Subtropical Tom

Unrepentant ‘Stros and Saints fan. Rice Owls fan for life. Toby Da Dog dad. Hater of leaf blowers.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@BBGreatMoments Loved the Astrodome for Astros baseball but good Lord did it suck for Oilers football.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@FactsAboutTexas The old Shamrock Hotel pool

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

I don’t think #Drago’s is worried.

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

Stateside, a gas station. I drank a frozen blue beverage too quickly, and was struck down by a punishment this entire nation knows, and accepts, and has named.

The drink is called a slush. Ice, sweetness, and a blue that does not occur in nature. The day was hot. I was thirsty. I drank like a soldier at a river.

The pain arrived in my skull like a war horn.

Behind the eyes. Above everything. Total. I gripped the roof of my car. I may have made a sound.

"Brain freeze," said the cashier through the door, with no urgency whatsoever.

It has a NAME. The affliction is so common it has a household name, like a cousin.

"Tongue on the roof of your mouth," called a man at the pumps. He did not look over. He prescribed the remedy mid-pump, casually, the way one mentions weather.

I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. The war horn faded. The healer nodded at his pump, finished, and was gone in a Chevrolet.

In my land, punishment follows crime by way of courts and seasons. Here, the sentence is instant. Drink with greed, and the ice strikes the mind directly. No trial. No appeal. Perfectly fair.

And here is what moves me. EVERYONE has felt it. The cashier. The healer. Children. Elders. An entire nation united by the same small lightning, all taught the same cure, all passing it on to strangers at gas stations, free of charge.

You cannot fully distrust a country once you know it shares one pain.

The freeze does not punish thirst. It punishes haste.

I finished the slush slowly, like a scholar. Blue tongue. Clear mind.

Then at the door I forgot everything, drank deeply, and was struck down again.

"Tongue, hon," said the cashier, without looking up.

Discipline is a journey.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@JimNicar @UTAustin I don't mean to correct you but The Pub and Valhalla were open on the Rice University campus well before March 1977.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@loneloc02 @EsotericCD Have you not heard of our governor from St. Martinville?

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@ProfRobAnderson Good luck trying that in Louisiana.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

#Teedy knocking back $300/day in liquor from March 2020-Dec 2020 explains a lot. #NOLA https://t.co/jm8bNe188X

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

Ever fried a turkey in 29 deg weather in the snow? I have! #CajunNewEnglandXmas

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

#SpringerDinger to give @BlueJays the lead!!! #ALCS

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@CJMordock Not Kyle Turley?

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

Booger et al laying the wood to Brian Kelly and @LSUfootball right now at the halftime show between AL and Ga.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@BBGreatMoments You missed Jimmy Wynn

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@BBGreatMoments JR Richard.

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@michaelschwab13

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@BreauxMart Been hitting those hemp gummies again, @BreauxMart ?

[Subtropical Tom @tpmcalister]

@BarstoolNOLA As dysfunctional as this state and city may have been (and still is) our state and city officials deserve a lot of credit for not giving up on the dome after this. They could’ve scraped it and we’d have lost both the @Saints and the @PelicansNBA. Kudos to them.

[Rotary Club of SF West @RCofSFW]

Service Above Self in action! 🤝 Giving back to our community not only makes a difference in the lives of others but also brings us closer together. Every act of kindness counts.

[Rotary Club of SF West @RCofSFW]

Happy people naturally give back, not out of obligation, but because their joy inspires generosity. When our hearts are full, we feel motivated to share that happiness, uplifting others and strengthening our community.

[Rotary International @Rotary]

How it started ⏩ How it's going

@CampKawartha began in 1921 as a Rotary boys camp. Now open to all, it stays rooted in it's founding values: curiosity, gratitude & nature-based mentorship 🏕️ Discover more: https://t.co/3bFrl9X0Qf