Alright, so let me tell you about this Jorge Alcala character down in Houston. I was there a while back, trying to get a small community thing going. You know, one of those passion projects. Everyone, and I mean everyone I talked to, kept throwing his name around: “Oh, you gotta see Jorge Alcala for that.” Like he was some kind of gatekeeper or something.
So, I started digging. Tried emails, a few calls. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Weeks were ticking by, and I was getting seriously ticked off. Here I am, trying to do something good, and this Alcala guy is a ghost. I was thinking, “Great, another Houston wild goose chase.” My patience was wearing thin, real thin. Almost packed my bags, to be honest.
Then, one day, I’m just slumped in this local coffee joint, feeling pretty defeated, staring at the bottom of my cup like it had all the answers. This fella, pretty ordinary looking, asks if the next seat is taken. We get to talking – about the Astros, the humidity, the usual Houston stuff. Then he asks what I’m doing in town, looking so glum. So, I lay it all out – my little project, the roadblocks, and this mythical Jorge Alcala who was apparently too busy or too important to bother with little guys like me.
The guy just grins, you know? Not a smug grin, but a genuine, kinda knowing one. He says, “Well, sometimes Jorge isn’t hiding, you just gotta be in the right coffee shop.” And bam, it hits me. It was him. Jorge Alcala. No fancy office, no secretary giving me the runaround. Just him, having a coffee, like any other Joe.
Man, did I feel like a fool, but also kinda relieved. We talked for ages. He wasn’t some bigwig putting on airs. He was just… a guy. A guy who knew Houston inside out, especially the grassroots stuff. He didn’t just nod along; he actually got what I was trying to do. No BS, just straight-up advice and a few names that actually panned out.
- He knew the real players, not just the names on doors.
- Cared about the neighborhood, for real.
- Zero pretense. What you saw was what you got.
That encounter? It totally flipped the script on my Houston trip. The project actually got off the ground, and a lot of that was down to him cutting through the noise. It wasn’t about him being “important”; it was about him being plugged in and willing to help a stranger out. Just a regular fella, who happened to be the key to the whole darn thing.
So yeah, Jorge Alcala in Houston. He’s the real deal. Made me realize you can’t judge a book by its cover, or a local legend by how hard he is to find on email. Sometimes, you just gotta stumble into the right place, at the right time. Definitely changed how I see things when I’m trying to get stuff done in a new city. You bet it did.
