Welcome to Mediocre, TX ? (Austin: crime, living, safe)

[sxrckr]

Must be written by one of our many satisfied relocatees! Ouch.

Welcome to Mediocre, Texas | MichaelCorcoran.net
Only the mediocre are always at their best, someone said, which could be why Austin is so damn proud of itself.

[Trainwreck20]

Heh, kind of funny, in a sad sort of way. I just browsed it after a while, but seems it isn't exciting enough for him. He seems to want it to be LA or NY, and since it isn't, it sucks? He also complains that the music isn't "hall of fame" music, then complains that that is what the radio is playing? Heaven forbid that the asian population has chosen not to live all in one "chinatown" - it has deprived this guy of a 'hip' excursion there on Friday night or whatever. How dare they!

Oh, well, what is that guy's name? eepstein or whatever? Maybe it is his alias .

[OpenD]

Most salient paragraph:

"Obviously, if you’ve read this far, I’m not exactly Joan Didion. You want to know who pissed in my cornflakes? My own mediocrity did."

[sxrckr]

I sort of get the impression he came expecting something else, or is longing for the good 'ol days.

[FueledByBlueBell]

I'm so tired of hearing about Ray Benson and I don't "get" most of the live music here. I'm not a pro sports fan either so it is fine with me.

[Aquitaine]

The comment about 'no zoo' made me think of eepstein too. I've never heard anybody except him gripe about a zoo being a prerequisite for "cool city" status. Because when we go hang out with our buddies on the weekend, we hang out at the zoo.

[dbsteel]

It's kind of funny and over exaggerated, but his point is somewhat true. Austin is a nice little city and has a lot of benefits to living there. But everything is blown way out of proportion as to how big, important, or "weird" it really is. The music and movie scenes are good examples. The hype there is out of control.

[Trainwreck20]

"Obviously, if you’ve read this far [...]

Opps, didn't make it that far .

It's kind of funny and over exaggerated, but his point is somewhat true. Austin is a nice little city and has a lot of benefits to living there. But everything is blown way out of proportion as to how big, important, or "weird" it really is. The music and movie scenes are good examples. The hype there is out of control.

That might be quite true. But I guess my point would be, not everyone comes for the hype. I have been here (or near here) for a long time, and although everyone has their own perspective and priorities, I think of Austin as a place to be outside - a LOT, spring, summer, winter, or fall - playing, swimming, or eating (love patio dining). I am not 'big' into the music scene, but I like going out to Nutty Brown, unplugged at the Grove, and people watching during SXSW.

I like that I feel safe pretty much whatever turn I take in the city. Even the 'seedier' areas seem to have a 'property' crime aura rather than a 'violent' crime aura.

I like that I can strike up a random conversation with the person in front of me in line just about anywhere, and they are usually more than happy to engage while they are waiting for whatever.

Anyway, there may be dozens of places where you can find similar opportunities or places where an aspect important to you is more prominent than here. There may even be a place where I would be happier and I just don't know it, but 'the grass is always greener' is not a good motto to live by, especially when the proverbial grass is far from dead where you are.

Finally, at what point does being mediocre or above in almost everything equate to being exceptional overall?

[RooCeleste]

Eh, he'd be one to whom I'd say "Why don't you shut up or just go back to wherever you came from?" I wouldn't waste another second on him.

[Adamson865]

By my count, there's 10 major league sports teams within driving distance (2 football, 2 baseball, 3 basketball, 1 WNBA, 1 hockey and 1 soccer). I guess that's not good enough - he wants one within walking distance... then he'd probably complain about the mediocre hot dogs at the park.