the hell out of them with something that'll make me feel bad about myself for buying (and using).

There is another thing about moving from an apartment to a house that gives me a tinge of excitement in my tummy: Maybe, JUST maybe...I'll finally be able to get a dog. I've missed having a dog, and with a fenced-in backyard, well - what's stopping me? There's an animal shelter just down the street, too. Yes, it's sad to go into those places, because I want to adopt ALL of them. But maybe I'll just walk in and ask the person behind the front counter if they have any Jack Russells in?

To tell you the truth, I can't tell Allen from Plano, where we currently reside. Plano is like a massive suburb of Dallas. But it's not split up by anything. It's just Dallas in the middle, sprawling out into tons of smaller "towns," that are basically part of Dallas yet at the same time their own districts. Kinda like Portland, but without the mountains all around. Living in Texas, it even seems bigger here - I once told someone that the sky seems bigger - I think it's because the horizon seems to go forever in each direction, without being cut off by mountains. This confuses the hell out of me, especially when I'm trying to figure out which direction I'm going - there are no big landmarks like I'm used to.

Cars are bigger here - more expensive. Whereas on the west coast, old VWs are all around, when I see one here, I get all excited, like it's something from home here to see me. There isn't a big bike-riding community here, either, because things are so spread out. In Eugene I could ride my bike from one side of the city to the other in no time. Here it would take me days - literally.

I digress - it's starting to grow on me. I think it has that effect on people - I have bouts of homesickness still every now and then (like when my friends up North talk about going to Burning Man or the Country Fair, or crap, even the Lane County Fair!). Maybe it's just that the extreme part of the summer is almost over, so it's safe to venture outside again. Down here I my Seasonal Affective Disorder actually REVERSED itself - it's so damn hot and bright out during the summer that I am forced to stay inside, in an air-conditioned cube. It's only during the cooler months that I feel better about going out. Actually, the thought of going to burning man gives me a hot flash anyway. But besides the heat of summer festivals, I really just miss the raw, uninhibited creativity and human circus-like debauchery. Where all the "weirdos" like me come out of the woodwork to run around and play.

(To my knowledge, there is nothing like that here - the closest I have come is a renaissance faire that I attended months ago, which was very cool in its own way). I have managed to visit Austin, but only long enough to realize I was too tired to do the tourist thing because I had stayed up late the night before doing a ghost hunt.

As I said, my S.A.D. has reversed itself, but now that fall is slowly approaching, I'm starting to feel like going outside again...

Alas, as soon as I do, I see another sign of why they say everything's bigger in Texas:

A giant moth outside my neighbor's apartment door, about the size of a small bird, had affixed itself to the wall this morning. This thing easily had a 6-inch wingspan, as the wings were about 3 inches long. I was so startled by its size that I grabbed my phone and snapped a pic:

The blurry phone picture taken at 6 am gives it no justice, but I had to document its existence somehow. And yet I know that somewhere around here lurks an even bigger bug that's looking to eat this moth for breakfast (shudder).