TIme Flies

I've been in Austin for over six months, now. It's become pretty familiar, I don't have to google everything before leaving the house for addresses and directions, and I've hit almost every place that are 'must-dos' for visitors and residents thanks to some great tour guides (you know who you are *wink*). No Duck Tour yet, but I'll take some tourists the next time I have visitors (ahem). I've never doubted moving down here-not for a moment. Through the job-search, the moments of loneliness, some crazy weather, a car wreck, and an almost-stolen bicycle I've always known this is the place I'm supposed to be right now.
I've had a pretty eventful 6 mos, really-not only negatives, but good things, as well-I've got a good-paying job that isn't retail, isn't awful and allows for weekends and pays for my great little apartment right downtown; I've made some great friends and continue to do so while keeping in touch with great old ones; I've done a month of boot camp, 6 weeks of soccer, 3 weeks of Spinning so far and countless runs and rides all around the city with many including a nice moment of sitting in a local park or on a bench in the city, absorbing the beautiful, unique scenery. Last weekend I rode down a new (to me) trail just off Town Lake and stumbled upon the public pool I've heard so much about which is actually just an enclosed section of the stream, with people in- and outside the fence sunbathing, playing, wading and generally enjoying a hot Austin day. It was a very Austin scene, actually-dozens of kids in underwear, preppies sunbathing and flirting, hippies getting stoned-all in a 100-foot length of stream.

One thing that's been interesting to me is navigating in this new place. I've always had a great sense of direction, but it's hard to understand what cues even your own brain is using to get you around. Sometimes it's landmarks-going back to NYC in 2002 was disorienting because there were no twin towers to lead you South from all points in Manhattan. Sometimes it's just a feeling-your brain has tracked the turns you've made, or from which direction you've come, and you just feel your orientation to certain things whether you're inside or out. What I've noticed here, though, that I didn't expect, is how much general weather patterns have to do with it. In the Midwest weather moved from NW to SE. Period. Here, though, clouds run due North from the Gulf, and my brain specifically tagged that as strange. Just after moving everything was foreign, like being on vacation. My territory was only a mile or so in diameter, and I knew not to try to absorb much outside of that for a while, or I'd forget things. As that became mundane, I've spread out and now know how to get to nearly every area of town by major thoroughfares, and basically what they'll look like when I get there. The weather systems were just one of those categories of things that I had to systematically get used to. It's still so strange to hear that the city is preparing for Edouard, the tropical storm/hurricane coming in from the Gulf. Oh, and all you folks up there living in the mugginess that is the Midwest-you're right-it's NOT the heat, it is the humidity. I never adapted to summer up there, but here I'm out at all times of the day slightly sweaty, but not miserable. You can actually feel the breeze when the air's not saturated with 95-degree water!