Tag Archives: Memories

Week 2 Challenge: The Perfect Place for Austin, Texas

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Non-cooked pizza? Dairy-free chocolate cheesecake? Sounds gross right? Wrong. There’s nothing I like better than eating at my my favorite restaurant in town. Sure, it might be an acquired taste, and not everyone may like it, but real Austinites will.

Right down the street from Town Lake, nestled in a corner between propaganda, the hair salon, and a jewelry repair place, is a raw food café. Beets: the only place in Austin that doesn’t cook their food. Vegan uncooked food might sound unappetizing, but it’s actually delicious.  The vegan cashew cheesecakes taste just like real cheesecakes, because when they soak the cashews and grind them up, it tastes kind of like milk. All the food substitutes at Beets are spot on, and taste just like real food, if not better.

If there’s anything that I like better than the food, it’s the people. Every time I’m there, somehow me and the people next to me strike up I conversation. In the background I can hear cooks and waitresses humming, trickling of fountains, and people laughing. Health posters and paintings of nature are tacked up on the walls.  To the left, there are cooking classes, everyday. They show how to make and have vegan raw food 24/7.

All in all, the family feel makes everyone welcome, and the fact that it is so close to Town Lake is convenient for most hungry health nuts, who like to exercise. The reason why this is my favorite place in Austin is because of how perfect it is for the only hippie, up to date city in Texas.

My Favorite Mistake

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Mistakes are like when people try to pronounce my name. It never turns out the way I think it will.

2009, and it was our first basketball game of the season. We were in the third quarter, there were two minutes left and we could all practically smell the determination and desperation running through the crowd, and my teammates veins. Only I could smell and almost taste the sweat and salty water filling up all of my mouth.

I was sprinting to the opposite goal, and and as my eyes followed the action, I saw that Samantha stole the ball…dribbled it up the court…and passed it to — me? My mind cleared blank, everything slowed down. Parents and teammates were yelling, but I wasn’t listening. The only thing that I could hear was the devil and angel on my shoulders. I subconciously moved, then suddenly—
I was right in front of the basket.

It was a layup: the easiest shot in basketball (as my coach always said), but I was too afraid. Kaylee was right there, it was so easy to just shoot, yet so temping to hold the ball up to my chest, and thrust, lifting it in the air and across the room. In a wave of panic, I passed to her instead of making the shot.

The guilt. That was all I could feel. I didn’t know what my coach was thinking, and I didn’t know what my teamates felt. Dissapointment? Anger? Annoyance? I wondered if they didn’t notice. No. Probably not. But all I was really sure of knowing was that Iwas supposed to be on the other side right now. With my heart in my chest, I gathered up my courage, picked my feet up, and dragged myself away from that wretched spot.

My actions made it much harder for my team to save themselves. The enemy stole the ball, and we lost. all because of me….

To this day, I regret not having the courage to win us the game, just because I was afraid to fail. Although my coach and teammates were able to let it go, I was ashamed, and filled with self-doubt, but I learned that sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith, and when it all comes down to me, I know in my heart, next time, I will shoot the basket.

Reading and Me

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Reading is a very complicated thing for me. I’m not a very gifted reader, but only because I used to be. This might not make sense, but back in  Third Grade, I was the biggest bookworm to be found. I read basically everything the average person would recommend to you. The Harry Potter Series, The Hunger Games, The Giver Series, and all the classics, including Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and The Secret Garden. So by the start of Fourth Grade, you can imagine how hard it would be to find decent books to read. I struggled on my reading logs in Fourth and Fifth Grade, and spent hours at the Laura Bush Library all through sixth grade, riding the library school bus there, and being picked up by my dad. In Sixth Grade, I read mostly  romance novels, which were very, very short. I became out of practice. By now, I have a hundred different books that I’m dying to get around to, I just don’t finish them quick enough (The exact opposite of before).  Sooner or later, I’ll get back into my old habits, but until then, I’m stuck like this.

Sincerely,

Sairam678