Houston

Some good sightseeing if you can handle the weather.

...since I was a kid.

I saw my boyfriend’s family!

I spent 4 years here in the 80s. You cannot imagine the relentless heat and humidity from June through September. A fun city though.

This city isn’t very far from where I live. I have a few friends who have been here before, but they say it isn’t anything special. One thing I’ve heard about Houston is it is made up of a lot of highways. I have met a good number of people who are from here and live here. A rapper I like, Paul Wall, is from here. What else motive do I need?

I don’t know that I would necessarily suggest coming here as a tourist. OK, I know I wouldn’t. But hey, it’s home (for now) and I love it.

I believe Houstonians are finally beginning to grasp the “tropical” side of the city; we have had rain almost every day for about two months now. Usually temperatures in July are climbing toward the century mark by now, but we have barely broken a sweat all summer. For the first time in about ten years, the entire state has officially been declared to be free of drought. That’s nice, but health officials are also predicting record numbers of West Nile Virus in the city this year, which makes sense considering that virus is trasmitted by mosquitos, which breed in water, which we have had in abundance lately.

I have started a series of photos called HoustonNtheRain. I mean, if mosquitos can take advantage of this, why can’t I?

The movie theater in Meyerland is gone. Not really sure what happened to it, but I couldn’t find movie times, and then I finally stumbled on a website that listed it as closed.

I’m super sad about this because this is where I had my first date.

Houston is really weird when it comes to movie theaters…it seems like we have a hard time keeping them open.

The shopping center behind what Lewis Black dubbed the “End of the Universe” (A Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks.) is scheduled for demolition.

The center, at the corner of South Shepherd and West Gray, most notably included Black-Eyed Pea and the Three Brothers Bakery.

This is tied up with the fight to save the River Oaks Theatre.

Houston Chronicle article, including a sketch of the plans here. (Log-in required. Try bugmenot.com if you aren’t registered.)

Map of the center at its official website here. The curve to be demolished starts with number 2.

Really nice people. they let us do our laundry here, as well as show some art and rock out.