I've Moved To A Different Planet....

It was not until last night that my brain stopped, looked around, listened and realized that I now live on another planet. It is not the reality of life that I am accustomed to after living in Las Vegas for eleven years. Lets start out by meeting people....

THE LAS VEGAS WAY WHEN MEETING PEOPLE:
1. The underlying tone and sometimes straight out question is "What can you do for me". Whether it be getting into a club, giving free or discounted drinks at a bar, free food at a casino, discounts in a store, people do not want to be your friend unless you can do something for them and they can do something for you.
2. Location Location Location. It is not who you know, but where you meet them, and that is almost NEVER at their house. They don't want you to know where they live. They prefer to meet out at a restaurant, club, bar, etc. to hang out. Rarely will you ever see where they live like it is shameful or they just don't want you in their "bizness". I had friends that I never knew quite where they lived and they were oddly skittish when invited to my place.
3. It is not what you do, but how important you pretend what you do is and the facade you keep. People were just not honest. Nothing better to hanging out with someone, blowing money left and right, talking about how fab your job and work is, then running into them at the Macy's Gift Wrap counter and miraculously never hearing from them again. The shame in a lie. I don't care what you do or how much you make or even how much you are willing to go into debt to party on a weekend night. I just am looking for a nice person to hang with and have a good time. People in Vegas do not understand that concept.

WHAT I HAVE NOTICED ABOUT MEETING PEOPLE IN AUSTIN:
1. The attitude is "Welcome! Let's be friends. You seem nice!" It is truly like another world. I have a similar attitude toward friendship and am probably too trusting when meeting new people, but really I don't find harm in that. It is easy to stop trusting someone once they cause you to. It is much harder to trust no one and be alone.
2. Come over and lets BBQ is the attitude I have noticed here. It is odd. I love to invite people over for dinner at our place and apparently (after years of unbelieving) other people do too. They are no ashamed to invite you inside for a drink after you drive them home from a night out. They are not even ashamed if they live in a less than desirable neighborhood.
3. No one cares what you do or how much you make, but they do care if you are having a good time and happy. Lately the people we have met have been encouraging toward us in our job searches often offering ideas and even checking with their own companies for potential positions.

The other thing I have noticed here also deals with people. It is the conversations that you have. For the first time in literally 10 or so years, I am able to meet someone in a bar, on the street, at a music venue and talk about something intelligently. Free to have an opinion and they accept my opinion and offer their own no matter how different. I don't feel dumb or out of touch with thinking. I have not heard talk of Brittany, Madonna, or some reality TV show. I have heard about Obama, Gaza, and literature. I am loving it. It is not a strained conversation where you are continually wondering what you will talk about next, with multiple pauses or rude stops for a text or two, but a convergence of ideas and thoughts that make up the conversation...that make it interesting.
Oh yes, from the norm I became accustomed to over the past 11 years, I have moved to another planet. It has ever changing weather, people who are outdoors and smiling, free thinkers, quaint restaurants, farm fresh fruits and vegetables, and a State Capital Building smack dab in the middle. Austin, I have arrived!