Moment 617: 911 Cable Ranch Rd.

The first and only time I lived on my own, completely- was in a first floor apartment in a duplex on Cable Ranch Rd.

It was Apt. 911.

When I moved in, my parents gave me their old couch- I had some other furniture I cobbled together including a coffee table but not a bed. So I slept on that couch for the first month or so.

It was pretty cool.

So many great things happened in that place- I'm going to break up each moment of relevance- but this is just about getting the place itself and what the aura was like.

The complex itself set alone behind the Westlakes Mall area next to this man-made huge pond/small lake shaped body of water.

I got the bottom floor because it was the cheapest- I think my rent was around 350 a month. The apartment was about 427 sq. ft. so it was small.
It had two major rooms- the largest one was a Kitchen/Living Room area seprated by a counter so the place still seemed sizeable.
The second room was the Bedroom/Bathroom. Also a sizeable room- especially since I didn't have a bed in it at the time.

The place was pretty sparce for a while as I was collecting things to put in there on my measly $16,000 a year salary- Which I was HAPPY to make, mind you- it was a nice chunk of change for SA at the time- especially for someone my age.

I lived next to the H.E.B. I worked at as a High School Senior. I would visit this place like twice a week to load up on necessities: chirizo, tortillas, eggs, sausage, beans (refried and baked), corn in a can, wine, candles, bread, milk, cereal, ice cream, tomatoes, hamburger meat, a roasted chicken and premade potato salad.
This would cost me between 40-50 bucks and would last me a week- maybe longer. I would buy a pack of Dove soap, dish detergent, toothpaste and a four roll of toilet paper once a month.

It was rare that I would have to buy beer because there was always some left over from some get togther that had happened a couple of days before.

It was cool to be really on my own. I mean, I was always very independant and I was pretty responsible (except with paper work and mail- which I can't stand- but I had pulled it together enough to run things). So I loved it!
There were times when I was pretty lonely on my own but that came after I had lived there for a while.

In fact- there was always people coming over to my place. It was a hangout for Cisco and a lot of his friends as we had dinners/parties like twice a week. My National Guard friends rolled through once a month and Roger came over throughout the month as well.
Jerry, Susan and Ted paid me regular visits and Gary even had a key- so he would stop by and do his laundry PLUS there was a ritual we had where we would buy a Louisiana crunch cake and a box of vanilla bean ice cream and finish it off in one sitting.
Bryan would roll over and we would jam and watch cartoons.
Dave and his wife came by a couple of times so's she could drink my beer.
Rob would come by with the crew we used to hang with at the arcade.
Sarah came by a few times as well as Marcos and Joann, Mike and a few other peeps from Fox Rocks and KRRT.
Randy and Lisa visited me often.
My cousin, Teddy would come by with all kinds of people he was hanging with at the time.
Lisa and Alfred came by a lot too.

Thinking back, I don't know how I got so lonely in that place. But I eventually did-
I do miss it but I don't think I could live like that again. Not really.

Too many memories, yo. I will have to go into detail.

Before I jet on this opening to 911 Cable Ranch-
I remember finding a cat on my balcony and I happened to have a can of tuna so I busted it open and set it out. The cat ate well and hung for a bit then rolled. I was happy for the company while it was there but didn't think anything of it.

The next morning on my way out to work I found a dead mouse on my welcome matt as a thank you from the cat.

That was pretty much the vibe at my place. Give a little, take a little and everything was apprieciated.
Even though it was MY place- it kinda felt shared by the various networks I was associated with.

Yeah. It was a pretty cool place.