How many of you loved that Superbowl commercial with the Darth Vader kid? I certainly did! What blew my mind was when they revealed the kid’s face! He looks like my youngest son did when he was that age! I’ll get a pic of my boy, Kevin, to prove it eventually on here, but his older brother was quite amazed! Check this out!
- I’m not kidding when I say this kid looks exactly like my youngest son did at that age!
Kevin also has (and always had) a grin that is infectious! When he was two, he went trick or treating as “The Joker” off of Batman! He never was a very good fibber when he was a kid either, because ever time he lied, he grinned from ear to ear! I raised my sons in TX. None of us have a TX accent. This amazes those who meet us for the first time! If you want the drawl, you need to meet my mother! If I’m around her for a week, THEN I have it for a bit!
I have a picture of Kevin taken when he was about 10. We were in Kerrville, TX walking along the river on the same land my great-grandfather once owned. In the middle of the river, there is this gigantic, hollowed out tree! He stood inside of it and I took a picture! I want to go back this year and get another one of him in it now that it has been over 10 years! I think it would be neat!
To anyone who is visiting Texas, I strongly recommend checking out the following places: Kerrville, Fredricksburg, Mustang Island (if you’re a beach lover), Galveston and Port Isabel. Aransas Pass is also great when the Annual Shrimp Festival is going on too! I loved Corpus Christi! There is a lot to do there! However, if looking to move elsewhere from where you are now, I recommend Marble Falls, San Saba and anywhere in the Kerrville area. These are simply beautiful areas to live in. San Saba does not have the same amenities that Marble Falls and Kerrville do, but it is a quiet place most of the time. IF you hang around San Saba, you might come across actor Tommy Lee Jones as well since he owns a ranch there. There are a few celebs who live in the Marble Falls area and in Corpus Christi also. Given the choice, I’d go to Marble Falls. It’s far enough away from the hurricane alley for me, but I am not opposed to checking Port Isabel out! Here is an aerial map of it, and if you go across the Queen Isabella Highway, you are on S. Padre Island! Just make sure that if you find any Spanish doubloons and don’t want to part with them, hide them. Sorry TX, but I think that if they are on the beach, they are fair game. I believe that if I were to find one or two of them, there is no harm in having them for souvenirs. Yeah, I know, they say you’re supposed to “turn them in” but how many people do you think REALLY do that? C’mon! Get a grip!
Now if you decided to check out the DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) area, I do not recommend living there. It’s high crime rate makes me skiddish. Wautaga, Euless, Grand Prarie, Granbury are okay…If going to live in that particular part of the country, I feel that the areas around Weatherford are ideal. They are close enough to DFW that you can enjoy the nightlife, and there are plenty of places to get shopping done in Weatherford so you don’t end up fighting in traffic from Hell! Austin is wonderful too, but I hate the traffic jams and I hate the ones in Houston even more. It took me 3 hours to go a mile and a half back to my hotel when I went to see the Goo Goo Dolls at the Woodlands in 1998. Since I don’t deal with traffic too well, I would go into the suburbs if I were going to live there! Houston’s crime rate is rather high also. I am of the understanding that Galveston doesn’t have an abominable crime rate and that is why I would consider it.
A word for those of you who are worried about the cost of living: TEXAS has a low-cost of living and the real estate is a hell of a lot cheaper than in CA, NY and Hawaii. Texas also has NO personal income tax and NO sales tax of groceries (food items) purchased at the market. That is why a lot of celebrities choose to live here. Besides the people are friendly and they love adopting the incoming “expats”! They don’t care who you are, this place is the last “true” melting pot in the nation. It is also cheaper to use production companies from here than in most places if you are trying to get productions staged. If you are a musician–there are plenty of reasonably priced venues to accommodate you. There are also music labels that are independent here and you might have an easier time getting marketed. I am not in the business because I have another path going on in my life. I am good at finding “stuff” if you need a gopher though! I am more than willing to “gopher this’ and “gopher that” when I have time! I enjoy that! It may be a useless talent to some, but I view it as an opportunity to learn!
Here is a link to the aerial map of Port Isabel:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=26.0736111111,-97.2133333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=26.0736111111,-97.2133333333 (Port%20Isabel%2C%20Texas)&t=h
Here is the one for Kerrville, too!
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.0463888889,-99.1405555556&spn=0.1,0.1&q=30.0463888889,-99.1405555556 (Kerrville%2C%20Texas)&t=h
The Haunted Pen 