If you've ever lived on the East or West coasts an
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3/13/2007
I'm a well educated, good looking hetero male and I've lived in Washington state for the better half of my life, went to college in Boston, lived in California, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Europe before moving to Houston, TX required by my job. Honestly, everywhere I've moved to I've always held the view that an open mind, good sense of humor, genuine sincerity and willingness to integrate would allow me to make new acquiantances, learn about its culture and people and enjoy my time while living here. That hasnt happend in the past 3 years... as this aint it.
First, I developed severe allergies... they say it's the texas hay fever and pollen. I say it has something to do with all the cancerous chemical pollutants from the refineries around the city.
Forget about outdoor activities as the city centre is a deadzone after hours and on weekends - even McDonalds closes their sign after 9pm. The traffic and roads/hwys are not designed for pedestrains or cycling or jogging or even shopping. Public Tennis courts are scarce and there are only a limited few safe parks to go jogging. Plenty of Starbucks Coffee houses if you enjoy throwing away $3.55 ea time you want a grande cafe latte. People here get fat and bored very very quickly and I can attest to that. I gained 23 lbs within 6 months from boredom, depression and lack of enthusiasm for going out and doing things like cycling, tennis or jogging as it is a big ordeal to get dressed or pack your bike etc... and drive somewhere to do something. Diverse cultural influences (other than TexMex food) here seems remarkably lacking for such a large city (2.2 million people) and thanks to Enron, Dell and Halliburton etc... a good number of families had their lives destroyed and we're currently in a tax grab environment. If you own a home you are sorely in for it as property taxes are double what they are in most places such as Florida. Oh ... we are at risk of very big hurricanes here too.
The air here is hostile as summers are stifiling and muggy and full of pollen and pollutants and winters can be very cold. There are far too many ill mannered Hispanics living here and perhaps explains why the otherwise gentile Texans dont want to show visible "foreigners" their genuine hospitality but rather a superficial "welcome to texas ... now please go back". This likely explains why I'll gladly trade all this warm weather for a more urban and diverse cultural environment soon - I'll even take some rain. Good
Tim | ,