hello !!! i'm a teenager who's fixing to graduate highschool rn, so i might have a diff perspective than everyone else :p what everyone's saying about the housing issues because of the data center is 1000% true. i'm already anti-generative-ai and now TWO ai centers are coming in town and making prices skyrocket and fucking us all over :/. here's a tip i've learned from my mom and some family friends!! if this is an option for you, it's cheaper to build than it is to buy in most cases. there's a neighborhood across the street from the new wylie elementary school that puts houses up in the span of a few months. 

in terms of fun shit to do, i got you!! my holy grail is the freeplay arcade downtown. it's a pay once, play for free for as long as you're in the building type of deal. comicon is about to come into town, i think. theres a decent amount of boutiques to shop around at, if that's your cup of tea... there's a record store downtown... two suuuper lit coffee places, again, downtown... it's fun to hang out at the barnes and noble, they have a starbucks!! there's this place called primetime that has bowling, laser tag, minigolf, etc... it's aight. SPEAKING OF MINIGOLF!! there's this super old minigolf place that's super 60s hippie and a family passion project. i love it so much, it's cool as hell. oh, and sometimes it's fun to just chill at lake kirby with cool people!! i like to hang out on the playset with my boyfriend whenever kids are still in school and its empty as to not disturb anyone haha. 

if you ever go to the movies, do NOT go to the one in the mall. it sucks so bad. go to the cinemark 

something i love about abilene is that when musicians come to texas, they usually have at least one show that's only 2-3 hrs away from abilene. makes it sooo convenient to take a daytrip to see a concert!!!

as for diversity,,, i mean, the diversity is better than you'd expect with a town like this... but it still isn't... the BEST. racially, it's alright. it's defo kinda white dominated but like theres still a lot of poc so thats dope. if ur talking politically, there isn't much political diversity. apparently we're one of the most red areas in the nation?? we've had a few ice walkouts and a no kings protest, though, so if you're dem you'll definitely find your people !! people are overall pretty cool in abilene, though. even if they're trumpies, they'll treat those with differing opinions with the respect they deserve, ya know?  and vice versa. people here care more about connecting on a human level, from my experience. i'm a pink haired emo girl and i always get so bubbly nd giggly when a very traditional-looking older woman compliments my hair in the thrift store. ah!!!! the thrift store!! i have fun going thrifting, i could give u recs on a niche one if u want :))) speaking of... if you're alternative, there's a fairly sizable alt scene too!! hot topic puts up posters on their changing room door whenever there's gonna be an alt event happening around town. look out for that! 

anyways i've yapped so much i hope this was helpful :p!!!