Life in the Lonestar State

Where to start? I love Texas. I haven't decided if I love it more than Arizona, but it's pretty dang close. One of my favorite things is how much green there is. It's beautiful. Driving around town in Az, if it's not paved, it's rocks, or just dirt. Here the sidewalks are lined with grass, the freeways with trees and open fields. There's random patches of forrest in the middle of developments. Green is my favorite color to see outside and it's even better when capped off with amazingly clear blue skies. Another thing to love about Texas? The people. The people are so much friendlier here! If you happen to make eye contact with someone at the grocery store or anywhere they smile and politely say "Howdy!" I still haven't gotten used to "howdy" yet, and I still feel awkward saying it, but it is growing on me. "Ya'll" has found it's way into my vocabulary. At first I cringed whenever it slipped out, but I have to admit that it has started to feel natural. There is a big difference in culture when it comes to the young single adults here. Back in AZ Christie and I would recieve random mass texts about birthday parties in Mesa or Gilbert. We would go, not knowing who was celebrating a birthday. We hardly even knew anyone there, we had fun, but it was rare to meet new people. There would be hundreds of people, all in their own cliques (Click or Clique?) All that was served was water, maybe chips and salsa if you're lucky. Here, when the Singles' Ward get's together, there's food. People mingle. It's personal. If someone new shows up, they are immediately introduced to the 30 some odd people there, and made to feel welcome. But the food. Let's talk about that. No just snacks, boys are grilling, or cooking stuff in a fire. Not just cheeseburgers, oh no. Legitimate meals. There's one guy who loves to cook for everybody. He took the time to stuff jalepenos w/ cheese and wrap them up in bacon w/ sausage. Amazing. What else do I love about Texas? Oh, I know! This is special to College Station. I love the school spirit here. It's amazing. I never was one for school spirit in high school, but ASU. Ohh ASU! I love ASU football, and everything ASU! I grew up going to football games and walking into Sun Devil Stadium was like going home. I couldn't help but grin when I walked through the gates. I mean, I love ASU! At least I thought I did. The Aggie spirit here is like nothing I have ever experienced. It's intense! No cheerleaders, there are yell leaders. They lead chants that every student in the student section knows. Every sport is important here. Although football is the main event, there's a crowd at every sporting event football, volleyball, baseball, even women's basketball (they're playing for the championship tonight, so they actually are really good). Everybody know every word to the fight song. On weekends when out at dance a hall at 12:30am, everything stops, music stops playing, and everybody forms a circle. They play the fight song & everybody sings a along. They sway from left to right during the chorus and yell something at the end. I seriously need to learn this song because I am the only one in Aggieland who doesn't. This post is getting long... one last thing for now! The dance halls! So much fun! Tabetha got me to go dancing with her and her friends for the first time in late January. I learned how to two-step, which I'm still working on. But, yeah, it's just a lot of fun to go out and dance with friends. The dance halls are pretty big, and I have never seen so many people dance to country music in my life! I'm used to everybody sitting down in protest when a country song is played at a dance. Okay, so that's it for now. Once I figure out how to transfer pictures from my phone to my computer, I will post them! I love you, Mom & Kathy! Thanks for reading my blog so it's not complete waste!