Why I love Houston, Tx

I used to live in Houston back in 2008-2009.

This was the year that
1) I moved back to the states from a terrible/miserable experience in Canada
2) arrived in Houston 3 days before hurricane Ike (cat 3)
3) I started drinking
4) made amazing friends (who love to cook! For me!)
5) I learned to hate my job/my industry.

All of these things are important in their own way- but that’s not what this story is about. This story comes from May 2009 during a hellacious thunder storm that knocked out power and flooded the streets.

Tangent- after Hurricane Ike I realized how unprepared/stupid I was. So I made a “survival kit” which I didn’t get to put to good use yet and I was chomping at the bit waiting for something bad to happen so I could break out my crank/solar radio/light combo with the weather station preset! Or my army-can opener! Or all the stupid canned goods that we had!

So…. We have this hellacious storm after work and the power goes out. My roommate Cristi and I call our friend, Todd, and tell him that the power is out and he should head over to “candle it up” with us. We didn’t know what we would do- but since there was no electricity- the more people you have over, the better.

Todd arrives to see Cristi and I, both, wearing hoodies (it was 85 degrees outside. I don’t remember why I thought that was necessary) with the crank radio playing (top 40), eating a can of green beans (out of the can) with the camping set spork (shared between us).

We kept it classy, though, and had candles lit- even though it was still daylight out.

After being laughed/yelled at because “the power has only been out for 10 minutes!” We (Todd) decided to go for a drive… (Across town… During a storm that flooded a few neighborhoods…) To get some hookah supplies. (A party is not a party unless you have beer and smokes/hookah!)

So we SLOWLY crawled the car down the street, terrified that we would end up in a flooded pothole, but also because visibility was so terrible we couldn’t go any faster.

We passed numerous cars that were abandoned… But we were determined! (Also- Todd was driving HIS car, and he knew he would never hear the end of it if he turned around because of some “little rain”). This is when I put on my sunglasses (it was dark at this point) and announced that we were on a “Mission from God”. Then we played the Blues Brother’s soundtrack and life was grand.

45 minutes and 8 miles later we arrive at the store. Walking the 10 paces from the car to the store left us completely soaked and reminded me WHY I was wearing that stupid hoodie (I was wearing a white shirt with a purple bra).

Getting home was not nearly any kind of ordeal. In fact, By the time we got home, the power was already being restored and we waited 20 minutes before getting ours back.

The moral of the story: this story would not have happened if I were watching tv. (or: What else am I missing out on because I have electricity?)