You know you want to send me your comments. Do it.
Today's title has nothing to do with the rambling. The question of *what* to ramble about weighs heavily on my mind. Should I ramble about random nothingness? Should I ramble about what I am really thinking? Of course not! When in doubt, I shall ramble about Texans.
It snowed last night.
Here, in Austin, Texas, snow actually appeared. I, of course, felt the natural excitement
of the First Snow of winter. But the Texans reactions were a little different. They
seemed caught off guard about the idea of seeing snow at all. They gathered in the streets,
pointing up at the flakes, their mouths gaping open, their eyes wide. The exclaimed
"Well, Golly!" (which is pronounced "Gah-Leeee") and "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle," and
similar such disbelieving remarks.
In fact, when my roomate (previously living in Pennsylvania) looked out the window at the falling flakes and asked, "Hey what's that?", the local Texan confidently told us that what we were seeing was a swarm of large bugs flying around.
Either way, it did snow last night, and that means its That Time of Year... oh, yes... it's almost time for Finals.
I've reverted to my old self. Sunday I was driving about town in my Saturn, and a dear friend pointed out, "You're clock still says the wrong time."
"No... it finally says the right time," was my reply. So much for progress.
So why am I using FORTRAN instead of my good friend "C" ? Because it's been around longer. There are gazillions of lines of code and text books already written around FORTRAN... and we can't just ignore it.
99999 WRITE (*,*) 'DOWN WITH FORTRAN'
There is a Cowboy that lives next door to me. He read the ramble prior to the one
you are reading now, and took great offense. Maybe it's that "Don't Mess with Texas"
instinct.
The fact is, the purpose of that ramble was not to ridicule Texas. Nor was
it to glorify NYC or New Mexico. I thought it was clear, but apparently not:
The purpose of that ramble was to point out a weakness in myself. It is similar to
some of the Los Alamos Ramblings in that sense. I moved to Texas, and then found
myself examining all the ways in which it pales in comparison to other places I
have lived. Who does that hurt, but me? I live here. I chose this. And I am focusing
on its "bad" points. That makes *me* an idiot.
Is that clear now, cowboy?
I'm doing it again.
Someone: "Look at all this traffic..."
Me: "Traffic? You call *that* traffic? It's a walk in the park compared to rush
hour in New York! I used to sit in stopped traffic for 30 minutes at a time. Not
stop-and-go traffic, just stopped... "
This attitude can apply to ANYthing. Traffic or sandwiches or theatres or street
names. ANYthing. I even compare Texas to New Mexico!
Someone: "What a beatiful view."
Me: "Can you believe they call this a Mount? It's a fucking hill! 800 ft? Please.
We called Los Alamos 'Main Hill' and that was nearly 8000 feet. "
Someone: "But look at the beautiful rolling green scenery."
Me: "This is unbelievable. People built houses all over the river! And
the hills are almost covered as well! What nonsense. I want a view with no civilization
in site! Like we had in New Mexico..."
Why do I do this? Please tell me.
There is nothing that I feel like saying/typing right now that would not offend
someone who might read this page.
So in the interest of avoiding making any new enemies, I will end this Ramble right here.
I know you've been waiting for this one.
This is Roomate #6. Let's take a moment to look at my past roomates. In order, I have
lived with Bek, Eric Monte, Heidi, Steven, and Eric Kilczer. Let's notice that Bek
and Heidi became very dear friends of mine. Let's also note that Eric, Steven, and Eric
were all very strange to live with. You know what I mean.
Roomate #6 is female. That puts the odds on my side.
Thus far, it appears that she is the better roomate, between the two of us. I am the one
more likely to leave something (such as a light
or the AC) turned on all day. I am more likely to let dishes sit in the sink. So perhaps
my new roomate thinks I am a pain in the butte. Hmmm. I really have no way of knowing.
I'll just assume that my charm and wit more than make up for the small quirks in my
behavior.
I can say that I am very happy to be living with Bea. Yes, her name is "Bea". It's pronounced "bay-yaw" just like my dog's name! Isn't that incredible? What are the odds?
Hmmm.
Yesterday was the first time (in Texas) that someone yelled "SLOW DOWN!!!" as I
went speeding by in my Saturn. I must admit that I was in the wrong yesterday,
driving about twice the speed limit in a State Park. Still, it was comforting to
hear the screams of pedestrians as I floored my gas pedal.
God help me, but I actually reset the time on the clock in my Saturn. Throughout
my year's stay in New Mexico, I always kept the car clock on New York time (EST). But
I just went hog wild when I got to texas... and my clock now reads the local time.
This is no small potatoes.
Smoking.
These are not good ramblings here. Oh well, they never are.
I went to see the "McKinney Falls" yesterday... a supposedly beautiful natural sight
in Austin where one can swim in the nartural pools below rushing waterfalls.
As if.
Well... yeah.
Back to
Shannon's Homepage
I have planted my butte in Austin, Texas, for some undetermined period of time.
I am not sure what to say about this place. I will refrain from discussing school
on this ramblings page-- it just doesn't seem appropriate.
I quit smoking a few days before I left Los Alamos. Amazingly, almost a MONTH
has past with me being a non-smoker. This calls for celebration... or at least gifts
for me.
Send gifts.
This means you.
They should have called them the "McKinney Driplets". It was a sad sight. There was
a tiny little area for "swimming" that was covered with slimy crap. And the falls
were nothing to look at.
And it costs me two bucks to find that out.
Apparently, if a rock protrudes so much at 10 feet from the surface, Texas will make
a State Park out of it. I'm starting to miss those mountains...