Originally Published 19 March, 2009 on Facebook Notes
The Hog House has since been demolished to make way for high-rise student apartments - RIP
Living in Austin
We live in a little garage apartment on the top floor. Our front yard is the death of a never ending party. Something straight out of Real Genius. Our backyard is an alley way where big noisy trucks come through early in the morning and sound as though they're bulldozing our home, but we seem to stand upright when it's all said and done. To the north of us they're building a massive apartment building for students and day and night they hammer and drill away. This is good if you're superstitious, it will keep the ghosts at bay. Once the sun falls, the young ones come out to play and you can hear them from all around. They don't seem to study, they just seem to call out to one another out of friendship or some bizarre mating ritual. It's an interesting song to hear.
The boys who live in the main house are a strange group of kids. Starting every Thursday we hear the same Gershwin song for the rest of the weekend. It gets a little surreal at times. One of them comes out onto the roof every morning and salutes the sun. He is the most open and friendly of the bunch and a sweet and odd kid. I think he's my favorite. There are only two of the five who haven't been what I would call welcoming or friendly but they haven't exactly been the opposite of that either so, I suppose that's good. Either way the other three are very sweet and helpful boys and some of the best neighbors I've ever had, despite the Gershwin. The most important thing of all however is what's inside our home.
No couch, no chairs, no tables.... Our walls are lined with crates of records and musical instruments. Above the records our art work is tacked all along the painted white board where there are no windows (which isn't much space). The floor in the living room has throw pillows, perfect for curling up and watching movies on our free TV. The only piece of furniture in the living room is a media cabinet where our DVDs, CDs and turntable live.
The kitchen seems a bit more full as we have cute dishes and cooking supplies. I have a small collection of my 1950's baby blue kitchen things like pots, pans, martini shaker and sugar dish. We make wonderful meals in that kitchen that we eat off a table fashioned from a cardboard box in the living room.
Art work made by the two of us lines the hallway where you enter our home. Oh and I almost forgot, that's where Robert Smith lives... It's the Boys Don't Cry subway poster I've had longer than I can remember.
The bedroom has a bit more furniture. We have a bed, a massive bookshelf positively overflowing with books from both of our collections (we were even very choosy in what we brought to Austin with us. Much of both of our collections are in storage with our respective parents). Then there is the chest of drawers, also overflowing and topped with the music laptop, a mixer and multi-tracker and amplifier. There is a large bare spot on the wall awaiting a collaborative piece of art we're working on.
Amidst all the art, records and musical instruments there is another predominant factor in the home.... This garage apartment behind a hog house built in 1912 right off the Rio Grande has separations in the walls, cracks in the windows and it's a good thing. The love in that house is immense. All of the imperfections in the house give it a place to seep from and escape. Our tiny, imperfect, noisy home is overflowing with our creativity and love. It's what a home should be.
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When you venture down our stairwell out onto the streets, you're in walking distance from just about anything you could possibly need. It's not just that way where we live. So long as you live in Austin proper you're always within walking distance from what you need. If it's a something specific and it's a little out of reach, no problem.... Hop onto one of Austin's squeaky clean buses and get to where you need to be.
Since I've been here, I've heard more than once that Austin the is the Portland of the south and I'm noticing it's quite true. For all of you in Oklahoma let me put it this way.... Austin is to coffee houses as Oklahoma is to churches. Make sense now? I thought so. Also, it's small but massive-laid back but busy-it's a city in the midst of nature. It's a hub of independent business. It's just the social norm that if you can, you support local business and not the corporations. The people here are weird but friendly and even in their friendliness they still know how to mind their own business.
In Austin, it's warmer. It's been a bit chilly and at times, even cold over the past few days but it's never dropped below freezing here. Matter of fact for the first week and a half I was in nothing more than a small dress or shorts and a tank. As the rain came down and the air became chill I called my mother back in Oklahoma and it was snowing and freezing there.... It's definitely warmer here. It's warmer and closer to things I love.
When I was living in Oklahoma, New Orleans was 16 hours away. Now, New Orleans being my favorite city in the US it's a huge bonus that it's now only 8 hours away. I'm even closer to the ocean, which I still consider home. I'm far enough away from the ocean that I'm not effected by hurricanes but close enough that I don't feel completely landlocked. If I don't have the time or money to get down to the ocean I can always stay right in the heart of the city and head to Zilker Park where there is a massive natural hot spring with a natural swimming pool. If for some bizarre reason I don't want to go the extra 5 minutes to Zilker I can always just stop at the massive river that divides the north and south side. It's quite beautiful and you get a great shot of the skyline in the parks surrounding the river or "Lady Bird Lake" (it's the same thing, I'm not sure why they call the river town lake or lady bird lake....).
Around every corner there is live music, political and environmental activism, art, street performers, independent film and palm trees (I know palm trees doesn't really fit with the rest of those but they make me smile). This place is perfect in almost every way. I only say almost because a place can't be completely perfect I just haven't found the imperfection yet. I am happy here. I am happier here than I thought possible. The only thing that could make this place better is if all my friends were here as well (I do miss you all terribly). Regardless, yay for Austin.