blacksundae

Where to begin? Well, first I’d like to say a few things about suburban Texas. As some of you may know, I spent a few weeks with some very kind relatives in Katy, TX, just outside of Houston.

One thing that struck me was the total lack of sidewalks in the neighborhood where we stayed. No sidewalks. None. I can only assume they atrophied. “Who needs sidewalks? That’s what cars are for.” I found it very confusing. If you walk in the street, you’re… well. You’re walking in the street. Like a tourist in the Quarter. But if you get out of the street you’re walking on somebody’s lawn. Judging by the general neatness of lawns in the area, I think that might be a no-no. What to do? Well, I generally didn’t leave the house (as is reflected in the sheer number of my blog posts from that period).

I was also fascinated by all the subdivisions in the Houston area. There are subdivisions in New Orleans, don’t get me wrong. Hell. There’s even one in Algiers Point. But NOLA is a backwards little burg when it comes to subdivisions, compared to Houston at least. Do you like subdivisions? Go to Houston. Houston is where subdivisions go to die.

Or maybe subdivisions are formed in the Houston nebula, then slowly spread across the country until they attach themselves to the outskirts of other cities. What you see in Houston is just that initial density prior to distribution.

It occurs to me that it would be extremely easy to put together an online Random Subdivision Name Generator. Three words each. The first two would be chosen from the same list, which would be made up of nature words. Geographical features. That sort of thing. Woods. Mountain. Valley. Creek. Oak. Canyon. Nothing negative-sounding, so “sink hole” can’t be in there. Same thing with more technical words. “Subduction zone” just doesn’t roll off the tongue very well.

The last word would be some highfalutin variation on “houses.” Estates. Villas. That sort of thing. Click a button, get a name.

• Mountain Creek Estates
• Oak Canyon Villas
• Prairie Lake Manors

You get the idea. Anyway, that’s all for now. The next episode: Berkeley. That’s gonna be freakin’ hilarious.

P.S. Josh & Christine! Thanks for taking us to Half-Price Books. I shit you not, the day after I got to Berkeley, one opened here. Crazy.