7 years later

I've put this blog on the back burner since returning to Texas, and I'm hoping to get back to regular blogging soon. I started a new job, am looking for a place to live, and have been really trying to ease into life in Austin again.

I'll write more later, but for now...

The W Hotel set up shop here right after I moved. It's in a honking downtown building whose glass panels have recently begun falling on people who are poolside, on pedestrians, and on cars. I couldn't help but think that this city is getting too big for its britches. Back in school when I studied urban development, my profs were always bitching about Austin's growth and warning us that the city just couldn't sustain it. I can't help but feel that the W situation is some kind of warning sign.

Austin has grown a lot; another 6000 people are projected to make Austin home by the end of the summer. Wah!!! It's too much. When I moved here in 2004, it was way chill and way weird, I crossed the city constantly to go from vintage shops in the south to my yoga studio up north. Now that drive could mean an hour plus sitting in stop-and-go traffic. Before, I didn't spend too long waiting to be seated, even at the most popular restaurants. Since being back I can't even book a reservation because everything is full full full!! Well the times are changing, and I'm sure they'll keep flying by. I'm trying to appreciate Austin as it was and as it is, because you can be certain that another 5 years down the road, it will be an altogether new experience.

No matter where I've traveled or lived, Austin's always been home in my heart, a city that I long for and love and try to convince people to visit. I want it to stay that way.