Wednesday is for the Mailblog!

Well, it's Wednesday. Purgatory. Far enough into the week to feel some satisfaction, but far enough away from the weekend to feel anxious. There's only one cure for this. Mailbag!

Would you rather be incredibly wealthy and butt ugly, or be the most handsome man in all the land but be absolutely penniless?
Kori C.
Durango, CO

Alright, how ugly are we talking here? Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) ugly? Because I don't care how much money you throw at me, looking at that bat face in the mirror everyday would just make me sad.

Well, considering I'm relatively penniless now, I think I'd rather be the most handsome man in all the land. Life is just so much easier for the super-attractive. Mistakes are overlooked, undeserved tolerance in given and accomplishments are applauded to a disgusting degree. If I were the "most attractive man in all the land" (which, going by that title, would be pretty damned attractive), I feel confident that I'd have a endless supply of incredible job offers to choose from anyway. Professional integrity aside, human nature is going make you want to help someone you want to sleep with.

If you were forced to only eat at one fast food restaurant for every meal for 30 days straight, which restaurant would you choose? (you have to eat three meals a day)
Eric D.
Austin, TX

I saw "Supersize Me" and while it was wildly entertaining, when the movie was over all I wanted to do was jog. I think any burger joint would have to be out. Same with Taco Bell. I can't eat there more than three times a year without wanting to die, nevermind 30 days straight. I think the answer is Subway. Their sandwiches aren't bad, you don't necessarily feel like crap afterwards and you could order salad if the mood struck you. This is why fast food is so awful. When you're asked which one you'd choose if you had to eat there for 30 days straight, the natural inclination is to pick the one that won't kill you.

You've lived in a lot of cities - what do you like/miss and hate/don't miss about each of them?
Dave E.
New York, NY

Temple/Waco/Beaumont, TX (1979-1986): I should probably start at the beginning, including the city where I was born (Temple, TX), even though I may have only "lived" there for a couple of weeks. I can't say for sure what I liked and disliked about these places. I probably enjoyed the trick-or-treating. And going to school so I could learn to read. I probably disliked bedtime, bathtime and naptime. Moving on.

Sugar Land, TX (1986-1998): My childhood. I had a pretty standard suburban upbringing (complete with the divorcing parents). Sugar Land had everything you'd expect in a suburb. Nice houses, good schools, chain restaurants, a mall. To talk about what I liked and disliked about Sugar Land "the place" would inevitably turn into a thesis on the trials and triumphs of growing up in general. Hmm...okay. The place. I liked that it was close to a major city, but also had the incubatory quality that's inherent in suburbs. Other than that...uhh...we had a Chick-fil-a?

Lubbock, TX (1998-2002): College. Ummm...what did I love. Granted, I'm trying to think about this from the perspective of an 18-22 year old, which is when I lived there. I loved the freedom. I loved the bars. I loved house parties. I loved going home with strange (and sometimes strange-looking) girls. I loved playing frat parties with my cover band The Fratastics. I loved football games. I loved summer school. The list could go on. I don't think there was anything about Lubbock that I didn't love while I was living there. I've always preached that Lubbock is the perfect place for a college experience. The city revolves around the university, the police don't hassle college kids (not that much, anyway), the rent is ridiculously cheap, the bars are ridiculously cheap, the campus is pretty and there are enough people at the school (30,000) that you're bound to meet at least six people you get along with. That being said, wild horses couldn't drag me back to that place.

Dallas/Houston, TX (2003): Post-college. This is an awkward time in a person's life. You're 22. You don't have any job experience or qualifications. You're not 100% certain what you want to do with your life. It's an exciting time, because you really do have the world at your fingertips, but try telling that to a 22 year old. All I could think was "no one is giving me a job. God, I wish I was still in school." So January to August was sort of depressing. It took me eight months to realize that the expectations you've grown up with (you go to college, you get a job, you get married) don't always necessarily pan out. In fact, I was so unhappy in Houston, where I was working part time peddling coffee mugs, that...

Minneapolis, MN (2003-2004): ...I impulsively packed all of my earthly belongings into the back of my car and drove to Minnesota to live on a friend's couch. This was exactly the change of scenery I needed. And I really enjoyed the cold, believe it or not. There's something about that kind of weather that makes you feel alive. Granted, there were days that the temperature never climbed into positive digits, which was disheartening. And I didn't particularly enjoy scraping ice off my windshield in the morning in May. But all in all, the snow definitely added to the experience. I'm sure I would be singing a different tune had I actually stayed there for more than one year.

Anyway. I really liked meeting people who had no idea I had a twin. For the first time in my life I was treated like an actual person and not just half of a set. I also enjoyed the solitude, to a degree. It made me (feel) more independent.

New York, NY (2004-2006): I moved to New York in June 2004. I'd only been there a total of six days (visit, interview, apartment hunting) before moving there, so everything was still really new. There's so much that I loved/miss about it. The incredibly interesting people. The pace. I think what I liked most was that there was a larger-than-life bigness about it, but it was accessible. It felt cool to work for an American institution (NBC) at an American institution (Rockefeller Plaza), see iconic things firsthand (the Olympic torch, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Gates in Central Park) and generally dive headfirst into "being a New Yorker" (taking the subway to work, walking everywhere, going to Mets games, etc). Frank Sinatra was on to something.

Austin, TX (2007): I'm still relatively new to Austin (eight and a half months), but there are a lot of things I like about this place. Especially now that summer is right around the corner. The natural beauty of Austin is incredible. I'm enjoying being close to my family. Revisiting/rekindling old friendships. Driving (this can't be understated). Affordable rent. Interesting characters.

Whew. That was a long one. Thanks for your questions. Keep em coming!