I am from Singapore, and visiting the Houston (Texas) on a couple-weeks long business trip, arrived just yesterday.

Just as I was leaving, I heard a few colleagues mention there is a shutdown looming, and almost acting like the sky is falling, and as if it is going to be another episode of The Purge, total anarchy and destruction all around.

Well, landed in Houston (first time in this city), got a car, drove to downtown, the weather was a little dry for my taste, but overall it felt like a great experience. Much less claustrophobic than New York, streets seem way better maintained than Los Angeles, and the city seems quite real as opposed to a tourist trap and playground (looking at Miami). Quickly becoming one of my favourite American cities.

Weirdest of all? Asked some of my local contacts about the so called shutdown, and they all seem to kinda laugh it off, as a periodic drama, and say the wording itself makes it a hyperbole, nothing to worry about it.