A Texas Tradition Discontinued?

I read this article this morning from the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/New-Braunfels-voters-uphold-container-ban-2259417.php

I'm thinking of this like the oil moratorium in the Gulf if Mexico and its affect on the state of Louisiana on a much smaller, local scale....

If the citizens of New Braunfels think this going to help their town, they could be sorely mistaken.

As for most of the problems in Texas this summer, blame can point a finger straight at the sky and it's unwillingness to rain. The severe drought kept tourists off the Guadalupe this summer. So they flocked to the Comal; I served witness as I did so myself. I actually visited both rivers. At the Guadalupe, there was a much smaller crowd (although I was there on a Sunday) and there were several stretches of river where my friends and I were forced to wade with our tubes to deeper waters. This was much different from my Guadalupe floats in the two previous years, which were easy and crowded, lined with residents offering keg stands, buzzing with floating stereos, and, as always, very fun. This year, my second trip to float the river ended up at the Comal, since I was with family who lives in New Braunfels. It was PACKED. We could hardly find parking, and had to pay $10 to get it. When we finally got in the river I can say that it was plenty fun and relaxing. We did run into some cops--not me, of course but we did see them hand out tickets to floaters participating in underage drinking or drug use. We carried a bag with us for trash and kept it in the cooler for safe-keeping. I was carded at the end of my float, showed that I was legal, and went on my merry way, with a sunburn and new memory under my belt--er, bikini. To me, this is how the rivers of Texas are meant to be enjoyed.

So the Comal was packed this year, and about 58% of the citizens of New Braunfels that make their residence on and near the river don't like it. They should bear in mind that this is an irregularity. Typically there is not nearly as much activity or litter on the Comal. But they've voted to ban disposable containers on both the Comal and the stretch of Guadalupe that runs through their town, now rendering it seemingly pointless (and even unsafe as floaters can no longer carry water bottles) for many to go tubing for the day. They're in for a different kind of drought--a drought of tourists, and that means a drought of revenue for local businesses that thrive on tourism from Schlitterbahn goers to river floaters every summer. The businesses outside the Comal river were selling parking this summer for $10 a car. PER CAR. I'd like to see the revenue they pulled in this summer as compared to previous summers. Better yet, I'd like to also see the revenue they earn in the summer versus the rest of the year. You think they're complaining? Of course not. (In fact, many local businesses are suing on the grounds that this violates state laws.) Because they know that without water and booze allowed on the river they are SOL. These won't be the only businesses affected--hotels, gas stations, eateries, bars, Gruene Hall, other minor tourist spots (like Natural Bridge Caverns), and more will be affected by this. What does that mean? Unemployment. Hey, isn't that our country's biggest problem today? Hmmm.... Well, if the people of New Braunfels are employed and their kids are unable to find summer jobs, pretty soon their entire town's GDP is falling. Then they're REALLY gonna whine. Property values will decline and businesses will close shop or move to more welcoming waters. Yup. It really seems like putting a stopper on floating the river is going to help New Braunfels. Come on, people. It's only about 3-4 months out of the year! And it's the sustainability of your cute little town!!

I DO care about the state of our Texas rivers and want them clean and preserved. So it's my responsibility as a Texan not to litter and to keep them clean, like I mentioned my friends and I did above. Easier said than done, I know, but perhaps regulations would both maintain the economy and keep the river clean "for the next generation." Hire MORE cops or city/river maintenance workers to keep the place clean and orderly (hey, more jobs!).

My argument is for employment and enjoyment. I can't blame the citizens of New Braunfels for wanting to keep the place they live clean and orderly, but if they want to remain living there with the kind of lifestyle they have now, they can't afford for tourism to decline. Your people are your greatest resource! How do you think the people in Vail, Colorado, Santa Monica, California, Orlando, Florida, or Washington, D.C. feel? They probably get annoyed with tourists, sure, but a lot of their jobs probably depend on the revenue brought in by those tourists. Funnily enough, I wonder how many New Braunfels citizens will be making vacations to "tourist" destinations this year... let's not be hypocrites.

Old Lady

Holy CRAP.

Today it's just hit me. Six months from now, I will be graduating from college. COLLEGE. With a double-major degree in two disciplines that don't even go together. When did that happen? Seriously.... Not so long ago I had just graduated from high school. Yeesh.

Okay, so fast forward four years. Clearly, I've been in denial. This is partially attributable to Peter Pan-syndrome; I'm afraid of the future (like any human, generally afraid of the unknown), but at the same time I look forward to the things I hope to accomplish. However, they crept... excuse me, rushed... up behind me and now I'm faced with tasks that I may only barely be able to accomplish.

Really, THANK GOD I'm going to graduate school. I wouldn't know what to do with myself otherwise. I'm worried that someday I won't know how to function without school. Of course I say that, but I find myself in the middle of my most boring supply-chain management or anatomy classes wishing the rudimentary BS were all over. (Haha, get it? BS... I'm a nerd.) Lately my norm has been wishing to stay in bed all day and just watch TV while falling in and out of comfortable snoozes and creating meaningless Google queries and perusing pointless Twitter feeds. I don't do this; how could I? I'm too goal-oriented and over-involved.

Despite all this, I feel like adulthood drowning me. Wow, I sound so enthusiastic.... I'm not blind, I saw it coming. I've come to terms with some of it and enjoy a large part of it. Sometimes the responsibility sucks, sure, but could I imagine giving it up and going back to being under-the-thumb and parental rule I was subjected to just 4 years ago? Not only no, but HELL no. So I guess I could say the transformation is becoming more and more complete by the day.

So what is it exactly that makes you an adult? I'm coming up with a list. I use active voice because I'm coming up with these as I think of them. Therefore there is no hierarchical order, these are just trends in myself and my aging friends that I have noticed.

• You're over superficiality. What happened to the popularity contest? Nobody cares how many MySpace (does that even exist anymore?) or Facebook friends you have anymore. But it's more than that. The petty crap annoys you. For example, I overheard some freshman talking about another girl I know the other day in the most condescending way, for reasons that had no effect on them or their lives whatsoever. I suppose this means growing up allows you to see beyond things that don't really matter. Good, because who really has time for extraneous information these days?
• You FEEL old. Your joints hurt. You're tired ALL THE TIME. It's harder to stay in shape. Pretty soon I'm gonna need glasses and a cane. WHOA CHILL I'm just kidding. But really, I've noticed things that I only 2 years ago associated with old people. For example, I have noticed within only the last semester that I have a much easier time going to bed and getting up super early to complete assignments than I do staying up super late. I used to be completely opposite, able to complete assignments even if it took me until 4 in the morning. These days, I would give just about anything to be in bed before 12:30. Perhaps the most evident part of it is that I have no problem with any of this. Sooner or later I have to adopt normal sleeping habits....
• You follow the news. All of the sudden the only two channels I watch are ESPN and FoxNews. When did that happen? Probably this semester. Classes got intriguing and required that I follow the news. Well, now it's actually interesting. Maybe it's because I now can put it into context and understand exactly how current events affect me. It's also decision-making time. Detrimental decision making time. I feel compelled to be in-the-know, or I'll fall behind in all that I want to accomplish later.
• Your priorities have changed drastically. Okay, so school has always been my number one. However, rather than just being a measure of personal success, it's a means to and end. I'm only here now to get where I want to be later. School maintains precedence, even if for new reasons, but my other priorities have shuffled. I have this thing called a job. J-O-B. Yay. I think? I wait tables. Not great, but it pays the bills. (Wait, what? Bills?) This has taken priority of all those other things I used to be oh-so-committed to. Three years ago, being a student athlete, a member of FCA, the spirit committee, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and participating in ever other little event I could squeeze onto a resume took precedence over everything. Now, all of these seem ...elementary? I'm not sure if that's the correct term for it. Regardless, I used to say "Oh, I have to go to a meeting for such-and-such group;" now, I say "I have to work." Which seems more qualified to employ the phrase "have to?" If I'm honest with myself those were all the things I wanted to do rather than what I had to do in order to support that ultimate means to an end. I could go on for days about how and why this happened and how I feel about it, but I digress....
• You stop whining about responsibility. I remember when I used to complain about having to go the bank or the post office or the registrar's office, etc. It seemed like such a hassle. Today it's just everyday whatever. Oi, so much of this realizing what you have to do... and conceding to it....

That's all I have. I think it'd be interesting to get input from anyone who bothers to read this.... like on Twitter with a hash tag #uknowuroldwhen (<-- the "u" for "you" disgusts me but that's Twitter) or simply in the form of comments. I'm sure there are other more simple, not to mention funnier, reasons for feeling submerged in adulthood, whether you view this as good or bad.

So please, comment away!

Scars are souvenirs you never lose; the past is never far.

Last Week
I'm watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and attempting to find inspiration of something to blog about. Perhaps I could just ramble.



Aha... there it is.

As for my last posting about falling in love. Ha. That's not to say that I was or wasn't "in love" with this guy. Let's just say watching everything falling apart and feeling everything slip through my fingers no matter how tightly I held on was...excruciating. Pardon my dramatic tone.

I'm not going to sit here and lament the fact that I've had my heart broken. It happens to everyone. In a way I almost hope it happens to everyone. When I was 17 my mother told me she hoped that one day I would have my heart broken. I gaped at her and naively retorted, "Oh, gee thanks for wishing that on me! Real motherly!" Like I said... naive. When you know love or even just the simple care for someone else you truly value it when it's gone. As a consequence you should be able to value and respect the next relationship you're in so much more. I know the first time I had my heart broken it made me understand just how special the next one was--especially since it turned out to be so short-lived.

Anyways enough of that because like I said, I won't sit here and cry over it [anymore] like all of the sappy "post-secret" tumblr blogs and Tweets and Facebook statuses. I've grown to be almost as irritated by those as I am by those updates that involve the phrase "my wonderful boyfriend did this" or "I love so-and-so more than anything!" I'm all about professing your love. But tell your love, not me.



[1:27 am ] Crap... now I don't want to write about what I was thinking about writing about anymore. I don't really remember what my point was. But I'll leave the stuff I already wrote as a follow-up.

[1:38 am] Okay, I need sleep and ideas. *Save draft* and I'll be back at it tomorrow.

August 1, 2011
Okay so it's not really tomorrow.

I was just looking for some things that I used in the past from classes I took like notes, old quizzes, and the like. I stumbled upon some things I never intended to. I have changed SO MUCH. I don't even have a feeling of nostalgia. I can't describe it. I'm really kind of sad. To think I was so innocently in love then so far from that in less than 6 months later just makes me even more scared to ever be in love again.



Hell, I'm scared of the future period. I have no idea what I'll be doing to sustain myself in the next year. I have this plan of going to medical school but right now I'm waiting for the bricks to fall into place on the path before me while I'm standing on the brink of nothingness. But I've always been afraid of the future.

I suppose the important thing is that I never let it keep me from making the right decisions and choices. So maybe if there was one thing you could gather from this posting, it would be to never let fear keep you from doing what you were meant to do. Whatever destiny you have chosen for yourself you have to go out and make. It takes courage.

[no title]

I have a friend who has recently taken to blog posting almost every single day. I find her posts fascinating most of the time and I really feel like I know her better after reading each one.

I'm not sure why I'm not the kind of person who blogs on a daily basis. Perhaps I just feel like no one really cares enough to want to read what I have to think or say every day. Even if they do, I would feel like I have to come up with something interesting or profound every time I write. (This is why I would never be able to be a real writer, I think--I'm too worried that there is someone out there who won't like it.)

See? Even now I don't know what to say. I think I'm just bored.

Okay, I found a train of thought (it's pink and rather than steam it emits heart-shaped bubbles)... here we go.

How do you know if you're in love? How long do you have to be with a person before it can happen? Is there even an answer to this? I'm so frustrated by this. Hollywood will tell you that it can happen in a single look or after a single encounter. My Dad will tell you this too--he knew he wanted to marry my mother the minute she walked into the place he met her. This is kind of ridiculous, because I think it took my mother much longer to fall in love with him. Still, they've been married 25 years now so love obviously is still there for them. My life experience has told me it kind of varies--some people fall in love in a month, some 6 months, some a year.... Some people are quick and decide that even the smallest amount of emotion beyond "liking" someone is love while others don't even realize they're in love until it's too late or at least almost too late. So how do you know when you're in love?

Maybe my whole issue isn't a matter of "when." Perhaps it's a matter of "what" love is. As in, how do I know when I am in love. I know I've loved someone before, I know it. But then it kind of just... died. How does that even happen? The thought is petrifying. Can that just happen?? People change, sure... but isn't love supposed to surpass all of that? Maybe I wasn't in a "deep" love. Okay, so that relationship is over, but what about other relationships, new ones? I know what love feels like it, but I don't think I would recognize it if it slapped me in the face. I feel like I started from scratch on this one--seriously I feel like I wouldn't know whether I was in love or not. Maybe I am? But no, it's too soon isn't it? Perhaps it's just powerful, deep infatuation--which is probably even more intoxicating and dangerous. Can't I just have an epiphany to know whether I am or not? Someone just tell me!

I think maybe I am having the first inklings of it. Maybe. Sometimes I worry if I'm the type of person who just falls in love with every person she is ever with--DANGEROUS. (Being a caring person can screw you, you know.) The thing is, I think love is a journey. I think you can fall in love instantly, sure--but not into the kind of love it takes to commit your life to. I mean, I wouldn't say yes to a proposal tomorrow, no sir. But I think if he dropped the ILY I would return it. (This is why I refuse to say it first--I'm too unsure... and maybe scatterbrained.) I think it will grow. I think that if I really do love a person I will love them to whatever degree I'm meant to--whether it be just the first inklings of it for a month or two, or the perpetual, end-all be-all of loves.

Now if I were listening to someone ranting and raving about all this like a panicked blonde in a romantic comedy, my advice to them would be to just go with it. I am the kind of person who tells everyone that "everything happens for a reason." And I'm not b.s.-ing here; I DO have that faith, I do. But like most people I would do well to take my own advice. To step outside my brain for a minute and look at my thoughts objectively. So, I will, indeed, "just go with it" and keep my faith that "everything happens for a reason," believing that I will be happy no matter what happens in the next few months, years, lifetimes.... But I feel better now.