Cookie-Cutter Houses and Rookie "Rednecks"

Another observation of mine is that all (new) houses in Houston look the same. Appealing red-brick exterior, high ceiling, beige wall-to-wall carpet, and a sizable backyard. Attractive package.... albeit a little too cookie-cutter for my taste. Here I was in front of my friend Peng's house, which he purchased last year, after leaving his engineering director position on the east coast to accept a professorship overseas.



Had a memory refresher on Texas and its love for guns this afternoon. It turned out one of our friends, Peng's neighbor, owns a shotgun. Before I knew it, the three of us were on our way to the closest shooting range, only a 5-minute drive away. I didn't want to deal with the kick on my shoulder, so I killed the time watching the boys. They killed nothing, thankfully - but they did manage to hit at least 70%. Not bad!

Clocked in another rubberband-free, splint-free day. My jaws can open wider and wider now without pain, which makes inserting chocolates easier and easier. Very nice progress. :)

Hmm....Something Is Different

I'm in Houston (my hometown) this weekend visiting some friends from college. Since my estranged parents refused to see me (long story, sigh), I'm staying with Jessica, a good friend from my school days. Thanks Jess! :) Here in this photo, we were at our favorite French bistro in town, La Madeleine. Jess kew about my jaw surgery, but did not make a big deal out of it. Somehow I think Texans pay less attention to appearances than Californians. Neither good nor bad - just an observation. Jess mostly noticed my weight loss (15 to 17 lbs), and joked that maybe she should consider jaw surgery, too. :P


Group dinner with old church friends tonight felt odd - most people showed up with at least one baby, even the only couple who didn't have kids in tow were pregnant. I was floored. San Francisco and New York RULE - for singles like me. ;)

Most of the folks at dinner hadn't seen me in five to seven years, so naturally they commented that I'd changed quite a bit. So did they. Only one girl said "SOMETHING is different about you, but I can't quite figure out what". Since I was never that close to her, I just smiled politely and didn't offer any details. Her husband, who was a closer friend, commented that my eyes look different. .... Sure, if you say so. :)

Fortunately, no one seemed to notice that my face was still slightly swollen. And no one noticed that I was eating weird - attacking only soft, mushy foods, and didn't touch any meat at all. It was such a big group thing I didn't want to tell everyone that I'm on a soft diet and have them act ginger around me (trust me, it happens....). Luckily, that worked great. Don't ask, don't tell. ;)