The weather wasn’t terribly different than that day! Warmer than the Midwest normally is but overcast and rainy. Normally, no sun is depressing yet I was so stoked to be in Austin after taking in the main attraction of Dallas, the Book Depository.
Last year was the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination in the City of Hate and the what if…about his short and rather worthless presidency becomes as relevant as Garfield’s or McKinley’s in American History. One person’s mom said she heard “The Solution” recently. The Secret Service had partied too hard the night before, there’s a stretch in light of their ongoing incompetence. Thus they failed to secure an automatic rifle in the trunk of the car transporting everybody and it went off, killing JFK and injuring Governor Connelly, oddly avoiding all else. How is this true? There was no autopsy of President Kennedy (wrong, see here) and the vehicle was destroyed to cover it up (again, wrong, it resides in a museum). Why bother, people who believe such crap will say these are lies and I’m the chump. I guess, I am because it’s just too silly to go with the reality. The Outfit wouldn’t do something this bold nor stupid. Cuba wouldn’t bother, nothing to gain and all presidents are the same to them. The Soviets, they may “hate” America but they don’t want a mortal enemy to be unhinged. If there is or was any conspiracy? It’s how inept the Dallas PD was alongside the Secret Service. The end. From the way things were going due to the Boomers, America was due for the shit storm it got with any POTUS: JFK, LBJ and even the crazy patron saint of Modern American Fascism, Goldwater.
Meanwhile, it was a nice drive in the 50° F weather. The rest stops between the cities not being indoors were weird. The toilets were walled off, just not from the elements if you get my drift.
I did initially take the wrong exit ramp upon arrival. It was a nice excursion to see all the buzzing about at UT in the afternoon. Yet I found University Towers, introduced myself and spent an hour or two waiting for Doc to finish his film class. I quickly moved into a room which would now be $3500-4000/month given its square footage and location. American Kapitalism, making false shortages for profit! We then had dinner, hit the mall for a pair of icky khakis, saw the apartment he was sharing with Eiko (the news led with a story about a tea room at the men’s fitting room at the Penney’s in Highland mall!). I went to bed in my new pad, excited over the future.
How I made it to 30 years? It’s always a weird question. I feared I would end up living my family’s curse, moving from city to city every two-to-four years or worse, annually as it did in high school and college. It nearly came true multiple times too. By 1994’s end, buyer’s remorse was settling in (too many reasons to explain now) and I contemplated leaving for Chicago, nice weather be damned. A couple more opportunities presented themselves in 1996: Really-Dull, NC and Houston. I made the huge error to leave in 1997 when I should have toughed it out, gambled on brief unemployment. I returned in 1998, swearing, never to move out again. HA! I was offered the chance to be first Chicago Apple Store Genius in 2001 before remembering how much I hated Winter! I was in the area for Grandma’s funeral during the contemplation period, plus many people who left AppleCare for Retail, came back saying it was more retail than tech. Toyed with moving to Orlando in 2002 and Phoenix in 2005. Reconsidered both, I liked my local friends too much along with Austin’s perks. I chose wisely, both cities were ground-zero casualties of the economic implosion during the Great Recession.
Since then, I think the only other possible candidates are moon shots, namely Europe. If I didn’t have a good relationship with Jennifer, I seriously would’ve liquidated all my crap to leave Amerika, couch surf with Jeremy’s family or even gamble on my in-laws in Qatar. My situation with Apple is going too well lately; I highly doubt they need me in Ireland nor as a WFH tech living in a non-English (First) state, working US hours which I think is second shift for them. (shudder). Most of the EU having terrible climate and longer stretches of darkness is another downside. Think about it. The kick-ass countries are in the super, far north where it’s cold and dark as Hell. It keeps migrant caravans of Americans from going there to claim asylum from rampant Kapitalism which kills millions more per year than Communism does.
Nah…I’ll give Austin another decade. Let’s see if I’m wrong.